The Case For CD's

[HIPster]

Not exactly sure where to post this article, but I found it to be a good read:

http://grantland.com/features/the-case-for-cds/

[Daverz]

It's still often the cheapest way to get music in a lossless format.  I refuse to buy lossy music files.  Except for spinning the occasional record, I listen to everything via squeezebox.

[Jay F]

I wonder whether I will live long enough for my CDs to come back in fashion the way my LPs did.

[DavidW]

I like cds because they are usually cheaper than downloads, and you can resell them, give them, donate them or lend them because they are your property.

The article is ineffective because it is the gushing of a nostalgic collector.  What I say are benefits that anyone should consider.

The only case against cds is having to store them.

[Archaic Torso of Apollo]

I'm one of those characters who still buys CDs and has no interest in downloads. I like to have my music in some tangible form. Well-produced CDs, like the LP equivalents, are nice objects to have.

[The Six]

CDs are no more tangible than a flash drive. It's just digital audio encoded onto a disk. They're certainly better than LPs, but are only slightly less impractical. Every CD I have than I'm still interested in has been ripped and put onto an ipod or smartphone. It may still be better to buy them instead of downloading, but actually using them is cumbersome (something I realized even back when CDs were the best option; lugging a portable CD player around and keeping it perfectly still was not fun).

[DavidW]

CDs are no more tangible than a flash drive. It's just digital audio encoded onto a disk. They're certainly better than LPs, but are only slightly less impractical. Every CD I have than I'm still interested in has been ripped and put onto an ipod or smartphone. It may still be better to buy them instead of downloading, but actually using them is cumbersome (something I realized even back when CDs were the best option; lugging a portable CD player around and keeping it perfectly still was not fun).

I know that most people are like you listening on the go, but I personally mostly listen to music at home on the stereo.  It is more convenient to grab a cd off of the shelf than to go hunt down my laptop and plug it in. 

[Kontrapunctus]

I'm one of those characters who still buys CDs and has no interest in downloads. I like to have my music in some tangible form. Well-produced CDs, like the LP equivalents, are nice objects to have.

+1--I take that up a notch and buy primarily SACDs.

[Moonfish]

I know that most people are like you listening on the go, but I personally mostly listen to music at home on the stereo.  It is more convenient to grab a cd off of the shelf than to go hunt down my laptop and plug it in.

+1

Same here!  Sometimes the browsing/finding is a fun enterprise on its own. One walks down different alleys in one's piles/shelves. I never feel that way with MP3s.

[Gurn Blanston]

I will say like always; if I am looking for a super-rare CD, I will download it if I can in order to be able to hear it. Meanwhile I will keep looking and eventually close a deal on one. So I can't say that I would never download anything. If I can get a flac it is even more likely I will download.

[bwv 1080]

I have not listened to a CD yet this year, everything I have (>10,000 tracks) is on the Amazon cloud.  After a couple of listening tests where I could not tell the difference between CD and the Amazon MP3 rip I moved my whole collection there.

[Gurn Blanston]

I have not listened to a CD yet this year, everything I have (>10,000 tracks) is on the Amazon cloud.  After a couple of listening tests where I could not tell the difference between CD and the Amazon MP3 rip I moved my whole collection there.

I think that misses the point, which is not sound quality any more but possession of the actual source of the sound. I only listen to MP3 or FLAC too, but I still have all the CD's. It is the feeling of possessing something which differentiates the CD'er from the streamer.

[bwv 1080]

I think that misses the point, which is not sound quality any more but possession of the actual source of the sound. I only listen to MP3 or FLAC too, but I still have all the CD's. It is the feeling of possessing something which differentiates the CD'er from the streamer.

Why does having your 1s and 0s burned on a piece of plastic give someone that feeling?

[mn dave]

Some people say I'm a streamer, but I'm not the only one...

[Dancing Divertimentian]

Some people say I'm a streamer, but I'm not the only one...

Yeah, I'm with you guys. I don't listen on the run, preferring to settle in and listen for extended periods. CDs are primo for that.

[Jo498]

Yes, the article is pretty useless (pop nostalgia), but I do prefer CDs myself. I do not own a portable device for music listening and while I have lots of downloads (mostly privately transferred old LPs or Shellacs) on my notebook, I do not listen frequently to them, because I cannot easily hook it up to my stereo system.
I might be a fetishist, but I like having a physical collection (about 4-5000) and I still keep some LPs, although I haven't even a working record player set up right now. It is a pain when moving, I have to concede that.

[mn dave]

Yes, that's what you all are: fetishists. 

[Gurn Blanston]

Why does having your 1s and 0s burned on a piece of plastic give someone that feeling?

Hell if I know. It doesn't differ all that much from people who prefer analog books to eBooks. For me, 'owning' downloads is like having a great big piece of nothing, while owning CD's is a tactile and visual sensation in addition to the audio thing. The why of it is beyond me. 

[mn dave]

Hell if I know. It doesn't differ all that much from people who prefer analog books to eBooks. For me, 'owning' downloads is like having a great big piece of nothing, while owning CD's is a tactile and visual sensation in addition to the audio thing. The why of it is beyond me. 

And there's a booklet, which you don't always get with downloads.

[And this is my 1,000th post in this incarnation. Where's my prize?]

[Archaic Torso of Apollo]

Hell if I know. It doesn't differ all that much from people who prefer analog books to eBooks. For me, 'owning' downloads is like having a great big piece of nothing, while owning CD's is a tactile and visual sensation in addition to the audio thing. The why of it is beyond me. 

Yes, I find it kind of hard to articulate too. I like having all those shiny discs and their little booklets and pictures around me; there's something comforting about it.

Also, having your music in those discrete units means you can't lose it all in some computer crash or other technological disaster.