Do people still buy CDs?

for instance, I have Flight of the Conchord's self titled because the album art is so much fun to look at and the cd itself is fantastic.

I still buy albums on occasion. MP3's are okay but they sound.. not as good as CD's, I dunno maybe it's just me. I have the Demon Days album by the Gorillaz, and a few of The Who albums.

A few times people ask if they should get an iPod or a Zune. They want my opinion on it so I say get a CD player. Of course I usually get out voted on that idea because the iPod and all it's followups are the new "fad" nowadays.

I usually download albums first. If I really enjoy them, then I'll purchase them.

I did recently because they are portable and the artwork can be cool.

It's CDs, not CD's.

I buy CDs because I like to have physical copies, and I like the high-quality audio that comes along with the media. Artwork, booklets, etc. are nice as well. I have no problem with people who download, but I would pay extra for a CD version (or DVD, for that matter), even if the download was lossless. I simply would not buy MP3s or other lossy formats, unless that was the only option, and chances are I'd still avoid it. I'm absolutely against piracy however, even for sampling purposes, simply because just about every band out there has their music available for free, be it on YouTube, MySpace, etc.

Originally Posted by musical zombie.

for instance, I have Flight of the Conchord's self titled because the album art is so much fun to look at and the cd itself is fantastic.

I just saw them in concert a few nights ago. Jealous?

Originally Posted by Raunm

Same here. If I respect the band enough I'll purchase their album to support them. But if it's just a guilty pleasure or something I'll download it.

This right here. I'll buy the music, I mean, I don't always purchase the actual CD. iTunes store plz.

Some months ago, I bought Zelda: Majora's Mask original soundtrack (EU). One of the best investments in my life.

Else, I torrent most my stuff, and I'm going to use iTunes store when hell freezes over - one of the worst music services there is nowadays.
I'm trying to look for abilities to buy from Saifam Group, though...

I buy CDs. Sometimes. But I mostly borrow them from friends and then rip them to my computer.~ ^^

Originally Posted by nolan

I just saw them in concert a few nights ago. Jealous?

oh incredulously :<

Now I don't know what they're called, but one time at Best Buy I saw these mini-USBs that hold all the songs of a CD (and you just attach it to your MP3 to download). This was an option to people that had MP3s that didn't want to purchase their music online (and they no longer have a CD or computer I suppose). If you know what I'm talking about, could this be the next step of illiminating CDs altogether? CDs (and most hardware) are becoming the newest records. Even my parents (whom had this Record/Cassette/Radio player) got rid of their Record player the other week, and seriously, it's been in our family for well over 20 years!

If my parents realise that the Record is dead, then I know the music industry is doing something that's effective.

But to answer your initial question, yes I do buy CDs (very rarely) because all I own is a CD/cassette/radio.

-BGS

Originally Posted by BigGoronSword

Even my parents (whom had this Record/Cassette/Radio player) got rid of their Record player the other week, and seriously, it's been in our family for well over 20 years!

If my parents realise that the Record is dead, then I know the music industry is doing something that's effective.

Actually, interestingly enough there is a pretty significant resurgence in vinyl record sales, especially in the last few years or so. Sure, not enough that it is surpassing digital purchases or even CD sales, but enough that people are taking notice of it.

I think by virtue of the fact that a vinyl record always has been something of a collectible, especially more in certain years, they'll always be around. Heck, Paper + Plastick Records only releases material on vinyl and digitally, no CDs at all. If anything I think that is the future of music sales.

Though the whole business model needs an overhaul due the whole digital age thing.

LOL CDs are dying out slowly and slowly. MP3s are the future. But I still support CDs, they give a hard copy of your music as backup (at least for me). But if I ever want to save my mP3s, I just burn them on to a CD.

Buying MP3's still supports the artist too, the problem is, it asks for more DRM and trouble for the artist when it comes to that kind of stuff. Personally I'd want to go download the song for free, and send the money directly then have it go through the record companies. haha

I stopped buying cds cause they get scratched way to easy.

Originally Posted by Mafoofoo

Only for the bands or albums I love.

This.

why would anyone every buy mp3's? let's compare mp3's, vs. CD's, vs. vinyl lps

mp3's
quality:passable
price:cheap
convenience:high
artwork:a thumbnail photo if any
lyrics: no
extras/notes: no

CD's
quality:Good
price:generally as good as mp3's
convenience:moderately high
artwork: about a 6" by 6" photo
lyrics: yes
extras/notes: yes

Vinyl Lp's
quality: depends on opinion, good-excellent
price:used is cheap, new is expensive
convenience: not too convenient
artwork: huge 12" by 12" pictures
lyrics: yes, sometimes large printed/phrased lyric books
extras/arwork: yes

As you can see, mp3's have lower quality and don't come with any extras, however they are the cheapest and most convenient, so many people are atracted to them

CD's offer good sound quality, decent price, and extras like art, lyrics, and extras. Favored by those who like to actually hold their music and have the extras

LP's are a mixed bag. They have advantages over cd and mp3 by having huge cover art, and large printed lyrics/extras. Vinyl is favored by audiophiles and some say that they sound better than cd's. Whether they do or not is personnal preference, some prefer one over the other. Overall, they are least popular because they are and older medium and are less convenient than Cd's and mp3's.


I myself prefer cd's and lp's, I rarely ever download mp3's.

LOL CDs are dying out slowly and slowly.

on day people will wake up and realize mp3's suck and Cd's will come back. Vinyl (which everyone thought was dead long ago) has been recently making a comeback. Sales have increased 80% annually over the past few years.

Originally Posted by sugarpoultry

MP3s are the future.

Not really. Digital storage is the future. MP3? Not really. Better formats will take over, maybe .ogg if we are lucky. mp3 has been helped by good compression/quality ratio lately, but there's better formats available.

Originally Posted by zeldask8r

mp3's
quality:passable

Or, with 320kbps, there's almost no difference at all. There's also lossless formats like FLAC.

Originally Posted by zeldask8r

artwork:a thumbnail photo if any

Say what? The artwork I have for my mp3's aren't any "thumbnail photos" - unless you consider 1600x1200 or similar sizes "thumbnail"

Originally Posted by zeldask8r

lyrics: no

Again, what are you talking about?
foobar handles this, and if you don't use foobar, there's lots of lyrics search engines.

Originally Posted by zeldask8r

extras/notes: no

last.fm
discogs.com
anything else?

Originally Posted by zeldask8r

quality:Good

No, full.

Originally Posted by zeldask8r

price:generally as good as mp3's

Again, on/off.

Originally Posted by zeldask8r

lyrics: yes

Not always. My Bomfunk MC's disc doesn't have lyrics, and most of the tracks there have vocals.

Originally Posted by zeldask8r

quality: depends on opinion, good-excellent

Eh? It's very, very rarely higher than CD.

Originally Posted by zeldask8r

As you can see, mp3's have lower quality and don't come with any extras, however they are the cheapest and most convenient, so many people are atracted to them

CD's offer good sound quality, decent price, and extras like art, lyrics, and extras. Favored by those who like to actually hold their music and have the extras

LP's are a mixed bag. They have advantages over cd and mp3 by having huge cover art, and large printed lyrics/extras. Vinyl is favored by audiophiles and some say that they sound better than cd's. Whether they do or not is personnal preference, some prefer one over the other. Overall, they are least popular because they are and older medium and are less convenient than Cd's and mp3's.

Or, your analysis just generally sucks.

price:generally as good as mp3's

lol where do you buy cds

Originally Posted by sugarpoultry

LOL CDs are dying out slowly and slowly. MP3s are the future. But I still support CDs, they give a hard copy of your music as backup (at least for me). But if I ever want to save my mP3s, I just burn them on to a CD.

I think we've been over this before. What you mean is that digital distribution is the future. I think it's going to happen, even though I don't know if I like it. However, MP3 simply cannot replace lossless formats, and I don't think it's going to happen, ever. Bandwidth and storage are increasing rapidly anyway, such that 300-500 MB for a single album (using FLAC or similar) is very feasible for most people. The only problem is portable players, which have limited space, but of course, you can just downsample to something like MP3 with those.

Originally Posted by musical zombie.

lol where do you buy cds

Buying online, most CDs are about $10-12 US on average. Compared to about $1 per song on iTunes, that's pretty much identical, even with shipping costs. Paying a bit more is worth it for the improved quality, artwork and physical media anyway.

Originally Posted by sea

I buy CDs because I like to have physical copies, and I like the high-quality audio that comes along with the media. Artwork, booklets, etc. are nice as well. I have no problem with people who download, but I would pay extra for a CD version (or DVD, for that matter), even if the download was lossless. I simply would not buy MP3s or other lossy formats, unless that was the only option, and chances are I'd still avoid it. I'm absolutely against piracy however, even for sampling purposes, simply because just about every band out there has their music available for free, be it on YouTube, MySpace, etc.

Honestly, I can't really tell the difference between a "lossy" 320k Mp3 or 256k M4a file and a FLAC file. Even when I'm using my Audio Technica cans. And I doubt that anyone else can either.

But yea, I like CD's because of the packins, but I hate having to put all of them somewhere, I'm running out of space on my shelf.

Originally Posted by Dark Wyrm

Honestly, I can't really tell the difference between a "lossy" 320k Mp3 or 256k M4a file and a FLAC file. Even when I'm using my Audio Technica cans. And I doubt that anyone else can either.

I don't know what model Audio Technicas you have, but in my experience they're not the best headphones. That said, the difference between a well-encoded MP3 and lossless is not a major issue for most types of music (classical/orchestral music and certain types of electronic and pop music can suffer quite a bit). I still prefer lossless for archival purposes, and simply because I strive for accuracy in reproduction of my media.