The Demise of disc formats

[furui_suterioo]

CDs still plentiful in thrift stores, the few CDs I ever payed for don't even play anymore anyway. I worry more about file downloading eventually being eliminated by streaming, whenever I have the opportunity of using a good internet connection, I always download as much lossless as possible to storage. Curse the day when everything becomes view-only!

 

[amco]

Don´t seem to have seen any mention here, but the REAL reason I hang in with SACDs, DVDs and Bluray media is for the 5.1 Surround Sound MUSIC that barely exists in any downloads, and not at all online streaming apart from Tidal Atmos.

So where are we going with Surround Sound ?!?

 

[Audiowannabee]

Don´t seem to have seen any mention here, but the REAL reason I hang in with SACDs, DVDs and Bluray media is for the 5.1 Surround Sound MUSIC that barely exists in any downloads, and not at all online streaming apart from Tidal Atmos.

So where are we going with Surround Sound ?!?

Were counting on DV n omg Sony bluray players

 

[Old Quad Guy]

We’re just waiting for another round of DV titles to be released for sure!

Look, if discs were on their way out, why aren’t the prices for rare SACD and DVD-Audio come down from impossible to sky high prices. We usually get these type of threads and panic, maybe with good reason, when there’s nothing surround to buy or get excited for the moment. Hopefully, Santana 3 will come our way soon.

 

[marcb]

I wonder if the next wave of hipsters will think CD's are the cool "retro" thing to do. They might freak out over a vintage CD players, etc....??? I remember when you couldn't give vinyl away. Now, an old album is a collector's item....

Why do folks insist on using vinyl as some sort of an analog to CDs? They are quite dissimilar.

The likelihood of hipsters freaking out over CD players is about as likely as hipsters freaking over DOS PCs with floppy disc drives and running WordPerfect.

 

[marcb]

We’re just waiting for another round of DV titles to be released for sure!

Look, if discs were on their way out, why aren’t the prices for rare SACD and DVD-Audio come down from impossible to sky high prices. We usually get these type of threads and panic, maybe with good reason, when there’s nothing surround to buy or get excited for the moment. Hopefully, Santana 3 will come our way soon.

Because they were limited in quantity and often offer something that otherwise isn’t available (unique mastering, higher resolution, surround mixes, etc).

You can’t give away run-of-the-mill physical digital media because they offer almost no advantage to almost the entire population.

 

[Mr. Afternoon]

Don´t seem to have seen any mention here, but the REAL reason I hang in with SACDs, DVDs and Bluray media is for the 5.1 Surround Sound MUSIC that barely exists in any downloads, and not at all online streaming apart from Tidal Atmos.

So where are we going with Surround Sound ?!?

We will never get surround sound if the majority of the population are using Bluetooth headphones.

 

[furui_suterioo]

We will never get surround sound if the majority of the population are using Bluetooth headphones.

Maybe won't be long before the bluetooth cooks their brains into oatmeal

 

[Q-Eight]

I live in the middle of nowhere. I can safely say that since Sandy's Books & Music closed (which was a second-hand book & music store with very few *new* items for sale),
there is nowhere in town today where you can buy a movie or music disc of any kind. I'd have to go one town in either direction to hit Wal Mart and even then, their selection is paltry to what it used to be. Canadian Tire stopped having a music section well over a decade ago. Pete's TV & Music closed over ten years ago as well. Yes, Sandy's & Pete's were both home-grown, mom-and-pop style stores. Pete's had been there since the 60's. If I went in and asked any of the younger staff for "vintage" items, they'd laugh. If "old" Pete was working, he knew exactly where it was downstairs. I used to be able to get all sorts of goodies: stylii, cartridges, cable sets, you name it. When they closed down, I wasn't able to but friends of mine drove their trucks to the back doors and were allowed to take some of the "vintage" stock. A buddy of mine came away with a really neat old Brunswick-brand tv/hi-fi/wet bar console!

Back on topic yeah..... I would imagine many other small towns across both our countries are experiencing the same thing. It's forcing our hand to go with some sort of download.

 

[Akaiquadster2]

Here in Australia Tower was my go to postal order service for CDs - must have got hundreds but then my children looked at me and my big collection and said I was mad and signed me up for Spotify for Christmas a few years back. Must admit surfing music porn at Tower was more fun!

One of the issues - as someone who listens to a lot of organ music - and has speakers that start at 10hz - is that Redbook infrasound is sometimes there despite the 20hz-20khz standards and at my age the higher frequency stuff is probably not an issue!

For me I’m looking for multi channel experience and low lows in music that one feels - so it’s all about the mastering as much as the medium I guess?

 

[Nyad]

Talking about NZ disc availability, just this morning went to order an Lp (Can live Stuttgart 1975) from Juno, did a quick check and JB HiFi was $20 cheaper but in the fine print it said they would have to order it in and there would most likely be a "considerable delay" This sort of thing is becoming more common, where sellers don't hold stock, but happily take your money and you wait (at this end of the world that can mean several months).

 

[ArmyOfQuad]

Why do folks insist on using vinyl as some sort of an analog to CDs? They are quite dissimilar.

The likelihood of hipsters freaking out over CD players is about as likely as hipsters freaking over DOS PCs with floppy disc drives and running WordPerfect.

You'd be surprised...

 

[halbroome]

Remember what happened to vinyl -- "going away, can't sell them except for cheap" -- then. . . .

I imagine there will be a fad for old CDs / DVDs / blu rays in a decade which will up the desire factor greatly. Heck, even cassettes are having a comeback, lol.

 

[Mr. Afternoon]

Remember what happened to vinyl -- "going away, can't sell them except for cheap" -- then. . . .

I imagine there will be a fad for old CDs / DVDs / blu rays in a decade which will up the desire factor greatly. Heck, even cassettes are having a comeback, lol.

Minidisc is making a comeback and I'm genuinely confused.
It's like the consumer base wants everything except CD.
Blu-ray sales have dropped and DVD sales have increased.
Where's the darn logic?

 

[mandrix]

The last disc that I bought in a B&M, I believe, was the Pink Floyd DSOTM SACD from the local WalMart. I've related before that at the time I was unaware it was an SACD until I purchased a refurb Oppo and discovered it was 5.1. with a redbook layer. The last LP from a physical store I think was Now and Zen.
When I moved to the North C Florida area back in the early 80's there were no places to buy cd's or lp's and we were yet to get even a WalMart. There was no internet either, of course. (You could buy cassettes at convenience stores, and I did) Now after being used to no B&M stores for so long I guess it just doesn't bother me.
Thankfully Al Gore invented the internet! (for younger folks and people not in the US, a politician once claimed he "helped invent the internet")

But anyway I'm heavily invested in disc formats, although everything is ripped and duplicated digitally spanning many HDD's. I keep a few old Quad LP's and a few old favorites.

 

[4_everyman]

Minidisc is making a comeback and I'm genuinely confused.

Good grief. What's next? Are we going to see a LaserDisc resurgence?

 

[Sal1950]

the few CDs I ever payed for don't even play anymore anyway.

Why is that? The only reason I can think of is they banged around loose in your car and got scratched beyond reading.
Actual occurances of CD rot have been pretty rare.

 

[ar surround]

Why do folks insist on using vinyl as some sort of an analog to CDs? They are quite dissimilar.

The likelihood of hipsters freaking out over CD players is about as likely as hipsters freaking over DOS PCs with floppy disc drives and running WordPerfect.

That's funny because my wife sold an ancient iMac. The fellow who picked it up said that he collects old iMacs. I guess that there is a collector out there for just about everything.

 

[furui_suterioo]

Why is that? The only reason I can think of is they banged around loose in your car and got scratched beyond reading.
Actual occurances of CD rot have been pretty rare.

I was never very careful handing them back then(in contrast my obsessive record cleaning habit these days), and I put them in one of those cheap zip albums where the sleeves half melted in the car.
I've never been too picky about perfect sound quality, I kept playing my worn out cassette tapes until finally got music downloadd on pc. Now, I am recording those downloads onto a format that I am still new to: 8-track cartridges. I melted quad notches in about 20 8-tracks the other day. Maybe one day I'll burn the downloads onto a compact optical disc format when that becomes nostalgic!

 

[Mr. Afternoon]

Why is that? The only reason I can think of is they banged around loose in your car and got scratched beyond reading.
Actual occurances of CD rot have been pretty rare.

I have a solid music DVD that died to disc rot without me noticing. Never got to back it up. Was like 20 years old. The thing is it's pretty rare, there is barely any documentation of it, let alone any eBay listings.