Tuesday 2 August 2011

On CDs and music downloads

I have often read about how CD sales have been falling over the past several years and music stores have been closing down (both in the US and the UK) in droves, with Internet downloads of music becoming highly popular and taking over them both. Easy-to-use portable media players have also contributed to millions of people no longer seeing a need in having a CD player, and therefore, no need to buy CDs when they can just buy an album to download online and upload it to whatever music player they own.

Of course, it is their choice if they wish to move away from CDs and go to buying music via downloading, and I certainly do not hold a grudge nor do I think less of them! However, I think there is something more special about buying and owning a CD than purchasing the downloads. I like going onto Amazon.com to look at music albums and researching what to buy: I especially like looking to see what deluxe editions of albums are available. Yes, deluxe editions can be downloaded, but that does not appeal to me, as it just does not seem as fun as owning the hard copy of any album. Granted, it is just an object, and you are still getting the music either way, but I just prefer having a CD over a download.

CDs may have gone obsolete last decade, but I think that despite everything that has replaced them, they will still be around for decades the come. For example, CDs replaced vinyl records, and I have noticed that you can still purchase records and equipment to play them. I do not believe that the fun of owning CDs will go away forever.

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