Oh no...another "death of the CD thread"!

jdmccall

Super Member
So...sorry but I just noticed at our local Wallyworld today how that the CD section was much, much smaller than the last time I noticed. I'm sure it's just been down-sized in the last few months. Wow. Has the point of no return been reached? Is the market imploding or has it just moved on-line? I'm still buying 3-4 titles per month, pretty much all from Amazon, so I'm doing my part.:D ...I think. :scratch2:
 
Wow. I remember seeing that first little wire rack of CDs, maybe six different titles... pretty soon we might be back to that one little rack.
They'll be back in 20-25 years, like vinyl!
 
I'm still buying 3-4 titles per month, pretty much all from Amazon, so I'm doing my part.:D ...I think. :scratch2:

Yeah like you, many more buy their albums online vs in physical stores. I don't think that the CD will ever truly "die", but I do feel that as a physical medium that people purchase, it's days are numbered. I'm not just talking about actual stores that you can go to and buy a CD, but also online sales where a CD is delivered to your house. Even people with all of their music on their computer can still burn their own CD in minutes if/when there is ever actually a need. If you compare having a CD album delivered to your house vs downloading a lossless copy and burning your own CD, the only difference is the nicely printed album artwork and the novelty value of knowing you have an original copy.
 
CD's will never die (they're still selling well in the UK and Japan). Just check out the HMV stores in the UK. They have thousands and thousands.

Some would like to think vinyl and CD is dying/dead,but they'll never will be.
There's nothing like having original media in-hand and having real hi-fi gear to play it back on!
 
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I went to best buy today to get the last 3 zep cds and you guys are on it the stores cd selection is gotten very small. I like instant satisfaction that's why I buy from the store and I will miss that option. At one time you could walk in there and buy records.
 
Just anecdotal evidence but I've noticed the CD section getting smaller at every store I visit that caries them.

Aside from a local chain retailer (The Exchange) ... they still stock a good selection of new & used. They appear to be doing well by gaining an increasing share of a declining market at the moment.
If the Exchange stopped carrying a robust collection of CDs ... brick & mortor selection would be really poor in my area.

There is another used media store in my area ... Buy Backs ... their used (they don't stock new) CD selection is really spartan (not the case some years ago). They carry mostly Games & DVD/Blu Ray.

Most CDs I buy anymore are online ... due to my desire for niche hard to find discs.
 
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Went Barnes & Noble today they replaced 25 ft of CD's w/25 ft of LP Records. They also offer the world famous Crosley TT.:thmbsp:
 
It's just sad. I started out buying 45's, then LP's, then a few cassettes and since '84, CD's exclusively, save for a handful of SACD's and DVD-A's. I like artwork and I like liner notes and I like actual CD's with pits and lands. I'm not confident in the long-term durability of CD-R's. I've not had one fail yet, though. Still, I'm confident my CD's will outlast me. As for downloads...no thanks! Streaming is cool and probably the wave of the future, but I still like to own (and hold in my hand!) music that I love.
 
41 Years In 41 Seconds

I posted this smanchy gif to a thread not too long ago. Rather than bump it...seems fitting here for hums...:scratch2:

Music Industry Change 1975-2014 ([shift] refresh page to re-animate)

OSVI9Yg.gif
 
+48v, I love that gif, and I do remember the first time you posted it. Always interesting to watch that. I find myself thinking.... Yea, in 1999 I did buy a lot of CD's still... and so on.

Well, as you can tell by my sig, I love vinyl. That doesn't mean I don't buy CD. I have a few vendors I like online that I found via Amazon. One in Chicago, one in NY and one in California. I buy a my fair share of CDs (via Amazon) from them. 99 percent are used CDs. I rip them to the cloud when I get them and pop the CD into one of my Kenwood 200 disc changers that I keep picking up from garage sales. These are my new CD storage devices. I've now got 4 of them, so 800 CDs at the ready for play.

I still like CD playing. Like Vinyl, you have to do something to make it work. It's not like pressing a button on your smartphone and listening. I prefer vinyl, but CD is fine by me. Certainly easier to rip to the cloud.
 
+48v, I love that gif, and I do remember the first time you posted it. Always interesting to watch that. I find myself thinking.... Yea, in 1999 I did buy a lot of CD's still... and so on.

Well, as you can tell by my sig, I love vinyl. That doesn't mean I don't buy CD. I have a few vendors I like online that I found via Amazon. One in Chicago, one in NY and one in California. I buy a my fair share of CDs (via Amazon) from them. 99 percent are used CDs. I rip them to the cloud when I get them and pop the CD into one of my Kenwood 200 disc changers that I keep picking up from garage sales. These are my new CD storage devices. I've now got 4 of them, so 800 CDs at the ready for play.

I still like CD playing. Like Vinyl, you have to do something to make it work. It's not like pressing a button on your smartphone and listening. I prefer vinyl, but CD is fine by me. Certainly easier to rip to the cloud.

Aye. It's indeed pretty fascinating. Tugs at the eyes, brain, and heart all at the same time.

Once you absorb and sigh the massive rise and fall of the green and red slices of the past 31 years, the explosion and diverseness of the last 10 years is pretty boggling. Going forward....The grey and brown are destined to hog the pie.

As for some folks fretting. meh...I'm a glass half full guy. So while I can and do appreciate the significance of CDs and LPs...I'm not losing sleep over this unprecedented sea change.

As been said here before, better to light a match than cursed the darkness. Streaming will soon come to own it's virtue to the many rather a few. :thmbsp:
 
We are in the down years of buying physical media . Sales of music are down let alone actually buying a CD or Record . Soon , the thrifts will start to dry up as well .

Get 'em while you can .
 
We are in the down years of buying physical media . Sales of music are down let alone actually buying a CD or Record . Soon, the thrifts will start to dry up as well .

Get 'em while you can .

The thrift stores are still well stocked for now, however, there is a noticeable lack of cd's from after say 2008 or so. With front end retail sales dropping so much the last 10 years, you're just not going to find many post-2008 cd's, ever. To your point I think there will always be a pretty good supply of cd's at most thrift stores, but it's going to be same "old" titles, just like the record bins are stocked now.
 
With high speed Internet, cheap local and cloud storage, and high resolution lossless files and streaming, you get equal or better sound quality and more convenience - plus infinite life with zero degradation - than any spinning plastic disc. There's no need for clumsy, space-wasting physical media.

Death of the CD? Yes, please!
 
I'd also think that CD will rather not vanish completely, but there will certainly be more of a concentration regarding vendors/sources.

Over here my typical measurement for what product categories are how popular is how the corresponding shop area shares develop at big cosumer electronic markets like Media Markt and Saturn, of couse also in relation to product size...

Current situation over here, too: Audio CD sections have shrinked considerably and now appear almost lost between the other media/software sections - and the choice hardly exceeds curent chart stuff and bargain bin stuff anymore.

Greetings from Munich!

Manfred / lini
 
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