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Yesterday's New York Times ran an interesting article in the Arts section, found at http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/28/arts/music/28musi.html?_r=1&th&emc=th&oref=slogin titled "Plunge in CD Sales Shakes Up Big Labels".

An excerpt: CD sales have plunged more than 20 percent this year, far outweighing any gains made by digital sales at iTunes and similar services. Aram Sinnreich, a media industry consultant at Radar Research in Los Angeles, said the CD format, introduced in the United States 24 years ago, is in its death throes. “Everyone in the industry thinks of this Christmas as the last big holiday season for CD sales,” Mr. Sinnreich said, “and then everything goes kaput.”

Is the CD format truly dying out? What do SOTW member think?

Personally, I do buy a lot fewer CDs these days, primarily because I already have a huge basic collection. I live outside the US, don't have the selection of new music CDs I'd like where I live, and find it painful to buy on the Web due to payment and import hassles. I do download - legally - but find the fidelity of downloads lacking compared to CDs, don't really find listening on my iPod pleasurable, and also miss the track information, musician listing, dates of recording, photos, etc. that you get with a CD. I can't imagine the CD format dying out to a format with lower sound fidelity and less information.

I guess I don't fit anyone's demographic. The technology these days makes downloading very convenient but I am interested in the music content, not the delivery mechanism.

 

[milandro]

I am buying less CD's than I used to few years ago. Partly this is due to the fact that there are downloads available (but I always prefer the real thing and to own a proper CD like I did prefer LP's to self copied cassettes in the past) but I tend to download things wich aren't available on CD or difficult to find. However the supply has dropped too! In the Netherlands there are less and less good CD's shops in Amsterdam, the capital, we are down to a couple! The National chains sell mostly DVD's nowadays and where you previously had a whole shop full of CD's now you find only DVD's.

 

[littlemanbighorn]

I still buy a lot of vinyl......

I rarely download music, since I looooooove liner notes and nice packaging.

The 'music industry' needs to take into account the fact that , if it continues to pump out uninspiring garbage, people will be less and less interested in spending $15 of their hard-earned money on some music that they'll lose interest in after a few listens.

 

[Bill Mecca]

I buy fewer CD's than before (4 kids) don't buy downloads, but let's see historically, the pundits predicted radio would kill newspapers, and video killed the radio star...

never kills them, just further segments the market.

and, it's hell on the eyes trying to read the liner notes on a download! :lol: