As usual audio magazines are failing their main mission: organizing customers so that we all can submit a REQUEST to audio industry for new formats ... Why don't we conceive a new file format so that audio, lyrics, high-res artwork ... is contained? We could purchase and download a file, and we'd have music + information, the information that is needed to complete music itself .... Don't misunderstand me, I know there's plenty of file formats for audio ... but we need an OFFICIAL ONE, used by everybody in the industry. Imagine if each company delivered LPs with different sizes ...

liner notes and whatnot are useful to know when & where a recording was made, the personel and so forth. this information is important for _collectors_, like me.

Packaging can make or break a purchase.

Complete liner notes & recording data should be required with all CDs. Printed materials increase production costs but considering the price labels demand for premium recordings they are just giving us the finger.

I have hundreds of CD's and LP's (started collecting in the 60's) and have never downloaded one song. Physical format is my only interest.

Pretty important. How else are you supposed to protect a physical carrier from damage?

The packaging can be a very big part of the total value of the product. I like nice pics, liner notes, lyrics, credits -the whole thing. The more info I can get, the better. The packagibg is one reason physical product will never go away completely. There will always be a market, because many music lovers are also collectors by nature, collecting things that are important to them, and music is just that -important!

Buying a dumb file without anything physical in your hand is like having virtual sex

the key reason i dont buy downloaded classical music is that i need the touch and feel of a physical product. the packaging is as crucial as the music and artits themselves. i totally believe that the packaging is a key part of the total package, which gives consumers plenty of pleasure both visually and physiologically.

It's the primary reason I still buy physical rather than download

It is comparable to the experience of a book vs digital and despite the fact one has almost all books digitised and can read them online, nothing really beats the experience of reading a book. I admit that I have bought couple of albums because of the artwork alone.

A complete waste - I'm buying music, not art or other rubbish.

Comcast and NBC Universal are on the merge of a titanic merging that would give Comcast room to establish a monopolistic choke hold over the flow of televised and online media. In theory, Julius Genachowski and the Federal Communications Commission support open opposition, where no one company controls the flow of info. The FCC will plead with Comcast, and perhaps Comcast will listen - or not.

What else separates them from invisible downloads that are emotionally bereft of everything including the sincerity of our connection with the artist.
I am sure most of us cherish the dirt on the fingers while we clean a vinyl, and the signature of friend on the CD that he/she gifted you on your birthday, the price tag that you saved for the purchase still reminds you of the hard earned money well spent. For those who say waste of paper think before you use the toilet roll and the well defined cardbord box of your favorite pizza...
Blessed are those who still purchase the hard copy in any medium. keep it up and hope the digital turmoil does not evaporate the music industry.
Listening pleasure
Rajan Gera