Are CDs dead In This Day And Age?
Are CDs dead? Until the year 2014, the sale of CDs have always exceeded online downloads, proving that CDs are far from being dead as has been purported by some sections of the media. A major merit for digital downloads is the low cost and fast speed of marketing the tracks; however, there are many reasons why CDs will continue to linger for many more years and the reason boils down to sound quality.
Individuals who are really in love with their music do not have the patience to tolerate low bitrates and low quality digital download formats. Listening to an mp3 player or a digital download track with headsets at low volume is not going to be a big deal but many individuals have put in a lot of resources in having a very good sound system.
This does not refer to audiophiles who spend lots of thousands to get high end speakers and amplifiers. You can put together a great and yet affordable sound system if you are serious about your music.
If you try to play a severely compressed digital file on your system, it is similar to running a super car on conventional fuel; the performance will disappoint you. There are many genres of music such as the folk, classical, and country music scene where the sale of CDs far exceeds sales via digital download.
If you are in the gym, running, or walking with your headphones on, mp3 files are awesome to insert in your mp3 player; but how about when you are driving your car? Many stereo systems in cars cannot play mp3 files; yes you will find these devices in many new car models but only a few percentage of vehicles in a place like the UK are brand new and it will take many years for a large percentage of vehicles to play mp3 files on their stereo system.
A large number of cars have CD players and we like to turn up the volume each time our favorite song is being played. When you compare a CD track to an mp3 track at when the volume is turned up, even to an inexperienced ear, the difference in sound quality is obvious, particularly in an enclosed area such as your car.
Another argument in favor of CDs is definitely the packaging and tangible aspect of a disk. Very many CDs will be presented in an artistic way to the end user either in CD card wallet, CD digipack, or CD jewel case. Either an accompanying booklet or the packaging itself will contain information about the production of the album, the artists involved, the pictures of the artists, and usually the lyrics for each song.
Many music lovers love to unwrap CDs, place it on the tray of the CD player and read through the CD booklet. This is something that music fans from generation to generation have loved doing and have grown up with. The abundance of accessible information online has tampered with that fun of getting updates on the activities of your favorite band after spending a couple of years in the studio
