Recently, my roommate and I got in a discussion regarding buying music. I've been told that I'm a bit of an anomaly with how many physical albums I own. Yes, I'll admit that growing up in the nineties made me collect CDs... and maybe a few tapes. Also, it's hard to live in Eugene without at some point scouring through vinyl at local thrift stores. So, yea, I've got a bunch. Also, in my undergrad I was music director for the campus radio station and I heard about so many interesting bands during that time, and surely my music collection grew due to that exposure.
Back to the point. Robert has made the argument that the CDs are being squeezed out. With space online becoming cheaper and cheaper (if not free), the mp3 serves less of a purpose and it's totally reasonable that in the future digital music will only be of high quality sound files. Mp3s were great because they sounded okay and took up very little space, right? Hard drives are bigger, too, now than ever before and it's easy to store music. So, digital music is convenient. And, it's no longer just the shitty mp3 version of that great album that you own on CD or vinyl.
Then, there's vinyl. Vinyl sales are up. They'll probably never be what they once were (music sales in general will probably never be what it once was!), yet, there is a collectable market here. Hell, I like to think that there's more than just a collector's market. Will vinyl grow in appreciation? Will the minor annoyances of having to flip records and handle them carefully be outweighed by their wonderful sound, listening to albums in their completed package, and having all that amazing art and liner notes? I sincerely hope so. That is how it is for me.
For these thoughts, I don't want to go into the subject of online radio stations, streaming services, and other similar forms of music delivery. I fear to be drawn off on too much of a tangent... and, so...
Where do CDs fit in? I could include tapes in this, too. I've heard (but not confirmed) that there is even a company in Portland that will manufacture tapes. That is so cool. They do have some sort of appeal to the nostalgic. I'm not sure what it is, exactly, and am personally not so fond of them... so I'll leave it at that. CDs on the other hand, I have grown to love. I have many of them and do not want to give them up. While I've made plenty of digital purchases and own tons of vinyl, and have put most of my CDs digitally onto my computer for digital access, it is the CDs themselves that I reach for most often when listening to music. Why is that?
Well, Robert would say that I'm just old fashioned and because of my generation, or old habits, or just plain refusal to enter the modern age, I just simply refuse to adapt. The thing is, I have adapted to new forms of music access (even digital streaming... thanks Google Play), I just love CDs and still find them valuable. I love holding an album in my hand and looking at the art and/or little book while I listen. Music enjoyment for me is not complete by just listening (I mean... sometimes it is... but, sometimes not!), I want to think about all the parts of the art form. With digital music I find myself forgetting songs or album titles unless I'm constantly reminded. When I have the tactile accompaniment of the physical album, I do remember and find myself accessing it more, or thinking about it more. I want to loan a CD to a friend and have them loan me theirs.
Then I can hear Robert saying, right! That's why you have vinyl! And, I know he's completely right. He's so right. Many of my friends have vinyl record players and I could bring vinyl over. The art is bigger anyway. They sound better, too (according to many).
So, where does the CD fit in? It's in between. It's smaller and inferior in some ways to the vinyl. Yet, it's easily possible to digitize a CD if you want to. One foot in the digital world and one foot in the analogue. It's an in between, like the hybrid car, something temporary. Something only to be remembered by the nineties generation that relied on it. Maybe this is so. Hmmm.
I'm going to make a couple arguments in favor of the CD....
First, it's incredibly cheap to manufacture. It's way cheaper to produce them, than vinyl (look up on youtube how vinyl records are made and you'll have a new appreciation! And realize why they're so darn expensive!). If you're at a concert (or putting on a concert), CDs are still the way to go to get your music out there or pass it around. You may be thinking about download codes or website directions? First, concert goer is gonna want or pay for that. Touring bands need something to sell! Also, somehow the extremely simple steps of going to a website and entering a download code are often too much when somebody gets away from the live performance. I don't know why, but it truly is. A CD is gonna get listened to, at least once, if it is bought. CDs still need to come down in price dramatically on the commercial level, the markup is simply too outrageous, but this is starting to happen from my casual observations.
CDs are more convenient than vinyl. Sometimes getting out a record seems like too many steps, give me a CD. I want the complete album. I want it to sound good. I want the art. I want to carry it around with me. I get out the CD. I want a similar to vinyl experience, but am not quite up for the vinyl commitment. This argument would not work for Robert... he'd just look up the album on YouTube. It does work for me.
You can still browse through bins of CDs at the local store and find "gems". I don't want to rely on what Amazon recommends to me or on what Pandora decides belongs on the same playlist as some band I like. These are too limiting. I like the chance that I'll come across something new and wonderful at the CD store. Robert would say, that's what vinyl is for. And, looking through vinyl is a joy in itself. However, even if you look at a vinyl and it looks unscratched, it could be messed up enough to not play. That is frustrating. Or, sometimes you pull out a sleeve only to realize that the record within is too scratched to purchase. Vinyl is fragile. New vinyl is expensive. CDs are cheaper and if the disc looks clean, it's pretty much guaranteed to play right. I'm often willing to take a chance on a CD that I wouldn't take on vinyl. It is true that sometimes vinyl can be much cheaper than CDs, but this is becoming less and less the case. And good vinyl (or popular vinyl) is always pricey. So, I appreciate the CD.
So, you can decide for yourself if there's a place for CDs. Thankfully they're so easy to manufacture that they'll likely always be available on demand, similar to how old out of print books are sometimes available. I find appreciation for all delivery forms of music... there's a time and place for each of them.
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