Ask people where they get their music from and you’d almost expect them to answer iTunes. You couldn’t be more wrong. Fact of the matter is, people are still getting their music fix from (wait for it) CDs. Yes, the good old compact disc is still selling and people are still flocking to music stores to buy their favourite artists’ CDs. And Nielsen Soundscan’s got the figures to prove it.
According to Nielsen, 193 million CDs were purchased in 2012 compared to the 118 million digital downloads made last year. This just goes to show that people still want their CDs despite the fact that they can download online media formats like mp3. And there are reasons behind this:
Collectability
I asked a few of my friends whether they still buy CDs or download music files online and one answered that she still buys CDs, especially when they’re “something classic and collectible”. Collectability is why people still buy CDs.
Most people grew up being able to keep actual physical reminders or souvenirs of their favourite artists’ albums. Grandparents have their Beatles vinyl LPs, parents have their Nirvana cassette tapes, and children have, well, their Taylor Swift CDs (wouldn’t have chosen Taylor Swift as example but despite the predictability of her “boyfriend-breakup-hit song” formula, the kid’s got the album sales to prove that it works).
The point is that people love the tangibility and collectability of CDs. The CD, including the album cover with all the artwork, serves as a kind of connection one can have with the artist. Of course the value further increases when the album cover bears the artist’s autograph.
Artists, on the other hand, still love giving away CDs rather than asking fans to go to a URL or website. Even famous talk show hosts like Ellen Degeneres still love giving away CDs of artists that perform on their shows. And the reason for this is technology.
They Want it Safe
For one person, who loves his/her collection of music, it is hard to loss all his collection. Whatever we praise about Digital storage of music, there are some severe issues about the safety of your data. For instance, a physical damage or virus attack may cause loss of your music, which is quite intolerable. Despite the fact of some physical and aging issues, users can keep their CDs in a safer place so that no viruses can affect them. However, we should also mention that the services such as iTunes, helps you to backup your music in iCloud, which protects from mentioned problems.
Technology
There may be a surge in smart technology purchases as proven by a throng of subscribers being supported by various internet service providers but that doesn’t mean everyone has fully adapted. For instance, many still have CD players in their cars or at home. While recent car models have the latest infotainment systems capable of playing mp3s, many older models don’t, unless owners are willing to make upgrades. So what this means is that despite the fact that they take up space, CDs still matter to many.
Love for Sound Quality
Music lovers always love to listen to good quality music, in order to enjoy the whole listen process. There is a major issue while downloading songs from internet that the quality of songs may be bad. On the other hand, in the case of CDs, published by authorities, always contain high-quality songs in it. This is also a reason, why people prefer CDs than digital media. However, we should not exclude that stores including iTunes can get us high-quality tracks from authorities, which is legal as well.
Album Vs. Single
Fans buy and listen to an entire CD album to support their favorite artists. As one of my friends said, “I buy CDs of artists I like to support album sales and to have the best quality sound for music that I love to listen to. Digital media formats are simply, at least for me, backup files. It is tempting to just download mp3 formats but there should be dignity in consumerism, too.” Need I say more?
Jamaica
you can keep your cd and put it in a safe place, it can be kept for a long time, while the mp3, mp4 and such media players doesn’t promise you to stay with you for a long time, unless you can make a 100x back up of it ^.^
Daniel Lema
Well, not always. Several of my beloved CDs, and not the cheap ones but those of Deutsche Grammophon, are just vanishing. So, if you have your CDs, rip them in a lossless format just in case.
praney
Most people grew up being able to keep actual physical reminders or souvenirs of their favourite artists’ albums.
Ryan
I like to purchase original CD’s from music stores rather than downloading from websites. The quality of music from music stores is great. I am a music lover.
Jonathan
I haven’t bought a CD in years. I had subscribed to Spotify Premium for a while, but then realized I wasn’t using it as much. I may go back to it, not sure.
When I’m buying music, I buy it all through iTunes. I also generally buy an entire album, rarely ever do I buy just a single track.
Animesh Roy
The main thing for which people is still buying CD is Legacy. Even I also like collect CDs for favorite my singers. It always gives a different feelings.
Ludwig
I have a friend who collects CD’s but personally I haven’t bought a CD for many years, but if you have a quality amplifier and speakers, you should invest in a couple of your favorite artists CD’s because the sound is much better than Mp3 and other similar formats.
Josh
I also prefer buying CD’s though I also buy some media formats. Having a physical collection of the item is a good thing too just what you pointed out.
Michael Butler
I am in total agreement with your statement. ” I also buy CD’s because I also love having a physical item. It’s the same for books. Love to feel the book, but also love the kindle.
Mike
Daniel Waletrs
Downloading through iTunes Store or any downloading site is so popular this millennium, but even technology make our life easier, some people still consider the old ways. like me, i still by CD’s for movies, just to have a copy of my favorite movies and i have this music collection via “TAPE” , if you still remember :-). Guess what they are still playing. :-)
Angela
It is really fun to collect CD of your favorite movies and music. CD have great Audio and Video Output. It satisfy your requirements.
Arunkumar Gudelli
yes Still people are buying CD’s,I am one of them.I have so many collections of My fav music director Ilayaraja.
Lee
Hi
There is still something about going in to a music shop and just browsing and seeing what catches your eye you don’t have to put in a search you can just wonder and look at all different bands that you would never search for online.
I like it lee
jasmine
I agree with your idea and it’s the fact.I love downloading music because it’s much easier and no cost at all but it’s true that some people loves to collect CD with their favorite bands/singer.
Roshan
I dont know about other but I sure do love to collect stuff. Like moveis and music albums on CD’s DVD’s. Downloading is easy and great but what if the PC crashes or something happens ? We will have to pay for it again.
Anish
I rarely buy music Cd’s . All I do is download the mp 3 file from iTunes India or from Flipkart. But most of the times, I listen to them online for free .
David
It is really fun to collect CD of your favorite movies and music. CD have great Audio and Video Output. It satisfy your requirements.
Hamza Ahmad
Well I dont do this………CD’s take a lot of space so I use downloadable data.
Aj
I Liked your post. I find myself still buying them too sometimes…only ones that I really want for the collection though. There are some pretty cool sites that I’ve only recently discovered like Pitchfork and Indie Train that are comprised of up-and-coming independent artists looking for broader exposure. You can stream MP4 videos while browsing the sites.. they may not offer all the “latest music” but they do offer a safer alternative to streaming.
Sagar
Hi Aj,
Earlier on i used to have a collection of magnetic tapes generally known as cassetes i still have some of them. Now that collection is replaced by CDs. Technology will keep on changing but i like to preserve my old things
Sagar
Yes CD’s are safe to keep your data as they are not infected by virus. CD’s are like book we can show them in our shelves as our collection, just like we keep books
Mistergary
I love YouTube and Amazon instant video.
Lovejeet
I love keeping the CD’s , many a times i lost a lot of data due to hard disk getting crashed . keeping a physical copy is a better option .
esteban asencio
A cd is more than just a disc with data on it, its a keepsake. I remember as a kid reading through the liner notes. They’l always have a place in my heart.
Meena Sharma
You are absolutely right Esteban. I know that for some people collecting CD’s or using CD’s for data storage is old-fashioned.
Jake Blair
I prefer shopping for CDs because you can browse lots of albums and maybe come away with something you hadn’t thought of buying rather than searching for a specific album.
Raihan
I like your post and agree with your report I am also buying CD as well as love having a physical item. Its like for books and love the book.
Esther Paul
I have thought about it many a times too… we can download everything online and still we go for CDs even I go for it because its very cheap these days and then downloading online consumes a lot of time and many a time i end up downloading some stupid virus.
Shahbaz
The great factors i was loosing and was download since a long time.. But now after reading this article i will surely go to Music store and reinvent my music collection.
Mike Huiwitz
I stopped buying CD’s a year ago. I find iTunes so convenient.
Laura
I still have my classic CDs and will probably never part with them. I even have some cassette tapes for crying out loud..! But anymore I prefer downloading music from video sharing sites (with obvious attention paid to strict copyright violations) and saving them to my library via my RealPlayer media player (which was free by the way). It also has a built in converter which makes it easy to play my files on all my devices:
August
Can’t remember the last time I bought a CD. Who knows, years from now, they might become huge.
Sean
Back up to lossless format, wham bam thank you ma’am you have a perfectly preserved CD in digital format.
mikerag
CDs ?? Are you serious? Can’t remember the last time I bought a CD.
itchy
I understand the nostalgia of having cd’s and dvd’s . But I am done with it.
Id rather have all my media on my hard drive and cloud then back it up a few times.
But I do think before we get rid of cd’s and dvd’s we need to jump on outlets like itunes to give us at least cd quality downloads and dvd quality movies. I don’t want to trade convenience for quality especially in these times when there is no reason why i shouldn’t be able to download at least 16 bit 44.1k audio quality. Also Itunes should provide a way for all the liner notes and artwork to be displayed for media that has them. We shouldn’t loose anything from cd’s and dvd’s but the plastic and paper.
All the media and info should be able to be viewed listened to and accessed. When this happens properly dvds and cd’s will probably go away for the most part.
Jone
Ohh longtime I forget there is CD world.
Greg
I have a top of the line bose Bluetooth speaker, I have streaming setup I can also download and have a flash drive crammed to the max of mp3s Bluetooth from phone, have an mp3 USB player Fast easy convenient. But there’s times late at night with a glass in hand and friends around I crank up my class D amplifier Q acoustics 2040is and top line sony cd player and put on a cd then crouch back into the couch listening to music the way it was intended. The guests always say did you hear that or what’s that sound is someone outside, I look and laugh and tell them it’s the music you’re hearing things you didn’t know were there in the music, its that good. And I would cringe if I was forced to listen to basic mp3 crap next to this.