Will CDs die

[Mark]

In the line of music formats we still have vinyl going strong albeit in a niche market but cassettes have died as we don't need to analogue formats

CDs are just a digital storage mechanism and since there are much easier ways to deal with audio files which my today's standards are relatively small files it's almost certain the CD will disappear. I suppose 30 years is a good run for any format.

[Dave B]

Mine already have. Most went in boot fairs, some went on Music Magpie, and a lot went up the tip. In their place 2 hard drives backing each other up, each taking less space than a VHS tape and accessible from any device on my network. The CD player in the car has been used once in its life, everything else coming from my phone.

[schmenke]

Yep. I’ve been recently trying to get rid of much of my cd collection. I tried to sell some of them to a pawn shop and they didn't want anything to do with them (no, it's not because of my eclectic musical taste :p: ). I even offered them for free but the shop still didn’t want them as no one simply buys them anymore.

I ended up giving quite a few to a nephew and the rest are in boxes collecting dust in the basement :mark: .

Similar to Dave B, all my music now resides on a high capacity external HDD, about the size of a paperback novel.

I don’t think a cd has ever been inserted into the slot in either of our family vehicles.

[BleAivano]

"Will CDs die?"

I thought they were dead already. ;)

I also have a whole bunch of CDs as well currently positioned in the bookshelf in the living room.

Nowadays mainly all my music listening is done with Spotify or Youtube.

[555-04Q2]

I have a massive movie DVD/Blu Ray and music CD collection. While I store a lot now on hard drives, there is nothing quite as satisfying as fingering down a row of DVD's late at night until you find the one you want to watch :)

[Storm]

I have hardly played a CD in my home for the last year or so...mainly played music from my computer...In my car though, some of my favourite CDs get a lot of rotation. Most likely though, CDs are on their way out but like 555 said, still there is nothing like taking a CD out of a jewel case, putting it on the player and blasting the hell out of it while looking at the artwork/liner sheet.

[SGWilko]

I have about 450 movies that I converted from my DVD collection to MKV files and store on a NAS box. My Blu-Ray players are on the LAN and can play the MKV movies. I've not got a Blu-Ray drive in my PC yet, but will do and will start to convert those. Currently have 8TB of storage. The other NAS box is for music and photos etc. Normally buy a CD, rip it, then flog it..... CD's do, apparently, deteriorate over time. And what with Spotify, and now Netflix etc, CD & DVD's will gradually die out IMO.

[henners88]

I still use CD's in my car but at home its the iPhone steamed via Wifi to speakers around the house. I read an article on this recently and CD's are less redundant than you think. They still account for more than 60% of record sales which I was very surprised at. There are still people who buy music and wish to have a physical copy. I know I do. :)

[Rudy Tamasz]

CDs will survive as a niche product. There always will be an audience, which likes to have something tangible, admire the coverwork etc. Same thing happened to vinyls. They occupy a very marginal share of the music market, but they have their customers.

[Mark]

CDs will survive as a niche product. There always will be an audience, which likes to have something tangible, admire the coverwork etc. Same thing happened to vinyls. They occupy a very marginal share of the music market, but they have their customers.

My point is that vinyl occupies a space because of the quality of the analogue sound it produces. Nothing else can replicate what vinyl achieves. However a CD is literally just a digital audio file put into a disc, which you can store on a hard drive - so I don't see any point in their existance.

[henners88]

CDs will survive as a niche product. There always will be an audience, which likes to have something tangible, admire the coverwork etc. Same thing happened to vinyls. They occupy a very marginal share of the music market, but they have their customers.

My point is that vinyl occupies a space because of the quality of the analogue sound it produces. Nothing else can replicate what vinyl achieves. However a CD is literally just a digital audio file put into a disc, which you can store on a hard drive - so I don't see any point in their existance.
CD quality is still better than compressed files like MP3 though. There is still a large market for CD's as proven by the amount that are still sold.

[555-04Q2]

CDs will survive as a niche product. There always will be an audience, which likes to have something tangible, admire the coverwork etc. Same thing happened to vinyls. They occupy a very marginal share of the music market, but they have their customers.

My point is that vinyl occupies a space because of the quality of the analogue sound it produces. Nothing else can replicate what vinyl achieves. However a CD is literally just a digital audio file put into a disc, which you can store on a hard drive - so I don't see any point in their existance.
CD quality is still better than compressed files like MP3 though. There is still a large market for CD's as proven by the amount that are still sold.

I used to have a Lin Sander turntable that played vinyl records with amazing clarity and quality. To this day I am yet to hear a better sound come from and other device that can match the old Lin Sander's quality :)

[Mark]

Yes CD can be better quality than MP3 but there's no reason why hard drives cannot store uncompressed music to the same quality.

[555-04Q2]

Yes CD can be better quality than MP3 but there's no reason why hard drives cannot store uncompressed music to the same quality.

I am yet to hear a stored music file (compressed or otherwise) that sounds as good as a CD does and I am also yet to hear a CD that sounds as good and a vinyl record played on a high quality turntable.

[Mark]

That's almost certainly subjective on your part. As I'm sure you're aware the data on a CD is just a file.

[555-04Q2]

Yes I am :) and I still stand by what I said about the sound quality comparison for the different formats :) Vinyl, amazingly, is still the best quality if you have the right table to play them :)

[Mark]

It's not surprising as an analogue recording done well will always be better than digitally sampled.

[henners88]

I typed out a response earlier and it isn't showing up. Can't be bothered doing it again!

[D-Type]

If you were listening 'blind' do you think you really could hear the difference between, vinyl or a good quality CD played on comparable equipment?

It's all in the equipment you play it back on. Compressed data on a memory stick will sound as good as a CD if played on, say, a computer with speakers speakers from Poundland. But play it back thrugh good quality equipment and you will be able to hear the difference. The same applies to CD vs vinyl - the playback system must be as good for both recordings.

[555-04Q2]

Very true D-Type :) But you can hear a definite difference between CD's/digital and vinyl. Vinyl has a more natural sound than the other formats. But as you say, you need the best equipment on both sides to distinguish between them :)

[janneppi]

I had a look at what it would would take to install a bluetooth audio dongle into my Civic which doesn't even have a audio jack on the front. Looking at how much of the dashboard I have to rip apart, I'd say CD's won't be replaced any time soon in my car. :)

Someone needs to create a cd-version of this. :D
http://cdn-c.verkkokauppa.com/images/86/36515_01-300x225.jpg

[555-04Q2]

:rotflmao:

[schmenke]

Original music recorded directly to digital format will sound much better than cd and far better than vinyl. Music transferred or “ripped” from another format to digital requires compression that relies on processing by algorithms resulting in a loss in sound quality. The compression and resulting audio quality is only as good as the complexity and thoroughness of the algorithm used.

Nowadays uncompressed audio files are available with fantastic (“lossless”) sound quality however the file size is huge. Some bluray movies are now available with uncompressed audio formats, although to experience it requires an audio playback device (receiver or bluray machine) that recognizes the format.

[schmenke]

I still use CD's in my car but at home its the iPhone steamed via Wifi to speakers around the house. ...

Is your car not equipped with Bluetooth audio? This is what I use to listen to my iPhone music in my car (when no listening to satellite radio) :)

[henners88]

I still use CD's in my car but at home its the iPhone steamed via Wifi to speakers around the house. ...

Is your car not equipped with Bluetooth audio? This is what I use to listen to my iPhone music in my car (when no listening to satellite radio) :)
My car is a 58 plate so no it's not.

[Dave B]

Even a £50 aftermarket head unit will support bluetooth and/or USB, and most can control iPhones directly. I don't even have to get my phone out of my pocket, it just syncs automatically and I use the steering wheel controls. I could use voice control but screaming "OK Galaxy" tends to make one look a bit of a twunt.

[airshifter]

My CDs aren't going to die. Beyond the tactile element, I hate lossy formats. As Schmenke mentioned above, most lossless formats these days sound really good, but they take so much space there is little if any advantage to them. For me the tactile thing is more just quickly and easily looking through some CDs vs scrolling up and down on the computer to find what I'm in the mood for. For any mobile application this gets even worse, whether it be phone, car audio, etc.

As for digital formats, most original music these days is recorded with the CD quality output as the standard. Though there are formats that allow higher sampling rates and such, once again many if not most PC, car audio, or other mobile platforms don't have the hardware to take advantage of it. So essentially you could get a recording with a sound quality level your equipment can't handle regardless.

As for vinyl, I'm not one that gets that warm fuzzy feeling from it. I still have some around, mostly in hopes that at some point someone who loves vinyl will grossly overpay for it because it's vinyl. In terms of sound quality it gives me nothing I can't hear on a CD unless the CD conversion was complete crap, which does sometimes happen with the older music. Remasters from original recordings IMO have a lot more dynamic range and impact on CD vs vinyl. I have some of the gold remasters that will expose sounds I never knew existed when I had the recordings on vinyl.

[Alexamateo]

I had a look at what it would would take to install a bluetooth audio dongle into my Civic which doesn't even have a audio jack on the front. Looking at how much of the dashboard I have to rip apart, I'd say CD's won't be replaced any time soon in my car. :)

Someone needs to create a cd-version of this. :D
http://cdn-c.verkkokauppa.com/images/86/36515_01-300x225.jpg

I used to have one of these! :D

[airshifter]

That is just another example of all this fancy new tech stuff.


I used to have one of these....

http://i.ebayimg.com/00/s/NDAwWDcyMA==/z/wIsAAOxy4t1Sjzj~/$_35.JPG?set_id=880000500F


:D

[henners88]

Even a £50 aftermarket head unit will support bluetooth and/or USB, and most can control iPhones directly. I don't even have to get my phone out of my pocket, it just syncs automatically and I use the steering wheel controls. I could use voice control but screaming "OK Galaxy" tends to make one look a bit of a twunt.
My phone syncs via bluetooth to the hands-free built into the car and if I decide not to trust the sat nav in the dashboard, I can use it on the phone and it seems to speak through the speakers in the car. Not sure if a bluetooth dongle would interfere with all this? I tend to listen to the radio in the car these days as most of my travelling is to and from work. For a car that has pretty much all the gadgets, auto wipers, sat nav, climate control, cruise control, parking sensors.. why has it not at least got an AUX port built into the radio? I bought the car second hand obviously and its an ex demonstrator, and the radio/sat nav was a £1200 optional extra when new, you'd think it would be iPod capable. :mad:

[Dave B]

We got one of these, which does pretty much everything.

Is there an equivalent for your car?

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Car-DVD-GPS-Opel-Vauxhall-Corsa-Antara-Vectra-Zafira-Astra-Meriva-Vivaro-Stereo-/171072979052?pt=UK_Audio_TV_Electronics_In_Car_Ent ertainment_GPS_In_Car_Audio_Players_PP&hash=item27d4be806c

[henners88]

This is the one in my car Dave and I dare say I could get it upgraded rather than buy a complete new stereo, but cheers.

http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/11/28/ageju8u4.jpg

I'd be happy with an aux port so at least I could plug a mini jack into it :)

[555-04Q2]

This is the one in my car Dave and I dare say I could get it upgraded rather than buy a complete new stereo, but cheers.

http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/11/28/ageju8u4.jpg

I'd be happy with an aux port so at least I could plug a mini jack into it :)

Good to see your missus is camera trained :p:

[schmenke]

...I'd be happy with an aux port so at least I could plug a mini jack into it :)

I drive a 2013 Hyundai Elantra, and although it has the furthest thing from a premium audio system (well, to be frank, it has the furthest anything premium :mark: ), it is equipped with an aux jack input and a USB port, not to mention the hands-free Bluetooth, which as Dave mentioned, syncs automatically with the music library on the iPod.

[555-04Q2]

...I'd be happy with an aux port so at least I could plug a mini jack into it :)

I drive a 2013 Hyundai Elantra, and although it has the furthest thing from a premium audio system (well, to be frank, it has the furthest anything premium :mark: ), it is equipped with an aux jack input and a USB port, not to mention the hands-free Bluetooth, which as Dave mentioned, syncs automatically with the music library on the iPod.

Snap! I bought a white 2013 Hyundai Elantra 5 weeks ago to run the kids to school and back :D I was actually quite surprised how comfortable it was and took it straight after the test drive :)

[henners88]

...I'd be happy with an aux port so at least I could plug a mini jack into it :)

I drive a 2013 Hyundai Elantra, and although it has the furthest thing from a premium audio system (well, to be frank, it has the furthest anything premium :mark: ), it is equipped with an aux jack input and a USB port, not to mention the hands-free Bluetooth, which as Dave mentioned, syncs automatically with the music library on the iPod.
My car is 5 years old and I didn't spec it new because I bought it second hand. If I could have afforded the 20 grand it cost new, I would have made sure it was included. :)

[schmenke]

...
Snap! I bought a white 2013 Hyundai Elantra 5 weeks ago to run the kids to school and back :D I was actually quite surprised how comfortable it was and took it straight after the test drive :)

Yeah, it is a decent little car. When purchasing about a year ago, I researched (and test-drove) many competitor vehicles including the Honda Civic, Toyota Corolla, Nissan Somethingorother, Mazda 3, Ford Focus and probably a couple of others. The Elenatra turned up on the top of my list as best bang-for-buck (the Mazda 3 was on my short list).

I'll bet you opted out of the heated seats option? :p:

[555-04Q2]

...
Snap! I bought a white 2013 Hyundai Elantra 5 weeks ago to run the kids to school and back :D I was actually quite surprised how comfortable it was and took it straight after the test drive :)

Yeah, it is a decent little car. When purchasing about a year ago, I researched (and test-drove) many competitor vehicles including the Honda Civic, Toyota Corolla, Nissan Somethingorother, Mazda 3, Ford Focus and probably a couple of others. The Elenatra turned up on the top of my list as best bang-for-buck (the Mazda 3 was on my short list).

I'll bet you opted out of the heated seats option? :p:

We have a natural heater over here, it's called the sun! You'll see it in a few months boet :p:

Yeah I was blown away by the Elantra! I was actually going to go buy a 2013 VW Jetta 1.4 TSI when a friend of mine said I should check out the Elantra rather and pocket the extra cash 50k for beer money. Glad I did!

[rjbetty]

Will CDs die?

Most compact discs are made from non-living material so I think it'll be ok.

[yodasarmpit]

Already dead for me, along with DVD's.

Between cloud, phone, and flash drives my content is available without the need for optical disks.

[Valve Bounce]

My daughter just bought a BOSE sound system smaller than a loaf of bread for A$200 and I was amazed at the quality of sound. I was looking for a sub woofer somewhere in the room but this little unit was all there was. It's called"" soundlink minibluetooth speaker" and you can find it on the BOSE website :bonce: :bonce: . I am going to JB Hi-Fi down to Chadstone to get one tomorrow. I will also bring my ipad mini to Apple Store there for the guy to show me how it works. It has 64 mb memory so will then transfer all my favorite CD's to that as well as to my Samsung Galaxy SIII via my desktop PC. Any other music that I need will be downloaded by my daughter. My biggest concerns will then be what to do with my DENON tuner amplifier which weighs so much I can hardly lift it, as well as a miniature DENON soundsystem and a Sony sound system.
I guess we all have to move with the times. The idea of using a turntable again especially when I am enjoying a Premium Shiraz from the Barossa Valley is just a non option. Also, I gave away al my vinyl LP's to the Sacred Heart Mission.

[Mark]

The wife has asked that as a Christmas present she would like the CD of the latest Kings of Leon album. Which she has already had on her iPod for some time. So maybe there is life in the physical format yet!

[555-04Q2]

Oh yeah baby :p:

[wedge]

CDs will survive as a niche product. There always will be an audience, which likes to have something tangible, admire the coverwork etc. Same thing happened to vinyls. They occupy a very marginal share of the music market, but they have their customers.

Sadly I'm one of them.

New cars aren't going to come with CD players :(

I still use my personal CD player from time to time. I love long journey's whether its the car or public transport. I love going through my massive collection trying to work out what I'm going to listen to - which isn't quite the same with 'shuffle' which to me smacks of laziness.

Sticking it on a HDD, cloud doesn't really do much for me. If I find something on YT and its still purchasable then its instantly on my wishlist and brought sooner or later.

[Rudy Tamasz]

CDs will survive as a niche product. There always will be an audience, which likes to have something tangible, admire the coverwork etc. Same thing happened to vinyls. They occupy a very marginal share of the music market, but they have their customers.

Sadly I'm one of them.

New cars aren't going to come with CD players :(

I still use my personal CD player from time to time. I love long journey's whether its the car or public transport. I love going through my massive collection trying to work out what I'm going to listen to - which isn't quite the same with 'shuffle' which to me smacks of laziness.

Sticking it on a HDD, cloud doesn't really do much for me. If I find something on YT and its still purchasable then its instantly on my wishlist and brought sooner or later.

I also use my portable CD player and my old stereo to play CDs from time to time, but not for nostalgic reasons. I have a small collection of CDs (about 150 of them), but I'm just too lazy to rip them into MP3. Ninety per cent of my new music comes in MP3 format and I only buy CDs out of respect for certain artists.

Ironically, on the day I broke my foot, I left all the accessories for my cell phone in the office. Now I'm confined to my apartment and have no cable to plug earphones into my Walkman. All I'm left with is my CD player. It's nice to revisit the oldies, but Aerosmith and the likes just don't sound they way they did when I was 16. ;)

[Jag_Warrior]

Kind of like floppy discs, I think they'll eventually just fade away as more and more people (and the music industry) move to other formats. What with MP3s and streaming music options, I think the popularity of CDs is certainly in decline (sales figures seem to confirm that, at least in the U.S.). From what I've read, it's not just music CDs that are falling in popularity. More programs are now being delivered through cloud services too.

I still have quite a few CDs (and DVDs). But more often than not, when I buy music these days, I usually just download a song or album from iTunes or Amazon. And I think I have most all of my CDs uploaded to iTunes, so I can't remember the last time I played one. The CD player in my car has an old Cars CD stuck in it, so I can't play one in the car even if I wanted to now.

[MrJan]

The only time I use a CD is in the car and that's generally an MP3 CD. My car (10 plate Focus) has an AUX input but for some reason a standard 3.5mm jack is a bit loose and it suffers from some type of interference. In the main though I don't care as it's got DAB so I tend to listen to 6Music all day.

I much prefer getting things on vinyl these days. The format is limiting (i.e you can't rip it to an iPod) and expensive but there is a texture to the sound and the whole experience in throwing on an LP that you just don't get with digital music.

[Jag_Warrior]

I much prefer getting things on vinyl these days. The format is limiting (i.e you can't rip it to an iPod) and expensive but there is a texture to the sound and the whole experience in throwing on an LP that you just don't get with digital music.

I hear there's a resurgence of the vinyl/LP format. And though I'm not sure of the quality, you can buy devices that will convert an LP to MP3. I bought one that converts cassettes to MP3. But in the year that I've owned it... it's yet to make it out of the box. :laugh:

[MrJan]

I hear there's a resurgence of the vinyl/LP format. And though I'm not sure of the quality, you can buy devices that will convert an LP to MP3. I bought one that converts cassettes to MP3. But in the year that I've owned it... it's yet to make it out of the box. :laugh:

There is, it's why I've spent about £300 (a not inconsiderable amount for me) on a turntable, amp and speakers. I know that you can get equipment to convert to MP3 but my point was that it's not quite as easy as with CDs.

[Malbec]

Kind of like floppy discs, I think they'll eventually just fade away as more and more people (and the music industry) move to other formats. What with MP3s and streaming music options, I think the popularity of CDs is certainly in decline (sales figures seem to confirm that, at least in the U.S.). From what I've read, it's not just music CDs that are falling in popularity. More programs are now being delivered through cloud services too.

I think the market will split but there will be a strong market for CDs for a long time.

For those not concerned about sound quality then MP3/AAC is the obvious format. For audiophiles however the choice is limited to vinyl and CD. For me CD is more convenient than vinyl so thats the format I use.

There is little that compares to the pleasure of mixing and matching different audio components to obtain the exact sound I want but there is little point doing so with compressed music files. The old audio saying still applies, Garbage In, Garbage Out.

[Roamy]

they are already dead - thumb drives killed them