The Rapid Rise (& Fall) of the CD


A few days ago, one of my favorite YouTube channels did a video on the CD. This channel (Asianometry) always does an incredible job telling the story of different technologies, technical industries and/or products.

I think most of you will find the 25 minute video to be very interesting.

Asianometry - The rapid start (& end) of the CD

mwinkc

Showing 2 responses by soix

I still have never heard anyone say, Wow!  Look at your download collection! 

@vinylvision1 But you’re kinda missing a lot of the point of streaming.  I don’t care how large your current music library is, it’s just a fraction of what’s available to stream, and there are worlds of new music to be heard that you’d never hear otherwise.  And that’s the point — finding worlds of wonderful new music rather than playing the same stuff you’ve already heard over and over again.  Not saying that’s not rewarding as far as it goes and I still do that as well, but that’s as far as it goes.  The ability to effortlessly explore and find unlimited new music is the most exciting and rewarding thing I’ve experienced as an audiophile of over 40 years.  Ignore that to your own detriment. 

... and CD’s are gaining in popularity again, there are a good many YouTube vids about this; sales are increasing and there are more CD players and CD transports hitting the market along with it....

Oh, there are YouTube videos so it must be true. 🙄 Some perspective: CD shipments had a relatively tiny blip up since Covid but are still down 96% from where they were at their peak around 25 years ago. US shipments peaked at 943 million in 2000, hit a low of 32 million in 2020 and had a brief bounce to 47 million in 2021 but have since steadily declined back to 37 million in 2023. Hardly a resurgence, and in the investment world we call that a dead cat bounce. CDs will continue to decline from here and are the modern digital iteration of the buggy whip, and any talk about an increase in its popularity is just silly talk and wishful thinking.

https://www.statista.com/statistics/186772/album-shipments-in-the-us-music-industry-since-1999/