Still buying CDs ?

[MajorFubar]

32 years since they went on sale and CDs remain the most cost-effective way to buy music in a digital format. The massive used-market keeps prices at rock bottom for anything but collectables and hot new releases (wait for them to drop down the charts and buy them in Tesco at 50% of). I remain amazed that album downloads continue in many cases to be more expensive than what you can actually buy the CD for online. It can only be because either (1) downloaders are impatient and they would prefer to pay a premium to have an inferior product now than wait for a cheaper superior product to arrive in the post tomorrow, (2) people generally don't buy full albums as downloads, they just cherry-pick their favourite tracks so the premium price doesn't affect them, (3) generally these days people don't buy full albums at all. A indeterminate blur between (2)-(3) is probably close to the truth.

 

[Al ears]

32 years since they went on sale and CDs remain the most cost-effective way to buy music in a digital format. The massive used-market keeps prices at rock bottom for anything but collectables and hot new releases (wait for them to drop down the charts and buy them in Tesco at 50% of). I remain amazed that album downloads continue in many cases to be more expensive than what you can actually buy the CD for online. It can only be because either (1) downloaders are impatient and they would prefer to pay a premium to have an inferior product now than wait for a cheaper superior product to arrive in the post tomorrow, (2) people generally don't buy full albums as downloads, they just cherry-pick their favourite tracks so the premium price doesn't affect them, (3) generally these days people don't buy full albums at all. A indeterminate blur between (2)-(3) is probably close to the truth.

You could be right Major. The day of the 'concept album' (where it is recommended you listen to the tracks in the order in which they appear and listen to it in it's entirety...just for those that don't know) has long since disappeared. However, classical music on CD appears to be going strong.

 

[Womaz]

Yes CD is still my major purchases. I rip to FLAC, and play through a network player.

I have used qobuz too, and its great to get the copy straight away , but I have had problems with album covers and track names being incorrect, so this puts me off for now.

Also CDs so cheap if you are buying older stuff. Second hand CD at say £2 or a download at £10......no brainer for me

 

[Frank Harvey]

When I first bought the Sonos connect found it so good thought I might actually buy less CD's... wrong! buying just as many, if not more.

Exactly what happened to me. I tend to use Napster (and Last.FM back then) to discover new music, then buy it on CD or vinyl (or both), depending how much I like the album. I still use Napster for background listening, until I sort out some media server to store my CD collection.

 

[lpv]

No more CD's.. ALAC downloads from places like Bandcamp & Bleep mostly.

 

[Infiniteloop]

Definitely... used and new CDS are at very good prices. I am using streaming services a lot more to discover and rediscover music and then end up buying the CD for artists or albums I like. They all get ripped and stored almost immediately. As a means to buy digital music it's still the best option for me as it is far cheaper than downloading and I get to own and keep what I paid for.

+1

 

[fr0g]

Nope.

I mainly buy downloads now. Slightly cheaper usually (ignoring 2nd hand), and from decent dealers (unlike Amazon who I detest).

Boomkat, Linn Records, Bleep and quite a few indies or direct from the band's website.

And ironically, I occaisionally get a blank CD, print a label for it and write the FLAC files to it! It ends up as exactly the same thing

Saying that, I buy maybe 20% of what I did before Spotify as 90% of albums I listen to go unlistened indefinitely after a while.

I have around 1200 CDs, most of which I will never hear again.

 

[bigfish786]

Is probably over 400 now, with maybe a bunch of a hundred or so getting played more often than the others,

i don't favour either cd or vinyl. They both sound good on my hifi. But I tend to buy CDs to check the music out, then if I think it's a keeper, I look for it on vinyl too.

as, sometimes I'm in the mood for vinyl. And the constant jumping up and down, to change records over etc. other days, I put a cd on, and wind down without the fuss.

 

[JoelSim]

The last CD I bought was 'A different kind of fix' when it came out. Then again I have never bought a download either, not one.

Spotify all the way for me these days. And internet radio.