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How many here can still play a CD?

Do you own a CD player?

  • Yes - I can listen in my home

    Votes: 539 72.6%

  • No

    Votes: 79 10.6%

  • Yes - but it's in my car

    Votes: 124 16.7%
  • Total voters
    742
#241
I've bought CDs from local artists to support them, but the CDs usually go unopened. So is that really supporting them? I probably should have just given the merch table a twenty and called that "supporting". At least a 50/50 chance that twenty is going in the merchie's pocket. So, I buy the CD. I'd prefer an album cover. Just sell me the cardboard and let me read the liner notes while I'm listening to the songs on streaming. That's the part I really miss from streaming - the cover and liner notes.
 
#242
I have a 6 CD player in my trusty old Tacoma. I have a CD burner in my stereo closet. I use the burner to transfer my vinyl to CDs for the truck. I buy CDs and burn copies so that the originals stay new. Recently I have started using the deluxe Pandora on my phone. I can use it in the truck, into my home stereo system, or into the PA in my music room (basement)
I have vinyl stuff that Pandora doesn't even know about
 
#244
Yes. I have multiple CD players in my home, and my car still came stock with one when I bought it in 2018. CDs are still the best compromise between quality and storage. I still have several early 90s Car Discmans which serve as backups for my modest stereo system as well. 31 years later and still kicking. People are going to learn the hard way about not having physical storage media for their valuable audio when (not if) the cloud goes poof.
 
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#245
MultiScaleMale said:
I've bought CDs from local artists to support them, but the CDs usually go unopened. So is that really supporting them? I probably should have just given the merch table a twenty and called that "supporting". At least a 50/50 chance that twenty is going in the merchie's pocket. So, I buy the CD. I'd prefer an album cover. Just sell me the cardboard and let me read the liner notes while I'm listening to the songs on streaming. That's the part I really miss from streaming - the cover and liner notes.
Click to expand...

I have those, too.

 
#247
RoadieP said:
I wish more acts had vinyl for sale at their gigs. That's really all I'm listening to at home these days if not streaming. It's a little too pricey to press in small quantities, so I get it, but I would be more willing to pay that premium than to buy a CD at any price these days
Click to expand...

The problem is not just with the cost of a small run of vinyl. You also have to have it mastered differently for vinyl, which is not something people are generally willing to do for a small run. A well-mastered CD is going to sound way better than an album cut to vinyl that isn't properly prepared for it, and cut well by an experienced lathe operator.
 
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#249
I had 5-6 paper boxes full of CDs in storage that just sat in storage. Finally just gave them away along with my Blu-Rays and DVDs. I know, I know I'm just "renting" my stuff on the streaming services and don't own it. But over the time that I've been "renting", Apple bumped my movies from HD to UHD 4K without me paying anything. That doesn't happen on media you "own". And it goes with me anywhere in the world. CD's, DVD's, BluRay and vinyl don't last forever either.
 
#251
I recently have been working in songwriting circles so I bought a CD player for my home, and busted out an old external drive to burn CDs for my peers.

I have made it a thing to buy CDs from artists I see live for decades - because I know that this money goes right in their gas tank etc. TBH most of these are still sealed as I can stream the music.

The last year I have rekindled my interest in vinyl, and so have been buying vinyl from touring artists whenever they have it available. I have noticed more and more artists are bringing vinyl and CDs are disappearing from merch tables. Honestly these days if they only have CDs I might buy a shirt instead, but I still seem to be collecting CDs :D

If you are going to spend much money producing something, I think Vinyl would would be far more successful for an artist of any level than CDs at this point. Leave out QR code card for people to get to your streaming platform or website.

BTW CD players are annoying! Why do they take 5 minutes to eject? If you are looking at buying one for your home, I highly recommend a single over a 5-disc. The switchers are so clunky and full of silent gaps by contemporary standards: we have better ways to listen to 5 hours of music uninterrupted then we did in the 80s!
 
#252
othefool said:
I recently have been working in songwriting circles so I bought a CD player for my home, and busted out an old external drive to burn CDs for my peers.

I have made it a thing to buy CDs from artists I see live for decades - because I know that this money goes right in their gas tank etc. TBH most of these are still sealed as I can stream the music.

The last year I have rekindled my interest in vinyl, and so have been buying vinyl from touring artists whenever they have it available. I have noticed more and more artists are bringing vinyl and CDs are disappearing from merch tables. Honestly these days if they only have CDs I might buy a shirt instead, but I still seem to be collecting CDs :D

If you are going to spend much money producing something, I think Vinyl would would be far more successful for an artist of any level than CDs at this point. Leave out QR code card for people to get to your streaming platform or website.

BTW CD players are annoying! Why do they take 5 minutes to eject? If you are looking at buying one for your home, I highly recommend a single over a 5-disc. The switchers are so clunky and full of silent gaps by contemporary standards: we have better ways to listen to 5 hours of music uninterrupted then we did in the 80s!
Click to expand...

Their profit margin on CDs is usually a lot higher than vinyl. Depending on their run size, they may be losing money on it and doing mostly because it's currently cool.
 
#254
I like physical media, and have practice songs saved as MP3. I have a large CD music collection and use RW CD for special computer files (in addition to normal back-ups to HDD) I have a collection of CD/DVD R/W drives to allow me to read CDs into the future as long as Linux provides drivers for them. Whenever my company trashes old desktops, I take the DVD out. I have enough of them now, though. A lifetime's worth of DVD drives. But I can only listen in t he home, not the car.
 
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#255
LBS-bass said:
I've been having some discussions about recording for the purposes of providing merchandise. Five out of five bandmates, when asked, said they have no way to listen to a CD. My sense is maybe that's true for most of us.

My husband still has a CD slot in his car, but that's the only way I'd be able to listen if I really wanted to.

How about you? Would you be able to listen to a CD if you bought it from a band you liked? Or would it just be a mercy-purchase for support, that you'd never be able to hear (I do lots of those).
Click to expand...
Bear in mind that most people on this board are older so they probably still have their CD collection and CD players from the 90s-00s. I don't think the results in the poll are accurate for the general population, not one bit.
 
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#256
jnuts1 said:
car and home for me. i have a thousand CD's or more of just official releases and maybe 5k more in live concerts. im not going to digitally convert them all.
Click to expand...
Same. I started digitally converting my entire collection, but I don't have the time or interest. I only rip the songs I need to practice with, and put that MP3 on my phone to play over bluetooth. It's a huge project to rip everything to digital when you have hundreds of CDs.
 
#258
I have several hundred CDs. We recently purchase a new Toyota Tacoma 2021, and it has no cd player, but is fully wired for Bluetooth streaming, and memory sticks. We have one older Microsoft machine with a cd drive that we now use exclusively to manage music and iTunes. I put my entire cd collection on a multi terabyte drive attracted to the tv set and high capacity thumb drive got the truck. I suppose I could put a cd in the DVD player.
 
#259
I do, but your point is a valid one. I can't imagine buying a CD at this point unless it was a local artist.

As a local artist who is starting to plan a future release, I've been asking myself this question too: is it worth it to print CD's? Streaming is a bigger market and generally more convenient, unless you are an audiophile.

For my genre, I'd be more tempted to print a limited run of LPs and offer streaming as the alternative, but I doubt that the economics of that would work out.
 
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#260
Williethump said:
I don't 'play the CDs I buy at charity 2nd hand stores, flea markets and yard sales for .50 -- $3.00usd. My computer running Linux rips them into mp3 format for me. And my Samsung tablet and cell phone play them for me via nice headphones and JBL Charge5 Bluetooth speaker.
Click to expand...
That's what we used to do before we upgraded all our computers. The new ones no longer have slots for any sort of CD.
 

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