Journey's Greatest Hits survivng on Digital Album Downloads?

[Don]

Journey's Greatest Hits is #10 on Wal-Mart's Top Album Downloads. What's funny is the download is nearly 12 bucks while the CD version is only 9 dollars. This has to be kids going after this. Wouldn't the average adult buy the disc and rip it instead? Then again, maybe I'm giving the average adult too much credit here.
These Wal-Mart shoppers must not own ipods either.
The record is #17 on iTunes top album downloads with a price of 8 dollars.. I would have to think that digital sales are the only reason it's staying on Billboards album chart now days as the CD version isn't appearing on too many best seller lists.

[Greg]

The compact disc is going the way of the dodo bird I'm afraid. With a lot of new car stereos having USB and iPod hook ups, not to mention radio stations using hard drives instead of compact discs, there really is a shrinking market for the CD. There are no record stores around anymore (at least not around the region I live in) so purchasing a CD for me means either having to go to Wal-Mart or purchasing it online. And, if the album is offered as a digital download, I'll just buy that instead of the CD. Of course, one choosing to purchase a digital album for $12 when they can download it for $8 off of iTunes is beyond me unless the $12 download is a better quality MP3 file.

Which makes the rising purchase of vinyl in the last two years very interesting. I can definitely see the production of CDs being greatly reduced while offering vinyl to the audiophiles who want a nice big album cover and booklet to read with their music while having a free digital download of the album to go along with the record. That to me makes sense.

[Rick]

The compact disc is going the way of the dodo bird I'm afraid. With a lot of new car stereos having USB and iPod hook ups, not to mention radio stations using hard drives instead of compact discs, there really is a shrinking market for the CD. There are no record stores around anymore (at least not around the region I live in) so purchasing a CD for me means either having to go to Wal-Mart or purchasing it online. And, if the album is offered as a digital download, I'll just buy that instead of the CD. Of course, one choosing to purchase a digital album for $12 when they can download it for $8 off of iTunes is beyond me unless the $12 download is a better quality MP3 file.

Which makes the rising purchase of vinyl in the last two years very interesting. I can definitely see the production of CDs being greatly reduced while offering vinyl to the audiophiles who want a nice big album cover and booklet to read with their music while having a free digital download of the album to go along with the record. That to me makes sense.

Do any of these outlets offer digital downloads in a lossless format? That needs to happen in the future, if not.

[Don]

The compact disc is going the way of the dodo bird I'm afraid. With a lot of new car stereos having USB and iPod hook ups, not to mention radio stations using hard drives instead of compact discs, there really is a shrinking market for the CD. There are no record stores around anymore (at least not around the region I live in) so purchasing a CD for me means either having to go to Wal-Mart or purchasing it online. And, if the album is offered as a digital download, I'll just buy that instead of the CD. Of course, one choosing to purchase a digital album for $12 when they can download it for $8 off of iTunes is beyond me unless the $12 download is a better quality MP3 file.

Which makes the rising purchase of vinyl in the last two years very interesting. I can definitely see the production of CDs being greatly reduced while offering vinyl to the audiophiles who want a nice big album cover and booklet to read with their music while having a free digital download of the album to go along with the record. That to me makes sense.

Do any of these outlets offer digital downloads in a lossless format? That needs to happen in the future, if not.

The audiophile is dead. The majority of fans will tell you without blinking that a youtube they watched last night, recorded live through a tiny mic on a video camera at probably less than 64 kbps sounded absolutlely fantastic.

Unfortunately, Lossless compression is no longer the marketable asset it once was.

[Greg]

The compact disc is going the way of the dodo bird I'm afraid. With a lot of new car stereos having USB and iPod hook ups, not to mention radio stations using hard drives instead of compact discs, there really is a shrinking market for the CD. There are no record stores around anymore (at least not around the region I live in) so purchasing a CD for me means either having to go to Wal-Mart or purchasing it online. And, if the album is offered as a digital download, I'll just buy that instead of the CD. Of course, one choosing to purchase a digital album for $12 when they can download it for $8 off of iTunes is beyond me unless the $12 download is a better quality MP3 file.

Which makes the rising purchase of vinyl in the last two years very interesting. I can definitely see the production of CDs being greatly reduced while offering vinyl to the audiophiles who want a nice big album cover and booklet to read with their music while having a free digital download of the album to go along with the record. That to me makes sense.

Do any of these outlets offer digital downloads in a lossless format? That needs to happen in the future, if not.

The audiophile is dead. The majority of fans will tell you without blinking that a youtube they watched last night, recorded live through a tiny mic on a video camera at probably less than 64 kbps sounded absolutlely fantastic.

Unfortunately, Lossless compression is no longer the marketable asset it once was.

Sales in vinyl records have increased in the last few years. Far from being dead in my opinion.

[Greg]

The compact disc is going the way of the dodo bird I'm afraid. With a lot of new car stereos having USB and iPod hook ups, not to mention radio stations using hard drives instead of compact discs, there really is a shrinking market for the CD. There are no record stores around anymore (at least not around the region I live in) so purchasing a CD for me means either having to go to Wal-Mart or purchasing it online. And, if the album is offered as a digital download, I'll just buy that instead of the CD. Of course, one choosing to purchase a digital album for $12 when they can download it for $8 off of iTunes is beyond me unless the $12 download is a better quality MP3 file.

Which makes the rising purchase of vinyl in the last two years very interesting. I can definitely see the production of CDs being greatly reduced while offering vinyl to the audiophiles who want a nice big album cover and booklet to read with their music while having a free digital download of the album to go along with the record. That to me makes sense.

Do any of these outlets offer digital downloads in a lossless format? That needs to happen in the future, if not.

I'm not sure about the lossless format. I would assume the standard mp3 at 320. I do know a lot of Americana music, new music is being released on vinyl with a voucher card to download the album in digital format. I have noticed that a few of the record stores I have found online offer a CD-R copy of the album along with the record. Not sure if it was a vinyl-rip or burned from a digital source.