I'm not changing formats again. It took me 30 years to replace most of my old vinyl with CDs. I don't think music downloading is something that I'll want to do unless that is the only way left to buy music. The experts keep saying the CD is dead but I just can't see that happening quite yet. How long will it be before I walk in WalMart and find the CD racks empty?

Thanx, Russ

Is Outrage !

 Call me a luddite, I don't think I'll ever get into the downloading.  I want media !

Was it MP3 downloads in 18th c. Russia ?  Am thinking was not !

Oblio:

Call me a luddite

I like media I can hold in my hands, too. I like real libraries... I don't mind holding dead trees in my hands.

Man, I need to visit Macon. My longtime best friend may retire there with his family, and I may be up for a move further south.

Bruce

I think once wireless internet becomes more readily available, that we'll eventually start seeing streaming media that is available pretty much anywhere you want to go. It'll probably start happening once cell phones are able to stream cd quality music. At that time, the CD will probably be completely replaced with solid state memory too.

I'm actually surprised that not many people are offering their music for download/streaming through the interent in lossless formats, but I think most of that revolves around the lack of reliable DRM and the fear of lost profits. I'm of the opinion that piracy is one of the biggest problems in the industry today, but I don't think it's the actual piracy itself as much as the music industry's response to the piracy that is causing all the problems. In some coffee book somewhere there's actually an essay that I wrote that dives into some of these issues. I'm just dissapointed that the iTunes store doesn't offer anything better than mp3. I would be buying a lot more music if there were lossless formats available.

DrWho:

I think once wireless internet becomes more readily available, that we'll eventually start seeing streaming media that is available pretty much anywhere you want to go. It'll probably start happening once cell phones are able to stream cd quality music. At that time, the CD will probably be completely replaced with solid state memory too.

I'm actually surprised that not many people are offering their music for download/streaming through the interent in lossless formats, but I think most of that revolves around the lack of reliable DRM and the fear of lost profits. I'm of the opinion that piracy is one of the biggest problems in the industry today, but I don't think it's the actual piracy itself as much as the music industry's response to the piracy that is causing all the problems. In some coffee book somewhere there's actually an essay that I wrote that dives into some of these issues. I'm just dissapointed that the iTunes store doesn't offer anything better than mp3. I would be buying a lot more music if there were lossless formats available.

 

Agree on all of the above.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/8368895.stm

 I would like to hear something better than CD quality sound available for downloading, not to say there is not already and i just dont know about it.

Is it me or does anybody else prefer the sound of clean vinyl over CD's, maybe just my Sony ES just getting worn out.

Music with good sound seems harder and harder to find like they forgot or just don't care anymore about quality.

Still sticking with 8-track CD's until something else blows me away.

In reality of course CD's are already obsolete but, as was the case with vinyl, they will never truely disappear altogether.

The sad thing is that the replacement will not be as good a quality - even though that is quite possible because the majority of the music buying public simply do not care.

MP3 and its multiplicity of variants, loseless or otherwise, are the standard now - some better than others quality wise. There are already "audiophile" products that allow streaming over bluetooth from any mobile device that supports it. These will get worse in quality but much cheaper. Within a couple of years you will have mobile phones with 60 plus GB of storage for media (plus camera's and all the rest of the gadgets) that will in effect be entire entertainment systems in the palm of your hand. Once you can fit all of your media onto a single portable device that will become the standard almost by default.

Apple's Iphone is leading the way here but there are many others now coming to the market.

Fully agree with Who on his post - the music industry needs to get its act together here to stop the pirates from taking the new frontier on their own.

Not sure but quality of all does vary. To be safe I just collect whatever media I can find RTR, CD, vinyl, and digital. Quality varies on all. Fidelity seems to matter less and less nowadays. Digital media and CD could be really good but they do crap mastering and lower the quality of the download. Bah humbug.

Marvel:

Oblio:

Call me a luddite

Ok, you're a Luddite!

I like media I can hold in my hands, too. I like real libraries... I don't mind holding dead trees in my hands.

Man, I need to visit Macon. My longtime best friend may retire there with his family, and I may be up for a move further south.

Bruce

Plenty of room, beer, food, & Klipsch here at my place

jason str:

 I would like to hear something better than CD quality sound available for downloading, not to say there is not already and i just dont know about it.

Is it me or does anybody else prefer the sound of clean vinyl over CD's, maybe just my Sony ES just getting worn out.

Music with good sound seems harder and harder to find like they forgot or just don't care anymore about quality.

Still sticking with 8-track CD's until something else blows me away.

Studio Masters

Given the season, I'd recommend the Messiah.  One of the finest performances and finest pieces of engineering I've ever heard.  Every other Messiah (we aren't talking religion here ) I own, including the vinyl, became obsolete when I got this one.

I would disagree with the venerable Max here.  At least for classical and jazz the formats are just getting better with the availability of feeds like these.  It costs no more to record high res than low, and with 1 bit 2.8 or 5.6mhz being a "universal" format that can be transcoded to any PCM format losslessly I see good days ahead.  

Dave

DrWho:

...but I think most of that revolves around the lack of reliable DRM and the fear of lost profits. I'm of the opinion that piracy is one of the biggest problems in the industry today, but I don't think it's the actual piracy itself as much as the music industry's response to the piracy that is causing all the problems...

But I believe that it will take a lot to unseat those companies that presently fund the copyright litigation.

Until then, your CDs are probably safe...

Chris

Oblio:

Call me a luddite, I don't think I'll ever get into the downloading.  I want media !

If I could download media and directly burn a real CD (i.e. without digital compression artifacts), and then print nice CD covers from the download, I'd probably download more.  Right now, that isn't available.

But note: used CDs on Amazon are holding down prices.  I've invested in a disk resurfacer (http://www.amazon.com/DSR-R1-DVD-Repair-Machine-Kit/dp/B000GX31G6/ref=sr_1_8?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1258724417&sr=8-8) that works in a couple of minutes to help newly bought used CDs play in the PS3 Blu-Ray player (notorious for not liking CDs that play on "real" CD players)...

Chris

Cask05:

But note: used CDs on Amazon are holding down prices.  I've invested in a disk resurfacer (http://www.amazon.com/DSR-R1-DVD-Repair-Machine-Kit/dp/B000GX31G6/ref=sr_1_8?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1258724417&sr=8-8) that works in a couple of minutes to help newly bought used CDs play in the PS3 Blu-Ray player (notorious for not liking CDs that play on "real" CD players)...

So would you recommend this device ?  Young kids & CD/DVDs don't mix too well.