CDs...will they become extinct?
 

CD players, and CDs, are not that popular anymore. Barely anyone buys them anymore... everyone has a MP3 player, or an Ipod,or a Zune.So, will the companies stop making CDs?

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Don't say, : "You still have access here? You're 10! STFU!" Or,: "Get Out."

I think they still produce vinyls and cassettes to some extent, but yes, CDs will get much scarcer with time. They are just expensive, uncomfortable to carry or store, easy to damage, their lossless music quality is over-rated and they rot with time.

Also, it's not that much of a sensitive topic unless someone's going to defend piracy.

why is this in the VA?

CD's will be surpassed with new things just like cassettes, VHS, and so on and so on.

Yes, they will. Too bad about all the nice artwork, though.

It's kinda debate...

you do know that the VA section is for things that are of a wee bit more sensitive topics then CD's

Moved to the appropriate section.

CDs are still the best sound you're going to get. You can make higher quality MP3s or just use WAVs but their file size is larger and a CD that's 700+ megs is going to really drag down the amount of songs you can fit onto your Ipod. I have a 30 GIG, which they don't make anymore, and I could fit probably around 40 CDs of that size. The Ipods that cost what I paid for mine are only 16 gig now and if you want anything bigger you gotta go 160 gig Which get expensive. You could get Ipod touches that are 32 and 62 but those are even more then the 160 gig. Most people don't care about the quality though and are used to the sound of MP3s.

Vinyl never went away. Every band I listen to releases a vinyl of their latest album. They're considered collectors items. CDs won't go away either. People like having a hard copy. I know download music is getting popular but people are still purchasing CDs. Downloading is nice for getting one or two songs off a CD if you don't like the whole thing but owning a hard copy is still better. I don't see them as hard to store. One CD case is half the size of a DVD case.

Some people can't even tell the difference between good and bad audio. I know a few people that doesn't hear ANY difference WHAT SO EVER between a 128 kbit/s mp3 and a 320 kbit/s mp3.

Then of course, those same people can't even tell the difference between the video qualities of DVD and Blu-ray.

I know a few people who claim that. I assume what they mean is the same as what I think regarding the Blu-Ray vs DVD debate: the difference just isn't obvious enough to validate the extra expenses.

As for CDs, I think that they will likely become endangered over the next several years in their means of professionally distributing music. Digital downloads are on the rise. Less storage requirements, fairly high quality (the places I'm aware of all do 256Kb/s now) as well as the warm & fuzzy feeling people get from not stealing. Oddly enough, vinyl may replace CD as the physical copy media of choice to record companies in the coming years. Still, CD-Rs will be around for ages since vinyl enscribers aren't publicly available and garage bands will always need their quick&dirty outlet.

CDs i doubt will ever go away. not everyone is keen to jump onto the Digital downloads bandwagon. the physical media for storing music will likely evolve much like the media for movies with Blu-Rays

What ever happened to audio DVDs? That sure was a good idea for the sake of audio quality. I suppose there just weren't enough labels willing to buy in though, huh?

I don't think CDs will become extinct because there are some people who prefer buying CDs to doing music downloads. I still buy them, and I don't have a hard time with storing CDs.

This is the main reason why I don't see CD's going extinct. When I spend a night down loading songs, I usually take them and back them up on a CD. I often make my own Various Artists Ultimate Collection to listen to on road trips and at work. Better than the radio, which seems to be 60% commercials or talk when I'm on the road.

I don't think any of the old stuff will be extinct... My dad has records, my brother uses 8-tracks... heck, I have music from youtube on a cassette tape I used to listen to in my old minivan. Old stuff will never truly die..

Grammophone
 

But grammophone records had the best album covers.

That's what angers me. I will eventually be forced by the millions of MP3 drones out there who do not demand quality for their money to give up buying cds. It blows my mind that people can listen to low quality mp3s and yet not hear the difference. When cymbals start to sound like windchimes, I know I am listening to garbage. Of course high quality MP3s are nice for a rare song here or there but I do not/will not pay money for music unless it is in a physical form that I can hold in my hand.
Jack

I am far from an audiophile, but I also have a hard time paying money for inferior MP3s. Most of the time the price of an MP3 album is the same as the physical CD, or if not, the price difference isn't enough to make it worth not getting the CD.

My CD collection is ripped at 320 kbps, and that's quite good enough for my damaged ears. The bigger deal for me is having the actual physical copy of the music. If my hard drive were to crash, the worst I'd have to do is re-rip all the CDs (and probably not even that, as I also keep everything on an iPod). I also like having the ability to choose what format I want my music in. Sometime down the road I might want everything ripped in a lossless format. Who knows. But I'll be sticking with CDs so that I can have those options.

I've bought like a whole two, maybe three albums offa iTunes. Its just not the same for me. I like to have the complete package - something that I can actually hold in my hands. When I buy an album, whilst listening to it for the first time, I like to read the booklet that comes with it, wether it be lyrics, or credits, or whatever. And a picture book on my computer just aint the same thing. Downloading is great for random songs that i'm after, but for albums, I want to actually have it. If my computer was to crash, and my ipod was to break, or be nicked, then i'd not have said record again. And on another note, if its an album I really love, I like to get it on vinyl also - because records are so much more lovely that cds. And yep, I do own a record player.

Albums
 

Maybe albums will no longer be released to CD within some years. Vinyl died and 8 Track died. Cartridge video games died. Compact Cassette and VHS tapes died (only some remain blank, for home tapings). Talking about home tapings, shouldn't they have killed music off by now?

I hope there will always be a tangible counterpart to the mp3 format.
The problem I see is intertwined with the concept of "cloud computing"
whereas there is no physical hard copy of the media, but on some
storage server elsewhere. The part I don't like about this I can see a
per-usage fee structure someday. If you have a physical copy of the
music/media in your hand, it's yours to own and listen to it as much as
you like and for how long.

The mp3 format is fine, but it does have limitations as it removes certain
sections of the audio frequency spectrum. I notice this phenomenon especially
with strings/synth strings. They seem hard to reproduce once they've been compressed.

Albums
 

I agree. Aren't there already albums who are only aviable digital? I know there are already such singles, and that has existed for years, but would like to know about albums?