In 2008 CD sales continued to plummet as consumers have been moving away from CDs and migrating toward digital music downloads. That has definitely been the trend in my own life. I can’t even remember the last time I bought a CD. I think it was over a year ago, and I’m pretty sure the first thing I did with it was pop it into my computer and rip it into iTunes.
I have to admit that I haven’t always been a convert though. When I started grad school, I still purchased CDs for the cool cases, liner notes, and occasional bonus material. I also didn’t understand why anyone would pay for lower quality, DRM-protected tracks when you could get a DRM-free CD and rip it to your computer at the sound quality of your choice.
People change though, and I definitely have. With iTunes going DRM-free in 2009, that issue isn’t really a factor anymore. Also, after moving between four different apartments in three different states over the past two years, I realized that as cool as it is to have a physical CD to hold in your hand, it’s a big pain in the ass to move your entire CD collection halfway across the country multiple times.
Throw in some of the other benefits of digital music downloads like…
- Immediate gratification
- Ability to purchase individual tracks
- Lower prices
- Less likely to misplace
- No clutter
…and I’m a total convert now.
With that being said, record companies are still selling hundreds of millions of CDs every year, so the CD isn’t dead yet. But who’s buying them?
If you enjoyed this post, subscribe to my RSS feed or via email for free updates.
{ 2 trackbacks }
{ 16 comments… read them below or add one }
The only thing I buy cd’s for are to burn live cd’s/os /disk partitioning stuff and to burn divx movies for my technophobe parents. Any music I buy is online and goes right onto my ipod which plugs right into my car stereo.
I still buy CD’s. I only purchased about 10 last year but that was not because I was buying online. I just don’t go through many CD’s and I like the collection I currently have built up. I immediatly rip my CD’s to my computer as soon as I purchase them as backup and to copy to my iPod. Honestly I hate the interface of iTunes and the control functions of the iPod are horrible, it does not operate the way that I would like it to.
I like to carry a binder of CD’s with me in my vehicle, I like using it that way better than plugging in an iPod.
I am not completely old fashion or anything so I do lots of things electronically just not that one.
Oh for the record, I am only out of college by 2 years so not some old guy.
Does anyone know why my comments are not showing? I have already posted but it does not show up.
I occassionally buy cds. Most of my recent purchases have been from itunes. Make sure to buy a hard drive and back up your music – you have the potential of losing a lot of money in music if you don’t. I still like cds – but they are falling by the wayside. It’s incredibly convenient to have 400 cds right there on your ipod. I recently added an auxilary hookup in my car as well, so I can just hook it up in my car if I’m on the road. It’s been great for my daily commute.
occasionally not occassionally
No Cds = no filler tracks. Might as well buy only the songs you want, although I do keep a few of my all-time favorite albums in the car.
I do a little of both. I LOVE getting CD’s of my favorites just to have the case and original cd and all (i seriously think it sounds better! haha), but ill also use iTunes to pick up random songs here and there that I don’t want the entire album for. Then i’ll just make my own mix CD w/ these randoms.
I stopped buying CDs years ago. Like you said, they’re a real pain to move. I’ve been trying to do similar things with movies and books, too.
I have bought CD’s over the past few years of only my favorite bands and the albums I thought were worthy. I was given itunes giftcards for the holidays and with the new Springsteen release I found myself buying it on itunes rather than CD. I will do the same with the new U2 CD as well. I may be getting closer to being done with CD’s full time.
The last CDs I bought were the Firefly and Serenity soundtracks in 2005. Previous to that, I hadn’t bought any CDs since 2001. I was an early adopter of MP3s, and I’ve never really looked back. And now I don’t even have to worry about DRM from Amazon or iTunes, so… huzzah!
I only buy off Itunes, except for when I can’t find what I’m looking for. I bought a cd from a local band in store about a month ago after looking online and not finding it. However, I looked again today, and it was up. So had I waited a bit longer I could have purchased it online. The only other one I bought last year was a live cd/dvd.
I stopped buying CD’s a long time ago about 5+ years ago. I make my own cds now. There are a few I buy if I feel like listening to the whole album.
I just bought the latest Morrissey CD last week. I received an iPod as a gift, but rarely use it. I use my CD changer in the car and home. I don’t plan on buying Blu-Ray either and while I have an HDTV, it is from 2001 and rear-projection. I still use my VCR from time to time. As I will try to drive my car until it falls apart, I’ll keep using my existing technology until it goes kaput. It’s half being frugal, and half being comfortable with what I grew up on. Is it a Gen X thing like this article?
http://www.entrepreneur.com/magazine/entrepreneur/2009/march/200104.html
I mainly buy songs from iTunes and the Amazon mp3 download site. Mostly individual songs, though occasionally I buy an entire album. I still burn them into a blank CD just in case I lose my iTunes library due to a computer crash or something. So even though I just buy mp3s, if I were to move I’d still have to lug around my very large CD collection!
I would consider buying I-bonds over CD’s at least right now. I-bonds adjust to inflation.
I haven’t bought a CD in a few years…Lol, i mean why would i..When i can get all the music, movies, etc on the internet for FREE.