Ruminations On CD Players

mahler123

"Perhaps Audio Fanaticism is an outlet for this kind of aggression, much the way that sports channels aggression into less dangerous areas."

I think it is very poignant observation.

Soix, is spot on. The amount of hi-res music out on Qobuz and other platforms is impressive. Like many other Agon members, I enjoy listening to new artists and music by utilizing Qobuz. It will be interesting to watch how the use of CDs changes over time. With a good streamer, you can already obtain CD quality music. With the advancements in audio/digital technology, we will see continued improvements in the future. 

As far as supporting artists, one can still stream and continue to buy physical media.
 

If you are willing to sell a car, you can attend a concert.  My kids like KPop and attend Korean pop concerts in Dallas.  A good, but not great seat is $300 and they fill baseball stadiums.  Front row center and back stage passes are beyond expensive.

I just read that online shopping hurts new product discovery. When you go to a grocery store, you buy whatever you like and come across. When you buy on Instacart, you buy the same thing as last time, so low variety. Online grocery shopping makes product demand less elastic.

People can buy whatever book they want on Amazon but by going to a bookstore you can buy what you weren't looking for. Online shopping hurts new product discovery compared to in-person shopping. 

Despite what you think you're doing online, an algorithm is pushing what it thinks you'll like base on past preferences and buying habits/records. Not what I'd call exploring but more of a guided tour. There are sites that map out music similar to the artist you like but I rarely, if ever, like them.

This is why I miss places like Borders where they used to have these vast collections of physical media (CDs) and plenty of listening stations with headphones. I'd spend inordinate amounts of time listening to all manner of music, making myself try out all types and genres of music. 

Call me a hunter-gatherer. It's in my DNA. I'll stick to CDPs.

All the best,
Nonoise

@nonoise

I appreciate your sentiments but your argument doesn’t quite hold up here. Streaming is exactly akin to places like Borders but at much much larger scale. You may be lacking the physical touch, human interactions, ambiance of shopping music in a store but with Streaming, you are gaining huge library of music at a bargain price of one CD.

I still buy CD and Vinyl but very selectively cause l like the enjoy the tactile experience.