CDs to go the way of vinyl

I suspect sound systems will soon have a usb port.

I Purchased a car radio a few weeks ago and was offered a model that had ports/jacks for ipod/mp3 connection.

Rip to hard disk and plug a computer, or mp3 player into your stereo.

Seriously. I'm in the process of converting all my audio (vinyl, CD and tape into digital files). Much more flexibility. Of course you have the back up issue, but I just bought two 1tb usb drives the second mirrors the first and is the backup.

I used to be a big compilation maker - that's a lot easier using mediaplayer with your entire library digital.

I have four .5 TB SATA2 drives, but you get the idea. My wife OTOH is a techno-phober so she simply relies on me to provide her with whatever material she wants.

Edgar if you are happy with CD's don't worry, unless you must have the latest releases all should be fine for many years to come. You can buy-sell-trade CD's to your heart's content.

Plus you get cover art, or at least a shrunken simulacrum!

Ive recently listened to Bernsteins version of Beethovens 9th on vinyl, at a friends house (This guys gotten really retro). Then listening to the same artist on a CD. I can say that digital sound is inferiror in quality of repro than is the old vinyl. With good scrathch elimination done by sampling (the only submittal to digital tech) , I now wish I had an old 33.3 rpm disc player.


I hate the earbuds. I was listening to station 72 on Sirius (jazz) and the digital version of a Coltrane piece was just missing something. A lot of the sound that vinyl is able to reproduce is the swishing sounds of brushes in deum solos and lots of the range of percussion instrumenst (including the notes of a piano). Digital tech actually seems to clip the full range of an instrument until everything sounds kind of indistinct.

I see some kids are actually scrambling to buy vinyl of old rock operas and Beatles songs

DVD'd are supposed to go away as well. I already use Netflix download, so far I like it a lot. The problem is that the web capacity must jump to meet the demand for video, even though prices for routers and such are dropping rapidly as some point we are going to have a problem. All of the extra fiber optic cable that was laid during the telecom bubble is in use now i believe.

Vinyl will always rule...

RH

(FM, I'd send ya a turntable, but UPS freight sucks right now...)

I would not take love or money for my vinyl collection. I love the sound, even if one of them has a bit of a scratch.

With my futurist hat on I think ideally we'd operate in a microcharging environment where we had access to everything online with instant high quality mobile access to all media types (audio, video et al). Microcharging could balance out artist income against real use. In addition not having to buy and house media storage devices has benefits environmentally and personally. But as Hawk says we've got a big jump before online access is comparable with older storage devices.

And I hate ear buds too - but I've found the Sony MDR-Q68LW clip on headphones damn good

I still buy cd's. It's what I listen to in the car, and my ipod doesn't have nearly enough memory for all my cd's.

Sound quality wise, vinyl is the best, when used with a high-end player, then cd's, then digital. Downloaded music definitely doesn't have nearly the sound quality of cd's or records.

Jazz and old country just sound better on vinyl, particularly with scratches.

I do buy more albums than I download. I like having the jewel cases. I like to be able to see my collection. And I've learned a lot from liner notes.

I have every Led Zeppelin album ever released and a rare Stones along with some Yes and Priest vinyl. Pristene in sleeves. One day I'll sell 'em when the price gets high enough.

I think the sound quality issue is interesting - I'm guessing many of us first experienced pop music through transistor radios on AM bands - didn't stop us from loving it.

VINYL IS STILL ALIVE
THIS IS IRRELEVANT

Your statement is irrelevant?