CD sales up. Maybe a good sign.

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I hope CDs get a resurgance too soon so we can enjoy a surround resurgance 20 years down the line.

I find it AMAZING that just 3 POP artists elevated CD sales. Hell, I paid only $6.97 from Deep Discount for Adele 30 during the Black Friday sale and I believe they were blowing out 'Swifty's' newest CD for that price, as well. When the price IS low enough ... they WILL BUY .......

As for BTO .......Korean POP ... yeech! My teeny bopper days are OVER!
 
I had to buy my 3 recent CDs (ABBA, Duran Duran, Elton John) from Amazon, F.Y.E., Target, Walmart either didn't receive them or sold out quickly.

I haven't tried them yet with my (upgraded) surround sound system (DPL2 music decode mode).

(I'd rather buy CDs instead of mp3s)


Kirk Bayne
 
My Sony D-5 Discman CD player (purchased 1985-08) still works, although it uses a shared DAC so it isn't suitable for matrix quad playback.


Kirk Bayne
 

Thanks for sharing gene! Have the tables REALLY been turned? Or is the reason CDs are CURRENTLY selling better than Vinyl is due to the shortgage of pressing plants and the long, long delays for that album to be pressed on black wax?

And does Vinyl REALLY sound better than an 'uncompressed' CD .... and we're not talking esoteric 180~200g custom Quiex .....but the garden variety normal vinyl pressings put out by the majors and/or individual artists. From reading the various reviews at Amazon ... they're still rife with ticks, pops, swishes...and warpage!

And remember those CD longboxes to discourage thievery.....well, they're long gone but for the ecologically savvy, every time you order a vinyl album online, they're shipped in carboard packaging which are [get this..] equivalent to 7 or 8 of those longboxes of 'yesteryear!'

At least a lot of CDs pressed today have dispensed with the CD plastic case and are more ecologically friendly, some, so much so, they could easily and literally slip through the cracks.

As of late, I've admittedly been on a CD buying frenzy and am VERY happy to report.....they don't sound compressed...even the pop/rock titles. Have the majors finally awakened to the fact that the CD is actually capable of more than decent sonics if the mastering process precludes overcompressing it to shit thus dispensing with the dreaded 'loudness' wars?

But looking toward the present ... and the future .... and since MOST households have a Blu Ray disc player, I only wish the majors would take fuller advantage of the potential maximum storage inherent in that format [BD~A] ....... Imagine 16~18 Stereo Albums on a single disc in 48/24 resolution as opposed to 16~18 Compact discs......in 44.1/16 bit resolution. I'm mostly referring to the potential of putting massive box sets of artists on 1 to 2 BD~As as opposed to double that number on CD. Or individual artists complete discographies in higher resolution..... The potential is certainly there and they would have to charge accordingly for such a cornucopia of riches ... but hey, they would take up MUCH LESS SPACE and in the end SAVE OUR 🌎 as every little bit helps!
 
I'm mostly referring to the potential of putting massive box sets of artists on 1 to 2 BD~As as opposed to double that number on CD. Or individual artists complete discographies in higher resolution..... The potential is certainly there and they would have to charge accordingly for such a cornucopia of riches ... but hey, they would take up MUCH LESS SPACE and in the end SAVE OUR 🌎 as every little bit helps!
Square Enix has already done this! They release 9-14 hour soundtracks for their games on a single Blu-ray disc opposed to multiple CDs in 24/96! Now we just need other companies to follow suit.
 
....
At least a lot of CDs pressed today have dispensed with the CD plastic case and are more ecologically friendly, some, so much so, they could easily and literally slip through the cracks.
....
But looking toward the present ... and the future .... and since MOST households have a Blu Ray disc player, I only wish the majors would take fuller advantage of the potential maximum storage inherent in that format [BD~A] ....... Imagine 16~18 Stereo Albums on a single disc in 48/24 resolution as opposed to 16~18 Compact discs......in 44.1/16 bit resolution. I'm mostly referring to the potential of putting massive box sets of artists on 1 to 2 BD~As as opposed to double that number on CD. Or individual artists complete discographies in higher resolution..... The potential is certainly there and they would have to charge accordingly for such a cornucopia of riches ... but hey, they would take up MUCH LESS SPACE and in the end SAVE OUR 🌎 as every little bit helps!

For the record I never stopped buying or being enamored with the cd. I love them.

Personally I want the hard plastic jewel cases and think they are justified. If the life of a cd was less than 5 years then I'd be fine with the cardboard digipaks as they'd be disposable. I've had some cds for 40 years now which, in my mind, justifies the less environmental friendly packaging. You want something that lasts that long to be durable. If anything they should be re-designed so that the weak spots (those damn tabs that attach the two parts together) are made more durable.

I'd love an artist's entire collection on a single blu-ray, but could a manufacturer justify charging $125+ for a box set with just one disc instead of 10 individual discs? (would box sets even be a thing anymore?). That might be the only reason why the industry would be reluctant to move to blu-rays, the profit margin may not be as high.
 
If anything they should be re-designed so that the weak spots (those damn tabs that attach the two parts together) are made more durable.
Let me introduce to you...the Super Jewel Case!
 

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I am aware of the SJC as anyone that has sacds should be. :)
Now we just need to get the manufacturers to switch to them. Obviously they must be a tad more expensive to produce or, you'd think, they would have become the industry standard.
I mean at least they're still being made! AFAIK they're at least twice as expensive because not many people make them anymore.
 
How many cracked CD and SACD plastic cases have arrived via the mail ...... WAAAYY too numerous to count! I prefer a well manufactured digipak with plastic inserts which I always place in protective sealed outer poly wrappers!
 
Digipaks are somehow more expensive than both if I remember correctly.

Also, Plastic CD/SACD/DVD~A cases tarnish over time.....sometimes wiping them with a damp cloth does the trick but when they're scratched they somehow lose their 'allure' if you want to call it that. And also broken teeth holding the disc and/or extracting the sometimes fat CD booklet from it's little tabs can be frustrating. And those double and triple plastic CD cases are delicate as hell. And try to replace them.

BTW, those poly resealeable covers are also great for keeping the obis intact on those Japanese imports and are custom made even for those Japanese and MoFi Mini LP SACDs and CDs! And I even found some on ebay which keep those DVD~A cases blemish free ..... but of course they're a real PITA when they stick to the outer sleeves.
 
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I have NEVER stopped buying CDs. Got my 1st player in the mid 80's when I was in high school, and have been buyiing cds ever since. Both of my cars have CD players and that's where I mainly listen to them. Also, they all have been digitized and I can listen to my library anywhere I go. I own about 200 lps, but I rarely listen to them.
 
My Sony D-5 Discman CD player (purchased 1985-08) still works, although it uses a shared DAC so it isn't suitable for matrix quad playback.

Kirk Bayne

Why can't you use the headphone output, convert to line level and feed a matrix decoder?

I also have a headphone set with a matrix decoder built in.

Thanks for sharing gene! Have the tables REALLY been turned? Or is the reason CDs are CURRENTLY selling better than Vinyl is due to the shortgage of pressing plants and the long, long delays for that album to be pressed on black wax?

And does Vinyl REALLY sound better than an 'uncompressed' CD .... and we're not talking esoteric 180~200g custom Quiex .....but the garden variety normal vinyl pressings put out by the majors and/or individual artists. From reading the various reviews at Amazon ... they're still rife with ticks, pops, swishes...and warpage!

If you take care of and store vinyl properly, those are not serious problems.

One time, I purposely bought a seriously warped record at a garage sale to use to test cartridge compliance. Unfortunately, I stored it properly with my other records. When I went to use it next time, the warp was gone.

And remember those CD longboxes to discourage thievery.....well, they're long gone but for the ecologically savvy, every time you order a vinyl album online, they're shipped in carboard packaging which are [get this..] equivalent to 7 or 8 of those longboxes of 'yesteryear!'

The cardboard can be reused for shipping albums or recycled. And I use those record packing boxes as section separators in my record shelves.

At least a lot of CDs pressed today have dispensed with the CD plastic case and are more ecologically friendly, some, so much so, they could easily and literally slip through the cracks.

Since I intend to keep all of my CDs as long as I live, how "ecologically friendly" the packaging is does not matter.

I like the cardboard cases because they last longer.

As of late, I've admittedly been on a CD buying frenzy and am VERY happy to report.....they don't sound compressed...even the pop/rock titles. Have the majors finally awakened to the fact that the CD is actually capable of more than decent sonics if the mastering process precludes overcompressing it to shit thus dispensing with the dreaded 'loudness' wars?

The overcompressing is a result of trying to get your song to "punch through" the rabble when the song is played on the air.

I have several 45 rpm records that are also brickwalled. I remember some of the artists: Charlie Dore, Queen, and Sweet.

But looking toward the present ... and the future .... and since MOST households have a Blu Ray disc player, I only wish the majors would take fuller advantage of the potential maximum storage inherent in that format [BD~A] ....... Imagine 16~18 Stereo Albums on a single disc in 48/24 resolution as opposed to 16~18 Compact discs......in 44.1/16 bit resolution. I'm mostly referring to the potential of putting massive box sets of artists on 1 to 2 BD~As as opposed to double that number on CD. Or individual artists complete discographies in higher resolution..... The potential is certainly there and they would have to charge accordingly for such a cornucopia of riches.

15 hours??? Do you think I have jaws of steel? I can't play for that long!

This reminds me of the problem I had with reel-to-reel tape. I recorded several albums on one extra large reel of tape. This put me into a rut. Every time I wanted to hear one of those albums, I ended up playing both sides of the entire reel. So I always heard those albums together.

For the record I never stopped buying or being enamored with the cd. I love them.

Personally I want the hard plastic jewel cases and think they are justified. If the life of a cd was less than 5 years then I'd be fine with the cardboard digipaks as they'd be disposable. I've had some cds for 40 years now which, in my mind, justifies the less environmental friendly packaging. You want something that lasts that long to be durable. If anything they should be re-designed so that the weak spots (those damn tabs that attach the two parts together) are made more durable.

How many cracked CD and SACD plastic cases have arrived via the mail ...... WAAAYY too numerous to count! I prefer a well manufactured digipak with plastic inserts which I always place in protective sealed outer poly wrappers!

I am finding that the cardboard cases ARE more durable. I have had too many broken cases in the mail, and even after I got them in perfect condition. Thing happen to them. The jewel case is an engineering disaster.

There are two kinds: Pockets like record albums, and folding pieces with the CD center hole holders.
 
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