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The CD was developed for convenience so of course its demise is coming!

Posted by RGA (R) on February 12, 2007 at 05:55:17

In Reply to: The end of CDs? posted by Jank on February 10, 2007 at 01:37:50:

Audiophiles hated cd when it came onto the scene -- it's primary and only real advantage was convenience and boy oh boy did it ever have that over LP. You can store 80 minutes without having to flip it over. You could buy portable machines - put them in cars, they take up far less space, don't need to be handled with kid gloves, no real need to be cleaned or and you could actually touch the surface and still play just fine.

And the sound has improved a heckuva lot too over the years.

BUT, when an item's main feature is convenience then how on earth is it going to compete with MP3?

Answer -- no way at all. MP3 can be downloaded in lossless compression and really 192kbs for most non classical genres is more than enough for decent sound out of portable devices -- remember the MASSES rule the technology not audiophiles -- the masses don;t give a rat's ass about SACD or DVD Audio which is why both are going to eventually go the way of DAT and other "who the hell cares" technologues. Sony tries to boost sales by sticking it on DVD players for $150.00 but nobody is buying the machine for SACD - It;s already dead it's just in the legal battle over who is going to pull the plug on the respirator. New title Vinyl sales thumped DVD Audio And SACD combined -- that is all that needs to be said about that.

MP3 is marvelous for convenience and piracy not withstanding is pretty much free for anyone who knows even a little about computers. Going to Bittorent and you can download the complete works of say Johnny Cash in a few hours. Pick out the songs you like disgard the rest - you can transfer said songs to your $40.00 mp3 player that never skips and boom endless music for zero money. Illegal - ethically wrong etc but that is something that the music industry can;t stop -- they certainly are not going to convince the majority to spend $25.00 a SACD on something that sounds a bit better and probably won't anyway on the majority of East Coast inspired loudspeakers in home theater lack of subtlety stereos that make up 99% of what is sold.

Even the DJ's will go to this because as one noted -- it's just too much of a pain to lug the vinyl around town when a laptop and one other hand held gizmo can play a far wider selection.

I have two hard drives here in Korea - I can download pretty much the complete works of all classical music that has ever been recorded by anyone free!! It is far more convenient than lugging scratchable cds around with me.

All that said I buy (or intend to buy) the music I keep -- I use the downloading to listen before I buy (which stores do anyway by allowing you to listen to the cd). But I doubt the vast majority would do as I do.

Vinyl I will buy because it sounds a helluva lot better -- but the turntable kit is very expensive to be done properly.

I have thought about buying new cd replay but I may go with MP3 and spend a larger sum on the turntable in the future. Get a good USB DAC for the MP3 and perhaps that is the best way to go. One could simply go to one's local library and take all the cd's and download them to one's hard drive in lossless compression and one would have no use for a cd player. Most DACs now come with USB capability.

bye bye cd -- vinyl never left and it isn't going to anytime soon -- it is the last vestage of musical heritage that both the old audiophiles revere and the young kids latch onto as the hip club sound. Probably because despite the technobabble - it actually sounds superior.

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