RichTeer
Well-known member
Amen to that, Tim!
Are CD's going the way of Vinyl?
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Amen to that, Tim!
RichTeer
Well-known member
That's a typically low end point of view. I.e., valid, but flawed. Downloads will never completely replace media, if only because people like media. I like the fact that I can visit a friend and take a Blu-ray over to his house to watch. Download quality (even the "high def" ones) is poor compared to the real thing. Once only needs to compare movies on an HD channel (which compress the hell out their data streams, and 720p seems to be more normal than 1080i) to the same movie's Blu-ray to see how obvious this is.
I can second that - even sonically some are really good - it's the players that normally suck, not the format. I don't mean of course that the hi-rez formats are not better, just that playback equipment has only recently begun to utilize the format's full potential. I know of Red Book playing gear that really makes one wonder.
amey01
Well-known member
iTunes maybe, but *DOWNLOADS* aren't totally useless - there's more than iTunes - FLAC downloads are great! Especially high-rez ones!
It's the quickest and easiest way to get better than CD quality. We should be rejoicing. Especially since you can actually search for the music you want instead of wading through Britteny Spears, Madonna and Eminem and a handful of other top 40 stuff.
Physical media is dead because of the inefficient logistics of carrying it, transporting it and storing it. Yes, it's a bit sad, but give me wider choice and better quality any day of the week.
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User211
Well-known member
The big CD stores here seem to be moving much more into DVD / Blu Ray / book sales, which means the amount of CDs on display is becoming drastically reduced. Went to two this evening - HMV and Zavii (was the Virgin Megastore).
No vinyl in any of the biggies.... Blu Ray prices dropping but still pathetically high.
No vinyl in any of the biggies.... Blu Ray prices dropping but still pathetically high.
You have a point there, Amey. But it is only dead if we allow it to die. Consumers ultimately control the marketplace. If they didn't, Vinyl and tubes would have completely died out decades ago. If there is a market, the stores will find a way to transport and store and sell it.
I think we are going to see a niche open back up for the specialty stores like Tower, once the Best Buy's, Circuit City's and Wal Mart's reduce their inventory of CD's. As I have said earlier in this thread, browsing for a CD online is nowhere near as enjoyable as browsing through physical media in a store.
Sometimes, I go into a store with no particular item in mind that I want to buy, and I walk out of there with ten or fifteen CD's that I discovered among the stacks. I just don't do that online. It is too much effort to surf through fifty pages of catalog to find something interesting. When I order CD's online, I find exactly what I am looking for and I buy it. I just don't browse around for that offhand pick that I might find.
Ultimately, I think this just hurts the record companies. If I can't shop in a physical store with a lot of inventory, then I am definitely going to be buying a LOT less music. Multiply me by a few million people, and suddenly the record companies are really going to be hurting for sales.
But then, perhaps this has already happened and that is why we are seeing the drops in inventory. Perhaps people like me have already bought all the back catalog items they want and those CD's sales have dropped to a snail's pace. And people like me are buying less and less of the new releases because most of it is crap to our perspective.
I've noticed a big effort by record companies recently to re-organize the back catalog into new compilation CD's or to issue remastered versions of older CD's in an attempt to get people to buy the same stuff over again. But I think most intelligent people recognize that for what it is and are happy with the CD's they already have by that artist. How many versions of a song or a CD do you need in your catalog, after all?
As far as I'm concerned, I like using my music server. On the other hand, I keep on buying physical media because I like to read the booklet and have a tactile 'feel' of the product even when playing back from the server, even when I can download the album for less money.
That said, there will always be people and people - and I don't think that the physical media will die out completely.
That said, there will always be people and people - and I don't think that the physical media will die out completely.
DrJRapp
Well-known member
There may be a resergence but the mumbers are still microscopic by comparison to the entire market. It's a niche thing...
amey01
Well-known member
That's exactly why I enjoyed shopping in the US megastores so much on my few holidays over the years. It's lovely!!
What infuriates me most of all though is the reverse of what you say - going to a "bricks and mortar" store with something in mind, but not being able to find it. I've thrown CDs across the racks in rage (I didn't say I have an anger management issue). This never happened in the US, but it happens here all the time.
So yes, it's a real shame, but I guess what I'm trying to say is that here in Australia, it already was in a shameful state! I already was mourning!
I guess I could say - "think yourself lucky"...............
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Bernard
Well-known member
amey01
Well-known member
Oh, there's a Virgin Megastore in Sydney too - it's just that it stocks 20 copies of each Brittney Spears CD instead of two.
You're no more likely to find what you're looking for.
I feel your pain, Amey. Unfortunately, it appears we are headed for the same end result here in this country.
Here is an article I found today discussing the decline in CD sales:
Digital music gains, but CD losses a pain
A quote from the article:
So the question is: are inventories down because of decreased demand . . . or is demand down because of decreased inventories? Probably a little of both, in a never-ending downward spiral.
Here is an article I found today discussing the decline in CD sales:
Digital music gains, but CD losses a pain
A quote from the article:
So the question is: are inventories down because of decreased demand . . . or is demand down because of decreased inventories? Probably a little of both, in a never-ending downward spiral.
amey01
Well-known member
Yes it is!
But if I can get really philosophical, you know what I think initiated it? Not the decline in inventories and not digital downloads, but the rubbish that the record companies are putting out.
If they put out unimaginative rubbish then of course nobody is going to want it. The Australian Idol/American Idol type of milking of the consumer by way of fads and fashions. People tire of that really quickly - even kids.
There is so much good music out there, but it is so obscure it makes me cry. And the majority of it probably never even gets recorded so that it can be obscure.
Oh, and competition from other entertainment sources such as gaming consoles, DVD, internet, etc.
Come to think of it, I think we might have a bigger worry than bricks and mortar record stores dying - maybe we'll have a problem with music as a entertainment medium dying? There is already continual reports of Classical as a genre on its way out. Maybe in the years to come, as Generation "Z" becomes a musicless, Playstation/technology obsessed lot of duds.
If the real music dies and we're only left with garbage, there's a natural place for it to end up - in the rubbish bin!
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amey01
Well-known member
Yep - all they're interested in is ordering a box of 200 Britteny Spears CDs and selling them within a week.
If so much money can be made from that, why stock an extensive collection?
Really really sad. But as I said - nothing new here.
tonepub
Senior Member
I don't know, I've been hearing a lot of really interesting music this year, so I think it's getting better.
I agree with the notion that the record companies have really lost touch with their primary moneymaker -- the ability to go out and find fresh, new, TALENT, and nurture it. They are chasing fad after fad, trying to get the most bang for the buck this financial quarter, and really aren't finding and nurturing talented musicians. This is, indeed, one reason things are going downhill. The other reason is that kids these days aren't looking for or interested in talent. They want cool, hip, and sexy. Who cares if the chick can carry a tune or play a chord or pen a lyric, as long as she wears tight pants and shows a firm midriff and can be choreographed.
There are truly a bonanza of interesting, talented musicians out there that will never get "discovered" and never have their music distributed to the masses. This is why it is important to surf places like CD Baby and get exposed to some of the independent musicians out there.
There are truly a bonanza of interesting, talented musicians out there that will never get "discovered" and never have their music distributed to the masses. This is why it is important to surf places like CD Baby and get exposed to some of the independent musicians out there.
tonepub
Senior Member
I wouldn't sell the kids that short. Just because all of em don't like the music we like, the 20 somethings on our staff have turned me on to some great stuff...
And in the process I've given them a little bit of musical history that they've enjoyed too. It's all about access and just finding where the music is!
That's the terrible thing about the record stores closing and no good radio stations left. There's ten times more music out there than when we were kids but one tenth as many places to find it!
Gotta start doing more searching on internet radio and XM.
And in the process I've given them a little bit of musical history that they've enjoyed too. It's all about access and just finding where the music is!
That's the terrible thing about the record stores closing and no good radio stations left. There's ten times more music out there than when we were kids but one tenth as many places to find it!
Gotta start doing more searching on internet radio and XM.
amey01
Well-known member
With respect, I wouldn't call the "anyones" on your staff "typical" of average 20-something consumers. Right?
Even if they were typical when they started, once they've been exposed to what you have the capability to expose them to, I don't think the would be anymore!
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