The Town of Odyssey

I recently purchased a music CD because it was the only format I could get. The sad part is, I could count on one hand how many times I've used my CD player in the last year. Most of my audio consumption is directly through my phone for podcasts, audio dramas, and music. What do you think, are CDs going out of style?

I'm listening to a CD right now. We have a CD player in our van, and it is used ALL THE TIME. When we have to get a new van, I am going to be sooo upset if we (most likely) don't have a CD player anymore. The kids have a CD player in their bedroom that they use every night for Patch the Pirate and music as they go to sleep.

I use CDs all the time. They're great.

The car I'm driving (technically my dad's but maybe mine soon) has a CD player so I use it to enjoy all the classic CDs I grew up on so I am still a big fan.

Also, I think they're really good for kids. It's a way to let them listen to music and have some choice over what they listen to and when while avoiding giving them screens at a young age. I don't have kids yet, but I would probably want to do something like that since I loved having a CD player in my room as a kid.

I think they might be going out and I see myself using them less - but still regularly. I don't have a CD player in my house and mostly listen to audiobooks on my phone or stuff like that, but I love using the CD player in my car and keep buying CDs for that purpose. I can change a CD legally and safely in my car, but I can't touch my phone while I'm driving.

Last time I used a CD for music was literally months ago. I still use them for software every once in a while and I occasionally use DVDs, but that's about it.

Some thoughts from somebody with a *little*

As someone who collects CDs, there's a market for them, but they've largely gone out of style. 20 years ago, if you wanted to find new music, you bought a CD (unless you were younger and knew how to fileshare). Now it's so easy to find things on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Music, (and you sickos who use Amazon Prime Music) that nobody's buying CDs to discover new songs. CDs still sell, but it's only established fans of artists who are buying them. Taylor Swift still sells a butt-ton of CDs at Target because she has a rabid fanbase who will buy them. Joe Schmo and his brand new band aren't selling CDs because it's cheaper to throw their stuff on digital platforms.

If an artist is making physical copies of their work, they're probably going to throw more of their money at vinyl than CDs, ironically. Vinyl's still trendier, and hardcore fans like it better as a collectible. Personally, I tend to buy both from my favorite artists. Vinyl for my very favorite albums, and CDs for stuff I like and want to have a physical copy of. I don't like relying on streaming platforms to retain their catalogues so I buy CDs to make sure I have a copy forever.

Those are great thoughts, Steve! You're right that having a physical copy is a great way to protect against stuff disappearing from streaming platforms - I do that with DVDs/Blu-ray too. I hadn't thought about how CDs that sell are for established artists that people deem not a risk, but it seemed super smart once I read it.

Going out of style? I thought they were long gone. >_>

It's sad, because while I never really considered myself a "collector," from the time I was like 13 and got a CD player, all through my teens and probably early 20's I bought a bazillion CDs, but they all just hang around in a box in the basement now. There was also a nice chunk of time where I was burning a ton of mix CDs but not really buying anymore, because yay for internets and CD burners.

But now? My old car has a CD player in it (newer one doesn't), so for the 7 or 8 years I've had that car, I've burned a grand total of 2 CDs for it. I just almost always listen to my playlist on my phone on iTunes and Steve's favorite Amazon Prime Music.

Now, even if I want to listen to a CD, they don't come on computers or newer cars anymore. I know there are one or two or three CD players lurking around my house but I'm not sure when they were used last.

Ehh, I never use them, but when you're in the car and don't wanna listen to the radio, I guess they can come in handy . But other than that they are pretty useless. But I wouldn't call them out of style.

Until I went and checked just now I had absolutely no idea whether my car had a CD player (turns out it does) because it has never even crossed my mind to consider playing one in there before. It has a bluetooth system so if I want to play something I do it from my phone.

Anyway to answer the question in the thread title I wouldn't say CDs have gone out of style as much as they've simply gone out of necessity. There are more convenient ways to play audio now so those naturally become more widely used as people generally prefer convenience over most other considerations.

That might be too semantically distinctive for purposes of this discussion though if all you were asking was have they declined in widespread use, because the answer to that is certainly yes. But to elaborate on the distinction my thinking draws, things like records are out of style because you have to make a particular effort to obtain them and use them. It's something out of the ordinary in the current times. If someone plays music from a CD that's not unusual yet, it's just uncommon anymore.

CDs do seem to be going out of use in favor of digital audio mainly for convenience purposes. When CDs scratch they turn into a two second looped remix from hades. Usually they only have 12 tracks if it’s music, and they’re not really portable for someone who likes to listen while working out. With the vast expanse of area covered by wifi or cell towers, coupled with Steve’s insight on cost effectiveness, and the sheer variety of possible soundtracks at your fingertips we’ve largely already moved past them. But they’re nice on road trips.

CDs are definitely a dead medium, I think pretty much all disc-based media is, for audio you can get higher quality music through streaming so it makes little sense to dig out a CD. Unless it’s something you just can’t find on streaming.

Though the 4K blu-rays definitely do look better than streaming, so that may stick around for a bit.

EK wrote: ↑Mon Sep 26, 2022 11:22 pm CDs are definitely a dead medium, I think pretty much all disc-based media is, for audio you can get higher quality music through streaming so it makes little sense to dig out a CD. Unless it’s something you just can’t find on streaming.

Though the 4K blu-rays definitely do look better than streaming, so that may stick around for a bit.

Blu-rays also offer way more to collectors than CDs. You can throw way more bonus material on them and all the film buffs I know live for that stuff.