📣 News Best Buy pulling CDs; Target pushing for consignments

[jaredjohnfisher]

IMHO, low bit rates and zero-effort purchasing are a perfect match for what passes as “music” nowadays. They deserve each other!

 

[DeeInKY]

This story made the CBS Evening News on Tuesday night.

For the last couple years Walmart has only had a few hit CDs, some compilations by various artists, and a discount bin which sometimes has something good.

 

[Rudy]

For the last couple years Walmart has only had a few hit CDs, some compilations by various artists, and a discount bin which sometimes has something good.

It won't surprise me if they become the third retailer to make a change. That also makes me wonder if a lot of the remaining stock of older titles will be sold as cut-outs or dumped into the bargain bins.

 

[Rick-An Ordinary Fool]

IMHO, low bit rates and zero-effort purchasing are a perfect match for what passes as “music” nowadays. They deserve each other!

This is so true. I've often wondered if this is why vinyl has taken off so well over the years. I'd be crazy to think that this interest in vinyl will last for long but it's so cool to walk into my local Barnes & Noble and see several isles (both sides) filled with vinyl and they even have little side stands when you first walk in showcasing some of the latest releases. Have we got to a point where the public really believes that vinyl just sounds better than CD's or is this just a fad? The answer could lie in sales...if sales were flat why would we be seeing all this vinyl lately?

I just read the other day on Olivia's FB page that she put up a post thanking this singer for making a covers remake of some of her hits. I've heard of the singer but not really familiar with her work. I was curious so I clicked on the link Olivia left of her FB page and it brought me to the link where this artist who is releasing this covers album is available to pre-order in CD, Cassette and multiple vinyl's 3 or 4 colors you can choose and then on top of that a artist created a special 7" vinyl cover. I say all this because I was shocked that there were so many options in vinyl to purchase from it just wasn't CD's. The funny thing is most of the vinyl pre-orders sold out. There was a link to a video she made of Olivia's hit, "A Little More Love" the artist name is Juliana Hatfield. The cover is not too bad actually and for Olivia to thank her and put it up on her FB was something she doesn't do often. It's on you tube if you care to hear it, very edgy sound.

 

[Rudy]

With vinyl having experienced growth over twelve years now, with more pressing plants investing in rebuilding old presses or purchasing new ones due to increasing demand, it's safely past the fad stage.

Even in playback equipment, there are a lot more turntable, cartridge, tonearm and record cleaning products being developed than in years past. That's a lot of R&D, manufacturing and distribution to be considered a fad at this point.

It's amusing to see how digital technology ages so quickly. Standalone CD players have just about disappeared. DVD players...I don't even know if you can buy one anymore. Now it's all BluRay players, and even those are starting to fade away thanks to streaming (Netflix) and downloads.

 

[Bobberman]

It's amusing to see how digital technology ages so quickly. Standalone CD players have just about disappeared. DVD players...I don't even know if you can buy one anymore. Now it's all BluRay players, and even those are starting to fade away thanks to streaming (Netflix) and downloads.

The times are a changing again. But I know vinyl will eventually run its course and go back to being a niche item you can still get DVD Players at least on Amazon pretty cheaply. But sadly I agree the days of physical media product in general has pretty much run its course so many changes in so little time it almost feels like I'm kind of living in a twilight zone of sorts.

 

[Rick-An Ordinary Fool]

I'm sure there are a lot of people asking these same questions...do I continue to buy CDs or do I just embrace downloads full on? Some have already done this. Maybe there saying, I see all this vinyl and seems to be sticking around should I invest in that? Where is this all going?

I think the whole media thing is stuck in a limbo that no one knows how it's gonna go yet. CDs and DVDs revolutionized the industry and SACD's I really wish became a standard, the few that I have are so amazing. It's like I have 1 or 2 Carpenters and Olivia and some other artist but it didn't continue like I hoped it would. Japan issued 2 SACD's of Olivia and then they just stopped and that was years and years ago. Cost me a fortune just to get those 2 since there a bit rare. But why only 2? What a rip off to the consumer.

 

[Rudy]

What I think I meant above was that in the video market, manufacturers are quick to discard old formats. We had VHS around seemingly forever, and Laserdiscs were also around since the mid 80s. DVD was a primary format for a shorter time, and even BluRay is now starting to become passé, especially with 4K programming on the horizon and even 8K being hinted at for the future. The one bonus about streaming or downloading is that the files can be any length--they are not restricted to the size of the physical media.

Back to audio--SACDs are alive and well at the specialty labels (especially Mobile Fidelity and Analogue Productions, the latter now offering downloads of DSD albums as well), and they are also still popular for classical (I have many there). The major labels don't like them since they can't make money on them. Some of the labels release things on BluRay now in high-res instead of SACD. It's not quite the same as SACD but still sounds very good. It is a niche product, though, and it'll never grow beyond that.

Funny, the music industry had a nearly perfect product in SACD. Other than owning certain earlier models of the Sony Playstation 3 or disc players from Oppo or Pioneer that used a specific Mediatek chipset (uncommon in the mass market) over a network connection, the discs cannot be ripped. It's not like what I can do with two optical drives in my computer and rip about 40 CDs per hour. I think the general public kind of ignored it--CDs were good enough for them, and they didn't want to replace their entire collection (even though that was not even a requirement--all SACD players are backward compatible). The hybrid SACDs (which most today are) defeated the purpose of copy protection though, by adding a CD layer, which I suspect was done to sell more product.

As for vinyl, the interesting thing is that on the hardware side, new turntables and cartridges never went away. Sure, a couple of companies got out of it and the mass market manufacturers all dumped it of course. But others survived and did quite well--Rega, Pro-Ject, Music Hall, etc. added models to their lineups after vinyl disappeared from the mass market and prior to its resurgence. For cartridges, the big names like Audio Technica, Ortofon, Grado and Shure have all stuck around through the years and some of these companies have more products now than when vinyl was still mainstream. This is likely due to there being so many records out there--they have always sold well at the used record shops, but we haven't seen new releases at this pace in decades.

 

[Jamesj75]

Today I made a stop at a Best Buy in part to see for, perhaps the last time, Carpenters' CDs on the racks. The CD "section" had been moved. When I approached the 2 racks of CDs, the area was sparse and spartan, with no Carpenters' CDs to be found.

The first CD that caught my eye? Madness by All That Remains. Indeed...

 

[jaredjohnfisher]

Today I made a stop at a Best Buy in part to see for, perhaps the last time, Carpenters' CDs on the racks. The CD "section" had been moved. When I approached the 2 racks of CDs, the area was sparse and spartan, with no Carpenters' CDs to be found.

The first CD that caught my eye? Madness by All That Remains. Indeed...

Clever! And sad! And, of course, I've never heard of them! LOL

 

[Jamesj75]

Clever! And sad! And, of course, I've never heard of them! LOL

@jaredjohnfisher, I had never heard of them either, but they "spoke" to me...

 

[Rick-An Ordinary Fool]

Clever! And sad! And, of course, I've never heard of them! LOL

Ha me either but what an appropriate title lol

 

[Murray]

Today I made a stop at a Best Buy in part to see for, perhaps the last time, Carpenters' CDs on the racks. The CD "section" had been moved. When I approached the 2 racks of CDs, the area was sparse and spartan, with no Carpenters' CDs to be found.

The first CD that caught my eye? Madness by All That Remains. Indeed...

That's hilarious James! Have you ever considered a career as a comedy writer?

I admit that curiosity got the better of me, and I looked up the song "Madness". It's anything but hilarious. It's a song about a war veteran with PTSD, who nearly commits suicide. Serious stuff!

If you decide to watch the video, make sure your volume is turned down first, it's a loud one...

 

[Jamesj75]

That's hilarious James! Have you ever considered a career as a comedy writer?

I admit that curiosity got the better of me, and I looked up the song "Madness". It's anything but hilarious. It's a song about a war veteran with PTSD, who nearly commits suicide. Serious stuff!

If you decide to watch the video, make sure your volume is turned down first, it's a loud one...

Thank you, @Murray!

And thank you for going the extra mile and posting this video. Your description is apt.

PS: You've given me quite a few chuckles over the years as well...

 

[Mike Blakesley]

I was looking at a graph on the RIAA site. It showed that at their peak in 1999, CDs were selling almost a billion units a year. As of 2016 they were still selling 100 million a year. I guess Amazon is selling them all.

 

[Bobberman]

I guess Amazon is selling them all.

I can confirm this as I have purchased almost all my Cds from Amazon over the last few years since 2015 after my usual CD source closed up shop I've seen many titles Going for as low as 1cent plus $3:99 shipping and handling I admit I have purchased several of those that were used but pristine condition.

 

[Murray]

I was looking at a graph on the RIAA site. It showed that at their peak in 1999, CDs were selling almost a billion units a year.

The same year that CD sales peaked, was the year that Napster debuted, and online music piracy was born. A whole generation has grown up thinking "why pay for music when you can get it for free".

The few CDs that I buy anymore, I have to get from Amazon. The only store around here that still sells CDs is Walmart, but their selection is truly pathetic.

 

[Bobberman]

The same year that CD sales peaked, was the year that Napster debuted, and online music piracy was born. A whole generation has grown up thinking "why pay for music when you can get it for free".

The few CDs that I buy anymore, I have to get from Amazon. The only store around here that still sells CDs is Walmart, but their selection is truly pathetic.

I couldnt agree more and in my opinion it was Napster and the copycat sites that started the trend and the RIAA and the Industry eventually Lobbied the FCC to change the Rules Regarding airplay For example the station i work at had a long running album preview program where we played a New Album in its entirety every night until 2006 when the FCC outlawed the playing of full albums and at that same time they also limited the playing of music to 2 songs per artist ( regardless of album)per rotating hour of our shows all because of Concerns about Piracy sadly as a consequence It has killed Radio for the most part ( in addition to the consolidation of the 90s and other factors) and Especially What's left of Free form radio as the station i work at continues to be for now. Or So It seems to me.

 

[Rudy]

Also, don't forget.

 

[Bobberman]

Also, don't forget.

View attachment 2642

I Totally remember that all too well

 

[AM Matt]

Target stores still has the bonus material on latest CD's!! Matt Clark Sanford, MI

 

[Eyewire]

If you go to Japan, CDs and DVDs are still king. In every large city you visit, there's lots of stores still stocking and selling tons of music CDs. And there's no shortage of places (and machines) that sell/rent DVDs. They really like their physical optical media, that's for sure!

 

[AM Matt]

I have never been to Japan though. Matt Clark Sanford, MI

 

[toeknee4bz]

I still have my iPod which has about 6000 songs on it -- the vast majority of my favorites are on it. However it only works about 15% of the time on my vehicle sound system -- which is a major irritation. (The only way I can get the system to "see" it is to unplug/replug it in, which might work, but sometimes takes multiple tries to make it work.) I keep a couple of thumb drives in my junk box which have a lot of my favorites on them. But with those, it's more of a pain to have to search/click/find what you want to hear. I blame this mostly on Ford's Sync interface, which although much improved lately, definitely still needs work.

With CDs at least I can look at the thing I want, put it in the player and it works 100% of the time. It's funny/sad how we consumers have traded reliability and sound quality for convenience.

I can totally relate to your post here. My dust-collecting iPod Classic has well over 10k songs on it, and it's extremely picky nowadays. So much that most of the time, I just don't even waste my time with it. Ironically, it's the oldest one I own and is the only one that still works at all. The other four have been effectively dead for years. Two out of the five I bought new, the others I got used and dirt cheap ($40 - $50 each). So, with all of this being said... I have reverted back to playing CDs and CDRs in the car. As you stated above, they work 100% of the time. If I could go back in time to 2005 knowing what I know now, I would've saved every penny I ever spent on CrApple technology.

 

[Mike Blakesley]

Of course, just a few years from now CD players in cars will be a thing of the past.

I'm amazed cars don't come with a music hard drive built into the car. You could take your iPod, copy everything from it over to the car and go. It could be a removable drive, thereby making it easy to have a backup unit available in case of a failure. Pioneer used to make a head unit with a hard drive built in, but it was ridiculously expensive at the time - over $1000, as I remember.