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Is the CD dead?


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If the music industry was still interested in pushing physical product (rather than virtual product which is what MP3s etc. are), they might actually still sell more product.

 

I do long for the days of the full service record store where you could see what was current and buy it on the spot, even if it was a rock album or folk or jazz or some piece of pop crap, it didn't matter. Now you can't do that. Even in Chicago, the third largest city in the country and a huge music market, there isn't a single full service record store left.

That is totally fucked up.

 

Lou, I agree with alot of what you say, but you are glossing over an undeniable and complicating factor in all this. Those stores required patrons to buy blind. Digital media has opened up so many doors to customers that otherwise wouldn't have wanted to take a chance on an album they hadn't heard for $15. Sure, you (and I) might be willing to walk into a store, chat with some folks, and buy music on faith. But once mp3s, and blogs, and those little preview buttons on Amazon and in BarnesNoble started up, it opened a whole new world and I wonder if there's any going back now. Sure, record companies deserve plenty of blame for what is happening in the industry. But comparing the physical products that WalMart sells to the physical product that Tower Records sells is a bit of a stretch. Folks can stop by amazon to preview it, and if they like it, will probably just buy it from there. Hard to get around that.

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Lou, I agree with alot of what you say, but you are glossing over an undeniable and complicating factor in all this. Those stores required patrons to buy blind. Digital media has opened up so many doors to customers that otherwise wouldn't have wanted to take a chance on an album they hadn't heard for $15. Sure, you (and I) might be willing to walk into a store, chat with some folks, and buy music on faith. But once mp3s, and blogs, and those little preview buttons on Amazon and in BarnesNoble started up, it opened a whole new world and I wonder if there's any going back now. Sure, record companies deserve plenty of blame for what is happening in the industry. But comparing the physical products that WalMart sells to the physical product that Tower Records sells is a bit of a stretch. Folks can stop by amazon to preview it, and if they like it, will probably just buy it from there. Hard to get around that.

Thanks for reading that shit I wrote...

 

I agree with you also. There was a time (a long long time ago) when you could preview records at the stores and you could hear the music (sometimes) on the radio. Some record stores in the recent past did try and give customers the ability to listen to what was on the records.

 

(How much things have changes?? When I was in college in the middle of shit creek Ohio on a small campus the college bookstore sold LPs, including cut-outs. You could go in and get not only new releases but all kinds of cool stuff.)

 

But you do hit on an important point. At 15 bucks few people are willing to take a chance on something they know nothing about.

 

I know the good old days ain't coming back, but it does make me sad none the less. It used to be fun to go to the full service record stores and look around even if I didn't intend to buy anything. It is far harder to look around an indie store and not walk out with something, just as it is harder to walk out of any mom and pop store without buying as opposed to a deptartment store. I rarely bought at Coconuts or other chains, but it was a nice way to see what was current and sometimes I would buy cut-outs and other stuff that was being remaindered. Where does all that stuff go now?

 

LouieB

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In high school, I bought most of my stuff through BMG (an efficient and cheap way for a teenager to work her way through Dylan's back catalogue) or Val's Halla in Oak Park, as it was only a few blocks from my house.

 

I rarely buy a single record anymore; it's all I ask for, for Christmas and my birthday, and that gets me enough to go through for a while. When I do buy music, I have a habit of picking an artist and buying their entire discography, and I've always been like that.

 

I will buy records based on reviews. Rolling Stone, in my experience, does the best job of conveying what a band actually sounds like. Pitchfork will call any band "something-esque" and describe it as a "return to [genre it sounds NOTHING like], so I've learned from that. I actually bought Satellite Rides based on the Rolling Stone review when it came out - I remember going to Val's and picking the disc up on a Saturday, then returning Sunday afternoon to buy her out of the rest of their catalogue.

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I find that I don't listen to new music unless I have it on a physical CD. If I've got my iPod with 9,000 songs on it, I tend to go to stuff I already know and love, or I listen to a podcast. I don't listen to new music so much on the iPod or computer, even though I keep downloading stuff (live shows, Amazon specials).

 

I'd rather put the CD in the car and drive around with it for a few weeks to let the new music sink in. Plus, there's artwork, lyrics, etc. Plus, there's the physical backup. Plus, CDs are no more expensive (sometimes less expensive) than downloads.

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I definitely buy less CDs these days. Hell, I buy less music these days. Downloads have surpassed CDs for me. I still buy CDs (or get them as gifts) but downloads win by maybe a 2 to 1, probably 3 to 1, ratio. To be honest, at least half of the downloads are priceless, meaning that I don't pay a price for them. Someone gives me files via data disc or email/megaupload-esque methods.

 

As far as back up concerns, a few months ago I lost it all. 11,000 songs on the hard drive. Some of these files did not have a physical CD in my hugeCd furniture like the photo above. I simply bought a external hard drive exclusively for music and the downloaded a program to transfer flies from my iPod to the external hard drive and voila!, No muss, no fuss. Of course, I don't give a tinker's damn about lossless versus some other term that is equally meaningless to me. If you do care, then the Cucusoft (or whatever the transfer program is called) would be no solution at all.

 

If you are dcarter-like, then a program to transfer from your iPod to your hard drive would be a godsend.

 

Louie, I also loved going to record stores. Ah, memories.

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Fixed it.

 

I can kinda hear the difference, but not enough that it matters for the 8 or so downloads I have. For someone who has their entire collection digital by now, they clearly don't care about the difference they do hear, if they hear one at all.

 

ignorance is bliss. if i really like the song and don't have to work in the slightest to enjoy it, it will sound good on any system at any bit rate.

 

The "one step further" being you will purchase the vinyl, and if it does not come with a free CD or digital download, also purchase the digital download via iTunes, Amazon, or eMusic?

 

no, i just download mostly these days.

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Prepac-Quad-Media-Tower-holds-1520-CDs-Media-Storage_0_299x235.jpg

 

Just ordered this beast so I really hope the CD is not dead.

 

How many does it hold? And where did you get it? And how much is it?

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I have a few similar CD shelving units to the one above in my living room:

 

CDs1.jpg

CDs2.jpg

 

Sadly this isn't even all my CDs, and I won't even go into all the bootlegs and downloaded [FLAC] CDs I have elsewhere :D.

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One reason to love the cd artifact is for the booklet that I'm sure a lot of us have signed.

 

I keep forgetting, along with Michael McDonald, that I have booklets signed by Ryan Adams and Jimmy Gnecco (Ours) to name a few. The others I can't remember because they're lost in my closet tucked away until I decide to take them out.

 

I don't want to be that guy that gives a musician a cheap printout of iTunes artwork to autograph. I'd rather use a post it. And I have in fact! I had Tim Blake Nelson (Delmar in O Brother) sign a post it because that's all that I had to give him. :blush

Photo 13.jpg

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I have a few similar CD shelving units to the one above in my living room:

 

CDs1.jpg

CDs2.jpg

 

Sadly this isn't even all my CDs, and I won't even go into all the bootlegs and downloaded [FLAC] CDs I have elsewhere :D.

 

i see no direction home-dylan and beatles at the top. cool pics!

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i see no direction home-dylan and beatles at the top. cool pics!

Yeah, certain CDs are recognizable just by the spine :).

 

 

(I wonder if anyone can spot where the Wilco CDs are in that top picture.)

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I don't blame your label for worrying about the decline of the cd...but really the format is far from dead and there's plenty of profit margin to be made on albums.

 

The last album I released I burned my own copies and put the whole thing together. I've still got copies around out of a run of 100, but even so (and selling at $5/piece) I still am more than breaking even. Even if you got the whole thing pressed and packaged yourself a run of 500 is going to easily make you money (depending on how you want to count time/labor on the whole project). The next album I am releasing I'll probably do the same way.

 

I bought a cd just today (On Fillmore), and I'll continue buying physical format music (mostly cd's) until it disappears entirely. I like musical product for what it's worth.

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Do I spot Sky Blue Sky in the second-from-the-bottom row of the right-side rack?

Also, may I borrow your Nuggets box? :D

All the Wilco CDs are in the bottom row, left-side rack ;). I love those nuggets discs :yes

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All the Wilco CDs are in the bottom row, left-side rack wink.gif. I love those nuggets discs yes.gif

 

 

So you sorted alphabetically and not autobiographically?

 

And thanks to everyone who answered PopTodd's questions for me.

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Louie, I also loved going to record stores. Ah, memories.

It is interesting you mention record stores in general. There are still record stores, at least in the cities, but there aren't any longer the larger full service ones, mostly just indies.

 

But you are correct that every small town used to have some sort of record store. You could go to practically any small town and find a place that had something to offer and a place to find out what was happening in that town. Record stores were the place you could find out about music in the area, buy some old LPs or CDs at good prices and maybe find some paraphanailia too..(not that I ever did.) These were the centers of musical life in towns.

 

I found all kinds of interesting things and met interesting folks in small town record stores. Those days do seem to be mostly gone.

 

LouieB

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