We had this debate (kind of) on a Prince thread and here's what I wrote on the subject, please share your thoughts

"I don't know in the US but fact is that in France record stores are indeed disappearing very quickly, and the records stacks in the stores that sell other things such as books, games and movies are shrinking every year. Also more and more independent acts release their products in digital shape only, because it reduces the costs.

But the most interesting fact is that ALL my friends, and I mean ALL of them and I know a greal deal of people, mostly people aged 25 to 40, switched to digital. U give 'em a CD and the first thing they'll do is to rip it in the computer because the computer is their "player" (they don't even have a CD player anymore outside of the comp's one). How does CD survive in this? It doesn't just because it's not handy. it's just easier to play a file on a computer that's switched on 24/7 than to grab a CD and put it into a player then take it out and put it back in its box and grab another CD and so on: what a HASSLE! Now u can even have ur mobile phone with the music inside connect automatically, wireless, with ur car's music player and launch a song the minute u start the car

As for compression the fast evolution of drive space and download speed will soon make Flac or similar formats replace compressed formats so quality differences won't be an issue.

In 2011, for the first time, digital sales in the US were more important than physical sales, UK followed last year and these figures will keep evolving every year to the advantage of digital (it just have been the case for the last 10 years so why would it stop?). Music is a business, what sells is what survives, what doesn't sell dies.

Look around u, if u hang out with people who r less than 45 who still uses CD's? And when they stop selling who's gonna manufacture them? It's like people who couldn't believe CD were gonna replace LP's and cassettes. They did. It's a mere fact of life: technology always wins.

The same is happening with movies: video-renting stores have almost all disappeaded in France and more and more people switch to digital and once again as soon as the compression/download speed question is settled people don't care anymore about having DVD's or Blu-rays and just plug the comp to the big TV screen. The funny thing is that none of my friends believe that physical records or movies have a future but many still can't believe that BOOKS will disappear because book is such a sacred object and it wasn't possible to enjoy books and comics on a traditional computer the way we could enjoy music and movies. But now that we got i-Pads and all these other readers -and I'm not even mentioning "electronic paper", a device everyone will possess in a few years- believe me they will just as well because once again it's cheaper and more handy. It tends to be a human reflex to stick to what is familiar, to believe that "this can't happen" just because "this" is new and was unthinkable of 20 years earlier, but look at how our lives evolved in the last 50 years: our lifestyle has so very little in common with our grandparents'...

So give or take a few years my bet is:

- By 2020 most record companies will have stopped manufacturing CD's, save a few prestigious, expensive collectors editions.

- By 2025 most studios will have stopped manufacturing DVD's and Blu-Rays, save a few prestigious collectors boxsets.

- By 2035 at most (it will take more time) publishers will have given-up manufacturing paper books, once again save the few pricey deluxe collectors editions.

The future of cultural data is digital. Fact of life. Even the future of the human body is all technology with these nanomechanics things being close to be all over our bodies

Star Trek is at your door, man, and it's GREAT NEWS "

The only physical format I'm really attached to is books and comic books. And even with those, I'm more than willing to make exceptions (there are plenty of books and comics I'm fine with reading on a screen/device).

I miss vinyl way more than I'll ever miss CDs (mostly because I miss the days of great album artwork), so I don't really care about those going away.

Home video belongs in a digital format, as far as I'm concerned.

Yes, it seems that digital is the future.

What a damn shame.

THINK about it! After 20, 30, 40 years my folks still have their music collection (vinyl, 8-tracks, cassettes). It's theirs. They can (if we can get their old turntable working again) pop in a tape or a record and listen to their music whenever they want. More importantly, my KIDS can (or rather will) be able to listen to music that their grandparents danced to in their 20's.

I have digital downloads from 2 or 3 years ago that I have lost because of one reason or another.

Same with books.

There will be no legacy for the current generation to leave for their kids/grandkids because it's all electronic bytes that are PROBABLY going to have a heck of a time translating to whatever format the next generation is going to use for playback.

I still have the Bat 8-Track player in the Batmobile.

kpowers said:

I still have the Bat 8-Track player in the Batmobile.

Have you seen this? It's AWESOME!

http://www.buybatparts.co...p/replicas

To put it shortly? No. Home videos, maybe. Records? Don't know. Books? Hell nah.

While I love my kindle I think there will always be a market for certain books, like art books, graphic novels and comics and I think even some classics will be nice for collectors. Just as vinyl has remained as a niche market, so too will books.

I'm pretty much ready to get rid of any physical CD or movie I have for digital versions. I much prefer the less clutter.

I used to have a magic act that made things disappear, but none of 'em included records, videos or books.
It was more with things like elephants and national monuments and audience member's loved ones.
Things that made people go "Wow! How'd he do that?" Y'know... that kind of shit.

yes

RodeoSchro said:

kpowers said:

I still have the Bat 8-Track player in the Batmobile.

Have you seen this? It's AWESOME!

http://www.buybatparts.co...p/replicas

I have it

Visionnaire said:

I used to have a magic act that made things disappear, but none of 'em included records, videos or books.
It was more with things like elephants and national monuments and audience member's loved ones.
Things that made people go "Wow! How'd he do that?" Y'know... that kind of shit.

Best answer to a thread EVER

PurpleJedi said:

Yes, it seems that digital is the future.

What a damn shame.

THINK about it! After 20, 30, 40 years my folks still have their music collection (vinyl, 8-tracks, cassettes). It's theirs. They can (if we can get their old turntable working again) pop in a tape or a record and listen to their music whenever they want. More importantly, my KIDS can (or rather will) be able to listen to music that their grandparents danced to in their 20's.

I have digital downloads from 2 or 3 years ago that I have lost because of one reason or another.

Same with books.

There will be no legacy for the current generation to leave for their kids/grandkids because it's all electronic bytes that are PROBABLY going to have a heck of a time translating to whatever format the next generation is going to use for playback.

I don't c y u say that.

I for one have a backup for all my files, which isn't even at my place in case it gets robbed or burn or whatever. This way, it's close to impossible that I ever lose my data in my lifetime.

+ now there r the Clouds, and that's yet another option for backup.

The evolution of digital formats shouldn't jeopardize the current files: obviously new softwares and new systems will always be able to read the old files. Even if the leading companies (Windows and Apple) don't take care of this and invent brand new systems, u'll have geeks creating free multiformat softwares the next minutes, it's been like this since the early days of computers.

Therefore, my grandchildren will be perfectly able to enjoy my whole collection of music and movies (and probably soon books and comics) until the end of time, as long as they take care of their backup the same way u need to take care of a physical object.

Another thing is that we actually go towards another strong tendency, which is the consuption of online cultural datas, in a world where everything from our phone to our TV and comp (and soon our glasses for chrissakes!) is connected 24/7. More and more people don't care owning the data at all, they just enjoy listening or watching or reading it online, and it's likely that we'll have more and more sites like Youtube or Spotify or Deezer or Marvel Digital Unlimited containing huge libraries available for free and paid by a global licence or ads, or available for a small monthly fee. Therefore, your grandchildren will be able to access an unlimited quantity of digital data, and it will only be up to you to try and publicize what u like to ur kids and grandkids for the joy of sharing.

RodeoSchro said:

kpowers said:

I still have the Bat 8-Track player in the Batmobile.

Have you seen this? It's AWESOME!

http://www.buybatparts.co...p/replicas

It's great indeed!!! I wish they'd do the 1989 version

databank said:

PurpleJedi said:

Yes, it seems that digital is the future.

What a damn shame.

THINK about it! After 20, 30, 40 years my folks still have their music collection (vinyl, 8-tracks, cassettes). It's theirs. They can (if we can get their old turntable working again) pop in a tape or a record and listen to their music whenever they want. More importantly, my KIDS can (or rather will) be able to listen to music that their grandparents danced to in their 20's.

I have digital downloads from 2 or 3 years ago that I have lost because of one reason or another.

Same with books.

There will be no legacy for the current generation to leave for their kids/grandkids because it's all electronic bytes that are PROBABLY going to have a heck of a time translating to whatever format the next generation is going to use for playback.

I don't c y u say that.

I for one have a backup for all my files, which isn't even at my place in case it gets robbed or burn or whatever. This way, it's close to impossible that I ever lose my data in my lifetime.

+ now there r the Clouds, and that's yet another option for backup.

The evolution of digital formats shouldn't jeopardize the current files: obviously new softwares and new systems will always be able to read the old files. Even if the leading companies (Windows and Apple) don't take care of this and invent brand new systems, u'll have geeks creating free multiformat softwares the next minutes, it's been like this since the early days of computers.

Therefore, my grandchildren will be perfectly able to enjoy my whole collection of music and movies (and probably soon books and comics) until the end of time, as long as they take care of their backup the same way u need to take care of a physical object.

Another thing is that we actually go towards another strong tendency, which is the consuption of online cultural datas, in a world where everything from our phone to our TV and comp (and soon our glasses for chrissakes!) is connected 24/7. More and more people don't care owning the data at all, they just enjoy listening or watching or reading it online, and it's likely that we'll have more and more sites like Youtube or Spotify or Deezer or Marvel Digital Unlimited containing huge libraries available for free and paid by a global licence or ads, or available for a small monthly fee. Therefore, your grandchildren will be able to access an unlimited quantity of digital data, and it will only be up to you to try and publicize what u like to ur kids and grandkids for the joy of sharing.

You have a point, but I'm being more cynical.

I have an external drive right now with ALL of my music saved on there for safekeeping.

Originally I had a Windows LIVE account with some files (mostly photos but some music and word docs as well) and sometime between my moving out of the house in 2011 and now, the account was wiped clean. When I went in there a few months ago, it was empty.


I dunno. Digital files seem too vulnerable to me for the long-term.

CarrieMpls said:

So, databank, here I am!

Sorry but I'm not willing to enter much in this debate, though. I've had it so many times.

I'll just say that consuming and enjoying culture is something very personal, and that, to me, I can only imagine doing it with physical formats. I find it a warmer and richer experience, that's all.

At the end of the day, the majority will prevail, of course. But be careful:

- It's not the same to replace one physical format for another (like cassettes for CDs, for example, or manuscripts for printed books if you want to go further in time) than to replace one physical format for a non-physical one. The cultural change is bigger and, therefore, slower.

- Don't be too deterministic with technological change. There's not a rule, written or not, that says that the most advanced technology always wins. How many of you would have guessed back in, let's say, 2001, that vinyl records would experience the current renaissance? I was reading MOJO magazine the other day, where they indicate in which formats each of the albums reviewed is published. I didn't count, but probably half of the albums were published in vinyl. That would seem impossible just 10 years ago, even for the wildest imagination. I think this indicates that, at the end of the day, there's a public for these carefully crafted cultural items. If CDs do disappear, who can say that 10-15 years later there won't be a "CD renaissance", with these now despised items being revalued as a sort of "digital incunabula"?

I see more problems for physical record shops, actually, than for physical records. Many people are buying their CDs or vinyls in the internet, although they could find them also in a physical record store. Even myself, a real reactionary, do that sometimes (though not often)!

Anyway, I'm 35 years now. If I'm lucky enough, I may live 50 years more. Hopefully, I will be able to buy physical music then. What happens later really doesn't matter to me!

OK, I've finally entered in the debate!