Compact Disc as a format

Yes CDs are on the downward side of a product's economic arc, but it's not dead nor will CDs disappear anytime soon. The market is moving to downloads and streaming. The real question is whether in its twilight years will CDs resemble vinyl or cassettes?

I agree that the CD will survive in some form. My hunch is the due to their more durable nature and their small size that they will be around for some time. It is knd or ironic that as a medium starts to decline in popularity the playback systems seems to still improve. Look at how sophisticated turntables have become.

Cd's will stick for some time and I still think computer based audio is not quite ready for prime time. Too many twists and turns and changes and steps and pieces and confusion and improvements and cd's still sound better. At least great cd players sound better to my ears.

The sky is falling, the sky is falling.......

Things change! Thanks to the internet, nothing is really dead it's becomes "Collectible" and will cost more.

I agree with Elizabeth, though I would say that burning stuff to a CD is more like copying to a cassette, so I think that CDs will end up being more like cassettes ultimately.

I agree with Grannyring and I still like the simplicity of grabbing a disc, putting it in a player and selecting what I want to hear. I have two great sounding players that both do hi-rez so any download I want can simply be copied to DVD and played like any other disc.

The declining stock of CD's on the shelves at retail stores is a bummer and does reflect the preference of many for the convenience of the I-pod both for personal, portable listening, and also in vehicles, as well as the reluctance of the retail market to risk stocking the shelves with product that may not sell. Amazon is still going strong and, as with many other portable retail products, a more convenient and, considering gas prices, less costly method for listeners to purchase what they want to hear. The reviews on Amazon provide at least some level of feedback (unavailable at Best Buy) that us boomers used to get from the propriators at our local record stores.

Mitch2
I agree with Grannyring and I still like the simplicity of grabbing a disc, putting it in a player and selecting what I want to hear. I have two great sounding players that both do hi-rez so any download I want can simply be copied to DVD and played like any other disc.

If I searched the archives I could find very similar words written by me. Now after living for nearly two years with my Mac Mini setup I can say, not anymore. With a little less than half my cds ripped to a hard drive, listening is just to enjoyable. Most of the time I play the entire library via shuffle mode; it's like a great FM station.
That being said, I hope cds stick around as that is my source of music. I have yet to download a single song, I still want to own a physical copy of my music.

Interesting and good to hear about your conversion to computer audio. I may feel the same sometime in the furture, but I have not felt the urgency to do so yet, until the quality of the playback hardware and software matures and stabilizes, and the availability and variety of music downloads improves.

Mitch2, i agree. I have a burning need of having my own discs. Actually, when i was at a demo last year, i had a cdplayer at my disposal and a media player. The last was as good as the cdp i was told. When i had listened for over 2 hours using my own cds, i was curious on the media player.
I figured i had a good over view of how the system sounded now. I took a selected bunch of cds and a selected amount of tracks. Run a track and changed back and forth between cdp and media player. On all occasions the cdp was prefered. I was indeed puzzled of the verdict from the people claiming the media player was as good. I would say, if it was, then no one should even bother with any cable or any isolation feets or any tweak. I did find it even stranger as the guys also told me, this specific set up with these speakers that i was actually there to listen to, was the best they had heard or used in this room. Personally i noticed right away media player was not for me, neither was those speakers. I must admit, my doubts of the longivity of compact discs life span as a format has increased. Almost everybody i know loving music, not audiophiles though, have stopped buying cds. These are people living very close to music and involved dearly. I thought i wish to hear with all of you how you perceive this. I thank you all for the inputs and hope that you continue to share.