Rumours of a CD Revival...

What’s a CD? 

Something that exists outside the metaverse 😊? 

There's something satisfying in actually handling a concrete object (ahem - not that way either).

I still buy them!  I like to physically own the music, and more money goes to the artists I listen to.

Not being beholden to an Artist suddenly removing their music from a platform, and that you have absolutely no control over, is also worth considering.

Then I am rather old now!

I used to buy CD’s, rip them and mostly store the discs away ... now I don’t buy any at all - not a single one since subscribing to streaming music services.

I do now have access to far more music than ever before, it certainly costs me far (far) less than what I used to spend on discs/storage and I am resigned to the fact I don’t own any of my later collection.

The quality of todays streaming music is great. So I doubt I will ever buy any further CD’s.

I actually miss vinyl and album covers much more than CD’s and I have quite a collection of those too in the loft, but that’s really mostly nostalgia from my younger days. I remember the thrill of buying an album and the smell of the covers etc; perhaps moreso than the dusty crackle sound from the records themselves - the streaming music services have taken over in this house and as long as prices remain reasonable, I can’t see me switching away from those, but it’s still nice to hang onto my own ‘old’ digital library, as if things do ever get too pricey, I can still choose to opt to go in some other direction. I just don’t see me buying much more physical media to own myself.

Interesting @Ken_Griffiths .  I have been close to abandoning CD’s but still like to read the, albeit small, CD liner booklet.  

However, and this may be just me, if I have not spent money on an album purchase I found I was much less likely to ever get round to listening to it.

I use Computer games by way of an example.  I had a friend who would get me hookey copies of the latest computer games, often by the dozen.  The fact that they were free meant that I rarely got round to playing them.  The same then started with music in the early days of Napster etc.  If there was no value attached to the CD/game then there was little incentive to invest the time into playing it.

I am with @Ken_Griffiths on this in that the value you get from streaming services far outweighs what you get from buying CDs.  The biggest exception to this though as that the old physical media model encouraged my to listen to all the tracks in the album, rather than just the one song on the radio that prompted me to buy the album (I always felt cheated buying overpriced singles).  Most of the time, there was real gems in there.

Yes, in most cases, I can still listen to the full album, but the encouragement simply isn’t there anymore,  Granted, it’s entirely possible that my age has changed my desire to listen to new music as well.  I find myself satisfied with the decades of music I’ve already heard so many times before rather than current music.  

In fact, I’ve first signed up for a streaming service because of old music, music I liked but never enough to justify buying the album.  It wasn’t that I intended to never buy music again, that just sort of followed naturally afterwards.  As did streaming services replacing FM radio stations.

Side note:  Old music I like, but never enough to buy, was also my justification for pirating music back in the day.

Just me... But I hate having to wade through reams of rubbish titles, genres, etc. just to reach my music

The Spotify interface on Sonos is a glaring example of this.  Tidal is better in this respect. 

You find a few things on CD that aren’t on streaming so having the ability to rip one is handy.

You can also have great fun at used music stores and pawnshops digging in the piles of old music and then walk away paying a buck or two per CD.

A number of them also have vinyl if that is your bent. Either played directly or converted to digital.

I have to admit I have thought about hooking up my CD Player or turntable (both of which are in storage) to my Sonos Port just for kicks.  But I doubt I will ever purchase any more records that way again.  Digital has surpassed them both in quality and convenience now so  the only reason I’d do this is for a little fun.

Keep in mind that cassettes have already begun a comeback too.  I grew up making mix tapes but again have no desire to go back to that format either.  If you are Gen Z or a Millennial and never seen them the first time around, I’m sure the novelty of old physical formats is fun.  But I can’t imagine any of this is going to last.  I think I realized when urban Outfitters and Whole Foods started selling vinyl at select locations that this was less a format resurgence than a lifestyle trend.

Same here, although the limited capacity of the Sonos kit causes me problems these days.

We have an occasional trawl through the local charity shops, where I can often find CDs of interest for 10p each. I rarely buy a CD at full price, preferring to wait until it comes down quite a bit.

Having said that, I find many ‘pop’ CDs only have one or two tracks of interest, so occasionally buy single tracks on MP3.