Is the CD and DVD/Bluray going away?


I've been hearing grumbling that the shinny plastic disks will be shortly disappearing from the market in favor of HD downloading for music and video.

I guess my hopes on a new Oppo 3D Bluray may need to be reconsidered. I wonder if the web apps will include 3D movies which can be utilized in our Home Theater

Some say the new HD down loads might be more "realistic" than vinyl. Not sure I can agree with that.

Please comment as it seems the by forcing everything to downloads, it puts the marketing advantage to the big Moguls who will jack up the costs to the music/video consumers.
levchappy
Mlsstl,

Yes, you're right that there is a difference between what is being counted and that's why the numbers are different.

Nielsen is the only organization I'm aware of that counts total record sales and I'm sure they use estimates in their count, so the numbers aren't exact but probably close.

The RIAA numbers for 2011 are:

Cds shipped - 241 million
Lps shipped - 5.5 million
Album downloads shipped - 105 million (I don't know how you ship a download)

RIAA numbers for 2012 won't be out for a while yet.

I put the numbers up because people say stuff like cds are not going to be produced after year end or that vinyl is outselling digital or whatever. The Nielsen numbers have some basis in reality and I hope they help people make better decisions and make for better informed discussions.

If someone has sales numbers from another source, put them up.
Much effort goes into producing CD/DVD/LP/BR. These formats are not going away anytime soon.