Dumping CD's And Going Digital - Who's Done It?

theevilplankton · #1 10-02-2010, 08:24 AM

Hope this is the right forum place to ask this!

I keep reading and hearing how the way we consume music is changing.....I sold all my vinyl a couple of years back, and have continued to buy CD's.

However, I'm a bit worried that my 1000+ discs will be as in demand as cassette tapes in a few years, and just as worthless!

I'm strongly considering going digital - Ipod (already got a nano, but need more space), and something like this -

http://www.bowers-wilkins.co.uk/display.aspx?infid=2466

Looks a bit weird, but apprantly it superb. It would be a bit of a change, but I would sell my collection as well.

Has anyone here done anything similar? Am I moving too fast, or have the majoity of TB'ers already 'gone digital'?

Or is there another way that I'm missing here in the UK??

Please help!!

PhiDeck · #2 10-02-2010, 08:34 AM

CDs are digital.

**Bryan R. Tyler** · #3 10-02-2010, 08:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by theevilplankton

However, I'm a bit worried that my 1000+ discs will be as in demand as cassette tapes in a few years, and just as worthless!

CDs started on their way a long while ago now; most stores are phasing out their CD sections.

I only listen to music in digital format now- much less clutter, and no songs that skip due to CD scratches

I've actually held off on moving to Blu Ray because I believe purely digital video is going to seriously catch on in a short amount of time.

tplyons · #4 10-02-2010, 09:18 AM

I don't remember the last time I bought a CD, and even when I do, I rip them and put the disc somewhere. Most of my music intake is iPod or radio on the way to and from work.

**line6man** · #5 10-02-2010, 09:33 AM

I usually specifically choose to buy CDs instead of downloading music, because I like to have the physical medium on hand as a backup.

Any time I download music, I burn it onto a CD which never gets played.

waleross · #6 10-02-2010, 10:02 AM

Good thread, I'm like 50/50 with cd's. I recently bought PA speakers and hooked up a cd player and a double iPod deck. I prefer cd's for my car and it won't change for a while. When it comes to mixing music (dj style) digital is better and more flexible...................................

**line6man** · #7 10-02-2010, 10:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by waleross

Good thread, I'm like 50/50 with cd's. I recently bought PA speakers and hooked up a cd player and a double iPod deck. I prefer cd's for my car and it won't change for a while. When it comes to mixing music (dj style) digital is better and more flexible...................................

Meh, CDs get scratched in the car, and you only get one album's worth of music. I like to skip around with different albums and artists.

If I'm listening to music in the car, it's usually my iPhone plugged into the aux input jack.

Demon_Hunter · #8 10-02-2010, 10:59 AM

Better make sure you have backups. You could lose everything with nasty hard drive failure or any other thing that causes the loss of your collection.

I always keep the original cd and import them into my music player.

Jonyak · #9 10-02-2010, 10:59 AM

I have.

I burnt every single cd to mp3 (over 350 cds) and have gone almost totaly digital.

I now only buy vinyl, and have about 200 record. the cool thing about that is they almost always come with a digital download, or even better an actual disc. I just burn the disc's to my comp.

if I want to listen to a disc, say in my car, I just burn a copy. disc's get destroyed over time in my car anyways so it all works out.

Deluge Of Sound · #10 10-02-2010, 11:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Demon_Hunter

Better make sure you have backups. You could lose everything with nasty hard drive failure or any other thing that causes the loss of your collection.

I always keep the original cd and import them into my music player.

+1.

Plus, CDs sound much better than your average mp3.

spade2you · #11 10-02-2010, 11:51 AM

I haven't purchased a CD in a long time. I'm half tempted to get rid of most of my old CDs. They're all backed up on an external hard drive. Almost thinking of just getting another back up hard drive and not worrying.

bassbrad · #12 10-02-2010, 12:34 PM

I have a huge music collection and there is no way I could burn it all, no time, nor would I want to it is one of my prides.

mmbongo · #13 10-02-2010, 01:02 PM

And of course, if you rip your CD then sell that CD it's illegal to keep the ripped version. The law says you must delete it!

Jim Campbell · #14 10-02-2010, 01:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by theevilplankton

Hope this is the right forum place to ask this!

I keep reading and hearing how the way we consume music is changing.....I sold all my vinyl a couple of years back, and have continued to buy CD's.

However, I'm a bit worried that my 1000+ discs will be as in demand as cassette tapes in a few years, and just as worthless!

I'm strongly considering going digital - Ipod (already got a nano, but need more space), and something like this -

http://www.bowers-wilkins.co.uk/display.aspx?infid=2466

Looks a bit weird, but apprantly it superb. It would be a bit of a change, but I would sell my collection as well.

Has anyone here done anything similar? Am I moving too fast, or have the majoity of TB'ers already 'gone digital'?

Or is there another way that I'm missing here in the UK??

Please help!!

whenever a format change occurs,a lot of great albums don't make the cut and get lost in the shuffle,for a ton of reasons......i can see loading all your cd's onto one of those new digital drives,but i would hang on to the more obscure stuff until i was sure that i could have secure back ups......

LiquidMidnight · #15 10-02-2010, 01:15 PM

I'm really ambivalent about the technology revolution that has happened with digital downloads. On one hand, it seems to have given power back to the artists who now don't have to rely on record companies and the like for wide spread distribution.

On the other hand, I've always taken a rather gestaltist view of albums. To me, albums are their own piece of art, with the physical medium, linear notes, and cover art. I always felt that an artist puts an album together as a whole that sometimes says something artistically that the individual songs don't. In that regard, I think people may be missing out on the "album experience," especially if singles become much more important than the entire albums.

Sketchy · #16 10-02-2010, 01:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Deluge Of Sound

Plus, CDs sound much better than your average mp3.

This, and I love reading the album booklets when I first listen to any CD.

baalroo · #17 10-02-2010, 01:52 PM

I stopped buying CDs about 5 years ago.

Also, with albums being so easy to download I don't really see the point in making "backup" CDs of your mp3s... Doesn't that sort of defeat the purpose? If you lose the files just redownload them and in about 3 minutes you've got them back again.

Lastly, if you sell off your albums without deleting the files you're just another music pirate... not that I personally have any problem with that at all, even when I was buying CDs I always bought used, so the artists NEVER made any money from my purchases anyway. I've been listening to ALL my music without contributing a cent to the artists since the early 90s.

Deluge Of Sound · #18 10-02-2010, 02:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by baalroo

I stopped buying CDs about 5 years ago.

Also, with albums being so easy to download I don't really see the point in making "backup" CDs of your mp3s... Doesn't that sort of defeat the purpose? If you lose the files just redownload them and in about 3 minutes you've got them back again.

Depends on what it is. I have a lot of lossless bootlegs that I simply can't recover (sites coming and going, no one seeding the files, etc.) in that way.

**line6man** · #19 10-02-2010, 02:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by baalroo

Also, with albums being so easy to download I don't really see the point in making "backup" CDs of your mp3s... Doesn't that sort of defeat the purpose? If you lose the files just redownload them and in about 3 minutes you've got them back again.

I'm not paying twice for music.

KarateKid25 · #20 10-02-2010, 02:36 PM

I use MP3 a lot and enjoy the convenience, but they don't replace my CDs at this stage.

I have bought 3 or 4 albums in MP3 format only to then go out and buy the CD as well because I was disappointed with the sound quality...

Now I generally buy CDs and rip them to MP3 and load them to my iPhone. No more scratched CDs in the car. No more having 20 CDs jammed in the glove box waiting to get stolen etc.

Through a decent stereo (like the one in my house) MP3s start to sound like crap though, so I like to use the CDs. I've also lost an MP3 music collection in the past, so would hate for that to happen again.

If buying music through iTunes, I find the price to be very similar to CDs anyway. I'd rather have the physical copy any day for backup reasons, cover art and much better sound quality.

In the future it probably won't be an option though