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Do you still buy CD's?

It's probably been a couple of years since I bought a CD, but I have quite a large collection of them.

I've actually debated about jumping into vinyl and supplement it with iTunes, and leave the CD's behind altogether. Not sure though vinyl seems pretty neat and all, but it seems to have a pretty high barrier to entry.
 
Last cd I bought was 10 years ago, a dark side of the moon special edition. It was $50, I don't know where I put it.
 
Yes regularly as long as I can't find a website (legit website not torrenting) where I have access to techno,dubstep,rock metal... in ALAC or Flac I will have to buy my CD's for good quality.
 
I haven't bought a CD in years. In fact I got rid of the CDs I did have when I moved almost 2 years ago, so now I don't even own any.
 
I can't even remember the last CD I bought... oh yeah, it was that 30PK of Imation CD-Rs. I almost never buy music at all, I usually **cough** download it all then put it on a CD-R in MP3 format so I can cram 50+ songs onto a disc for the commute into work, but I can't remember the last legitimate CD that I actually paid for. Seems like I'd spend $15+ on a CD with 13-17 songs, only to find out that only about 4 of them were any good. Would much rather download it and rid out the bad from the good.
 
Interesting point about piracy from a personal point of view.
I recently assisted in funding a small recording studio where I work for local musicians, especially kids to record themselves. Some older guys did it to have a permanent record of their playing before they die, the young kids did it to raise money for charity or their own groups. We've recently been using it for local charities and clubs to make themselves money for projects - it costs £400 to record produce and run off 100 CDs, so at £10 gbp for example the opportunity is there for some of these groups or charities to make £600 for their own equipment outings or projects.
I found out recently that one of our local school kids bought a copy then copied it for all his friends, maybe a dozen copies. The youth group involved lost £120, or a fifth of their potential funds.
Maybe Beyonce or the like could cope with that, but for smaller organisations it's a major setback. Not all musicians and recording artists make millions... :D
 
Yep, but I probably wouldn't buy a cd right now. There are much better investments with a greater rate of return. I also don't think it's a good time to be locked into a multi-year investment :D.
 
UlsterApple said:
I found out recently that one of our local school kids bought a copy then copied it for all his friends, maybe a dozen copies. The youth group involved lost £120, or a fifth of their potential funds.
Maybe Beyonce or the like could cope with that, but for smaller organisations it's a major setback. Not all musicians and recording artists make millions... :D
Click to expand...

Maybe. What if those twelve kids never intended on buying the CD to begin with? Did you really lose the money?
 
Hardly ever in the last 3 years. I've bought 1 CD in the last year - but that's due solely to not having found what I was looking for on any digital site.
 
I just got these in the mail from amazon:

"Re: ECM" by Ricardo Villalobos & Max Loderbauer
"Paris / London - Testament" by Keith Jarrett
"Radiance" by Keith Jarrett
"The Carnegie Hall Concert" by Keith Jarrett
"RIO" by Keith Jarrett

ECM rox! :cool:
 
I'll occasionally buy one for the sake of it. Like for example I could pay 9.99 for an album on iTunes/play, or I could go on the Amazon marketplace and get a used hardcopy for like 1.99 delivered.

Usually I'm just too impatient though and download the tracks I want from Play.com.

Also I have a Spotify premium account, so most of what I want to listen to is available there:D
 
Nope. Never have. I just download my music from YouTube. Sure, the quality might not be as great as on a CD or on iTunes, but I'm not sensitive to sound quality ;)
 
ag3nt47 said:
I can't even remember the last CD I bought... oh yeah, it was that 30PK of Imation CD-Rs. I almost never buy music at all, I usually **cough** download it all then put it on a CD-R in MP3 format so I can cram 50+ songs onto a disc for the commute into work, but I can't remember the last legitimate CD that I actually paid for. Seems like I'd spend $15+ on a CD with 13-17 songs, only to find out that only about 4 of them were any good. Would much rather download it and rid out the bad from the good.
Click to expand...
Why don't you just listen to the songs online before you buy it? :confused: That's what I do.
 
Firestar said:
Why don't you just listen to the songs online before you buy it? :confused: That's what I do.
Click to expand...

Could have gone that route too. I listen to a lot of songs on YouTube and such before downloading the discography, or to find similar artists that YouTube just magically thinks I'll like, although lately they've been pretty accurate. I use the Genius in iTunes sometimes too, but going out to YouTube and checking out some of the related videos works just as well.
 
I almost EXCLUSIVELY buy CDs:
- You will not buy better sound online. Even if you're okay with lossy compression, guess what? What if you're like me and like to make your own edits, mixes, crossfades, etc.? Re-saving a lossy format in another lossy format = even more lossy.

- You do not need to boot a computer to play a CD.

- CDs come in a nice storage case and quite often have booklets with extensive liner notes, sessionographies, etc. How often do you get that with a download?

- Thanks to CDs, I don't need to back up my iTunes directory. If anything happens to my iTunes, I don't mind re-ripping (using either Max or booting a PC and using Exact Audio Copy). CDs ARE the backups!

- CDs help keep alive mom-and-pop stores...although most mom-and-pop stores where I live specialize in used vinyl (and, thankfully, actually are doing quite well).

- One of the most recent additions to my CD collection was The Beach Boys' The Smile Sessions. In addition to five CDs, it also included two vinyl singles, a two-disc 12-inch vinyl set, two books, and a poster. Check iTunes -- does that version come with all that stuff?

BTW, I hate when people use the word "digital" to describe music that's downloaded as compared to CDs...uhh...CDs >>>ARE<<< digital. And it really bugs me to no end when a DVD or Blu-Ray package says, "Digital copy included." WELL, DUH!!! IT ALREADY IS DIGITAL!!!! Unless I'm behind the times and need to get a Blu-Ray player with a stylus and a tone arm...and when people say "digital download"...as opposed to an analog download???
 
dauber said:
BTW, I hate when people use the word "digital" to describe music that's downloaded as compared to CDs...uhh...CDs >>>ARE<<< digital. And it really bugs me to no end when a DVD or Blu-Ray package says, "Digital copy included." WELL, DUH!!! IT ALREADY IS DIGITAL!!!! Unless I'm behind the times and need to get a Blu-Ray player with a stylus and a tone arm...and when people say "digital download"...as opposed to an analog download???
Click to expand...

Well, music downloads are considered digital as opposed to physical media, so in that sense the usage is correct. And, of course, many CDs contain recordings that have been digitized from analog media. this is obviously particularly true for older recordings. The Beach Boys didn't originally record Smile using a digital process, for example.
 
Yes. I just decided to buy from iTunes when a couple of the music i listen to arent available in CD in my area. Although i would buy CD's when its a collectible of my favorite band, or a very rare to find CD's(rare to find in my area).
 
dauber said:
I almost EXCLUSIVELY buy CDs:
- You will not buy better sound online.
Click to expand...
depends on what you want, 44,1/16 CD-wav's are for sale on a lot of online stores... (but not lady gaga and beatles of course)

dauber said:
- One of the most recent additions to my CD collection was The Beach Boys' The Smile Sessions. In addition to five CDs, it also included two vinyl singles, a two-disc 12-inch vinyl set, two books, and a poster. Check iTunes -- does that version come with all that stuff?
Click to expand...

well, some of us just wants music and not stuff...

dauber said:
BTW, I hate when people use the word "digital" to describe music that's downloaded as compared to CDs...uhh...CDs >>>ARE<<< digital. And it really bugs me to no end when a DVD or Blu-Ray package says, "Digital copy included." WELL, DUH!!! IT ALREADY IS DIGITAL!!!! Unless I'm behind the times and need to get a Blu-Ray player with a stylus and a tone arm...and when people say "digital download"...as opposed to an analog download???
Click to expand...

so true! I would like to see an analog download... :)
 
entropi said:
so true! I would like to see an analog download... :)
Click to expand...

In the early days of personal computing, computer programs would occasionally be broadcast on the radio for DIY programmers to record on their computer casette drives. So, a digital program would be converted to an analog signal, transmitted wirelessly as an analog signal, recorded as an analog "file" by the end-user and then re-converted into a digital file by the computer.

Nowadays we store everything in a digital format. But it used to be that the only way to store digital data was with an analog device. Fascinating.
 
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