The Rapid Rise (& Fall) of the CD

Well, when I made the post I sincerely thought people might enjoy learning some of the details about how the CD was developed....like The physical reasons for different specifications and the collaboration and competition between Philips and Sony. 

I guess I shouldn't have been surprised when a war of what source is best broke out... LOL.

We all listen to our music in a way that suits us the best and that's all that matters.

Cheers

5 years ago, when I thought I'd try streaming, 90% of my listening was on vinyl, 10% was CD.

Now it's 85% streaming, 10% vinyl and 5% CD.

Like many have stated, convenience and the vast library have made streaming the go-to for much of my listening.

But, I wouldn't consider selling any of my vinyl or CD's because they were curated by me over the last 55 years, and they represent much of my favorite works. Streaming is cheap and convenient now, but the future is unknown. Perhaps it will become prohibitively expensive for me in my retirement years if the pricing structure changes. Maybe as I downsize and move to a smaller home I won't have access to the gigabyte, fiber internet that I enjoy now. All I know is that if I suddenly had to do without streaming it would not be that big a deal since I have backup sources. Without vinyl and CD backup sources I'd be up shits Creek if my streaming went away. 

@nonoise 👍

@facten I'll spare you the economics lesson, but:

CD sales are a small fraction of what they used to be and still declining. Manufacturers of CD players, CDs and creators who publish on CD look at these numbers to determine their path. As that number decreases fewer consumer CD players will be manufactured and artists will choose another means to deliver their work.

Super high-end manufacturers of audiophile CD transports do not care if last year 1 million CDs were sold versus 15 million a few years before. They're only concern is that the small number of audiophileswith very deep pockets want to buy a handful of these super expensive devices.

A small number of high-end CD transport manufacturers do not affect and are not affected by the millions of CDs that may or may not be sold.