KVR Audio

manducator · Post by **manducator** » Wed Oct 23, 2013 6:30 pm

I love cd's. I grew up with them, collect them, play them. I have a collection of between 4000 and 5000 cd's. Hell, I even bougth the 24 bit gold plated cd's from The Pixies.

I know cd isn't the standard anymore, mp3's and downloadable stuff is. Dj's use mp3's, everybody has ipods or another kind of portable player.

I don't want to hold back evolution, I buy downloads from bandcamp and jundownload too. But I also buy cd's.

I'm worried about the future; will I be able to play my cd's in 20 years, or will my collection be obsolete by then?

And what about storage? Everbody brags about the fact that the new formats can be stored on a single hard disk, it's portable but what will be the standard in the future? 1 failing HD can let you lose thousands of cd's.

I hope enough people will support lossless formats like flac, besides lossy mp3's anyway.

The disappearance of the cd won't end the world, but it will change my world big time.

Any encouraging words?

fmr · Post by **fmr** » Wed Oct 23, 2013 6:34 pm

I always buy CDs. And I do not fear the future. Many told that LPs would be gone by now, and look at what's happening. I still have a huge collection of LPs (yes, I'm THAT old) and never thought about getting rid of them.

robogone · Post by **robogone** » Wed Oct 23, 2013 6:38 pm

I buy CDs and I think they'll be around for a while to come. Look at how many devices are made backwards compatible to play CDs.

Also, if I want mp3s, I don't see why I should just pay for the download, I'd rather buy the CD - I can rip an mp3 from it, give it to my daughter (unlike mp3s), and if I want to make a last minute change to what I want to listen to in the car before a long journey I can just grab a CD and don't have to be sure that what I want to listen to is on the device in the first place.

I like CDs a lot more than downloaded files, and will stick with them as long as I can.

cryophonik · Post by **cryophonik** » Wed Oct 23, 2013 7:02 pm

I grew up on LPs, cassettes, and even had some 8-tracks when I was a kid, but most of my music collection is good ol' CD and it's my preferred medium. If I just want one or two songs from an artist that I don't otherwise care much about, I'll spend the 99 cents on an mp3, but I usually go for the CD (if it's available, that is). I like having the jewel case, the artwork, and the physical CD, which primarily serves as a backup. After having my car broken into one too many times, I keep the original CD safe and sound in my CD case, rip a copy to my HD/iPad/iPod, and burn a copy CD for the car.

george · Post by **george** » Wed Oct 23, 2013 7:06 pm

CD will be dead as soon as major online stores (iTunes and Amazon) start selling lossless formats like ALAC or FLAC.

In the meanwhile it still looks like a good, high-quality media, so it may be too soon to quit buying them, specially when they can come cheaper than MP3 albums when purchased second hand.

Numanoid · Post by **Numanoid** » Wed Oct 23, 2013 7:14 pm

manducator · Post by **manducator** » Wed Oct 23, 2013 7:46 pm

Numanoid wrote:No

Why not?

Numanoid · Post by **Numanoid** » Wed Oct 23, 2013 7:52 pm

manducator wrote:
Numanoid wrote:No
Why not?

It's better than buying cassettes I guess

Debby747 · Post by **Debby747** » Wed Oct 23, 2013 7:55 pm

As far as I see it, you'll never own the download.
You can't borrow, lend, sell, give away or hand down those downloads,
they're licensed to you under whatever usage restrictions.
In some cases you are not even allowed to alter the ID3 tag.

But you own the CD. You can do whatever you want with it.
It is a choice of freedom.
For me anyway.

Greetings
D.

chokehold · Post by **chokehold** » Wed Oct 23, 2013 7:55 pm

If the artist is signed by a small label - no more CDs, no more concerts. Buy merch instead.

Tricky-Loops · Post by **Tricky-Loops** » Wed Oct 23, 2013 7:58 pm

Maybe in the future you can legally buy some songs (or even an album) in a lossless format, put them on CD and burn your own CD! And then you can choose from different covers for your CD...

CD on demand is the future!

You don't have to buy BRAVO S*it Compilation No. 599 anymore!

Andywanders · Post by **Andywanders** » Thu Oct 24, 2013 3:43 am

cryophonik wrote:...I like having the jewel case...

That's something that's always bugged me - "Jewel Case".

Why do they call it that?

It's made of cheap plastic, not jewels.

Sorry to go OT.

Anyway, CDs...

I love 'em.

kritikon · Post by **kritikon** » Thu Oct 24, 2013 5:54 am

CDs will die a death, for sure, but you'll be able to play them for many years yet. As long as you look after your CD player, PC DVD player etc, then your CDs will be viable as long as they still work. And in 20 years from now, you'll probably still be able to buy a CD player from new, just that it'll be several times the price and labelled as boutique nostalgia gear for a niche collectors market. Same as turntables. And eventually most of us will come around to the idea of whatever is the current format, just like we all did with vinyl, cassettes.

I can still buy and play vinyl if I wanted (which I don't). I can still play cassettes (although it's a while since I saw any for sale). And I'm with the OP - I like CDs. But they'll slowly wane like all the other formats. At least CDs don't take up as much space so you can store them in the attic easier when the time comes.

Must admit I thought downloads was a silly idea originally (still do as far as quality goes), but now that wifi has developed more, and devices are more compatible, and MP3 players are so tiny and convenient, and slowly but surely better quality is becoming available - I'm getting more into the idea, even though I personally like physical product. The point is at some stage, I'll be able to d/l something equivalent or better than CD (rather than pathetic MP3), store it on my PC or HD and play it in my living room on a decent hifi beamed through the walls. Already can, but it's just not quite there in terms of convenience yet IMO. I think smart TVs will be the way of things. Connect my TV to my wifi, into my Hifi and bingo. Control the PC with the Telly remote control. Possibly hifi will become iHiFis, but I'm not sure. Probably HiFis will die off because the eejit masses will get used to shite quality...

BertKoor · Post by **BertKoor** » Thu Oct 24, 2013 1:22 pm

Some months ago my 90's Sony CD player I thought was indestructable finally died. I looked for "CD" players, and they are friggin expensive! So I bought a BlueRay player with RCA outputs instead, much MUCH cheaper

beltrom · Post by **beltrom** » Thu Oct 24, 2013 1:39 pm

Like others in this thread I even have LP's still, well over a thousand of them. I also buy CD's and have a close shelved Ikea Billy of those as well, no idea how many that is. Somehow the music I like thrives in album format. It doesn't feel right song by song streamed or on mp3, especially if I haven't listened to it in the order and with the concept the artist intended prior to listening to the songs one by one. Slowly this mania has branched into a videopath as well with concerts and collections of videos. Sigh...

I have no concern what so ever for not being able to access the formats later on. But I still have bought some albums I have on LP as CD as well.

My kids think I'm sick (not in the good way). But they are more concerned over the book collection. Yes - I had tapes also, but (officially) I've thrown those away.

Should I quit buying cd's?