CDs Are Officially Over

Are there any legal places to download lossless albums? If not...big problem.
 
/me hums "napster killed the cd" to the tune of "video killed the radio star..."
 
Well luckily all the good shit got made while physical mediums were still available. Should give places like Half Priced Books some extra life.

Besides, DRM was pretty lowsy on CD's and isn't that whats really important here?
 
My concerns are:

What is the next standard? USB ports on your car radio? Or are people just going to burn their own CDs? I just hope that whatever is settled upon is vendor neutral, and not just compatible with apple devices :rolleyes:

Also the vast majority of downloadable music is in compressed format that is actually inferior to that found on the CD. Are we simply going to lose the ability to obtain music in something other than craptacular compressed AAC, MP3, or WMA?

If anything, not being bound to a particular format should enable increased sound quality. Why can't I download music in an SACD quality format?
 
Yes this is something that pisses me off. Me and lots of other people I know mix/compose/master albums in 24bit 96khz audio (pretty much industry standard, though many people use 16/44.1 CD quality) making it sound as good quality as possible. Then shitty stores turn it into crappy low fidelity mp3s and sell it to people who haven't got a chance to tell the difference. THen people listen to it on crappy little white headbuds that sound absolutely shitty. It's not being audiophiley bullshit, it's just how things really are, and it's kind of sad...

It's kind of weird with all the "HD" tv's people are so into below SD audio. It's not even a question of storage anymore with 16gb memory cards being so cheap.
 
What about us stereophiles, who still buy CD's for lossless audio. Other than Radiohead, I have not seen another band or record company offer lossless audio in digital download format. There is more to music then just listening to it on an iPod.
 
It's kind of weird with all the "HD" tv's people are so into below SD audio. It's not even a question of storage anymore with 16gb memory cards being so cheap.

I agree, and I don't understand it at all. If anything sound quality should be getting BETTER than CDs now, not worse.
 
That article is BS. CD's aren't going to be suddenly removed from production and certainly not in 2012. The process will continue on for some time to come. And yes, I continue to order CD's from Amazon and other shops. I also download FLAC and other lossless files daily.
 
Yes this is something that pisses me off. Me and lots of other people I know mix/compose/master albums in 24bit 96khz audio (pretty much industry standard, though many people use 16/44.1 CD quality) making it sound as good quality as possible. Then shitty stores turn it into crappy low fidelity mp3s and sell it to people who haven't got a chance to tell the difference. THen people listen to it on crappy little white headbuds that sound absolutely shitty. It's not being audiophiley bullshit, it's just how things really are, and it's kind of sad...

It's kind of weird with all the "HD" tv's people are so into below SD audio. It's not even a question of storage anymore with 16gb memory cards being so cheap.

Listen to this person.

I actually do buy the occasional CD when an artist I vigorously follow drops an album. I like to have an original copy of something while I can just rip into FLAC and have a lossless format on my hard drive, so I do not have to worry about damaging that original.

Also, think about how the drop of a physical media will effect brick and mortar stores. I'm not simply talking about your BB's, Wal-Mart, etc. but the smaller ones who specialize in music sales - The ones who benefit from Record Store Day and survive on word of mouth. What are the small, local stores supposed to do about music existing only in non-physical form? Sell codes to redeem online for a slight mark-up? Bah.

This will only make more people pirate music. Artist don't make jack shit off of album sales, anyway. It's now more about merch and ticket sales. I don't see how removal of physical media will help artists... oh wait, it's not. It's only going to line the pockets of fat cat record executives.
 
I think the last time I bought a CD was around 2001.

Lately I have been using Amazon MP3. The quality is acceptable at 256kbps. Most of the music I have is between 256-320kbps and I can't tell much of a difference between 320kbps and FLAC, even on my Sennheiser HD600.

For most of the world 256kbps is more than adequate. Especially these whippersnappers driving around with so much bass that you can't even hear the music in their cars.
 
MP3 @ 320 isn't good enough. I don't want to have to put up with that bullshit.
 
Just as long as my favorite music is still available on Edison's cylinders, I am OK with CDs disappearing!

220px-Edisongoldmoulded.jpg


Chris Pirillo!'s laugh breaking a 100 year old Edison cylinder
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"oh.. sh*t"
 
The way music is being mixed lately I'm not surprised. Try listening to some of the latest garbage on a higher end stereo system. I listened to the wife's Lady Gaga CD through my Dahlquists and it sounded like somebody poked holes in my all speakers.
If you you want to help end CD's just go spend $15 on a recent album, you'll never want to buy music again.
 
I won't mind the lack of CDs too much as long as we get lossless and drm free downloads in the bargain. Much as I'll miss having an original CD with the art and little book those only get looked at once when I buy something, then put into a storage box for safe keeping.
 
The way music is being mixed lately I'm not surprised. Try listening to some of the latest garbage on a higher end stereo system. I listened to the wife's Lady Gaga CD through my Dahlquists and it sounded like somebody poked holes in my all speakers.
If you you want to help end CD's just go spend $15 on a recent album, you'll never want to buy music again.

That's because most music today is made to be listened to on an iPod with its crappy earbuds, not a high end stero system.
 
Can one of you audiophiles link to a standard mp3 and the lossless version so I can see if I hear a difference? I don't know too much about any of this...
 
I'll keep buying physical media until I absolutely can't.
 
People will still use CDs... much like people whom still use floppies. Its probably like One in a million people will still have a huge CD collection and CD player to listen to their favorite tunes.

But with DVD, why even use CDs anymore with those resources?
 
Can one of you audiophiles link to a standard mp3 and the lossless version so I can see if I hear a difference? I don't know too much about any of this...

I'm an audiophile, with pretty decent equipment. If the MP3 is properly encoded from the same source as the lossless file, there's a 99.9 something percent chance you won't be able to hear a difference, and pretty much zero chance without a perfectly silent listening room and over 10,000 dollars worth of equipment. How well the source material was mastered before the final encoding will make a much bigger difference with the high bitrate/high quality MP3 compression of today.

So why lossless? For the same reason I like audio CD's, it gives you a high quality master to start with, and some of the lossless codecs are also more graceful when it comes to handling errors. MP3's in my experience can tend to squelch or pop REALLY loud when there are encoding or playback errors, loud enough to damage some speakers if the volume is high enough. With FLAC I haven't experienced this problem, maybe some odd moments of static or silence that I can't be sure were file problems.
 
I'm an audiophile, with pretty decent equipment. If the MP3 is properly encoded from the same source as the lossless file, there's a 99.9 something percent chance you won't be able to hear a difference, and pretty much zero chance without a perfectly silent listening room and over 10,000 dollars worth of equipment. How well the source material was mastered before the final encoding will make a much bigger difference with the high bitrate/high quality MP3 compression of today.

So why lossless? For the same reason I like audio CD's, it gives you a high quality master to start with, and some of the lossless codecs are also more graceful when it comes to handling errors. MP3's in my experience can tend to squelch or pop REALLY loud when there are encoding or playback errors, loud enough to damage some speakers if the volume is high enough. With FLAC I haven't experienced this problem, maybe some odd moments of static or silence that I can't be sure were file problems.

Then wouldn't it be fair to say that if there's a 99.9 percent chance you won't hear a difference, it's fine for 99.9% of the population? Or is it the principle of the thing that everyone here is complaining about?
 
Then wouldn't it be fair to say that if there's a 99.9 percent chance you won't hear a difference, it's fine for 99.9% of the population? Or is it the principle of the thing that everyone here is complaining about?

Pretty much, it's more a matter of "why not both?" They can have lossless as a premium option at double the price of the MP3's and make everyone but the really whiny types happy. I just don't see myself paying the same price as an audio CD would be for a lower quality, insubstantial product (99cents x 12 songs is about the same price as the average cd) . I just worry that's what's going to end up happening, and while that might be just peachy for some folks and the industry, it doesn't match my buying habits, so I'll be stuck browsing the used CD isle at my local flea market.
 
That's because most music today is made to be listened to on an iPod with its crappy earbuds, not a high end stero system.
I think this is at the heart of the problem.

In 2009 I ripped all my CDs to MP3 @ 320kbps VBR. They all sounded fine.

Then I upgraded my audio system for £2000. Now all those MP3s sound like they are underwater. Top and bottom end is missing.

I'm a Pink Floyd fan and you can really tell the difference on most of those albums.

So back I go to re-ripping everything to FLAC. And certainly tell the difference.

(What surprises me is that I now use quality headphones with my Blackberry Phone. And the surprising thing is I am now hearing even more detail in my FLACs than I used to hear from the CDs...)



IMHO the "CDs are dead" news item on that website is purely about getting page views and debate. Same as the "DVDs are dead" news items.

Even the LP is still alive... so I think any announcement of the death of the CD is premature.
 
Someone mentioned Radiohead and FLAC downloads. Nine Inch Nails also did a FLAC download release.

And the funny side of Radiohead? Not only FLAC and MP3 available. But also CD and VINYL :D It is all about selling what the customer wants.
 
Someone played a prank on side-line, there is no way any major will stop producing CDs next year, certainly not without a plan to stop all digital piracy.
They don't even mention a single source for that information, nor could they confirm the fact from the majors themselves.

I still buy dozens of CDs every year, although I am not kidding myself, the CD format is already a very lossy one for today's music engineering standards.
Any FLAC or lossless WMA I can rip from a CD is flawed from that perspective and Amazon and iTunes MP3s have almost as good quality as today's CDs.

There will be a bigger switch to digital in time, but it will probably not remove CDs completely for a long time, and that switch needs an infrastructure and requirements that do not or barely exist yet:
  • A much higher sampling frequency. The digital replacement should compare to SACD, not audio CD.
  • Smarter devices: When I buy new music, I want it to be immediately available on my computer, home network, at work, on my home and cars Hi-Fi, phones, digital players, for my kids, etc.
    I doubt the narrow-minded majors will ever support this, but it can be built even using today's digital music and CD rips. It would be a kick-ass product.
 
Yeah right. CDs are dead, just like the vinyl LPs I keep buying.
 
Good riddance.

For the FLAC crowd one of the digital music stores will realized there is money to be made from you and will offer. This is a capitalist market. There there is demand there will come supply.
 
Forgot to mention one other thing that could prevent me from switching fully to digital:
If the artists still use the current iTunes/Amazon model, I'm not buying.
I'd rather pay the artists directly than using any intermediate parasite company, or using a model that pays the majors such a disproportionate amount of money for services not rendered.
The recording and digitalization of the album should be a one-time flat fee, the reseller of digital music will still make a profit if they get 1 cent per song.
 
So the hundreds of millions of cars out there with CD players are just going to be worthless? Sorry, the whole idea is ludicrous. Joe Blow in Mississippi does not how to work the intarweb, but he knows how to drive to Wal-Mart.
 
Good riddance.

For the FLAC crowd one of the digital music stores will realized there is money to be made from you and will offer. This is a capitalist market. There there is demand there will come supply.

Guess I should read what I type before I post when there is no edit button.

"will realize"..... "where there"
 
CD's are dead my ass. We don't exactly sell very many iTunes downloads at shows.
 
Can one of you audiophiles link to a standard mp3 and the lossless version so I can see if I hear a difference? I don't know too much about any of this...

You can basically do the experiment yourself via YouTube. Find a song that has options for 360p-1080p and it acts the same.

What basically happens with lower bit rate is that you're missing information. So instead of the "full" sound, you get compressed audio. Think of a street with potholes. Instead of your car driving smoothly over a nice surface, it has to jump the gap because of the missing surface.

With lossless bitrates, you get 100% of the information. I think the best way to compare this would be to take an instrument and dampen it with sound absorbing material. Sure, you'd get the general sound, but you'd be missing the subtleties. Same reason why a Stradivarius is worth millions (and why the most experience speakers in the world are just shooting for neutral presentation).

Granted, if you have crappy equipment then you won't be able to hear the difference. Most people don't even know that you can adjust the bitrate in Windows to 24 bit 192kHz and it'll guesstimate the missing information.

With good equipment, you get fuller sound and accurate reproduction with lossless bitrate. It basically sounds "live" or like the artist is in the room with you. With good equipment and lossy/low bitrate, it sounds flat and like a recording. Bad equipment, it doesn't really matter.
 
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