CDP's being dumped for hard drive driven units?

The future of hi-rez music is downloads or DVDs with data files. Either way, PC playback is what you will need, and why not? This is not like CD "replacing" LP. It's the same software format, it's just the storage medium and/or distribution method that's different.

Ir recently dawned on me why PC audio is such a no-brainer. Think of this: say you can download a favorite artist's new album or you can purchase that exact same software burned via mass production manufacturing onto a silver disc. At best, the latter is as good as the former.

Dodgealum: strictly speaking, those people who are ripping their collections to hard drive should not be selling or even giving away their CDs. Illegal and unethical, but widespread, I know.

It's only illegal and, especially, unethical, if you've made a copy, which is what you are doing when you rip a CD. Think about it. You get full benefit of the license and so does someone else, but the artist gets paid only once. Of course, if you no longer want the music, then you are free to sell or give away the license to someone else. But you can't make a copy first.

I opened a thread on this subject several weeks ago, wondering what the issues and ramification were of the computer audio age. I became convinced that I needed to hang onto my collection.

Of course, keeping the CDs around in case your lose your data is also a good idea.