Is downloading the future

[Cricko2]

Now I am kind of stuck on this...I have never downloaded from those free sites..Or in fact brought any on-line..Apart from purchasing off Play.com

The dilema I always had was I wasn't helping the bands by stealing music on the free sites.

It seems now and these are News facts ...2.1 million albums downloaded in the past 4 months...also most singles are downloaded. The Ipod can carry upto 15,000 tunes.

I always liked to have the lyrics to hand and enjoyed just picking as I chose, now even lyrics are available online.

Dave will no doubt have the info on this..... are actually having the cd at home bygone times?

 

[Cheltenham Shrimper]

My dissertation was on this.

More than likely the CD's will dissapear a la the cassette tape. Downloading is the future, until the next type of music distribution will be introduced.

 

[Mad Cyril]

Welcome to the jet age!

 

[Cricko2]

Welcome to the jet age!

Ermm Jets were developed during world war 2

 

[Yer Blues]

id hope not.

yea, downloading is quick and easy but it somewhat takes the romance out of the whole process. theres nothing like actually owning a piece of music. holding in your hands. trying to work out what the cover art means scaning the inlay for lyrics/stories/thank yous. just the magic of music being a form of art. the whole package if you will.

yes, you can track doen all of the above from the net, but it somewhat removes the magic for me.

being in a band myself, i love the oppertunity to create the covers and sleave notes for the cds we give out at gigs. makes the whole think more interactive, more real.

i mean, can you imagine downloading Sgt Pepper in the 60's? not having that wonderfull 12" cover to explore?

it does'nt bare thinking about.

 

[sufcintheprem]

I wouldn't say that CDs are dead but they need to offer something that you can't get with MP3s or that's not as good with MP3s. The only arguments I would have in favour of CDs are;

- legal
- buying an album on CD, from my perceptions, seems to be cheaper than doing the same on MP3s
- a useful backup to your MP3 collection

I think my biggest problems with CDs/benefits of MP3s are:

- MP3s much easier to have on several different computers
- in the portable stakes, CDs have nothing on MP3s
- still way overpriced considering how easy it is to download for free

It really annoys me when the record industry announces illegal downloading has cost x million dollars. I have countless albums on MP3 that I rarely listen to and several that I really like but would never have bought. I probably own about 150 albums but would have bought (based on what I know of them now) about 50 with probably 30 that I would have bought without listening.

Still, the question's not legal vs illegal.

If I could pay a subscription and have unlimited access to all the music I would want, i would probably pay it and I'd like to think that this is eventually where the music industry will end up with artists being paid based on popularity.

 

[TrueBlue]

Pay for the music **** that get it for free!! makes me laugh how you want to give them money when 99% have no tallent to speak of!

 

[sufcintheprem]

Pay for the music **** that get it for free!! makes me laugh how you want to give them money when 99% have no tallent to speak of!

The problem being that there are plenty of bands who i do rate highly and would want to pay for the music. Particularly smaller bands starting out.

Then there's also bands who I think I might like but don't want to pay £14 for the privelege of finding out.

 

[Davros]

Hmm, a debate that rages on and on in a music forum that i use.

I promised about three years ago, when legal downloading came into force, that i would still only buy CD's. There, is as people say, something romantic about the purchase of a CD, having something physical to show for your money... however, lately i have found myself downloading a fair bit.

For example, the simplicity is fantastic. When i DJ'd the otehr weekend, i had some tunes requested on the Friday night that i didnt have, and so i said i'd play them on the saturday.... so saturday, i simply downloaded 5 or 6 tunes and burnt them onto a CD... Had it been the past, i could have spent a few hours trying to track down these various tunes in music shops etc, so in that sence, Downloading has the edge...

As for whether CD's will die off, its a funny matter.
I think a lot of it will depend on genre.
Having spoke to someone from dance music label AATW, it would seem they see downloading as the future for CD singles, as to really make any money from a physical single release anymore, you really have to crack the top ten, to pay back the costs of distribution/the video etc, and if you use a sample in your track that goes up to top5, maybe even top 3 in a really bad week.

However, as regards to Albums, there project with universal, ie the 'Clubland' series goes from strength to strength, with clubland 11 hitting no1 with similar sales to the previous 4 Clublands (which all went to no1) so i think that with respect to compilation albums, they still have a future medium term in the least anyway.

With regards to artist albums, i think this will largely depend on the artist and there label.

However, one thing to note with this 'death of the CD thing' is to look at the trend in 7" and 12" sales over the last couple of years, and how much they have increased.

There will always be some people who want something physical for there money, and so i think there will always be a market for CD's... how niche it is will depend on a number of things.... downloading is the future, but its not exclusive by any means.

 

[SARF]

Does downloading and storing on an ipod/burning your own C.D. compromise the quality compared to a official C.D. ?

 

[BrettieAngell]

I'm into Death Metal so I buy albums to support the bands but I do download stuff as way of getting into new bands though.

 

[SUFC_Al]

I'm into Death Metal so I buy albums to support the bands but I do download stuff as way of getting into new bands though.

I'm with you on that one man....:cool:

 

[Cricko2]

I'm with you on that one man....:cool:

:p

 

[BrettieAngell]

Its actually true because we were in a band, so was our younger brother!

 

[SUFC_Al]

Its actually true because we were in a band, so was our younger brother!

yep it did happen!

 

[EastStandBlue]

I have no problem in paying for music, but the prices charged these days for some CD's is ridiculous. It's also far easier to buy MP3's, I can sit in my chair at home and at the click of a button have purchased music which is sent directly to my iTunes in a matter of minutes... It's all about convenience.

As it happens, I have roughly 2,500 songs on this laptop alone... I think 12 of them came from a CD and that was The Killer's new album (Which was extremely disappointing) And that was only because i was in town on the very day it was released.

 

[Cricko2]

Brettie Al and Brother.

:D

 

[SUFC_Al]

Brettie Al and Brother.

:D

:hilarious: :hilarious: :finger:

genius sir.

 

[Davros]

Does downloading and storing on an ipod/burning your own C.D. compromise the quality compared to a official C.D. ?

that would depend on a number of things...

Most download sites offer you either 192 or 320kbps, in this case the higher the number the better the quaility... however, on most MP3 players/soud systems the difference wont be noticeable at normal listening levels....

Also, the speed at which you burn your CD's at on your computer is another factor... the slower the better being a standard rule.

Of course, on a big sound system is where you will noticce the difference perhaps, and if i was DJ'in i would tend to perfer stuff that was downloaded at 320kbps MP3.... of course, there is DRM Lossless digital media, which is supposed to be a form of download in which you will get the most perfect sound, but i really cant see the point, as even a club DJ's audiance wouldn't really notice the difference between that and a 320MP3 even over a 20K sound system.

Other factors include the quality of the CD's you copy on to, and the quality of your PC.

 

[Kenny]

I only ever used to download the odd single here and there, In the late 90s I used to buy a few CD singles a week. Since I discovered the russian site I've nabbed loads of albums. As sufcintheprem said, nothing worse then paying 14 quid to find out the album is $hit!. Payng $1.52 for the album softens the blow somewhat!