SuperSoulFighter said:

Uhhh... Aren't we getting a little off topic here? I totally see Andy's point about stereos though. I never evenhad a walkman

Threads go way off topic all the time here. What we're saying isn't that off the subject, it's comparing something older to something modern.

LiveToTell86 said:

I think eventually they will. That "niche" market will probably exist for a long time, while CDs don't have that, more or less CD only exists because it can be given as a gift. Album sales are horrific, more and more people will prefer digital over CD but the vinly lovers won't give up in my opinion.

There are other formats of digital audio discs (although more circulating within the audiophile/hi-end market) such as DVD Audio, Super Audio CD, etc... and i've spoken to someone from the industry who told me that there was even a plan for massive production of much cd-releases in a hybrid version of the Super Audio CD-format, which can be played on regular cd-players as well.

[Edited 9/8/12 11:06am]

lastdecember said: problem is the size, even if everything goes digital in the long run, if an artist plays a gig and wants to sell music at a gig, what do they sell? digital is useless this way

A usb-stick?

Shango said:

lastdecember said: problem is the size, even if everything goes digital in the long run, if an artist plays a gig and wants to sell music at a gig, what do they sell? digital is useless this way

A usb-stick?

Hey, I've actually seen a USB stick with 'the new album' for purchase; makes sense to me!

Cinny said:

Shango said:

A usb-stick?

Hey, I've actually seen a USB stick with 'the new album' for purchase; makes sense to me!

yep and when it's a customized stick with the artist's/band's logo or album-art printed on it, it might do well at concerts.

smoothcriminal12 said:

it is possible.

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Shango said:

Cinny said:

Hey, I've actually seen a USB stick with 'the new album' for purchase; makes sense to me!

yep and when it's a customized stick with the artist's/band's logo or album-art printed on it, it might do well at concerts.

It won't work that well for people without a computer or if they have an old PC.

Please...as someone who has hundreds of vinyl albums (and still do) and then changed to CD's from 1990 onwards... the records get dirt and dust on them and you can completely hear it, and unless you have some audiphile needle, cartridge, and amp and receiver... the CD's were WAY MORE DURABLE and sounded better.

the minute you've played a record once, there's a minute amount of wearing going on in the grooves that grows with each play. And do you realize they have to alter recordings and limit some of the bass repsonse on a record? So the freakin needle stays in the groove and doesn't hop off?

And did you know that the inner grooves of a record start to lose fidelity because of the greater angle of curve?

People that push records too much just don't know.

ufoclub said:

the records get dirt and dust on them

MickyDolenz said:

Shango said:

yep and when it's a customized stick with the artist's/band's logo or album-art printed on it, it might do well at concerts.

It won't work that well for people without a computer or if they have an old PC.

and CDs don't work for people without a CD player. and you can't listen to vinyl without a turntable. and so on.

Cinny said:

MickyDolenz said:

It won't work that well for people without a computer or if they have an old PC.

and CDs don't work for people without a CD player. and you can't listen to vinyl without a turntable. and so on.

My mother mostly listens to cassettes or the radio. She has records and 8-tracks, but doesn't have one CD and doesn't know how to use a CD player.

MickyDolenz said:

Cinny said:

and CDs don't work for people without a CD player. and you can't listen to vinyl without a turntable. and so on.

My mother mostly listens to cassettes or the radio. She has records and 8-tracks, but doesn't have one CD and doesn't know how to use a CD player.

Don't bring your mama into this. I don't wanna talk bad on nobody's mama to make my original point.

Meh, just let artists have a bunch of their vinyls, cds, cassettes and usbs offer at their gigs. Everyone's happy, problem solved

MickyDolenz said:

bobzilla77 said:

Some CDs have already started to show signs of rot and they've been around for only 30 years.

I have a few CD's that have dropout and portions of them won't play. I haven't thrown them away because they're out of print albums. I did throw out the ones that don't work at all. I remember when CDs first came out and were said to be indestructable.

For real tho? I have CDs in my collection I purchased back in 1986 and they are in prestine condition. I have over 1700 CDs and I've never had a problem with any of them skipping or not playing. Do you return your CDs to their cases immediately after you're done with them? Usually CDs that skip or won't play haven't been handled very well. That's the reason I don't loan my CDs out. I used to but often they would come back to me all scratched up. My brother is really bad about that. All of his CDs look like they were buried in gravel because they are all scratched up.

kitbradley said:

MickyDolenz said:

I have a few CD's that have dropout and portions of them won't play. I haven't thrown them away because they're out of print albums. I did throw out the ones that don't work at all. I remember when CDs first came out and were said to be indestructable.

For real tho? I have CDs in my collection I purchased back in 1986 and they are in prestine condition. I have over 1700 CDs and I've never had a problem with any of them skipping or not playing. Do you return your CDs to their cases immediately after you're done with them? Usually CDs that skip or won't play haven't been handled very well. That's the reason I don't loan my CDs out. I used to but often they would come back to me all scratched up. My brother is really bad about that. All of his CDs look like they were buried in gravel because they are all scratched up.

You can look at the CDs and see black spots on them or clear areas, that is the "rot" that was mentioned. They're not scratches. You can look up "CD rot", it happens.

Ewwww! None of my CDs look like this. I have had CD-Rs, DVD-Rs and even studio DVDs that were unplayable after a while for whatever reasons but haven't had that happen with a CD yet.

I don't think rot can happen without there being a hole/damage in the foil to begin with.

I hold up used CDs before I buy them to make sure the scratches aren't so deep that the foil was damaged.

CD rot is a rarity because they improved the coating integrity so well.

Laser rot is a common fact... My Purple Rain concert Laserdisc has some rot spots when you watch it.

Honestly if I could choose to have all my music in ANY format I would probably want it in DVD-Audio or Blu Ray, super high resolution digital files. And a gigantic backup drive or two. Some of the DVD-A stuff I have heard is just the closest things to listening to 2-inch tape.

But I also know that part of the reason might be that, when mastering for an audiophile release, they do a better quality job, as opposed to mastering a consumer grade CD that's just going to be shrunk to mp3 and ripped to an Ipod. They know the high-resolution audience demands good sound.

Vinyl ain't perfect, besides being fragile there IS a compression & frequency loss that occurs. It just happens that it occurs in a way that makes the music sound better to some people. It's more compressed and thus punchier. The CD will have more frequency range but won't hit you in the face as hard.

When I got a pretty decent Pro-Ject table last year I started pulling out some records & Cds to play them back to back. A couple sounded absolutely better on vinyl, more 3-dimensional. Neil Young's Tonight's The Night is one I really noticed it on, Neil's swaying back and forth in front of the mic and on the album you really hear him pitching forward, an effect lost on the CD completely. Some more recent vinyl issues - which were probably mastered from digital sources - sounded no better than the CD and had the problem of clicks & pops making the CD sound better. And some were just different - Led Zep IV on vinyl, you can feel Bonham's kick drum poking you in the chest, which isn't the case on CD. But the CDs had a better defined guitar & vocal tone. So each had its distinct advantages, which one is better depends how much you want to be poked in the chest by kick drums. (And I DO want that.)