The End of CDs?
November 27, 2005 – 10:56 pmAidin Vaziri at the San Francisco Chronicle wrote an opinion piece calling for the end of music CDs in the wake of the rise of the iPod and Internet radio. While I don’t think a great case is made for dumping CDs altogether, Aidin does provide a nice set of links to various music blogs and online music services in the article.
I ventured over to one of the recommended sites, The Hype Machine, and listened to a song called I Summon You by Spoon. Now that was a nice song. I wish I had the time to root around these types of site more often and uncover more bands I haven’t heard before. Some nice gems are inevitably hidden out there.
On the same site, I listened to Journey’s Don’t Stop Believin’. Clicking on the “read post” link lead me to When Apes Rule The Earth, which had a link to the rendition of Don’t Stop Believin’ that Peter, Quagmire, Cleveland, and Joe do on The Family Guy. Classic.
3 Responses to “The End of CDs?”
I don’t feel like taking the time to fully explain my opinion, but I really prefer CDs to buying music online. I like having the hard copy that I can export to MP3 as many times as necessary. As I understand, iTunes limits the number of times a file can be copied to a new computer.
But I also like having the album art and liner notes. This is more important for jazz albums, where the liner notes usually involve essays written by critics or the artists describing the recording session. Obviously, this is less important for many rock/pop albums where the liner notes consists of translations of the song lyrics, written in a “scrawled-on-the-back-of-a-napkin”-type fonts. Much of the history of music (outside of rock/pop) can be found by flipping through the liner notes of records/cds.
By Adam on Nov 27, 2005 at 11:30 pm
Interestingly enough, I prefer buying rock albums (where I can get the lyrics easily if I feel the need) and keeping electronic copies of jazz. I can research the stuff that’s in jazz liner notes either in the library or online. (Believe it or not, you can find lots of the history of music in a library.) It always seemed a little contrived to buy a CD of “Birth of the Cool” because if I really wanted to be true to the idea I would get a turntable and collect vinyl. I hear the sound fidelity is better, too. But that’s just my take on it. Obviously there are other opinions.
As for CDs in general, I definitely think they’re on their way out whether we like it or not. The issues with DRM (iTunes or otherwise) in online music can often be dealt with, and aren’t necessarily absent with CDs (many CDs these days prevent you from ripping them unless you go to some effort to do so). And the “target demographic” (which we are swiftly aging out of, if not already too old for) is openly hostile to buying CDs. Worse than we ever were, even in the halcyon days of Napster.
I also agree with Jeff’s point at the end — the dynamic medium of the web allows for discovery of music that wouldn’t ordinarily be possible (or would be extremely difficult, requiring a wide network of savvy friends). Covers, live versions, remixes, mash-ups, related bands, and more are available quickly and easily. As people turn to digital sources for some things (mash-ups, say), they will be more likely to wander into iTunes for songs/albums they previously would have gone to the shop for. It’s easier. And as eCommerce has shown us, people like Easier.
By Dixie on Nov 28, 2005 at 10:32 am
Spoon is one of my favorites. Back in the olden days, before they were on itunes, I had to buy some of their “physical media”. So you should borrow an album if you liked it. Of course, you’ll have to borrow the cd’s from Mike, because my disdain for cd’s is so great that I just give them away after I rip them. Does anybody want an album from “The Features”, by the way? (I only buy cd’s in stores if they cost less than the total number of songs I might like on the album…around $5, otherwise itunes).
By GV on Nov 28, 2005 at 1:55 pm