CD format over in 2012 ?

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U2 will be one of the last bands you WILL be able to buy physical editions of - if this article is right.

However, I wonder if instead we won't be moving to more of a print-on-demand model? As it gets easier to make these things when ordered, maybe you will be able to order one online, even if you can't walk into a store and grab one anymore.

About a year ago I started self-publishing some of my own novels. I sell FAR more digital copies for people to read on the Kindle and Nook and such, but they do also print my books on demand for the odd customer. It can't be much harder to make a CD than a book when an actual customer orders one, can it?
 
U2girl said:
Thoughts ? How will this affect album making acts such as U2 ?
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U2 are very enthusiastic about digital ways of releasing music. They jumped the iTunes bandwagon early, they had the U2 iPod, the digital-only The Complete U2, the BlackBerry thing, and lately Bono has hinted their next album might be released in the form of some sort of iPad app.

So I guess U2 will be fine.
 
Man, this article got torn a new arsehole on Rate Your Music's forums a few days ago. Very weak, and sorely lacking on the sources front (ooh an old quote from your chief editor, woop dee doo!). I don't buy it. Sure, the CD format will probably one day be viewed similarly to how vinyl is today, as a minor format for collectors or nostalgia, but dead by the end of 2012? Come on, it took longer than that for the labels to kill bloody cassettes.
 
I doubt this will happen in 2012.

However, I will be a rebel and say that I would have no problem with this in theory, as long as downloads don't have DRM and lossless downloads become available in some form. The latter is the condition that's having a hard time being met right now, and that's a little scary.
 
Wow, this discussion rapidly starts to resemble the 'are U2 breaking up' one. People trying to rationalize their fears by arguing why it's "too soon", others saying "it's poorly sourced; you can't trust this person" and yet others naming alternative dates - further in the future - for the end.
 
I'm a member of several music forums and this article has been heavily discussed on all of them. As others have noted, the article is poorly sourced and not reliable from a journalistic standpoint.

That said, the end is coming for CDs, but I doubt it will be as soon as 2012.

For example, the new Coldplay album sold 208,000 copies in its first week in the UK. 83,000 of those were downloads, which is admitedly a huge number. But that means a full 125,000 copies were CDs. There's no way the record labels are going to try to "phase out" CDs by the end of next year.
 
morgan1098 said:
I'm a member of several music forums and this article has been heavily discussed on all of them. As others have noted, the article is poorly sourced and not reliable from a journalistic standpoint.

That said, the end is coming for CDs, but I doubt it will be as soon as 2012.

For example, the new Coldplay album sold 208,000 copies in its first week in the UK. 83,000 of those were downloads, which is admitedly a huge number. But that means a full 125,000 copies were CDs. There's no way the record labels are going to try to "phase out" CDs by the end of next year.
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I think i've seen you in stevehoffman...
 
morgan1098 said:
I'm a member of several music forums and this article has been heavily discussed on all of them. As others have noted, the article is poorly sourced and not reliable from a journalistic standpoint.

That said, the end is coming for CDs, but I doubt it will be as soon as 2012.

For example, the new Coldplay album sold 208,000 copies in its first week in the UK. 83,000 of those were downloads, which is admitedly a huge number. But that means a full 125,000 copies were CDs. There's no way the record labels are going to try to "phase out" CDs by the end of next year.
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I mean, this exactly. It would pretty much be financial suicide to nix them within a YEAR.
 
I don't like the idea of having an intangible download as the only option. Call me old-fashioned, but I like to own physical copies of things.
 
If I don't own a physical object, I kind think I don't really own a thing. Someone else can decide to take it away, change it, etc. If I download an album, I burn it.

So, I will continue to want to buy physical media for some time to come.
 
I buy about 50% each downloads and physical CD. The most attractive purchases to me are box sets: entire catalogues in one set, CD/DVD bundles, über sets etc. These cost more (higher margins) and are irreplaceable by digital media. On this basis alone, we are surely more than 12 mths away from total digital.

But the concept that UK band James has recently done - their back catalogue and rarities on one USB of lossless music - might see an evolution to a different product than CDs. It still has a booklet or poster or tangible product but the music is already in digital file format. We just need a more commercially available integrated lossless media player & store (a-la iTunes but for FLAC) and then we're ready. That's at least a few years away IMHO.
 
I'm so fed up with iTunes, at least when the day comes where the CD format is truly dead, and it will probably come in the next 10 years, hopefully we will have a few better alternatives by then. Its a pain in the ass sharing more than one apple device on the one PC with iTunes, unless of course you have multiple user accounts on the one PC. Drives me nuts!
 
No damn way. Most albums still sell more physical copies than digital. They still sell vinyl records online and even in stores now in best buy, fye, etc. All artists release vinyl now since it's grown.

Though I do agree that single disc bare-bones CDs seem pointless now. I buy the CD when they have a nice booklet filled with artwork and liner notes and maybe a bonus or something...like the amazing Beatles 2009 remastered CDs or the U2 deluxe ones. However, there are some CDs that come with like 2 pages, so the digital would be better and cheaper.

So I like both. If the CD is just plain-jane, I'll download the album if it's cheaper (also if I just want one song). If the CD has a nice package and/or deluxe I buy the CD. I like to have the different options.

bono_man2002 said:
I'm so fed up with iTunes, at least when the day comes where the CD format is truly dead, and it will probably come in the next 10 years, hopefully we will have a few better alternatives by then. Its a pain in the ass sharing more than one apple device on the one PC with iTunes, unless of course you have multiple user accounts on the one PC. Drives me nuts!
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Amazon MP3! They always have .69 cent songs and often have sales. Each month they have $5 digital albums...right now you can DL Coldplay's first 3 albums for $5...a steal. I still rarely buy digital albums...but sometimes I'm spurred to by an unbeatable Amazon Mp3 sale.
 
Oh I just looked on wikipedia, right now Amazon MP3 is just in USA, Japan, UK, Germany, France, Switzerland and Austria.

It probably will hit Australia eventually though.
 
I can't believe people are getting all weepy about CDS. The most hated format.
You can't beat a CD in terms of durability and portability. They have been saying that records will die and they still haven't yet. One known of the recording industry is that everything is for sale. If people want it, than they will sell it.

They just need to perfect the sound quality of the Mp3.
 
Yeah I just attempted to purchase, no bingo :( I've been able to purchase stuff through kindle before....ah well. Back to illegal downloading and some CD purchasing.

55543.jpg
 
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