does it still make sense to buy cds?

JSngry · February 21, 2012

Magnets can wipe out CDs? For real?

Still trying to figure out how a magnetic storm will erase my CDs. Help?

As I understand the science, sunspots can suck all the 1's off your CDs, leaving only the 0's. This will cause Willis Jackson to sound like Kenny G. And possibly vice versa.

That's the down side.

The upside is that if the math works that way, it might simultaneously render Kenny G inaudible.

In spite of my cynicism, at root I'm an incurable optimist.

Kevin Bresnahan · February 21, 2012

Still trying to figure out how a magnetic storm will erase my CDs. Help?

A pressed CD, like the one you buy in a store, is made of hard plastic that's coated with a thin layer of aluminum. Unless you've somehow entered the Twilight Zone where plastic and aluminum are magnetic, there is no way any kind of magnetic storm could erase the information embedded there.

I just know that an ordinary magnet can wipe out a cd, so it's vulnerable. An lp or other record is vulnerable to heat, but not magnetism as far as I know.

I don't see a "smiley" so I have to assume you're serious here. Really? The only way a magnet could "wipe out a cd" is if you scratched it over the label side to the point where you scratched off the metal layer. There is nothing in a CD that can be magnetized.

Geek addendum:

Maybe you're confusing a pressed CD with a CD-RW? CD-RW technology works with a combination of magnetism and laser light. A small magnetic field is applied to the CD-RW to make the reflective layer pliant so the laser can deform the layer, making 1's & 0's. I imagine that a strong magnet *might* cause some of these little bumps to flatten, but I have never heard of it. Simply having a magnetic field in the absence of a laser should not be enough to erase even a CR-RW disc.

JSngry · February 21, 2012

So this guy can come out of hiding now?

PHILLYQ · February 22, 2012

If the EMP is caused by nuclear weapon, then you will probably be dead or dying, so no need to worry about your music.

I don't know about that. Suitable tracks for your exit? Any suggestions?

Sun Ra 'Nuclear War is a Mother*****r'

sonnymax · February 22, 2012

Does it still make sense to buy CDs? For me, the answer is "no". I have over 4,000 CDs in my collection, and I used to buy 10-15 a month up until a year and a half ago. Since then, digital downloads have become my main source for music listening. At this point, I have over 1.5 TB of music on a NAS (backed up on a separate 3TB external hard drive), which is attached to a Sonos system in my condo. Does this system provide the ultimate in high-fidelity? No, but that isn't my main concern. I've always been more interested in experiencing the music than focusing on the sound. I haven't yet investigated whether a subscription to a music streaming service would suit my needs given my particular listening preferences, but I'm sure I'll be checking that out in the near future. All in all, I like where things are going. I might not be on the cutting edge of technology, but I'm enjoying some of the benefits that technology offers.

Neal Pomea · February 22, 2012

Still trying to figure out how a magnetic storm will erase my CDs. Help?

Maybe you're confusing a pressed CD with a CD-RW? CD-RW technology works with a combination of magnetism and laser light.

Thanks Kevin! That's probably what I was thinking.

fasstrack · February 23, 2012

does it sill make sense to buy cds?

It makes sense to buy CDs ans LPs, and make them, too. If you buy into the shrinking-attention-span and let's-push-a-button, etc. mentality served up by profiteers who then waste no time letting pablum proceed the 'new and improved' product out the door----they will win. Patience, the ability to sit still and listen to something conceived as an entity, not a sound-bite will lose.

I've decided that the classics and basics will be here for those that want them. Just do our thing and don't notice the stupidity and 'sheepiness'. And every once in a while, especially if you 1. do excellent work and 2. aren't preachy to people who after all have no input in the world they are handed---you can influence a few.

AfricaBrass · February 23, 2012

I still see the value in cds, especially now that you can buy them for less than most digital downloads. I have a really hard time finding value in a digital download. Yes, I have the music on my iPod, but the music isn't of the same quality as a cd. Even if they offered lossless files for download, I'd rather have the cd.

I'm not some dinosaur either. I've had mp3 players for years and four years ago, I got a Squeezebox. I have ripped most of my collection to .flac and I love it. The first thing I do when I get home with a new cd is to rip it to .flac. I've heard the argument that cds take up too much space. I ran into that problem about 6 years ago and ended up moving most of my collection to the Jazz Loft sleeves (later I purchased the Bags Unlimited sleeves since they're the same thing and much cheaper). Of course, I'd prefer to have them in the jewel cases but I just don't have the space. I've got the cds stored in boxes from Bags Unlimited and they're safe and out of the way. I can take my .mp3 player in the car instead of cds.

But I still want my cds. If I spend $10 on an album, I want to own something tangible, not just the right to play it on my iPod. Maybe I'm just a 20th century dinosaur, but I love cds still.

I love the EMP arguments too! An EMP wouldn't kill us, it would just kill technology. Once it's all fixed, I can pull my cds out, re-rip them and then get a Faraday cage to keep my hard drives in. I will have learned from my mistake. lol

:rhappy:

A Lark Ascending · February 23, 2012

If you buy into the shrinking-attention-span and let's-push-a-button, etc. mentality...

I was reading a book a while back that insisted this dated to the early 20thC when people gave up learning an instrument to experience music and started listening instead on the gramophone; became all too easy to let it float by without really understanding it.

If that's the case then the shift to barbarism marked by the move from CD (which, it's worth remembering, was the marker for cultural apocalypse not that far back) is so small as to be insignificant.

I understand the 'I prefer CD/LP/78/cylinder disc/player piano roll' argument. But the idea that somehow the replacement of one technology by another marks the end of civilisation?

ejp626 · February 23, 2012

Speaking from personal experience, I have to say that the resale value of CDs is declining to the point where it no longer figures into my calculations of buying a CD vs. downloading. I expect this will only get worse with time.

Dave James · February 23, 2012

If Organissimo had existed in the early '80's, the title of this thread might very well have been Does it still make sense to buy LP's? Think that one through.

sonnymax · February 24, 2012

I still see the value in cds, especially now that you can buy them for less than most digital downloads.

This might be true for some used CDs, but if you include the cost of shipping or gasoline used to get to the shrinking number of brick-and-mortar stores, I don't think this is true.

It makes sense to buy CDs ans LPs, and make them, too. If you buy into the shrinking-attention-span and let's-push-a-button, etc. mentality served up by profiteers who then waste no time letting pablum proceed the 'new and improved' product out the door----they will win. Patience, the ability to sit still and listen to something conceived as an entity, not a sound-bite will lose.

Wow! I don't know where to begin (or if I should). :wacko: Other than placing a disc on the appropriate player, it's all a matter of "pushing a few buttons". There's no correlation between the quality of the music or the richness of the listening experience and the different media we're discussing, as far as I can see. As Lon pointed out, performing music with an instrument is a decidedly different experience altogether. Other than that, it's all a matter of sound reproduction. "Shrinking attention span"? There have always been those who prefer listening to tracks. Remember 45's? 78's? An increasing number of excellent musicians are releasing downloads themselves - fewer costs, simpler distribution, less energy and materials consumed, etc. You want something physical, burn it. I'm not arguing against owning LPs or CDs (remember, I've got thousands of them). But to assert that the latest digital technology is ushering in a musical Armageddon is preposterous.

Big Beat Steve · February 24, 2012

"Shrinking attention span"? There have always been those who prefer listening to tracks. Remember 45's? 78's? An increasing number of excellent musicians are releasing downloads themselves - fewer costs, simpler distribution, less energy and materials consumed, etc. You want something physical, burn it. I'm not arguing against owning LPs or CDs (remember, I've got thousands of them). But to assert that the latest digital technology is ushering in a musical Armageddon is preposterous.

You are missing a point there ... Many original 78s and 45s were INTENDED to be listened to only one piece (or pair) at a time, and not in a sequence of 12, 16 or 24 chronological items by the same artist in one go. Which is why some reissues from that era tend to sound a bit monotonous if listened to via recent reissues because many artists (particularly in early blues and hillbilly/country music) have a certain degree of sameness about their individual tracks that becomes apparent if their music is "consumed" in larger doses in one go. Taken individually, you pay much more attention to the INDIVIDUAL tracks and above all notice the differences that there are, just the way it was (and was supposed to be) back then. The same may work for those current artists who deliberately release individual tunes via internet platforms today, and individual downloads may well be the way to go in these cases.

But REMEMBER - ever since the LP era started, there has been an increasing number of albums where the contents (each individual track) were conceived as a unit, a single entity ("concept albums" are NO invention of the rock era) and I can very well see the point that these albums are appreciated to the full primarily if listened to in their entirety. Now if today's listeners are no longer tuned to that kind of intense listening and are only willing to take downloadable snippets in the form of individual tracks I think it's easy to understand those who complain. There may be a point to that statement about a "shrinking attention span".

ejp626 · February 24, 2012

But REMEMBER - ever since the LP era started, there has been an increasing number of albums where the contents (each individual track) were conceived as a unit, a single entity ("concept albums" are NO invention of the rock era) and I can very well see the point that these albums are appreciated to the full primarily if listened to in their entirety. Now if today's listeners are no longer tuned to that kind of intense listening and are only willing to take downloadable snippets in the form of individual tracks I think it's easy to understand those who complain. There may be a point to that statement about a "shrinking attention span".

Frankly that strikes me as pretentious hooey on the part of the artists. The number of albums that HAVE to be listened to as a unified suite is remarkably small. Once the music is released into the cruel world, it is up to each listener to receive it as he or she chooses, not necessarily as the artist intended. I think someone on another thread was pointing out that the attention span of the typical person with regards to music was 3-4 minutes, in other words single-length, and that this hasn't changed much, if at all, from the early rock n' roll days.

Big Beat Steve · February 24, 2012

Pretentious, maybe ... but would you disagree that in the world of jazz, in particular, there IS a substantial number of such albums? Even if it boils down to a live recording from a particular concert/gig only.

Or why is it so that so many jazz collectors whine so loudly each time a reissue omits one or two single tracks from a 8 or 10-track original album? Cannot possibly be about "completist fetichism" in EACH and EVERY case only.

Like I said above, I do not doubt single downloads are fine and the way to go (for those who feel comfortable with that medium anyway) if you are buying tunes that were released as "single" tunes anyway (or where their inclusion in an album is unrelated to the rest of the album contents), particularly in the many facets of contemporary pop. But was/is this particular discussion about today's POP music above all?

sonnymax · February 24, 2012

...why is it so that so many jazz collectors whine so loudly each time a reissue omits one or two single tracks from a 8 or 10-track original album?

Other than compilations, the only instance in which this occurs is when they combine two LPs on a single CD and run out of time, no? There are no such time constraints with digital downloads.

I still don't understand why people necessarily equate downloads with single-track listening. You can buy an entire album, after all. In fact, tracks over 10 minutes long often can only be obtained if you purchase the whole album. In other cases, there are discounts for downloading an entire album with more than 8 or 9 tracks. In the end, all I can say is that digital downloads haven't had a big influence on my listening habits, except perhaps in positive ways in terms of cost and ease of use. I listen to whole albums now as much as I used to. When you come to think of it, CDs have probably had more of an impact on people's listening habits, and not always in a positive sense. Many LPs provide enough quality music that not only holds a listener's attention, but also provides a consistently pleasurable listening experience. A CD can offer roughly twice as much music as an LP, but how often does a CD offer the same level of quality music over it's expanded listening time? Sure, many LPs contained "filler" material, but I think CDs tend to include more to "fill up the space". Think of it, how many jazz fans insist that CD reissues contain more than the original LP, just because time allows it? Tracks that would have been left off an LP are included as "bonus cuts", and sometimes even out-takes and false starts are included "to give the listener the feeling that he's right there in the studio as the music is being recorded". Pu-leeze! :blink:

Big Beat Steve · February 24, 2012

I don't see people "equating" downloads with SINGLE-TRACK listening. This was just one aspect of downloading that was discussed with its pros and cons, and rightly so.

What I dislike about it all is the lack of a tangible product (yeah, now I know one certain Texan will come breathing down my neck again for openly wanting to "possess" things :crazy: ) that can be archived correctly for a long time to come (as long as the players are around) and made playable (without converting and recopying) on standard CD players, as well as its questionable long-time storage (archiving) aspects.

None of which of course matters if you are just in the market for buying music for casual consumption (as most music "consumers" are anyway) and listen to music on your iPod only.

True, CDs may not the biggest investments even after they go OOP but as long as certain CD reissues selling a UTTERLY SILLY prices (as if Asian origins automatically equated ultimate desirability) are still endorsed then who knows ... there may some margin left after all.

Yet I admit there are moments when I feel like a dinosaur, seeing that most of the contents of the shelves covering one entire wall in my music room might fit on one single iPod memory, and when spinning LPs the other day this really made me feel like handling one of those ancient 8" floppy discs from way back (anybody remember THESE?). But yet I'll carry on ...