Downloads vs CD

[Don]

What are you more likely to buy these days?

Digital sales have been outpacing physical media sales since 2011 and some artists are initially doing online only exclusives for their album launches.
Wal-Mart, who went against the trend and actually eliminated their download store two moths after Eclipse debuted has had music sales slip to the point where an exclusive through that store no longer means a strong presence on Billboard regardless of the pricing. With Amazon having 99¢ MP3 album sales more frequently and Apple usually having specials during the holidays, shelf space for music in the big box stores isn't quite logical anymore if that room could be used for other items.

Do you guys go for the cheapest price or do you still want the physical product?
Does price even matter?
Do you just buy both to have all avenues covered or only special edition CDs depending what extras or included?
Is having liner notes more special or is digital preferable because of it's simpler integration for multiple music devices?

[jestor92]

Probably cd's. You can find them on amazon sometimes cheaper than the mp3

[slucero]

these days... most people likely rip the songs off youtube...

[The Sushi Hunter]

Most likely how you vote will depend on what generation you are in. I voted CD.

[Deb]

What are you more likely to buy these days?

Digital sales have been outpacing physical media sales since 2011 and some artists are initially doing online only exclusives for their album launches.
Wal-Mart, who eliminated their download store two moths after Eclipse debuted has had music sales slip to the point where an exclusive through that store no longer means a strong presence on Billboard regardless of the pricing. With Amazon having 99¢ album sales more frequently and Apple usually having specials during the holidays, shelf space for music in the big box stores isn't quite logical anymore if that room could be used for other items.

Do you guys go for the cheapest price or do you still want the physical product. Does price even matter? Is having liner notes more special or is digital preferable because of it's simpler integration for multiple music devices?

Do you just buy both to have all avenues covered or only special edition CDs depending what extras or included?

I like the physical CD and more so now......as more and more CDs are now coming with extras, like dvds or extra songs, etc. I like having the physical CD......cover, liner and all. I just find it simpler and always have it for backup. I'm not a real techie, so I like having the CD that I can burn a CD copy for the car (have no original cds in my car) and also upload to my ipod. For some reason when I got my new IPOD, some songs were gone/disappeared when I switched from old to new. That way I have the songs/albums for eternity, no matter what happens to my computer or electrontic devices.

[Don]

these days... most people likely rip the songs off youtube...

For something that can't be found anywhere else, I could see doing that but Youtube still has the problem with aac encoding where videos that have a resolution of 240p are limited to 64kbps mono sound, videos that support 360p, and 480p are limited to 96kbps Stereo sound, and 720p/1080p HD videos are limited to 128kbps Stereo sound.

These video downloader programs might say they can convert it to 320 but of course, it can't really do that if the source file is capped at a lower rate to begin with.

[Ehwmatt]

I'm in an apartment through December and have been here since May 09. It's a decently spacious place, but that doesn't mean I can afford to have tons of CDs laying around. I have one DVD/CD shelf that I use for DVDS/CDs/BluRays/Vidgames, so CDs tend to get the short end of the stick for now. So, downloads for now. But my dad has an awesome CD/vinyl collection, and I've always wanted to have the same. So eventually, CDs (assuming there are enough worth buying anymore).

[Don]

I have about 600 CDs I bought from Japan but the last few years I have been going more and more to Digital.
With Videos, I am trying to update everything to Blu-ray but it will take awhile and not everything is going to be converted by the studios so I will have to keep the older formats regardless in some cases. I have ripped all of my DVDs to external hard drives as a backup plan which is fine but the other alternative, streaming video over the net has along way to go before I can accept it as being a viable substitute to the physical product.

[Jeremey]

I haven't had access to a CD player since Quinn stuffed our van's CD player with nickels a few years back. I do however buy a couple of songs on average from iTunes weekly. The last full download I bought was Gotye's CD about a month ago. Before that it was Petty's Live Anthology and before that it was Colin Hay's Man @ Work. Those were all purchased between June and July so I don't know if that makes me more of a consumer of music than the average person or less. The last actual physical CD I bought was probably Revelation. I have never downloaded music from a torrent site, nor do I want to go to the trouble of figuring out how to rip and convert a YouTube video and make it seamlessly integrate into my iTunes player on my iPhone. It's far easier if I want something to press a button and have it delivered to my phone for less than a pack of gum. I had a conversation recently with someone that was learning songs for a new band. After about 3 weeks, they said, "I can't find that song anywhere online," and I just thought, "seriously?? You will spend how much time searching torrent sites for a damned song and then just give up and ask for someone to rip it for you versus the 45 seconds it takes to go to iTunes, press "BUY" and have .99 deducted from your wallet?" I don't understand that mentality at all.

[AR]

I'm selling most of my CD collection. Only keeping the stuff with extra DVDs, Japan remasters, autographed ones and that kind of thing. Space saving excercise for the most part. I haven't put a CD into a player in over a year. I still get them sometimes, but rip them to iTunes immediately.

[Eric]

CD's:

1) You can find a used CD online for pennies
2) You don't have to worry about making a hard copy backup
3) With some bands, like Journey, there is artwork and collection reasons I want the hard album.

[FamilyMan]

It could be me, but I think the CD sonic sound went into the dumper at some point. I rememer the first two three CD's I ever bought: Jethro Tull's Aqualung, Hooters' Nervous Night, and Loverboy's Lovin' Every Minute of It. They sounded so great... such an upgrade from vinyl. These days, something's off... Maybe all the compression from too many tracks/bonus material/?? I'm sure someone here knows. But it's not the gee-wiz it once was..

[slucero]

these days... most people likely rip the songs off youtube...

For something that can't be found anywhere else, I could see doing that but Youtube still has the problem with aac encoding where videos that have a resolution of 240p are limited to 64kbps mono sound, videos that support 360p, and 480p are limited to 96kbps Stereo sound, and 720p/1080p HD videos are limited to 128kbps Stereo sound.

These video downloader programs might say they can convert it to 320 but of course, it can't really do that if the source file is capped at a lower rate to begin with.

Most folks aren't running FLAC files on their Ipods... 128kbps is adequate for that..

And there are loads of free convert-to-MP3 applications out there..

[yulog]

Cant wait for SSD drives to get all their kinks out and drop in price, cds will be going in the trash like my album collection did when i went to cds.

[Abitaman]

I had close to 3000 Cd's got rid of them all. Everything is on my computer now. I buy an average of two whole Cd's worth of music from Itunes or Rhapsody. Like Rhapsody better since I can hear the whole CD before buying. I have two back up hard drives, that I back up once a month of music, photos, and such...Keep one at work (which I listen to all the time) and the other locked up at home. So either way my computer is backed up with music and software, pictures, etc... For a pretty cheap price too.
I liked Cd's, still do, but I was running out of room, and my family was growing. Every time we went on vacation on a trip, had to dig through my Cd's and take them along. Now I download on to a MP3 player and take it with me. Listen to a weeks worth of music and it all fits in my pocket. Listen to the music on the trip in the car, through the cars stereo, on my headset. In the hotel room, or wherever I want to with out caring a CD player and a bag of Cd's.

Do I miss the artwork? yeah, I use to love records just because of the covers and stuff. I like what Jeremey did with his release, had a digital booklet to go with, all bands need to do that.

I have tried different formats, MP3, WMA, FLAC, and a couple of others, I keep coming back to WMA, like it the best.

[Navarro]

What are you more likely to buy these days?

Digital sales have been outpacing physical media sales since 2011 and some artists are initially doing online only exclusives for their album launches.
Wal-Mart, who went against the trend and actually eliminated their download store two moths after Eclipse debuted has had music sales slip to the point where an exclusive through that store no longer means a strong presence on Billboard regardless of the pricing. With Amazon having 99¢ MP3 album sales more frequently and Apple usually having specials during the holidays, shelf space for music in the big box stores isn't quite logical anymore if that room could be used for other items.

Do you guys go for the cheapest price or do you still want the physical product?
Does price even matter?
Do you just buy both to have all avenues covered or only special edition CDs depending what extras or included?
Is having liner notes more special or is digital preferable because of it's simpler integration for multiple music devices?

There is something special about having the physical product in your hand. It is a process, a connection downloads cannot deliver. I am sure few people under 30 agree or could understand.

[Yoda]

It could be me, but I think the CD sonic sound went into the dumper at some point. I rememer the first two three CD's I ever bought: Jethro Tull's Aqualung, Hooters' Nervous Night, and Loverboy's Lovin' Every Minute of It. They sounded so great... such an upgrade from vinyl. These days, something's off... Maybe all the compression from too many tracks/bonus material/?? I'm sure someone here knows. But it's not the gee-wiz it once was..

I've noticed that older music that has been converted to CD from an analog master seems to be normalized much quieter than new music. New music's masters come from a digital source to begin with, and they try to make it as loud as possible - which to me is part of the reason why it doesn't sound as good as the old stuff. Personally, I have a renewed love of vinyl. I just wished they would lower the prices of the laser vinyl players to a reasonable price so one could hear the pure analog sound coming from these vinyl records without the pop, cracks, and hiss.