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I get alot of my music though itunes but a cd always sounds 10x better on my expensive sound system. I can't really tell the difference on my HD 485's or my logitech speakers at work though.
 
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.

Totally. And (in the UK at least) most "digital" downloads come down the phone wire as an analogue ADSL signal - unlike say a CD where it really is a physical representation of binary 1s and 0s.

"Digital" = marketing speak for "wow, futuristic" :rolleyes:

Oh, and CDs FTW - rip to lossless and archive. Better quality than iTunes/Amazon, often cheaper, free backup, free physical booklet with artwork, sleeve notes etc.
 
I still buy CDs though I try to buy from independent record stores. There is something visceral about having something that I can unwrap and play a CD right after buying it that I don't get when downloading a CD from iTunes. Though if I can't get the CD locally I'll download it before I order it from Amazon.

Last CD I bought was Mutual Friends by Boy. Had to import it from amazon.de since its not on US iTunes.
 
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No.

CDs are going the way of vinyl records. Printed books are heading the same way.
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No.

CDs are going the way of vinyl records. Printed books are heading the same way.
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I don't agree about printed books. Music is pretty much the same any place you get it (records, CDs, internet etc). Printed books feel much nicer than reading them on a tablet. Dunno about overseas, but in my country printed books don't seem to be losing many sales at all.
 
Printed books are for people who like books. eBooks are for people who like reading.

The writing is on the wall, printed book sales are getting smaller every year.
 
To me, printed/recorded media is always better than downloads. I always prefer physical media to digital.

I still buy books, CDs, DVDs, Blu-Rays, the odd Laserdisc, etc. I very rarely purchase anything from iTunes. Usually because it isn't available somewhere else in a physical format.
 
Printed books are for people who like books. eBooks are for people who like reading.

Do you think there are people out there who like books but not reading? And by the way, when did this magical transition take place?

The writing is on the wall, printed book sales are getting smaller every year.

eBooks will eventually make up a majority of the market, but printed books will never totally disappear, nor will they be merely a refuge for luddites. They are a cheap and durable medium, and they haven't been technically outclassed by eBooks either, as CDs have by solid state media.
 
Like it or not, media that can be digitized will be.

Convenience is a driving factor in consumer goods. Sure they'll always be someone that holds out in favor of what they're accustomed to.

CDs (optical media in general): dying say 10yrs, dead the moment most typical ISP caps are large and fast enough. The CD is just a physical transport, just like cassette tapes were before them.
Printed media: dying a very slow death, there will always be forms of printed material but for many the death bell has rang. Textbooks, newspapers, magazines, will be among the first to go. When's the last time you met someone who owned a 26 volume encyclopedia book set? Your local Library will either close, downsize or start to fill with internet terminals (some are getting that way now).
Film: dying fast. Films can be distributed digitally, this is a huge cost savings for the studio.
Books can decay, CDs can too (scratches, bit-rot), Film decays...
CRTs (dead), RPTV (dead)
 
Like it or not, media that can be digitized will be.

I completely agree. But technology-driven media often suffers from an emphasis on "can we?" over "should we?" and "how?" The invention of eBooks does not make physical books a dead media overnight, or even in a century. Remember the "paperless office"? That didn't quite work out, did it?

I own, and read, a number of books that are 100-150 years old. Do they decay? Sure. But not so fast that it's really something any one person ever needs to worry about. There is a big difference between a printed book, which can last perhaps 500-700 years with care (and well over a century without), and cheap optical media that is trash within a couple years. Digital files may be 'immortal', but they still require devices to store and access them, and those are considerably more delicate and expensive than physical books.

Convenience is a driving factor in consumer goods. Sure they'll always be someone that holds out in favor of what they're accustomed to.

I'm no enemy of eBooks. I think they are great. But, as with many technologies, they complement, rather than replace, the physical media that came before them. The notion that books are only for "people who like books" is false.
 
I completely agree. But technology-driven media often suffers from an emphasis on "can we?" over "should we?" and "how?" The invention of eBooks does not make physical books a dead media overnight, or even in a century. Remember the "paperless office"? That didn't quite work out, did it?

I own, and read, a number of books that are 100-150 years old. Do they decay? Sure. But not so fast that it's really something any one person ever needs to worry about. There is a big difference between a printed book, which can last perhaps 500-700 years with care (and well over a century without), and cheap optical media that is trash within a couple years. Digital files may be 'immortal', but they still require devices to store and access them, and those are considerably more delicate and expensive than physical books.

I'm no enemy of eBooks. I think they are great. But, as with many technologies, they complement, rather than replace, the physical media that came before them. The notion that books are only for "people who like books" is false.

I couldn't have said it better.
 
I don't agree about printed books. Music is pretty much the same any place you get it (records, CDs, internet etc). Printed books feel much nicer than reading them on a tablet. Dunno about overseas, but in my country printed books don't seem to be losing many sales at all.

Mate i am a a graphic prepress tradesman and print media has died bigtime in the last 5 years.
 
No, I mean, like novel books. Print media includes magazines, newspapers and reference books, maps etc which have been almost totally replaced by the internet. Novels to a lesser extent.

Sorry print media does mean those things but books have also declined in the last 5 years. Devices like the kindle and ipad are slowly killing off the physical printing of books.
 
Sorry print media does mean those things but books have also declined in the last 5 years. Devices like the kindle and ipad are slowly killing off the physical printing of books.

True... But unlike newspapers and the like, there will still be a large number of people who prefer to read a physical book.
 
And digital media can't corrupt?

Sure it can. Easy enough to backup.

Optical media will eventually be as hard to find as the playback devices. It may take a decade or two but there really is no real need for it anymore. Is there any new research money going into optical storage since Blu-Ray?

Flash drives are easy to carry, large capacity available and new research from IBM (phase change) will offer massive capacity.

I've compressed all my CDs & DVDs to AppleTV2 served via iTunes. It's far more convinent and I simply have no need to handle my optical media anymore.
 
No.
CDs are going the way of vinyl records. Printed books are heading the same way.

In other words, CDs and printed books are making a comeback...

I love it when people talk about vinyl as it's a thing of the past. Middle-aged to elderly radio hosts, especially, love to say, "For you younger listeners, a record was a round thing we used to play, ha ha..." Uhh...still exists! In fact, most new albums also come out on vinyl these days, often including download codes so you can get downloadable versions so you don't need to do a vinyl transfer.
 
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