Death of the Compact Disc

[Naïve Old Fart 9,508]

That reminds me: I need to return some videotapes.

[Positivatee 327]

Be kind. Rewind. 

[A24 4,327]

It's time to ditch your turntables, hipsters! After spiralling down for 17 years, CD sales are on the rise again!

 

 

The revival has begun!

 

https://24newsrecorder.com/technology/92150

 

 

 

[rough cut 1,714]

Adele, Taylor Swift and BTS.

 

"Together, the three bands account for 7.1% of all CD sales in 2021"

 

Sad, for the same reason that Marvel movies stood for 30% Of the total box office in the US in 2021. (Screenrant)

 

Diversity, my *ss.

 

I enjoy listning to both Adele and Taylor upon occasion, as do I enjoy the MCU. BTS I know nothing about. By this post I don't mean to talk about the quality of said artists/franchises, only to comment on the monoculture we're living in and moving towards.

[Sweeping Strings 2,346]

16 hours ago, Jurassic Shark said:

CDs will get a major comeback when they figure out how to make it from bacon.

A genius idea ... if you tire of the album, just eat it!  

[Jay 37,323]

6 hours ago, AC1 said:

It's time to ditch your turntables, hipsters! After spiralling down for 17 years, CD sales are on the rise again!

 

 

The revival has begun!

 

https://24newsrecorder.com/technology/92150

 

 

 

 

This is the worst case of Cremeritis in a long time. We spent all day yesterday talking about this right here in this thread, then you come in and post the same thing as if you're introducing the topic to the site. Amazing lack of awareness

[A24 4,327]

50 minutes ago, Jay said:

 

This is the worst case of Cremeritis in a long time. We spent all day yesterday talking about this right here in this thread, then you come in and post the same thing as if you're introducing the topic to the site. Amazing lack of awareness

 

What's your point? So I forgot ... Does that mean you have to be so rude?

[Manakin Skywalker 4,891]

5 hours ago, Jay said:

This is the worst case of Cremeritis in a long time.

 

What even is Cremeritis? I keep seeing some people use this word but I can't quite make out what it means. I seem to recall someone making it up years ago. 

[Jay 37,323]

It's when you post something into a thread that people in the thread are already discussing.

[bruce marshall 1,315]

5 hours ago, AC1 said:

 

What's your point? So I forgot ... Does that mean you have to be so rude?

It's in his nature.

[Jurassic Shark 12,033]

He's more machine than man now.

[Naïve Old Fart 9,508]

1 hour ago, Jurassic Shark said:

He's more machine than man now.

Get it right, Sharkey.

It's "He's more machine, now, than man".

[Jurassic Shark 12,033]

Dammit, I knew something wasn't right.

[rough cut 1,714]

I just just had a horrible thought: if the CD format had been launched in the 90’s, CDs would be locked in eight different regions.

[A24 4,327]

[bruce marshall 1,315]

Viva Vinyl!

13 hours ago, Jurassic Shark said:

He's more machine than man now.

" I am Jaykutus!"

" I am Borg".

[A24 4,327]

Techmoan has a point. I never thought of this before but 99% of CD players do indeed look boring. Unlike with turntables, reel to reel, cassette decks, there's nothing to see, which only disconnects you from the music playing process. If there ever is going to be a CD revival, they need to be designed like the early models. 

 

 

 

 

[Naïve Old Fart 9,508]

Maybe they should start making them in clear plastic cases, like cassettes were, in the mid-80s?

[Marian Schedenig 8,179]

11 minutes ago, Naïve Old Fart said:

Maybe they should start making them in clear plastic cases, like cassettes were, in the mid-80s?

 

 

(The video doesn't actually answer the titular question…)

[A24 4,327]

Ah, cd-roms! But you don't see those either, Marian, they are completely hidden inside a box when they are playing.

 

29 minutes ago, Naïve Old Fart said:

Maybe they should start making them in clear plastic cases, like cassettes were, in the mid-80s?

 

The problem is that you don't see the CD playing, like you do with vinyl, reel to reel, etc. With the first CD players you could see the CD spinning behind a transparent door but then Sony came with the black box we all know today and the trend never went away.

 

First CD player Phillips:

 

 

 

 

 

[1977 1,743]

1 hour ago, AC1 said:

First CD player Phillips:

 

 

I remember those!

 

(sadly I just gave my age away...)

[Jay 37,323]

I've never once wanted to see my disc spinning as I listened to it. 

[A24 4,327]

But I do and that's more important!

 

 

Watch the disc spinning and the VU meters moving! It's CD nirvana!

[Jurassic Shark 12,033]

Just imagine the crappy DAC.

[A24 4,327]

42 minutes ago, Jurassic Shark said:

Just imagine the crappy DAC.

 

 

Vintage sound!

[Arpy 4,145]

This is sorta in the same territory Vinyl falls into where the ephemera (and nostalgia of the medium) seems to mean more than the contents. CD players just need to play the music, not look like this:

 

 

[Thor 7,478]

On a more personal note, I embrace all three, whatever the "trend" is at any given time.

 

I got a turntable some 3-4 years ago, from my dad (along with about 100 LPs and a Cambridge pre-amp). I haven't installed it yet because I'm awaiting the possible outcome of an apartment search. But it's all set to go.

 

The CDs are currently stored in boxes, but are also ready to be played once I've (possibly) moved. My HiFi Pioneer CD/DVD player from 2004 is ready to be installed (or possibly my cheap Blu-ray player, I haven't decided yet).

 

Digital files, I play all day long, in iTunes, mostly. High quality mp3s are fine, I don't need lossless FLACs and WAVS and whatnot.

 

I even salvaged some of my cassettes when my parents moved last year. I dont' have a cassette player anymore, but I could possibly get a cheap one secondhand (or a walkman). This would be more for nostalgic reasons, the sound is pants.

 

But it's all good. They can all be enjoyed for different reasons, and degrees of convenience.

[Naïve Old Fart 9,508]

My preferred way, is via the compact disc, but, imo, it doesn't really matter how they do it, as long as people still listen to music.

[Jurassic Shark 12,033]

What happened quickly?

[Jay 37,323]

Interesting blog post from @Lukas Kendall about the death of the compact disc!

 

https://www.lukaskendall.com/post/my-collection-is-in-boxes

[Bespin 8,480]

I always knew that my CD collection was a deficit business rather than a profit one!

 

But... eh... I'm a...

 

 

[Luke Skywalker 1,793]

Somewhat depressing.

 

I never intend to profit from buying scores...but i hoped that my heairs could make a little money from it when i passed....

 

Anyway, i think that some Cds would be valuable...lets say that s new john Williams fan in 20 years wants to have all physical CDs from LLL expansions, por example... he could pay a decent ammount for one of these...

 

Quote

The truth is: the things that become high-priced collectibles are the ones that we all had as children (baseball cards, Star Wars toys) which got lost/destroyed in the journey to adulthood (thanks Mom!).

Then, as we have midlife crises, not to mention disposable income from being the prime of careers, we try to reacquire it.

Is this true for most of you? in the last 3-4 years i have acquired some items that i wanted to have as a kid but my parents didnt buy, or could not see in stores,, or lost...: ie the original Heroquest, some JP & TLW kenner toys, some piece of gear from a favorite Gi Joe that I lost, things like that ... I thought it was a weird thing...but it seems i'm not alone.

 

Mind you, I never spend a lot of money, i dont look for mint condition, loose condition and used suffices just "to have it".

[Bespin 8,480]

Yesterday I took this picture of me contemplating my CD collection:

 

 

Then, I ate some Sushi!

[Marian Schedenig 8,179]

4 hours ago, Luke Skywalker said:

Is this true for most of you? in the last 3-4 years i have acquired some items that i wanted to have as a kid but my parents didnt buy, or could not see in stores,, or lost...: ie the original Heroquest, some JP & TLW kenner toys, some piece of gear from a favorite Gi Joe that I lost, things like that ... I thought it was a weird thing...but it seems i'm not alone.

 

Mind you, I never spend a lot of money, i dont look for mint condition, loose condition and used suffices just "to have it".

 

Isn't Heroquest expensive enough even in passable condition? Mine sadly got lost 25 years ago (with lots of custom figures and quests).

[Jay 37,323]

It very common for people in their 30s and 40s to start buying things from their childhood

 

You can see a cycle with video games for example, when used video game prices for certain systems start going up  in price in predictable intervals as people who where kids when those systems were new are now older and have disposable income and want to re-live some aspects of their childhood

[Luke Skywalker 1,793]

8 hours ago, Marian Schedenig said:

 

Isn't Heroquest expensive enough even in passable condition? Mine sadly got lost 25 years ago (with lots of custom figures and quests).

Well, for that...after decaded pondering the idea...i asked my older cousins if they still had it and if they would let me buy it from them....and they just gifted it to me...they had it abandoned in a storage room. So... That was a good deal 🙂. It even had kellars keep and return of the witchlord.... I only had to spend around 20 bucks to buy some missing parts and tokens.

 

There were the character sheets of the last game played with it, with my siblings' and mine young hand writting 😢

[Marian Schedenig 8,179]

 

[Luke Skywalker 1,793]

hehehe

[Marian Schedenig 8,179]

I bought my very first CD in 1994 at EMI (i.e. HMV) on Kärntner Straße in Vienna. I didn't buy too much else there, as they were always quite expensive. I found Goldenthal's Titus there at some point in the mid-00s (when it wasn't easy to find in stores). The last time I went there was when I bought Karajan's Rosenkavalier on sale early in 2016. When Williams in Vienna was released, they had a whole shop window setup advertising it (including a cool cardboard poster that sadly was glued on, so they couldn't give it away after taking it down).

 

I went by the address yesterday evening. This is what it looks like now:

[A24 4,327]

Everything is gone from the shopping streets except the fashion stores. 

[Jurassic Shark 12,033]

Musicians also need clothes.

[A24 4,327]

Imagine being a kid today. Where are the toy stores? 

[Positivatee 327]

Walmart. Target. Kohl's. The Lego Store. 

[Disco Stu 15,495]

Toy catalogs have always been more exciting to kids than the toys themselves.  We get toy catalogs from Amazon and Lego and those magazines are like holy relics to my kids.

 

(if Justin were still here he'd diligently reply to this with a reference to the Bugs and Daffy commercial for a Warner Bros. merch catalog that played at the start of the Batman VHS tape)

[Jay 37,323]

Who?

[A24 4,327]

10 hours ago, Positivatee said:

Walmart. Target. Kohl's. The Lego Store. 

 

There's no Walmart or Target in Belgium, mister.

 

But talking about stores like Walmart and Target, it's only a matter of time ...

 

 

 

 

10 hours ago, Disco Stu said:

Toy catalogs have always been more exciting to kids than the toys themselves.  We get toy catalogs from Amazon and Lego and those magazines are like holy relics to my kids.

 

Men love to hunt.  And I loved to hunt the record shops that used to be everywhere. And like a hunter that kills its prey, I got a kick out of finding that one John Williams CD that was missing from my collection. 

[Jurassic Shark 12,033]

10 hours ago, Disco Stu said:

Toy catalogs have always been more exciting to kids than the toys themselves.  We get toy catalogs from Amazon and Lego and those magazines are like holy relics to my kids.

 

Indiana Jones and the Holy Toy Catalogue.

[Bespin 8,480]

I don't understand why companies don't start to sell us USB/Type C packages (CD optional).

 

As long as they keep the same CD/DVD jewel case format.

 

 

[A24 4,327]

People love to experience the process of putting on an LP, looking at the large format artwork, pamper their turntable with upgrades, and you want to switch over to USB sticks?

[Bespin 8,480]

Yes, keeping the same case format as a CD or DVD case, the art, the booklet, but adding a USB/Type C stick to the optical disc (which last more years than a USB stick).