The CD will remain as a niche industry, like vinyl has, but will effectively die as a mass media. The reason is simple...money. The record companies have to be salivating at the thought of cutting CD production and distribution costs from their profit equation. They will continue to charge the same price for a CD/Album, but their profit margins will increase incrementally due to the reduced expenses. The industry will have to let the general public catch up to the new technologies, but once they're convinced that they aren't leaving money on they table, they'll cut the the cord to CD's. Since most music is purchased by teens and twenty something's, who by and large are already on board with the steaming formats, the end could be sooner rather than later.
I've recently purchased a Vortexbox Appliance an am in the process of downloading all my music to the device. It's as simple as cake. I now have access to all of my music at multiple systems in my house. The sound is excellent and I don't feel I'm missing anything from using the physical disc.
In addition to my music collection, I have subscriptions to Rhapsody and MOG, which gives me access to an an almost endless library of music and at excellent quality. Frankly, my music purchasing has dropped off dramatically in the past year due to the availability of practically anything I want through these online services at the touch of a button. While music obtained through these services may not give me every last "bit" of information that a CD might, it is more than good enough and the convenience is unbeatable. Plus it's just a matter of time before download services are offering CD quality music as the standard.
Maybe I'm losing my audiophile edge, but I've grown weary of chasing perfect playback and, rather, am delighting in the exploration of the vast amounts of music now at my fingertips.
I've recently purchased a Vortexbox Appliance an am in the process of downloading all my music to the device. It's as simple as cake. I now have access to all of my music at multiple systems in my house. The sound is excellent and I don't feel I'm missing anything from using the physical disc.
In addition to my music collection, I have subscriptions to Rhapsody and MOG, which gives me access to an an almost endless library of music and at excellent quality. Frankly, my music purchasing has dropped off dramatically in the past year due to the availability of practically anything I want through these online services at the touch of a button. While music obtained through these services may not give me every last "bit" of information that a CD might, it is more than good enough and the convenience is unbeatable. Plus it's just a matter of time before download services are offering CD quality music as the standard.
Maybe I'm losing my audiophile edge, but I've grown weary of chasing perfect playback and, rather, am delighting in the exploration of the vast amounts of music now at my fingertips.