News

Well I have my eye on a nice piece of streaming technology and it looks like its not a moment too soon it will be a pain to rip my entire CD collection but I will only have to do it once.

Don't know when the cut off point is but if sales keep on that trend then soon they wont make CD's them anymore.

I have said for a while the future will be streaming music and the concept of ownership will disappear it will all be downloads and streaming services. The King is dead long live the King.

I was about to say that it's amazing to think that we are talking about the death of a medium when it's generating 141 million units of sale per year, but then I realized that this data is for the U.S. only. I wonder what the worldwide figures are.

It amazes me that the audio industry has spent the last 30 plus years developing technology that finally makes digital sound like analog and yet we have lost interest in the little silver discs. I have been buying Japanese remasters on Blu-Spec CD2 and SHM-CD, the vast majority of which I find absolutely stunning. I’m sure this is partly due to the fact that the Japanese seem to be meticulous in the remastering process. I for one love digital, rip it, back it up and done! With a great DAC I truly love the results.

The results I have been getting ripping CDs into my computer for play through my DAC have been sensational. Some CDS I thought didn't sound all that great sound great through the computer.

I have an Esoteric transport, a Chord DAC with integrated iPod docking station (and an iPod specially modified by Chord) and a MacMini fully tweaked out for audio (does not do anything else).
I tried the most advanced ripping techniques - I'm a computer engineer - but no way: the phisical transport always sounded better.

Looks a lot like digital camera sales the last few years, John.

The Numbers aren't surprising, and the record companies only have themselves to blame for their refusal to acknowledge and adapt to changing cusotmer needs, newly developing market offerings, and what constitutes a value proposition in today's world. Interestingly, Kodak and Hasselblad made the same mistake and look where they are today.

Used CDs have gotten so cheap! I'm finding so many good recordings every week and my personal library has grown to where I'm putting the discs in binders because I've run out of shelf space.
I like spinning discs rather than scrolling through lists on a screen because putting a disc in the player forces me to listen to the whole album rather than dart around between songs. I need a bit less darting around in my life. lol.
There is also a good feeling with going to a thrift store and finding a good CD for like 1 or 2 dollars and being able to sit down later that night and listen.
Guess I'm just old fashioned.

Me as well, still buying CD/SACD titles here. I will never stop!

Hi-fi is not a growing hobby, as we all have read exhaustively in these pages. Thus, the adherents of the hobby, dealers, and those in its publications, should not advocate the demise of any recorded media through which one listens to music. (I do not ascribe any such intent to the publication of this graph today.)

The fall of CDs, the rise of downloading and streaming, the renaissance of vinyl: all of these trends, due to unique characteristics of the hi-fi enthusiast community, probably exhibit more muted trend lines (up or down) than what one may infer from the graph provided to us today.

Downloads, as I recently perused today following publication of this graph, are growing; they do constitute a plurality of format-specific sales of recorded music according to recent reports. What we don't get is an assessment of how many of these downloads are the high quality ones, likely to be endorsed by hi-fi enthusiasts, and how many are the mp3 variety (likely to receive a less favorable assessment by the same community).

Streaming, seems to be what is really gaining traction. I admit--as a still avid CD/SACD purchaser--that streaming is what I have begun to use more intensively as an alternative. My preference--perhaps of lesser fidelity--is the free and anonymous, and very musically enlightening broadcasts available from an almost unlimited variety of international radio services migrated on-line. Reports seem to show that streaming of all sorts (subscription and otherwise) is the fastest growth area for musical enjoyment.

Vinyl, despite its resurgence, is still a fraction of CD sales. Time will tell whether this resurgence goes beyond a passing fad. We should honor the pursuit for those who have decades of collected LPs, as well as those who have migrated to the pursuit in recent years.

CDs still have a devoted following among hi-fi enthusiasts. There is a strong intersection between hi-fi enthusiasts (aging perhaps, but paying customers nonetheless) and the CD medium. CDs have three going on four decades of repertoire, particularly in the jazz and classical genres, that evolved almost exclusively in this medium. This is not some misguided and temporary flash in the pan, but a period of time that represents a significantly comparable period to the existence of vinyl. And while new CD pressings may be going down, there is a bottomless cornucopia of used CDs available on line, enough to last as long as a CD itself. SACDs have also resurrected my enthusiasm for the medium.

Tape and cassettes. If we were to identify a medium whose time has come and gone, it is tape. This was probably the most fragile medium, and the most prone to defects, both of the medium and of playback equipment. Still, among used dealer equipment, and at hi-fi expos, enthusiasts and playback equipment are still to be found.

Dealers should stock product as trends dictate. If products do not need to be stocked in a store's inventory (as is the case with all but the best selling dealer product today) special orders can keep both sides happy.

What dealers should not do--as some do with relish--is to advocate actively for the demise of what may be a shrinking but still viable medium of musical playback. I suppose I'd draw the line if someone asked for a Victrola player or 8-track tape player. But besides these examples, the hi-fi press and dealer community should continue to support the enthusiast community--a community whose future existence is probably more fragile than any downward trend in a particular recorded medium--and not call for the end of how enthusiasts listen to their music.

All recorded media of music will ultimately change; current trends may change. If one day network neutrality were to change, and if bandwidth became more of an "on the meter" pursuit, then perhaps there could be a movement back towards physical media for music. What would happen to streaming if the economics one day led to a fee-per song or fee-per hour for data/music downloads? I am sure these discussions take place behind closed doors in a variety of enterprises providing internet based services.

I have heard (and listened in silence) to dealer representatives at expos and dealer seminars advocate for the demise of CDs. Maybe these "prophets of audio" would lose their enthusiasm for such doomsday prognostications if an enthusiast raised his/her hand and said: "Fine, when you stop selling playback equipment, then I'll just go online to find playback equipment, even if it's a cheap blu-ray player, to support my CD collection in which I have invested thousands of dollars over the decades. And while I'm online perhaps I'll look at new amplification and speakers." Yes, indeed, suggesting that the future of all in hi-fi is online carries enormous risk for dealers, too.

CDs sales are going down. Hi-fi sales, I'd posit, are a much more fragile flower in the desert. Let's be careful in supporting all of the hobby's enthusiasts. Let's support the enjoyment of music, and not its particular configuration.

CD rips are good - better than playing the CD, for the simple reason that in ripping, the computer has plenty of time for error correction. Getting better than CD quality would entail being able to reliably rip (bit perfect) some other media such as DVD or SACD, or trust a download store that their files are really better. I've had occasional success with "high-res" downloads, but usually an equivalent CD remaster is available that sounds just as good, suggesting to me that a lot of the high-res downloads are not superior copies of the master, whatever 'master' may be.

Since subscribing to Tidal, I noticed I dont even listen to my own ripped CDs. So I guess the future is here.

I don't care for 'em (CDs) either; however, I will purchase one if AND only if its used (depending on the artist) - usually to replace a lost/stolen vinyl album.

Today's CD Sales are running about 1 Billion Globally.
Vinyl Sales peaked at about 1 Billion in the 1970s
Annnnnd
CD is still the only Game in Town, Hard Drives & Solid State memory devices fail with everything lost.
Can we risk loosing our music collection?, maybe a $30,000 value?
Not me, I'm backing-up all music with a hard-copy CD!

Tony in Michigan

ps. Decreasing CD Sales numbers are fodder for the Music Streamers people. You still have to burn to CD everything you download or you'll loose your investment when you're device fails ( which is guaranteed to happen at some point )

Loosing everything from a device failure is quite good for the download people, you then have to buy your music a second time!

Commoditization not the culprit. Technology replacement the culprit.

In the 80ies - 90ies the CD not only replaced a large part of the vinyl market but also completely the cassette tape market. Now that later part of the market abandoned CDs for streaming on their smartphone, compressed and low resolution. Many of these consumers consider music disposable so streaming makes sense for them.
The market segment which cares about sound quality is still using CDs or downloads CD quality or high res. But downloads have also a declining consumer support! I am still using mostly CDs and I prefer a physical medium to scrolling on a screen. I find he sound quality of the downloads (or CD rips) is for most recordings not superior to playing on my CD transport in spite of the theoretical advantages of eliminating a mechanical drive. I am afraid that the remaining CD market is not supported by equipment manufactures (many stopped selling CD players/transports).
Ripping CDs (including tagging) is too boring for me so I do it only occasionally. The convenience factor of computer audio is quite elusive for me.
I consider streaming a great way to discover new music but after the disappearance of MOG I use Spotify but with not so good sound quality. I tried Tidal but my bandwidth is far to small to stream 16/44.1 and I am not the only one which has lousy internet speeds. So I with many other ones are excluded from that market!

Though a CD adherent, I'm open to new concepts. Here's a question for the group.

1. What equipment do I need to Rip CDs (I have a Dac and Computer)?

2. How long does it take to rip an individual CD?

3. What software does a person need?

I can read up on this, but I thought this would be a good place to get some actual testimonials. If there's an article, even if it's on sister-publication Audiostream, I'd be interested.

Thanks.

That chart on its own is not entirely useful...except to lovers of CDs.

The chart at the url, if the url will work for you, purports to show yearly sales in units by music format, and also yearly sales in dollars by music format.

All music revenue is decreasing over the period shown here during which CD sales have been decreasing. A combination chart reveals what's declining more than what else is declining....

CDs are losing share, but it's not quite as dramatic when seen in the whole context, for those who care. (Digital music - non substrate - itself started declining starting in 2013 according to Billboard's claims.)

Just the chart, not the parent page; it may not work in all browsers:

http://publicradio2.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/files/2014/02/units-vs-dolla...

Tell me if I am wrong,
but why are so many HI END manufacturers coming up with those magical CD players now?????
CDs are not dead and the HI REZ thing is just for The MP3 guys who never heard better.
Guy's, A good CD player( and I say GOOD with a Good DAC and I say GOOD DAC but not stupid expensive will just play MAGIC in your house.

Yes, Macintosh just realised their new CD SACD player and so has AYON.What is going on?????
I find a lot of bull....... from our medias!
It is all about spending your money on some new (SH.........)
The LPs are still good?NOT?
The CDs are still good?NOT?

Reminds me of exactly how LP sales went a bunch of years ago. I'm not going to lose any sleep over it.

Not sure what this stupid stat is suppose to show other than it's ability to lose readers/music lovers.
This is the final straw , I won't be renewing my sub, 21 consecutive years last December.

Have no trouble finding & buying CDs from eBay & Amazon. Selection is excellent and bargains abound, better than ever. Unlike vinyl, used CDs are every bit as good as new ones.

Not at all interested in either the limited selection or crappy music found in obscure "audiophile" formats for downloads or CDs. (Won't switch over to new formats until I positively have to, when new, important, mainstream, recordings are no longer available on ordinary CDs, which is just how and when I switched to CDs from vinyl.)

Don't care at all how the masses are digesting their Taylor Swift, Kanye or Beyonce these days.

Am right now, as a matter of fact, listening to a brand new copy of Angela Hewitt's late '90s, 4 CD box of the Well-Tempered Clavier, which just arrived and which I snagged at half retail.

Have you grouses forgotten how damn difficult it used to be to find records? Have you forgotten how we used to have to haunt dusty record bins in dimly-lit backrooms and put up with obnoxious record store employees? The online selection of CDs these days is positively astounding. All from the comfort of your home. It's an embarrassment of riches.

PS. Just scored a long out-of-print Chicago deep blues CD on eBay for a pittance. Coming straight to my mailbox from France. Most of you yuppies wouldn't even recognize the artist, Billy Boy Arnold.

I submit that this listing of ever increasing I-Tunes sales, mostly by the song rather than by the album, probably dovetails nicely with the decline of cd sales.

From Wikipedia
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ITunes_Store):
100 million songs sold: July 11, 2004
150 million songs sold: October 14, 2004
500 million songs sold: July 18, 2005
1 billion songs sold: February 23, 2006
1.5 billion songs sold: September 12, 2006
2 billion songs sold: January 10, 2007
2.5 billion songs sold: April 9, 2007
3 billion songs sold: July 31, 2007
4 billion songs sold: January 15, 2008
5 billion songs sold: June 19, 2008
6 billion songs sold: January 6, 2009
8 billion songs sold: July 21, 2009
8.6 billion songs sold: September 9, 2009
10 billion songs sold: February 24, 2010
15 billion songs sold: June 6, 2011
20 billion songs sold: September 12, 2012
25 billion songs sold: February 6, 2013

... "How Numbers Lie", " Innumeracy" or have you? The industry is down (and is anyone surprised)? and yes CDs are now only 20+ times larger than vinyl. HELLO! 20+ times !!!!

What are you smoking? Where may we readers get some?