do you still buy CD's?

Forums: Music, mp3s, Downloads, Cds
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Last night when I was out with my friends we had a discussion about music CD’s and mp3’s. I buy CD’s, and my friend downloads mp3’s. CD’s are a dying breed, and as a way to distribute music its become less and less viable, but for me part of appreciating music is about having a collection of CD’s, having a artwork and supporting the artist.

For my friend, it isn’t cost effective for him to buy CD’s (or legal mp3’s for that matter), which is why he prefers downloading his music. I don’t agree with downloading music without paying for it; if you’re going to listen to an artist’s music, you should support them and allow them to continue to make the music that you enjoy by paying for it.

However, for me joining the ipod generation would make CD’s redundant, and for me part of being a music lover is having a personal collection, a physical product, there is something more personal in having a CD collection.
Mp3’s feel impersonal and don’t have any character. Its ultimately just about the music, regardless of what form its in, however I enjoy my CD collection, and I wouldn’t enjoy listening to music onm y computer all the time.

So what are you, a CD or an mp3?

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i recently traded almost all my cd collection (i digitized them first), i did get a few new and kept some real faves, but i've gone almost completely digital, most new music is digital downloads (most legal)

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CD are over, dvd's will be next.

Also, I think digital will kill off satellite radio. I see no reason to pay a bunch of money per month for service when I can plug my digital player onto the car stereo jack and get great sound on what ever I happen to feel like listening to that day....for no additional cost over my normal music supply costs.

I stopped listening to commercial radio years ago, when they got eaten up by national conglomerates and mostly turned to ****.....they can all go away too.

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Not only do I still have CDs, I still have a record collection. Many of the audio cognoscente swear that great analog recording beats digitized music, hands down. I tend to agree.

I am not a lover of the newer popular music, so I am not interested in downloading stuff. I bought an extra CD Walkman, so when the one that I am using dies, I will have a backup.

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@Phoenix32890,

Quote:

Not only do I still have CDs, I still have a record collection. Many of the audio cognoscente swear that great analog recording beats digitized music, hands down. I tend to agree

Absolutely true, which is why while I did part with many of my records I now wish that I had them all back, and am happy that I kept what I did.

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I have an extensive collection of Cds but I rarely buy them anymore. I do purchase legal mp3s. But the majority of my music sadly has been downloaded or copied. I also have an album collection from the old days but even most of those I have in mp3.

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I buy CDs when I want to have all the information that comes in the sleeve and liner notes--lyrics, full titles of pieces (especially in classical music), full information on the performers, etc.

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Yeah, I still buy CDs. If I see good vynil at a yard sale or garage sale, I'll buy that too. I wouldn't know how to download Maria Callas singing the great arias on, what'd'y'callit?, MP3s. As I listen to mostly classical and jazz albums (a few Beatles and other oldies thrown in), this download crap is of no use to me whatever.

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Like Nick, I haven't actually bought a physical CD in quite awhile. I mostly download older stuff that i never had"and pay for it"and I've been digitizing my collection as well. My kids give me copies of the newer stuff. I listen to my music on computer or ipod mostly but still have an extensive album collection, tons of cassette tapes and a bunch of cd's. And then my husband's extensive jazz album collection.

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@existential potential,

Mp3’s feel impersonal and don’t have any character. Its ultimately just about the music, regardless of what form its in, however I enjoy my CD collection, and I wouldn’t enjoy listening to music onm y computer all the time.
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Lord, I am 61 and you sound older then I<grin>. I had even converted all my old LPs to mp3 and then donated them to a second time around store. Some of those LPs dating back to the 60s.

There is only so must room in my life, not living in a warehouse, to store things and my music collection with many backups take almost no room at all now.

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@hawkeye10,

Also, I think digital will kill off satellite radio. I see no reason to pay a bunch of money per month for service when I can plug my digital player onto the car stereo jack and get great sound on what ever I happen to feel like listening to that day....for no additional cost over my normal music supply costs.
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Local radio in my area is worthless and I am happy to see “local” internet "radio" stations coming on line and as smart phones now allow streaming audio over the net I see the high cost high overhead radios stations going the way of the dinosaurs along with satellite radio.

Technology once more setting us free.

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I'm afraid I'm one of those technologically challenged dudes who wouldn't know an MP3 if I happened to trip over it. Have no idea how to download anything like that, for free or for money. I buy stuff I can put on my shelf. That includes books, CDs, whatever.

I'm not even sure I know what, exactly, an MP3 player is.

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@existential potential,

I haven't listened to a CD in a few years. I download everything now, either as MP3's or through iTunes. My iPod holds more than I'll ever be able to listen to, and it's far more convenient to carry around and to listen to.

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@Merry Andrew,

Merry Andrew you work a computer well enough to take part on this website so I do not see why you would have a problem with MP3 files or MP3 players for that matter.

MP3 are just computer files that contain audio information and if you do anything with a computer you deal with files of all types.

Place a audio CD in your computer CD drive and run software that will created MP3 files then plug in a mp3 player and run software to move the files to the player.

The results is that you can have your whole music library on a device that will fit into your shirt pocket along with a few audio books and podcasts.

Travel anywhere and you can listen to your music.

You can in fact then send copies off site so a fire etc would not wipe your collection out either. I live in a area that hurricanes are not unknown and after having one home blown apart around my ears I know how things can get wipe out as in most of my books collection at the time.

Hell by mailing three DVDs to a family member a few thousand miles away only a nuclear war is likely to destroy my music collection.

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@rosborne979,

its inevitable that the CD will one day completely die out, and there are obvious advantages in being able to carry round a large amount of music easily, like on an ipod etc. i just need to buy a decent pair of speakers, then I will be more inclined to listen to music from my computer, rather than from a CD player.

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@existential potential,

I've got BOSE speakers. Excellent sound quality and not so expensive. 99.00.

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I buy my mp3s from Amazon. I stopped buying CDs the moment I saw an mp3 file. If I have to I'll buy it on CD, and convert it to MP3. I can have thousands of CDs worth of music in my pocket and do many more things with my media if it's digital.

Even if you support the artists CDs just don't make sense from a practical, economical or environmental point of view.

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@Merry Andrew,

Merry Andrew wrote:

I wouldn't know how to download Maria Callas singing the great arias on, what'd'y'callit?, MP3s. As I listen to mostly classical and jazz albums (a few Beatles and other oldies thrown in), this download crap is of no use to me whatever.

I could have bought and downloaded Maria Callas in the time it took you to make that post. That is why CDs and the record shops are dying and why I am not going to miss them.

Here is an Amazon Mp3 Search for Maria Callas. You can play samples of the songs before you buy them and they have a lot of classical and jazz.

There are times you won't be able to find mp3 versions of some things but it was the same way with CDs and record stores too. If anything the digital shopping gives you access to even more selection than the brick-and-mortar stores used to stock.

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@Robert Gentel,

The "mother of MP3" is this acapella song by Suzanne Vega

Quote:

An article in the now defunct magazine Business 2.0 revealed that "Tom's Diner" was also used by Karlheinz Brandenburg to develop the audio compression scheme known as MP3 at what is now the Fraunhofer Society. He recalled:

I was ready to fine-tune my compression algorithm...somewhere down the corridor, a radio was playing "Tom's Diner". I was electrified. I knew it would be nearly impossible to compress this warm a cappella voice.[4]
Brandenburg adopted the song for testing purposes, listening to it again and again each time he refined the scheme, making sure it did not adversely affect the subtlety of Vega's voice. While it is an exaggeration to say that the MP3 compression format is specifically tuned to play the song "Tom's Diner" (an assortment of critically analyzed material was involved in the design of the codec over many years), among some audio engineers this anecdote has earned Vega the informal title "The Mother of the MP3".

Source: wikipedia

I still buy cd's - though they cost (at least) $5 more, additional $7.50 postage and I have to wait 5 to 9 days (from USA).

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@Walter Hinteler,

interesting stuff walter

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do you still buy CD's?

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