Poll: Do you still buy cd's ?

[Spleeni]

...aren't CD's ALSO just a bunch of 1's and 0's?

Anyway, I never buy any CD's, use torrents, or anything else. I'm slowly building a collection of music under my Youtube playlist.

 

[HeyZeus_Ezekiel_Jesus]

If I know the cd is worth the $10 or $15 then I'll buy it but if I have doughts about it I'll just go to my friends house and download some songs.

 

[Vortigar]

I have loads of cd's, a few studio album collections of certain artists (Alan Parsons, King Crimson, Sting, Sinaed O Connor, Cranberries, White Stripes) and a load of specific albums of various artists plus a couple of greatest hits albums, which are mostly for use in the car or were bought because they include rare tracks or bonus discs.

I like cd's because oftentimes you find yourself buying an album for a couple of songs and find you enjoy other tracks on the album and then look up other stuff based on that. There's also the browsing in the store aspect I enjoy very much, getting tipped on stuff by other costumers or the store staff, picking up random bargain bin discs and discovering a love for something you never really batted an eyelid at before. There's a world of diversity out there that I don't think I'll connect to when looking up stuff online (browsing albums by clicking 'also bought' links at online stores helps broaden horizons as well).

Really rare stuff I'll download though (Japanese single exclusives or unreleased tracks and the like). Got a few soundtrack collections on cd's. My cd player plays mp3's which is very handy for this.

Furrama:
You make me lol.
21 = old? Hi, I'm a dinosaur aged 25.
All the music you could ever want? How do you know? Listened to everything out there already?

 

[ultra_v_89]

CDs FTW. I don't like piracy because alot of the music I like is from small bands that probably do need the money, and buying over iTunes just feels wrong, there is nothing physical to show for it.

 

[Reaperman Wompa]

CD's are obsolete, but people still buy them from music shops so i guess someone likes them, like vinyl.

 

[GrimRox]

I download a fair bit of music but never whole albums, I'll download a track or two then buy the CD based on if I like what I heard. I prefer having a physical music collection.

 

[sneakypenguin]

I just download p2p cause none of my cd players works so i've just phased them out and use the ipod everywhere. side note at my job in retail we sell very few cds anymore most that buy are older people who don't understand itunes or lime/frostwire or similar application.

 

[gibboss28]

I used to buy CDs that is until the shop shut down where i live.

 

[zirnitra]

I do, I love cd's. Of course they don't have the vintage charm of vinyls, but I'll take them over downloading (legal or not, that's not the question) any day.

I think it's because I don't feel like I am really buying something when I shop on iTunes. I need something real, something material to feel good about buying music, or else it's just not the same. And there's the collector in me too, I'm very proud of my cd collection, it impresses people


So, what do you think about cd's? Are they here to stay, or obsolete?

I buy some CD's but I have to say I never actually listen to them through a stereo the first thing I do is rip them onto the computer then stick on my MP3. seems a lil' pointless are you the same are do you actually listen to your CD and have to keep swapping them?

 

[Anton P. Nym]

I buy CDs if I can find them locally. I don't import CDs anymore, though, because broker fees are just frickin' evil on them... so for the rare stuff, I'll try to find a web site affiliated with the band and buy mp3s direct or through the online store they recommend.

Mind you, I end up ripping most of them to my mp3 player in the end... but it's nice to have the disc as a ready-made backup.

-- Steve

 

[spoilt_kitty]

I buy cds from my workplace (get them cheaper) because I'm not techno savvy enough to figure out torrents (push what?) and itunes scares me

 

[laikenf]

I love going out to the local music store to by me some new or used cd's. I for one am very proud of my 600 + cd collection and I have them on display at my living room and actually play them on a daily basis. I'm not going tu put down I-tunes or other download services because I can't really give a valid reason as to why I think it sucks- I just prefer to have my music, touch it, look at it, open the booklet and look at the art (maybe read the lyrics if there are any).

 

[Serious_Stalin]

I do both, but recently was reccomended Last.fm on teh internetz! It seems to have all of the music on the planet to be streamed and it will play you reccomendations which helps me hear about awesome music I might otherwise not hear. Generally I won't pay for my music if the band is popular and rich, i'll pay to go see them live. If they're small or have made particular effort on album artwork (which recent bands are seriously lacking) then I shall buy because they went above the call of their musical duty!

 

[Frosk]

I prefer buying the cd. Much better sound from a cd than a download (unless it's a lossless file). I do download from time to time, but only stuff that I don't care about having the artwork and such for.

 

[scoHish]

I just like having somthing I can hold and look at like a CD or a vinyl. It took me a while to get used to having an iPod after lugging around a player and 2 or 3 CDs everyday. It just has a certain charm I guess. I do use torrents a fair amount though...

 

[Lt. Sera]

I download quite a bit, but when an album is good, i'll go out and buy the cd. I really like having those disks for some reason

 

[DeadlyFred]

CD's are obsolete, but people still buy them from music shops so i guess someone likes them, like vinyl.

CDs are obsolete? I hardly think so. Digital Distribution does not actually improve the quality of music and the listening experience in the same fashion cassettes improved over records and CDs improved over cassettes. It's basically the same thing, intrinsically, and in fact often scaled back a bit in quality. What is going to continue to fade into obscurity is the institution of walk-in music stores. Digital downloads combined with the fact that you can hop on most music websites and buy a CD, shipping included, for less than you can go down to the store and get one for could very well, by proxy, drag CDs down along with it. Afterall if you've got no physical venue to sell the stuff why even make it, right? Though even in that there may not be much noticeable change. Most "music" stores already sell every sort of media under the sun and they've honestly not been very much use for music alone in a very long time; the ever-growing game and movie sections in such stores having only made the matter worse over the years.

So no, CDs themselves are not made "obsolete" by the rise of digital downloading but the atmosphere of the digital age in general certainly stands to take a bite out of their relevance.