I found an interesting article over at Digital Media Thoughts in which Jason posed the question, is the CD dead? His proof is CD’s diminishing sales in the last few years and its continued downward spiral. Jason feels services like iTunes Music Store is to blame for the lowered sales of the shinny discs everyone once considered cutting edge technology. With iTunes Music Store now in the top ten of all music retailers, the only online service in that list, digitally compressed music files are giving the higher quality compact disc a run for its money. As more customers stay at home and purchase more music, will this be the final nail in the CD’s coffin? Doubt it.

Yes sales have declined in the past few years, but iTMS isn’t the main reason for that. Just part of it. Throw in file sharing and higher prices on CD’s and now you’ve got a more accurate reason for falling sales. I would say the major reason for the lower numbers from Soundscan is the greed of Hollywood. I don’t know how many times I’ve said this, but the high ticket price on a low cost format is what is killing it.

I remember in 1982 when the CD first came out and how it was about $30 a disc. That was a lot of money when compared to the $12.99 you could buy a record for. But I had read that as the format became more popular, it would become cheaper then vinyl. Outside of sale and bargain bin CD’s, that’s really never happened even though everyone knows it costs the labels about $4 to produce and ship a CD. Add the overhead for hot artists such as Britney and the CD still won’t cost the label more then $6. So why are they about $20? Good question and it’s one the rest of the public is asking by not purchasing them.

Now enter iTMS. With its common price of $10 an LP, this is a more desirable price. Most consumers are not audio savvy and thus don’t care about the loss of quality when downloading their compressed music. Truth is, I am an audiophile with a $4,000 Denon amp with pricey speakers to match. I can tell the difference when an ADD or an DDD compact disc is playing with ease. So yes, when the Sonos is blaring some of my MP3’s or JHymn liberated iTMS songs, I can hear the difference there, too. But do I care? No, not really since most of my music listening is in my car, computer, or off some descent headphones connected to my iPod. These are all environments that don’t demand high quality. Because of this, I skipped the whole SACD / DVD-A war that really still has no clear winner yet.

So back to the question at hand. Is the iTunes going to kill the CD? No. In order to take advantage of iTMS, you need a computer. Then you need an Internet connection, preferably broadband. Not everyone has these items but with CD players as cheap as $25 at Wal-mart, it’s a no-brainer for people to go that route. Further, I’ve heard this argument before…back in the late 80’s. No, I’m not talking about vinyl, I’m talking about the cassette. Guess what’s still here twenty years later? Ya, the cassette. The CD will be with us a little bit longer, I think.

7 Responses to “Is iTunes Going to Kill the CD?”

1. TOS Says:
   December 23rd, 2005 at 10:29

   I’ve bought some stuff on iTunes, but when it comes to something I really want to keep as part of my collection, I want it on CD. Sure, I can burn one from iTunes. But I want the artwork and professional packaging from the store bought CDs. Something else I find anoying about iTunes: they won’t let me burn an mp3 CD to play in my mp3 CD player. I can only burn disks in .aif format, and that’s pretty lame.

   Yeah, the price of CDs is outrageous these days. I refuse to pay $20 a CD, and I’d rather bargain shop at used record stores or shop around eBay than buy anything at Barnes and Noble at their inflated prices. $12.99 or so is reasonable. Anything more than that is a rip off. The law of supply and demand dictates that if demand goes down for a product, the price should go down. Its a wonder the record companies don’t realize this.

2. Sven Says:
   December 23rd, 2005 at 11:05

   I agree with the art work and such on the CD. That was my original draw to certain titles, as you are pointing out. But I realized after a while that I would read it once or twice and then never look at it again. Now that most new releases at least of the PDF of the liner notes on iTMS, I’m not too concerned.

   When I do buy hardcopy, I still use half.com (an eBay company — yikes I feel like the legal department for eBay!) or search via Froggle. I won’t pay more then $10 but sometimes breakdown and get the $12.99 like you.

   I think I bought 5 CD’s this year total. 1 was because Paul McCartney isn’t on iTMS yet and the other four were either cheaper via half.com or I had to have it now and wasn’t near my computer. iTMS LP’s? Probably 20 or more. Next year that CD count might it 0.

3. brian Says:
   December 23rd, 2005 at 11:54

   I would always rather have a CD. I like to be able to hold my purchase. That makes if feel real to me. I like to be able to take a 20 second clip of my song and make it a ringtone if I like (I can not do that with iTunes)

   Try target for cheap CDs. If you want more popular artists that is the place to go. They usually sell for about 9.99 each. The sale starts on Tues (release date) and ends on Sat night.

   I have used iTunes, it is easy and I do not need to leave my house. That said I like my music to be mine, and I would like to be able to do what I want with it.

   With that said, I just bought REO’s greatest hits. Need to go move it from my music file to my iTunes file. Oh ya, it was 2.50, thank goodness for allofmp3.com

4. Sean Says:
   December 23rd, 2005 at 13:26

   You can get CDs on the cheap at yourmusic.com. $5.99 per CD and that includes shipping and handling.

5. Mark Says:
   December 23rd, 2005 at 14:45

   Napster was the death of CD buying for me. CDs are over priced, with too few good songs on them such that the record label can spread out an artist’s good songs over several CDs to maximize profits. I currently pay for all my music but only but at iTunes. If it’s not there, I don’t buy it. That might inspire some executives to get moving and get their product on iTunes if it isn’t already.

6. Larry Says:
   December 23rd, 2005 at 14:47

   TOS – Go to Peferences, Advanced, Burning and select MP3 CD in disc format.

7. TOS Says:
   December 23rd, 2005 at 16:07

   Thanks Larry. I’ve burned mp3 disks with iTunes plenty of times from mp3s created from my own store bought CDs. Unfortunately, I’ve tried to burn an mp3 disk of my iTunes purchases, and it only let me burn standard CD formats with ones I downloaded legally. I’ve defeated this by burning them back from this CD to fresh mp3s, and then to an mp3 disk. Unless perhaps they’ve changed their policies recently in updated iTunes? Not a big deal, and complicated to explain, I realize. Hopefully Santa will bring me an iPod — then I won’t need mp3 disks