How Long Will CDs Last ??

[Music Wench]

I think it's an age thing. I've been around since vinyl and I miss them. I don't think CD's or vinyl will go away completely. There are always those of us who crave them. And for me for quality of sound, CDs are the best.

[JonG]

I agree that with sound quality, CDs are the best. Well, they should be the best, but it varies. It depends on how the album was engineered and mastered. It also depends on your playback device. Sometimes a high bit-rate mp3 can sound just as good as a CD.

I like all three formats for different reasons. Records are fun to collect and play, CDs (should) sound best, and mp3s are convenient (easier to come by and more portable).

[ambernector]

everyone has already forgotten about cassettes. Personally I download all my music, but still burn my brought music onto CD to listen in the car.

[lacyloves]

I think CDs are gonna disappear in the next ten years and it will all be digital. Vinyls are starting to come back into style too, which makes me very happy.

[Jerome]

I will buy CD's until they finally disappear. I like the idea of having a packaged item (make 'em work for your money) and although the artwork is small (compared to vinyl) it's still there. Graphic designers will just have to adjust. Also a problem with Mp3's - one glitch with your PC and it's all gone. And then you have to do it all over again. The record companies are gonna love that. Everyone will have to buy everyhting all over again. And Mp3 is far from convenient. Download this, copy that, backup etc. etc. CD's are far more convenient. Stick it in and it plays. Strange how in the video world everyone is going for 'bigger is better', but in the audio world everything becomes smaller. And thequality of Mp3' IS crap, now matter what bitrate you choose. It's DESIGNED to reduce file size - you always lose some quality. Forget the term 'lossless' - it's a marketing ploy. Anything to make you believe you are getting the real thing. Most young people today don't notice it because they did not grow up with audiophile quality recordings. Must say I don't miss vinyl - they were a headache but the artwork was great! And tape was the pits.....

[CRAZY-HORSE]

you must be reading my mind Jerome, i was thinking about this just last week when i was posting biggest sellers of 2010 on the site!
i noticed cd sales have dropped sharply over the last twelve months and places like itunes have increased dramatically.

my thoughts are:

you are quite correct, tapes were crap. 'lossness' is a marketing ploy, much the same as 'cds are indestructable'.

however,when it comes to vinyl, we have to disagree im afraid! i like the sound of vinyl,always have done and always will, the new vinyl albums/singles are of higher quality than those of yesteryear and i believe there will always be a market for them,allbeit collectors of an artists output(in my case). and i prefer to look at the full 12" of cover than a microscopic 6" version of a cover anyday.

cd's will never totally dissapear from the marketplace....they said vinyl was dead back in 1984ish...remember? but it is making a comeback, most albums are now available on vinyl, but not in quantities of decades past. i believe the same will happen to cds,they will be available but in limited quantities.

personally, i have never bought an album or a track from any download site and dont intend to. i have transferred cds to ipods for my kids and ex-wife, but they lose to much sound quality, as you correctly state, and me, i listen to the quality of the recording first and foremost.

i want the best sounds available to me and my stereo system and whether that comes from vinyl of cd i dont care.

one example of a great album cover that loses its effect on a cd packaging is "sgt.peppers",compare the two(vinyl and cd) and tell me which looks best, another two i saw recently were "band of joy"-robert plant & "national ransom"-elvis costello, both look great on the vinyl format, and nothing special in the cd format.

[Jerome]

Just one small point. Vinyl in days of old were albums that contained music that was recorded with analogue gear. Modern vinyl (there's a name for a band), are probably mostly recorded on digital gear/processors/mixing desks etc. so even though you are recording it to vinyl as a final product the material is still 'digital' i.e. the waveforms have still been clipped. That said the new digital gear is far more accurate at emulating the original waveform (more samples per second) that older digital gear. One of the reasons music from the 80's sometimes sounds so clinical - when digital first appeared in studios. And some studios & engineers insist on using analogue gear to record and if it's done really well you can hear the difference - mainly on jazz and classical recordings. I think at the end of the day it does not really matter as long as the material is strong. Most people cannot tell the difference anyway - they just sense that the recording is good. One of the albums that I think shows really good quality recording is Roxy Music's 'Avalon' & of course 'The Division Bell' as well. A far more pressing problem is 'overcompression' in an attempt to make the material louder than the next artist so that it will be noticed on the radio. It's absolutely killing the dynamics in the music. And when you listen to material like this on headphones it leads to ear fatigue very quickly. And now, a totally unrelated piece of useless information. If you are going on a long car journey, stick earplugs in your ears. You will arrive at your destination far more refreshed. The sound of the air rushing past as you drive induces tiredness/ear fatigue because it is at the same constant pitch. Yes I know you think I am nuts but it works. Especially if you have to attend a meeting when you arrive at your destination and you have to be alert. Finally, those mobile phones have the worst audio quality of all - they have an IC inside which acts as an equalizer, with all the harsh frequencies boosted in an attempt to make them seem louder. Crap quality. And bad for your ears too. There are going to be an awful lot of ear/hearing complaints in the future - watch this space!

[gryphon]

I have been reading the comments above and tend to agree with most of what is being said.

However one further point .there are two main things that can kill a format

• It's avaliablity
  
• The machinery to read it
  

CD is quite lucky.............there are just so many machines around that can read them. Most "silver disc spinners' have backward compatibility and so we will not face a problem of what can we play these things on.

Vinyl nearly died because of the pressure of the recording companies but it survived because of the Hi-Fi industry and its goal of developing the humble turn table.

The CD's main problem will be availability..............many classic albums are slowly disappearing from the market place .................a few are being reissued in limited form.
There was a drive to produce CD on demand with custom pressing sites that would download a single copy and print the booklet etc but this seems very limited.

[Tiggi]

This is quite heartening:

Click_Here

Allelujah !! There is hope.

[gryphon]

Now that is an evening out I could really enjoy!