Will iTunes kill the CD?

(Credit: Steve Guttenberg)

We're getting close to the day when a major artist or group releases a download-only album. Maybe it'll be the next Rolling Stones or Sufjan Stevens album. That'll be a dark day.

Just last week, I went to my local record store to pick up "Hemispheres," the new release of Bill Frisell and Jim Hall, a jazz guitar duo. I left the store empty-handed.

Next, I checked on Amazon.com. It stocked the album in MP3 format only. Great, but I refuse to pay $17.98 for a crappy-sounding MP3.

Next, I checked the record label's site, and yes, you can buy the CD there, but I wasn't in the mood to navigate the trials and tribulations of its order form. I already own a lot of Frisell and Hall CDs; I guess I don't need another one.

Tower Records shuttered its doors a few years ago, and now another big record chain, Virgin Megastores, is closing down, so there are fewer and fewer places that sell CDs.

These days, I'm buying more and more CDs from Amazon.com, but even Amazon may not move enough product to justify the labels pressing CDs. And local record shops are an endangered species; here in New York, the better ones are barely hanging on.

Still, the fact is that people buy more CDs than downloads, and download sales aren't expected to surpass those of CDs for another couple of years. There's a lot of conflicting information floating around.

Then again, LP sales are on the rise, so maybe we'll wind up with the choice of low-quality iTunes, MP3s, or vinyl. That would be strange.

If you couldn't buy CDs anymore, would you care?

Would you buy vinyl instead?

Do iTunes sound about the same as free downloads? If they do, why buy them?

[beekface]

I agree with your projection (MP3s and vinyl). Except with larger (and cheaper) hard drives and the arrival of USB 3.0, I could see more lossless choices at MP3 stores (for the same price). Also, I believe that there will still be a market for CDs, especially for Top 40 artists. However, they may start coming in different forms... such as more 5.1 audio, always bundled with video footage, singles or EP's, etc. But I definitely see and even greater resurgence in vinyl for those who are nostalgic for physical media.

[askj113]

Hopefully we'll get a quality war the same way we're having with megapixels in cameras and resolution in hdtvs. If we can get the average consumer to care about the numbers, then maybe we'll see a quality boost. Especially with the drop in hard drive space cost, that cost has become practically nil.

http://alittlenegative.wordpress.com/

[waldolc]

MP3's are great for what the offer: which is a way to transport a really large music collection in smaller packages. Since the music industry is cyclical and likes to cater to whatever the latest fad is, it was bound to have sales of CD's slump. As a format, it may eventually die, but people who are really into music desire to have a hard copy of their tunes in a lossless format. If that media is to be a gold plated read only USB drive then so be it.

[bob.mcclenahan]

I reluctantly quit buying CDs a while back. Most recent example: a couple of weeks ago, the latest CD from my favorite band was released. I drove to five stores looking for it. (Living in Napa, we don't have too many choices.) Target, Best Buy, FYE, and Wal-Mart didn't carry it. An indie store did have it, but they charged $19. I went home and bought it on iTunes for $10. iTunes may not have the utmost quality, but they do have convenience, fair prices, speed, and inventory. I could have bought the CD from Amazon, but it was $14 plus shipping and time.

[blusky08]

IT DOESN'T MATTER WHAT ANYONE HERE THINKS OR WANTS.
THIS IS 2009, AND THE WORLD IS MOVING AWAY FROM PHYSICAL FORMATS, PERIOD.

[ikramerica--2008]

You were unwilling to pay the premium of a CD. Manufacturing, shipping, and charging enough to support your indie store. You are part of the problem here (no judgment, just fact) so you can't lament the result.

I stopped buying music a long time ago, but when I did buy it, I tried to frequent indie stores to support them. And I still do once in a while. I do download singles online, but albums, i try to buy in stores.

But I guess I'm one of the waning few.

[lk335]

Unfortunatley there is nothing like owning the real CD. Nothing like sitting there in your bedroom reading the liner notes and listening to the disc.

Digital liner notes just do not have that effect, their not as personal, it's not as close a connection to the artist as having the real thing right in your hand.

I've bought a lot of vinyl recently, and still pickup as much music as I can on CD, especially independant or local artist.

But it's not just the connection to the artist I get from having a CD or vinyl of their record. It's also the sound quality. I have a pretty sensitive ear and have issues listening to lossless or mp3 encoded files. I can even tell the diff between a burnt copy and a retail copy if the media used for the copy isn't high quality. It's more of a curse than anything.

this is why i still have a 6 disc changer in my car, this is why I do not own an ipod, this is why I still have a Sony discman, this is why I still have a record player in my house.

[mhaven98]

"I can even tell the diff between a burnt copy and a retail copy if the media used for the copy isn't high quality."

- agreed with you until this unbelievable comment. Copied CDs, regardless of the media, will sound exactly the same if it remains uncompressed. That is, 1:1 copy. Bad quality media will result in short lived and possible unplayable CDs. Your CD player either reads it, or it doesn't. The data is exactly the same so if the player can read it, assuming you are playing both the original and the copy on the same system, there will be no difference. The belief that you can tell the difference between original CD and 1:1 copied version is in your head.

[askj113]

If it's true lossless, and you mean cd quality, then the problem is probably with the DAC or your speakers (if you're playing it on computer speakers, then no it's not a fair comparison). I was under the impression lossless meant cd quality, and cds are digital so it should be exactly the same.

http://alittlenegative.wordpress.com/

[adlieb]

IK335, you got it man.

I usually purchase a CD or two every week or every two weeks. I love taking the plastic off the jewel case, looking at the CD itself to see if there are any cool designs on it, and reading the liner cover to cover, usually reading the lyrics of songs before I listen to them, just to have a better frame or reference.

I also like listening to an album all the way through. For me, I have the hopeful belief that the creation process of the songs and the order in which they are cut are tied into the creative processes that the artist(s) has gone through, in the creation of the album.

All artists have a creative process of some sort, and most pull from their experiences to express what is going on around them. When I buy an hard copy album (CD or vinyl) I make it a point to experience the music the way the artist intended, from start to finish.

Once in a while you'll find that magical album that just has such a flow and will tell a story, you won't be able to take it out of your player for days or weeks (sometimes even months). It's at that point for me when purchasing a physical album becomes so much more of an experience than just downloading a song cuz you want to hear it.

Plus, downloads suck, and if you have a decent stereo or audio listening station (home theater) of some sort, go buy some physical media and treat yourself.

[K177135]

Wait, people still BUY music?

[DanielDaly]

Yeah, I figured everyone just stole it off P2P nowadays.

[ematcion]

You mean you steal your music?

[flemeister]

You expect people to make music for no return?

[perontopsp]

@ flemeister

You expect people to read your comment and change their reasoning?

[sharmajunior]

iTunes can go and kill the CD, in the meantime just like everyone else (well most ppl) i will go and download that for free or get it off of someone's shared iTunes library...LOL

[terminalblue]

almost 10,000 songs in my collection...less then 500 of those are from CD's that i own.

[flemeister]

@perontopsp

No, but it's there for anyone to consider if they want.

[research1st]

I still buy CD?s, just ordered 9 CD?s 2 nights ago, from Amazon. Took the free shipping option, as I can wait the few extra days to get them. Total cost $116.00. A little more expensive than usual because of a couple hard to find selections I made. I don?t like the ?download craze? and the crappy lossy formats. I prefer to have a good quality hard copy in hand, in a lossless format. I find it hard to believe that one day the only way you will buy music is through an internet service via download. Could that really happen? The CD as a format may grow obsolete, but I?ve got believe some other hard copy format would be there to replace it. At least I pray so?.

[Ultramog]

I still refuse to pay for crappy media. HDTracks is great for what it is, but they only carry 1/4 of the music I buy. But I've been buying less as it gets harder to find CDs and the price is going *up* of all things. Totally ridiculous. When CDs first came out the were "temporarily" priced at $10 until the cost of manufacture was amortized. I was a recording artist at the time and our royalty rate went *down* to cover the poor record company's expense with the transition to CD. And now CDs are back up to $15 from Amazon who don't even maintain brick & morter; they've probably cut the supply chain in half. The more I think about it the more infuriating it becomes.

[nicmart]

If you factor in inflation over the past 25 years, you will find that CDs are actually cheaper now than in the past. It is also now far easier to find quality used copies of CDs.

[Balloonknot]

That's like someone in the early part of the 20th century asking "Do you think automobiles are going to hurt the sale of horses?"

More appropriate would be to ask how soon and to what extent.

[Waam]

Yes - I still love CD's... but honestly... would I rather have a shelf full of CD's or iTunes? This one is easy man.

As for buying CD's... I have always and still think there is something special with coming home from the store with the physical disc, but unless it's from a more popular artist or you have a great local store around, iTunes is just way too convienent and you can't almost compete with it's prices most of the time. Besides, it's going to end up on iTunes anyway, people are just going to realize it doesn't matter.

[Joliet Eddie]

Spinning discs? All that plastic? We quit buying CDs about 3 years ago. We've kept them around for sure, but no new ones. The only time that I play them anymore is in my car which does NOT have an AUX input for the iPod. It's annoying to have to burn MP3 CDs for that purpose.

Audiophiles complained when the CD began to displace vinyl back in the 80s and the same complaints are being heard now about digital tracks. The quality of the sound is highly impressionistic and the ear of the listener and the listener's taste in music are part of that equation. Thomas Edison, the inventor of recorded sound, focused on the technical quality of his recordings and his phonographs, forgetting that the vast majority of the listening public wanted popular music, by known artists, in an affordable format, and loud enough to dance to when they had company over. His label went out of business in 1929. The market just won't rally around technically superior formats that require more expensive equipment and/or inconvenient formats.

I won't shed one tear when the last CD disappears from the shelves. It's been good 25 year run, but it's time to move on.

[Rob8001]

You're right. The "market" won't. Sad, but most could care less about it. They just want something going on between their ears, while they are walking, talking, having a drink, on the subway or Starbucks. I'm not an audiophile, but I DO enjoy listening to good music. As for the gentleman that referred to the hissing and skips on vinyl? Well the true audiophile, with the $300 plus cartridge and $3,000.00 turntable took care of his vinyl and didn't get a hiss, etc. I have an ipod and yes have on order $1,400 Sennheiser HD800's and the $2,000. amp to run the damn thing. But it's for when you really want to listen and I mean listen. Bang and Olufsen earphones are good enough for the subway and the street, not my library.

[Nik_I]

i would never consider buying an entire album on itunes when i could buy a hard copy CD for almost the same price. But really, vinyl sounds quite appealing. i was excited when i heard U2's new album was going to be released on vinyl as well, but it got heavily delayed so i didn't bother waiting for it. But seriously, if cd's were completely replaced by LP's, i wouldn't miss our little digital friend for a second.

[AlSleet]

I've got lots of vinyl (and not going to get rid of it), have tons of CDs (and only buy them used), and am beyond fed up with MP3s--they sound horrible. Besides sounding like junk all it took was a disk failure to make my chilly reception ice cold--it wasn't one item lost, but hundreds. For me the physical presentation of an LP gives the greatest overall joy, the CD gives excellent sound (but damn that type is small and there is no way it could cost as much to make as a record). MP3s--I just don't get why somebody would settle for rotten sound because it's portable.

[friscoG]

I still buy CD's of artist that I like and want to support. The only time that i'll buy off itunes is if the song is unavailable in physical format. Now do I have a mp3 player.....sure, and I have mp3 encoded CD's but a well mixed CD sounds so much better on a quality audio system. Unfortunately, we'll probably be stuck with an inferior format as with vhs, lcd tv, etc.

[NYCgoalie]

Vinyl is bulky, a pain to store, a pain to handle and the equipment is bulky and definatley NOT portable.

Yes, Vinyl may sound (on average) better than a CD. But you can't escape the fact that CD's are just better than vinyl is so many ways.

And people will always want CD's because CD's are a better storage medium than vinyl and downloads. Vinyl has to be away from heat and takes up a lot of space. Downloads can become corrputed if your hard drive dies or can be accidentally erased.

I can see why record companies want to stop pressing CD's. CD's have a manufacturing and distribution cost that downloads don't. So to stop pressing CD's would merely be a cost saving function.

But I'll always buy more CD's than I would buy downloaded MP3's. If the record companies ever decide to stop producing vinyl, it'll be a sad day.

[b_baggins]

Ah, yes. vinyl. The hiss and pop. Those were the days.

Audiophiles crack me up. Talk about willful self-delusion.

[paulimusmaximus]

Of course Virgin, and Tower records went out of business. Except maybe in a big city, most people who worked at the stores were young kids, so they didn't know too much about music, so there was no special reason to buy your music there. Plus you can get the same CD (popular music at least) at Wal-Mart or Best Buy for $5 dollars cheaper. Obviously the people who came in to the stores for the stuff Wal-Mart doesn't sell wasn't enough to keep them in business. So CD's probably will be around for a while, but only ones that stores like Wal-Mart are willing to sell, and the rest will probably just be digital only.

[DannyKhuu]

Yes I Would Care if I would not be able to buy CDs. I don't know, but there's something incredibly fun when I go to my local cd store Rasputin and hunt for CDs. I like to have the album and rip the CDs in WAV format. The closing of Virgin Megastore really depresses me.

[carguy622]

I prefer purchasing CDs, ripping them in 256 AAC, and putting the CD on the self as my high-quality loose less back-up. Then if I ever decide to re-rip everything at a higher bit rate or if loose my hard drive (although I do back up once a month to a portable drive), the original high quality stuff is still there. The price difference, as of now, is not great enough for me to download albums.

[jw55]

When downloads become the only way to obtain music I will stop buying music. I have over a thousand albums on cd, another thousand on vinyl and I even have some off the air music that's stored on cassette and vhs. Almost nothing that I am interested in buying can be found at Best Buy, Borders, etc. Here in Boston we do have Newbury Comics which makes a noble effort to keep in stock music for everyone including classical, jazz and broadway and their prices are reasonable. I make an effort to buy as much of my music as I can from them, but I still end up having to buy a lot of stuff on line.

I realize that my opinion of the ipod world in which we live is of little consequence and I can't blame the kids for not caring about the 2nd rate crap they're being served because it's all they know. Most of today's popular music is so poorly recorded that you are probably better off listening to it on an ipod because it's going to sound like crap on anything that's actually capable of reproducing decent sound. I love music and I hope I will always be interested in hearing new things that I haven't heard of or even thought of before, but I would rather listen to old 78rpm shellac played on an ancient Victrola than an mp3 download.

[joshua.goldman]

While I have a subscription to eMusic and will occasionally download from Amazon, I still buy a lot of CDs because I like being able to actually have a physical product to own for albums I really like. I trade discs on Lala.com, I buy used from a local store or online at Spun.com, and heck, I even belong to BMG's music service still, which regularly gives me steep discounts and free S&H to the point where I can get albums for less than $6. And since BMGs all done online now, there's no stupid cards to send back and they've started adding new releases earlier to their catalog to stay competitive with other online retailers. So it's cheaper than iTunes and Amazon AND I get a disc.

[WTF2009]

Why does this have to be about iTunes killing CDs? MP3 Via napster was a bigger threat, it is the format that should be discussed. I really get tired of the product placement in everything CNET does.

[myles taylor]

Because iTunes is the current market leader in digital downloads, and it accounts or about 75% of all music downloads. Also, it's currently the leader in selling music of all formats. If anyone is going to kill the CD, it will be iTunes. Napster hasn't been relevant for sometime and to bring it up today would be pointless.