the future of music
 

I don't think it will be long before we see the extinction of CD's. The big chain stores are already cutting way back on their inventories and I know that I've personally seen the closing of several music stores in my area.

A few years ago I sold off the majority of my CD collection and went digital. I can't even recall the last time I bought an actual CD, it's gotta be at least 2 years now.

How do you guys buy music now? Do you still buy CD's? Or do you just download? Or are you still doing a mix of the two?

Re: the future of music
 

Funny you bring this up! I have an 07 4runner that I bought last year, I have never even touched the CD player in it!!!

I think movies and music are all going to be digital in the near future.

Re: the future of music
 

I have a Zune and I signed up for Zune's subscription music - it's awesome. I can listen to anything I want for $15/month.

It's perfect for me, because I tend to listen to one album until I'm sick of it. In order to find that one album, though, I'll download 5-6. The others turn out to be anywhere from worthless to "OK". I'm not sure what I'm going to do if I get an iPhone. I'll probably keep the Zune pass to find music that I like, and then maybe buy it from Amazon.

Re: the future of music
 

My new car came with a 6 CD changer and I haven't put anything into it yet.

Re: the future of music
 

[quote=Mattyk72;453343]I don't think it will be long before we see the extinction of CD's. The big chain stores are already cutting way back on their inventories and I know that I've personally seen the closing of several music stores in my area.

A few years ago I sold off the majority of my CD collection and went digital. I can't even recall the last time I bought an actual CD, it's gotta be at least 2 years now.

How do you guys buy music now? Do you still buy CD's? Or do you just download? Or are you still doing a mix of the two?[/quote]

I initially did iTunes when it came out...after buyin about 10 songs I realized I'll forever be stuck with them so I tried Sony Connect which was more consumer friendly (you can always re-download all the songs you purchased) but ultimately thier software was too bugy and their collection was thin. After toying with buying digitial I went back to buying music the old fashion way, I go to the store (Fry's or Target), buy what I like and then rip it into ogg format.

Re: the future of music
 

I still buy CDs, and I'm so behind the times that I haven't downloaded any music since about my sophomore year of college, when Napster went away.
My jeep has a 10 disc changer in the trunk and an in-dash CD player, so I mainly buy them for the car. I also put them on my mp3 player so I can listen to them at home.

Although, I am starting to feel that downloading music would make a lot more sense for me.

Re: the future of music
 

I definitely download for the most part, as I don't care whether it's store-bought CD, or something I burned myself. I still do buy CDs here and there, but ever since Napster way back when, I really toned down my CD-purchasing.

The Record Labels really need to wake up in terms of how to drive their industry. Just about everyone I know downloads their music rather than going to the store.

Re: the future of music
 

Amazon recently started selling MP3's. They have a good selection and their prices are similar to itunes, but they offer higher quality MP3's at 256 kbps.

Re: the future of music
 

I've kept many of my most cherished CDs. But I never listen to them, they're all on my iPod now. I was all set to get rid of all my CDs a couple of years ago but then my iTunes completely crashed on me (actually the whole computer did) and I lost every song I had. So I had to re-upload everything.

Since then, I've kept my CDs as a "just in case."

I miss the days of flipping through the vinyls at Kemp Mill Records though.

My parents actually have an 8-track stereo system wired into their master bedroom/bathroom. The builder thought it was the next big thing (house was built in the mid-1970s) so that's kind of interesting.

Re: the future of music
 

[QUOTE=SmootSmack;453369]I miss the days of flipping through the vinyls at Kemp Mill Records though.[/QUOTE]I remember going to Kemp Mill Records with my mom so that she could pick up the latest Jimmy Buffet or Bryan Adams album back in the day. Then if I was good we'd head over to The Toy Wizard so I could get a new GI Joe or Transformer.
Those were the days.

Re: the future of music
 

[quote=SmootSmack;453369]I've kept many of my most cherished CDs. But I never listen to them, they're all on my iPod now. I was all set to get rid of all my CDs a couple of years ago but then my iTunes completely crashed on me (actually the whole computer did) and I lost every song I had. So I had to re-upload everything.

Since then, I've kept my CDs as a "just in case."

I miss the days of flipping through the vinyls at Kemp Mill Records though.

My parents actually have an 8-track stereo system wired into their master bedroom/bathroom. The builder thought it was the next big thing (house was built in the mid-1970s) so that's kind of interesting.[/quote]

What you can do is buy an external hard drive and back up your music there. There's even programs where you can pull the music back off your ipod if you lost the source files.

Re: the future of music
 

[QUOTE=Mattyk72;453373]What you can do is buy an external hard drive and back up your music there. There's even programs where you can pull the music back off your ipod if you lost the source files.[/QUOTE]

Yeah my fiancee has an external hard drive so I'm thinking of doing that. Some of my CDs though I just want to keep as mementos for posterity's sake.

Re: the future of music
 

[quote=SmootSmack;453375]Yeah my fiancee has an external hard drive so I'm thinking of doing that. Some of my CDs though I just want to keep as mementos for posterity's sake.[/quote]

I hear ya, I had a hard time parting with some of my CD's. It's strange but there are a lot of good memories tied to the simple process of buying an album. I can remember where I bought it and what was going on in my life at that time. And it was just an exciting experience to buy a CD from one of your favorite bands the day that it came out, run home to listen to it and flip through the insert. With downloading you just don't get that same experience.

Re: the future of music
 

The only time I use CDs is in the car from burned music.

Re: the future of music
 

[quote=SmootSmack;453375]Yeah my fiancee has an external hard drive so I'm thinking of doing that. Some of my CDs though I just want to keep as mementos for posterity's sake.[/quote]
Invest in a Carbonite subscription. Unlimited, automatic backups for $50/year. If your house burns down, you won't lose your music files!

Re: the future of music
 

I still use c.d.'s a lot. For one I like supporting the artists, well I wouldn't say every time I want a c.d. I buy it because half the time I just download them to my computer, but if there's an artist out there that I really support than I'll go buy his c.d.

Also I don't listen to the radio in my car at all, I'm constantly burning new c.d.'s for the sole purpose of listening to them in my car. I don't have a way to hook up my Zune so that it plays through my car speakers so that's why I use c.d.'s. That's pretty much the only reason I still use c.d.'s nowadays.

Re: the future of music
 

[QUOTE=SmootSmack;453369]I've kept many of my most cherished CDs. But I never listen to them, they're all on my iPod now. I was all set to get rid of all my CDs a couple of years ago but then my iTunes completely crashed on me (actually the whole computer did) and I lost every song I had. So I had to re-upload everything.

Since then, I've kept my CDs as a "just in case."

I miss the days of flipping through the vinyls at Kemp Mill Records though.

My parents actually have an 8-track stereo system wired into their master bedroom/bathroom. The builder thought it was the next big thing (house was built in the mid-1970s) so that's kind of interesting.[/QUOTE]
I had completely forgotten about Kemp Mill Records...I bought many cassettes and my first CD from Kemp Mill back in the day. Looks like they are still around: [url=http://www.kempmillonline.com]Kemp Mill Music - Home[/url]

Eventually, I am going to convert my CD collection to digital and keep them on a hard drive that will be backed up onto an external...

Re: the future of music
 

i still buy cds

Re: the future of music
 

I still buy CD's. You can buy most any CD on E-Bay for under $10. So I tend to go that route. I like having a hard copy just incase my iPod dies or my PC crashes. Not to mention its cheaper then iTunes.

Re: the future of music
 

I haven't bought a CD since 98 maybe. All digital and Satellite now. I have a ginat binder of old CDs I should rip onto my Ipod but i tend to listen to mostly current music for some reason. Once I tire of a song I never come back. I tire of probably 98% of the songs I like. The other 2% plus any current stuff I dig make up my playlist on my Ipod. At any given time I only have maybe 30 songs on my Ipod. I do have a good 1000 songs on my computers though.

Re: the future of music
 

mp3s, and i'll go see the live shows when they're in town. and we're talking 40+gigs of albums after i delete the 9 songs or so that i don't really like (in most cases).

when most of the stuff you listen to is small label, it's just easier that way. and i hate the itunes software, not that it really makes a huge difference.


btw, microcenter (microcenter.com if brick and mortar locations aren't close) has 4gb mp3 players (good text display, fm tuner, voice recorder, etc) for $25. i've got two of them, and i'm SOOO glad, cause i was about 2 hours away from dropping $200 on an ipod. 18 hours on a AAA battery for me.

Re: the future of music
 

i buy cds and burn them but you can see everything changing very fast.

Re: the future of music
 

I've gone from records to tapes to cd's to downloading. However, through the process, the sound quality really has taken a hit due to compression. I still buy cd's but mainly SACD's and DVD audio to play on my 5.1 system at home. Problem is, most of those are now out of print because the general public never really got into it. But once you hear Dark Side of the Moon on 5.1, it's hard to listen to it on my Ipod.

Re: the future of music
 

8 track player is the only way to go!

Re: the future of music
 

[QUOTE=firstdown;453514]8 track player is the only way to go![/QUOTE]


Screw that.... If you want really good sound you need Reel to reel!

I actually can remember using my Dads when I was a little kid. :embarrass