CD players on the way out?

Sabby

New member
Jul 22, 2009
36
0
0
Visit site
The current trend in digital music playback seems to be streaming music via the computer or other suitable device and playback through a dac. I ask this because I have just sold my CD player and am not certain whether I should buy another CD player or go the music streaming/dac route. So far only one manufacturer, Linn, has come out and said that they won't be manufacturing CD players any more. Will more manufacturers follow suit in the near future?
 
A

Anonymous

Guest
chebby:
They certainly are on the way out.

I expect there will be none on sale by about 2020 or 2025 or maybe 2035 or...

Just look what happened to vinyl and turntables!

I love irony me :)
 
A

Anonymous

Guest
the sales of cd players will plummit. why wouldn't they with so many people moving to computer based music?
 

chebby

Well-known member
Jun 2, 2008
1,253
26
19,220
Visit site
Here are the figures from the last annual CE report of such trends...

Clicky.

And here is the pertinent bit in full from Clare' blog last July...

"And now we turn to our headline fact - that 77,400 turntables were
sold in the year to May (a 11% increase). That compares to 41,400 CD
players.


However, the CD player market remains more lucrative -
the average price has risen 31% to £386 (with a 57% rise in sales for
£1000+ players), while the average selling price of a turntable has
fallen 10% to ust £122. That shows the real popularity area: budget and
USB decks."
 

basshead

New member
Mar 4, 2009
46
0
0
Visit site
i hope cd players do die off. not because of the cd player, but because of cd's - they are rubbish. digital downloads dont skip when you play them, dont rot away over time and dont get lost at parties.
 

Helmut80

New member
Jan 8, 2011
27
1
0
Visit site
basshead:
i hope cd players do die off. not because of the cd player, but because of cd's - they are rubbish. digital downloads dont skip when you play them, dont rot away over time and dont get lost at parties.

yep. I am a little sympathetic to the vinyl romantics, but with the CD I just don't see (or should I say 'hear'?) it.
 

datay

New member
Nov 19, 2008
28
0
0
Visit site
basshead:
i hope cd players do die off. not because of the cd player, but because of cd's - they are rubbish. digital downloads dont skip when you play them, dont rot away over time and dont get lost at parties.

I agree, the thing is: I've always felt that the cover art and liner notes (whatever form they take, sometimes very little) are part of the package. I started out buying records in the 80s, and of course LP sleeves were works of art in their own right, then also gatefold and box sets...The scale was reduced with CDs, but still some great and innovative packaging. I am guessing that along with digital downloads we will soon be able to order the accompanying booklet. I am sure some will call this attitude shallow and that this has nothing to do with the music, but for me and I'm sure many others that is simply not true. Music needs a context, and artwork/photos/notes etc, provide that.
 

basshead

New member
Mar 4, 2009
46
0
0
Visit site
datay:basshead:
i hope cd players do die off. not because of the cd player, but because of cd's - they are rubbish. digital downloads dont skip when you play them, dont rot away over time and dont get lost at parties.

I agree, the thing is: I've always felt that the cover art and liner notes (whatever form they take, sometimes very little) are part of the package. I started out buying records in the 80s, and of course LP sleeves were works of art in their own right, then also gatefold and box sets...The scale was reduced with CDs, but still some great and innovative packaging. I am guessing that along with digital downloads we will soon be able to order the accompanying booklet. I am sure some will call this attitude shallow and that this has nothing to do with the music, but for me and I'm sure many others that is simply not true. Music needs a context, and artwork/photos/notes etc, provide that.

i don't think that attitude is shallow, i agree with you that music needs a context. this is why i still love going to record fairs (the one in southampton can be pretty good). I love discovering vinyl from 10 years ago or so which is now out of print and un-available, i cherish these songs/albums and they mean so much more to me than just the music its self. I would never, however, buy second hand cd's from any record fair or charity shop, as i would have no faith in the cd playing properly when i get it home.
 
A

Anonymous

Guest
datay:[

I agree, the thing is: I've always felt that the cover art and liner notes (whatever form they take, sometimes very little) are part of the package. I started out buying records in the 80s, and of course LP sleeves were works of art in their own right, then also gatefold and box sets...The scale was reduced with CDs, but still some great and innovative packaging. I am guessing that along with digital downloads we will soon be able to order the accompanying booklet. I am sure some will call this attitude shallow and that this has nothing to do with the music, but for me and I'm sure many others that is simply not true. Music needs a context, and artwork/photos/notes etc, provide that.

I have a similar view regarding music needing a context which can be associated with the packaging, be it vinyl or (to a lesser extent) cd's. For me, the tactile ownership of a physical piece of art is still very much part of the whole music experience. I think some aspects of needing to review a tangible item when parting with my cash is probably a bit of an old fashioned view. Also, who doesn't get an exciting feeling when something drops through your letter box that isn't a bill? I don't quite get the same sense of retail therapy or satisfaction by simply downloading. There is also the collectable perspective which IMO works best with nice neat rows of something palpable. Don't get me wrong, there are some brilliant practical reasons for storing music on computer etc. Carrying 300 albums around in the palm of my hand is fantastic and a great complimentary form of music media. But for me, it will always be about collecting my music in a hardware form first.

Nick
 

Sizzers

New member
Jun 20, 2008
188
0
0
Visit site
I don't think it's so much a question as to whether CD will die out as to what physical format may replace it (USB stick, or whatever the next storage/memory format may be).

For a whole multitude of reasons there will always be a substantial number of people who cannot access the internet to download music files so there will always be a market - to whatever degree - for "physical" music, if only for that reason alone.
 

matthewpiano

Well-known member
Sorry, but CDs aren't rubbish at all. I love the format and always have done. Furthermore CD players have got incredibly good these days. My CDs sound involving, dynamic, detailed, and musical and I thoroughly enjoy listening to them. I also love the physical aspect of having the packaging with the liner notes etc. and being a big fan of classical music I have a real soft spot for some of the excellent box sets that are coming out these days.

CD players aren't on the way out. There may be fewer of them going forward but, given the massive collections people have put together, there will always be a market for decent quality machines on which to play them.
 

Sizzers

New member
Jun 20, 2008
188
0
0
Visit site
matthewpiano:Sorry, but CDs aren't rubbish at all. I love the format and always have done. Furthermore CD players have got incredibly good these days. My CDs sound involving, dynamic, detailed, and musical and I thoroughly enjoy listening to them. I also love the physical aspect of having the packaging with the liner notes etc. and being a big fan of classical music I have a real soft spot for some of the excellent box sets that are coming out these days.

CD players aren't on the way out. There may be fewer of them going forward but, given the massive collections people have put together, there will always be a market for decent quality machines on which to play them.

A BIG plus One for Mr P.

Elequently, expressively, and passionately put as always. I've no experience whatsoever of downloaded music apart from what's on my mobile. Pretty good for what it does on there but that's as far as I'm taking it (at least for now!)
 

manicm

Well-known member
As soon as digital streaming comes of age, which I don't think it yet has, then CD players will definitely be on the way out, if not the CD itself.

The irony is that a complete high-res digital streaming solution is complex, power-hungry and not for technophobes.
 
A

Anonymous

Guest
Sizzers:

A BIG plus One for Mr P. Elequently, expressively, and passionately put as always. I've no experience whatsoever of downloaded music apart from what's on my mobile. Pretty good for what it does on there but that's as far as I'm taking it (at least for now!)

I remember being very reluctant to embrace the digital cd revolution and almost had to be dragged kicking and screaming into buying a cd player in the mid '90's
emotion-10.gif
. "The sound quality is no better than vinyl on a decent turntable" I seem to remember chuntering to anyone who'd listen! But times change and eventually you see the practicalities of it all and start accepting the change. I think it's brilliant to have so many interchangeable music media options which can be integrated into your system. In my book, having many choices is brilliant.
emotion-2.gif


Nick
 

audioaffair

New member
Feb 21, 2009
100
0
0
Visit site
CD player sales are still going strong but the overall consensus is that CD is on the way out, backed up in no small part by declines in CD sales on the high street. An interesting change though is the introduction of CD players with several DAC and/or pre amplifier features such as the Audiolab 8200CD or 8200CDQ. These thus offer a "hub" for the digital sources that are designed to replace CD (streaming audio from NAS drive, PC, Mac etc) while still offering the benefit of CD replay.

Having said that, although vinyl went the way of the dodo for the masses, turntable sales are still a strong niche market and CD player sales should at least remain so in 10-20 years for those that simply prefer a physical format to streaming audio.
 

basshead

New member
Mar 4, 2009
46
0
0
Visit site
matthewpiano:. CD players aren't on the way out. There may be fewer of them going forward but, given the massive collections people have put together, there will always be a market for decent quality machines on which to play them.

very good point, even if new cd's are no longer produced there will always be a massive amount still out there. not everyone wants to copy them to a pc or ipod to play that way. plus there is the portability issue, i can take a cd to a friends house, play it in a car and lend it to people.

i dont think cd players will go away exactly, but i can see cd's being less used. i would much prefer to have music on a usb memory stick, and plug that into a 'player', this 'player' would also have a cd drive to cater for the cd's already out there. usb sticks could even be sold in exactly the same way as cd's - same boxes, same artwork, same physical media, the only difference being that a usb stick is plugged into a player rather than a cd.

the issue i have with cd's is the disk as a physical storage device. they are rubbish with too many flaws. i am sure that i am not the only person who has had to buy the same album more than once due to scratches or disk rot, they have to be so carefully handled, where as a usb stick would be far more resilient.
 
A

Anonymous

Guest
basshead:

i am sure that i am not the only person who has had to buy the same album more than once due to scratches or disk rot, they have to be so carefully handled, where as a usb stick would be far more resilient.

Cd's don't suffer from virus', network drop-outs or 'the blue screen of death'
emotion-2.gif
Each have their own problems as well as benefit's. Its nice to have affordable choices IMO.

Nick
 

The_Lhc

Well-known member
Oct 16, 2008
1,176
1
19,195
Visit site
Sizzers:For a whole multitude of reasons there will always be a substantial number of people who cannot access the internet

Not in 20 years time there won't be, by that time wireless connectivity should be so ubiquitous you'll be online everywhere at speeds far far in excess of 3G on devices you'll barely even realise you're wearing it.
 

The_Lhc

Well-known member
Oct 16, 2008
1,176
1
19,195
Visit site
matthewpiano:CD players aren't on the way out. There may be fewer of them going forward but, given the massive collections people have put together, there will always be a market for decent quality machines on which to play them.

Can't help thinking a number of you are completely missing the point, I've got a load of CDs and most of the ones bought in the last 3 years have never seen the inside of an audio CD player (I don't own one). It's still the format I buy the music on but they get ripped straight to a NAS (no viruses, no blue-screens, no screen!) and played through Sonos (never had a wireless drop-out).

It doesn't matter how many CDs people still own in 5, 10, 20 years time, you don't need a CD player to play them NOW.
 

Helmut80

New member
Jan 8, 2011
27
1
0
Visit site
most people not bothered by lossy file formats had this discussion about half a decade ago, and will laugh you straight out the door if you still bring it up.
 

michael hoy

Well-known member
basshead:
i hope cd players do die off. not because of the cd player, but because of cd's - they are rubbish. digital downloads dont skip when you play them, dont rot away over time and dont get lost at parties.

Take more care of them.
 

TRENDING THREADS

Latest posts