What is a compact disc?

Makh: What is a compact disc?

It's a vehicle for your rhetorical comedy, your Gracie, so to speak.

Wait, I got it wrong. MP3s were your Gracie, CDs were your George. 8-track tapes were your signiture cigar. "Ah to be 18 again" was your reel to reel.

Slow News Day. CD's aren't going anywhere soon. CD-Rs are relatively durable and extremely inexpensive. You take them and leave them places you wouldn't take more expensive alternatives.

People don't think twice about leaving a book of burned CDs in the car where they are readily available for playing and not forgoten at home. Nobody I know leaves their $400 MP3 player in the car. Nobody takes their MP3 player to a party and connects it to the stereo and leaves it hooked up. No, they all use CDs as they are cheap enough that if they loose it or don't get it back, it isn't the end of the world.

There is a massive number of devices that use CD's that are not going away. CD players for both the car and home are cheap and their media is universal unlike many MP3 players that not only have either different media or file formats, they also may have some DRM compatibility issues. Using a line in cable is cumbersome and inconvenient for casual use. People want to just put in a disk and hit play. Not to mention that nobody wants to worry about battery life left on the MP3 player. Docking stations are device specific and not universal.

In short, the CD is going to be here for another decade at least as far as I can see.

Crosshair: Slow News Day. CD's aren't going anywhere soon. CD-Rs are relatively durable and extremely inexpensive. You take them and leave them places you wouldn't take more expensive alternatives.

People don't think twice about leaving a book of burned CDs in the car where they are readily available for playing and not forgoten at home. Nobody I know leaves their $400 MP3 player in the car. Nobody takes their MP3 player to a party and connects it to the stereo and leaves it hooked up. No, they all use CDs as they are cheap enough that if they loose it or don't get it back, it isn't the end of the world.

There is a massive number of devices that use CD's that are not going away. CD players for both the car and home are cheap and their media is universal unlike many MP3 players that not only have either different media or file formats, they also may have some DRM compatibility issues. Using a line in cable is cumbersome and inconvenient for casual use. People want to just put in a disk and hit play. Not to mention that nobody wants to worry about battery life left on the MP3 player. Docking stations are device specific and not universal.

In short, the CD is going to be here for another decade at least as far as I can see.

Okay, grandpa.

I hate compressed, then expanded audio.

brap: Wait, I got it wrong. MP3s were your Gracie, CDs were your George. 8-track tapes were your signiture cigar. "Ah to be 18 again" was your reel to reel.

My what, my what and my what? I understand the references but don't get your correlations. Did cars ever used to have 8-tracks and did individual people ever buy reel to reels?

Makh: brap: Wait, I got it wrong. MP3s were your Gracie, CDs were your George. 8-track tapes were your signiture cigar. "Ah to be 18 again" was your reel to reel.

My what, my what and my what? I understand the references but don't get your correlations. Did cars ever used to have 8-tracks and did individual people ever buy reel to reels?

Yes, cars did have 8-track players.

jonasborg: I hate compressed, then expanded audio.

That's why I download in flac or shn

Makh: brap: Wait, I got it wrong. MP3s were your Gracie, CDs were your George. 8-track tapes were your signiture cigar. "Ah to be 18 again" was your reel to reel.

My what, my what and my what? I understand the references but don't get your correlations. Did cars ever used to have 8-tracks and did individual people ever buy reel to reels?

My mom was the June 1993 Centerfold model for 8-Track Mind.

Last time I looked in a store there were plenty of CDs available for purchase.
None of them contained music I wanted though, so I haven't bought a CD in a year or so.
I do believe their death has been greatly exaggerated.
It's extremely sick, but ...

... not dead yet ...

Crosshair: People don't think twice about leaving a book of burned CDs in the car where they are readily available for playing and not forgoten at home. Nobody I know leaves their $400 MP3 player in the car. Nobody takes their MP3 player to a party and connects it to the stereo and leaves it hooked up. No, they all use CDs as they are cheap enough that if they loose it or don't get it back, it isn't the end of the world.

Your friends must live in shiatty neighborhoods.

He's an idiot.

5 reasons to mourn the CD
1. No, really, they do sound better.
Right. Remastering, volume leveling, and so on have destroyed some of the sound analog formats used to capture. CDs sound worse than vinyl. Remember this phrase - "lossless compression." The RIAA sure didn't. But, hey, that's the CD's fault, right?

2. Remember looking at album artwork?
Yes, badly reproduced on the backs of leather jackets. I don't miss album artwork - it was there because the 12" LP container needed something on it. There's some rather stunning artwork on CD covers, too - it's just we only see it once, when we burn the damn thing to a hard drive so we can listen to it on a device that isn't the size of a discus.

3. You can't throw MP3s out the window like frisbees.
Yes, but you can get rid of them without a trip to the dump. Or have to worry about your mix CDs being used as friggin' evidence at your trial, at $5,000 a song. A volatile, persistent, all-electronic format means my 8Gb secure thumb drive can store thousands of songs, yet be destroyed in seconds and unreadable with an electron microscope with a quick couple of keystrokes. And that's what it's coming to, sadly - music as contraband.

4. Computer/electronics companies, not record companies, will soon run the music business.
How is this a bad thing again? The RIAA can suck my left nut. I'd almost prefer Microsoft or Apple run the music business. At least artists would get friggin' paid and grandmothers wouldn't get friggin' sued.

5. The CD's 74-minute max was enough.
Right. That's why we have 7-CD boxed sets. I seem to remember someone saying "640K was enough for anyone" or some such...
Not exactly friggin' Prometheus there, chucklehead.

5 reasons to cheer its death
1. No more mad dashes to the player when the disc starts skipping.
When a CD skips, you wipe it and move on with your life. Trying to fix a skip on vinyl could mean destroying the friggin' album as your hamhock hits the arm and drives that diamond like a bulldozer through your precious grooves. Besides, thanks to CD players with (gasp) buffers, so-called "skipless" CD players exist, and have done so for at least the last half-decade.

2. No more cellophane wrap.
Cellophane wrap? Are you kidding? Try "huge keyed plastic trays designed to hold CDs, DVDs, and so on and make them too bulky to smuggle out of your Sam Goody's." If "cellophane wrap" is one of your top five worries, you've got too much friggin' time and not enough friggin' problems.

3. Those old silvery discs are great for arts and crafts projects.
Sure - for example, they make great props to blow up with a machine gun in "Soldier." The only thing they've ever been good for is gigantic, AOL-themed constructs or as the flywheel for a drop spindle. If you're using "old silvery discs" for arts and crafts projects, again, you've got far too much friggin' time on your hands.

4. It's good for the Earth.
No argument there. Glad we're moving from a persistent format to one that requires heavy metals, unrecyclable materials, and constant standards changes. But, seriously, this is a good point.

5. Gen-X-ers have to own up to being old.
Vinyl's coming back for audiophiles because both CDA and other digital formats are constant manipulated - the volume war is a prime example. Analog formats have some benefits over digital formats, if sound purity is your thing. If you need a quick fix, sure, compressing that song to 128Kbps and tying it to your arm's a good idea. If you want mind-blowing highs and lows, well, you're SOL with digital formats. If that's being "old," consider me ancient, but at least I can hear the difference between Hendrix and Nickelback.

Playing an MP3 thru a hi-end audio system is like using parts from Pep Boys on an F1 car.

BobtheFascist: Playing an MP3 thru a hi-end audio system is like using parts from Pep Boys on an F1 car.

Most people don't care. Uncompressed audio will be for audio geeks only in due time.

Nothing wrong with either side, I appreciate audiophiles. Its just the sheer majority of the market couldn't care less.

Makh: brap: Did cars ever used to have 8-tracks and did individual people ever buy reel to reels?

I had a '66 Mustang that had a workable 8-track player in it. Good times, except in the middle of a song when the tape would end
*CLUNK*
and then continue.

I, for one, like compact discs.

/ anybody remember Discmans?
// [discmens? spelling?]

Never. I love my CDs. I love free music too but i will continue to buy CDs

Third_Uncle_Eno

I just got a diskman with no antishock. It is the worst piece of shiat ever. But it gets the job done.

Third_Uncle_Eno: I, for one, like compact discs.

/ anybody remember Discmans?
// [discmens? spelling?]

it's "discmi"...

FormlessOne: Right. Remastering, volume leveling, and so on have destroyed some of the sound analog formats used to capture. CDs sound worse than vinyl. Remember this phrase - "lossless compression." The RIAA sure didn't. But, hey, that's the CD's fault, right?

I'm pretty sure he meant that they sound better than MP3s.

Also, I hate to break it to you but vinyl's not going to be making a large-scale resurgence anytime soon. Yes, there are people who obsess about it, but you're a definite minority in the market and will be until, eventually, vinyl fades away forever.

FTA: Conceived in 1979 by engineers at Sony and Philips, the CD first went on the market in 1982.

And people wonder why their CDs suddenly crap out after a few years...

Want my 2 minutes back for reading that drivel, subby

I hate long friggin' comments.

I don't know if this was directed at me, but I'm still up for refuting it.

Fark U: if you really believe that downloading mp3s is "the future, nothing else matters" then you're really really REALLY dumb and have no logically thinking brain in that head of yours.

vinyl and/or cds is/are not a "novelty" it is still popular for a very good reason. people who "know" anything know this.. others who don't know a damn thing run their mouths otherwise.

so.. just stfu and learn some history.. or get that narrow minded, self centered view of the world out of your focus and see outside of the "consumerist idiot" that you seem to be stuck on.

/baaaah sheep! baaaah

There's also a very good reason why CD sales are declining and sales of digital downloads are rising.

To most people, the quality difference between downloads and physical formats is minimal, if they can hear it at all (and let's face it, a lot of people can't).

Yes, there's still a market for vinyl and CDs, and there will be for years (particularly in the case of CDs)...but as time goes on and more and more people grow up in a world where iPods and downloading have been around for their entire lives, the old formats will die. It may not be digital that does them in, but something - something newer, something shinier, and most likely something that's better in most regards - will take the crown eventually.

CD's finally dead!

So which one finally killed it? DVD-A or SACD?

IMDWalrus: To most people, the quality difference between downloads and physical formats is minimal, if they can hear it at all (and let's face it, a lot of people can't).

Also consider that, not too long ago, the general public listened to mono music on AM radio...

It's not like humans have suddenly evolved... Most people will be satisfied with 128kb.

xtex: Your friends must live in shiatty neighborhoods.

The majority of crime here is "smash and grab" so yea there is that possibility.

However another reason is that when it gets to be -20+ F, things like iPods and such tend to break. Here are the Environmental specs for the iPod.

# Operating temperature: 32° to 95° F (0° to 35° C)
# Nonoperating temperature: -4° to 113° F (-20° to 45° C)

You physically CAN'T leave a hard drive based music player out in the car during the winter because you will drastically shorten the lifespan of the unit by doing so because you are over stressing the components.

Crosshair: Nobody takes their MP3 player to a party and connects it to the stereo and leaves it hooked up. No, they all use CDs as they are cheap enough that if they loose it or don't get it back, it isn't the end of the world.

I think every party I've been to in the last two years has been with an MP3 player. Nobody had to worry about it being stolen because I don't hang out with the kind of asshats that would do that.

Oh, and it's L-O-S-E.

Was that supposed to be funny? Because, people from MN are not funny.

Not in a good way, anyway.

I'm amused that many people below the age of 25 have never heard quality audio, then talk down to everyone else.

You might as well be watching black and white TV on a 12 inch screen while the rest of us are watching high def on 50 inch screens.

Makh: My what, my what and my what? I understand the references but don't get your correlations. Did cars ever used to have 8-tracks and did individual people ever buy reel to reels?

Yes and yes. Several of my friends had 8-tracks in their cars. I drove from VT to NJ and back with my buddy Dan and the only two tapes we had with us were Houses Of The Holy and Dark Side Of The Moon. Interesting road trip. My brother had a reel to reel deck he got in a trade for the engine out of my dad's old pickup truck. We used to record band practices with it.

And yes, I'm old. All my vinyl is still stored in my closet (I do have a turntable), I have a ton of cassettes piled in a corner of the bedroom and I still buy my music on CD (I have no MP3 player).

zvoidx: It's not like humans have suddenly evolved... Most people will be satisfied with 128kb.

QFT

Satisficing (in a nutshell): The tendency for people to make the choice that is "good enough" for their own needs and budgets.

For audiophiles, the lossiness of MP3 makes 128kb not good enough. The drop in sound quality overrides all other factors.

For most other people--who just listen to music as entertainment and background filler--128kb is good enough. The drop in sound quality is offset by the enormous advantages in portability and convenience MP3 offers over hard media.

Neither one is "better" than the other. Different interests, different solutions.

/people argue about this?

"On the bright side, new technology means that Beatles lovers now can buy our albums for the third or fourth time."

The Beatles? I've been waiting for better-quality CDs of their basic catalog for 20 years. The writer should have picked Bowie or the Stones or somebody who re-remasters their catalog every few years whether they need it or not.

/kept my 1st-pressing Zeppelin CDs

frostus: And yes, I'm old. All my vinyl is still stored in my closet (I do have a turntable), I have a ton of cassettes piled in a corner of the bedroom and I still buy my music on CD (I have no MP3 player).

the vinyl I can understand but I officially dumped cassettes in 02'

FTA

The final cause of death has not been determined, but friends and fans blamed digital-download sites such as iTunes and illegal file-sharing among rich kids

I never knew I used to be a "rich" kid back when I partook in the illegal file sharing game.

Seriously, what the hell does that even mean.

tdyak: Makh: brap: Wait, I got it wrong. MP3s were your Gracie, CDs were your George. 8-track tapes were your signiture cigar. "Ah to be 18 again" was your reel to reel.

My what, my what and my what? I understand the references but don't get your correlations. Did cars ever used to have 8-tracks and did individual people ever buy reel to reels?

Yes, cars did have 8-track players.

Around 1991 my dad bought a used '76 Firebird Esprit that still had the 8-track player in it. My dad still had about 15 of his old 8-tracks in the garage, so we used to jam to Creedence when he would drop me off at school.

Crosshair: xtex: Your friends must live in shiatty neighborhoods.

The majority of crime here is "smash and grab" so yea there is that possibility.

However another reason is that when it gets to be -20+ F, things like iPods and such tend to break. Here are the Environmental specs for the iPod.

# Operating temperature: 32° to 95° F (0° to 35° C)
# Nonoperating temperature: -4° to 113° F (-20° to 45° C)

You physically CAN'T leave a hard drive based music player out in the car during the winter because you will drastically shorten the lifespan of the unit by doing so because you are over stressing the components.

shiat, i've been doing that for a few years with my ipod in the winter here in NJ..

/of course i think it is dying soon..
//had it for 4 years, so it's bound to die soon

Makh: What is a compact disc?

They're called "compact discs" because they're disc-shaped, and because we have made a compact with the devil.

Kevin5280: I think every party I've been to in the last two years has been with an MP3 player. Nobody had to worry about it being stolen because I don't hang out with the kind of asshats that would do that.

It's not all about the part with it being stolen. When you live 40 miles away and forget your MP3 player, it is a bit of a hassle. With a CD, you just say "screw it" and burn another one.

meddlin' kid: Third_Uncle_Eno: I, for one, like compact discs.

/ anybody remember Discmans?
// [discmens? spelling?]

it's "discmi"...

Actually, it's discomundi.

Crosshair: You physically CAN'T leave a hard drive based music player out in the car during the winter

Sure I can. It's not really frozen to my ass.

because you will drastically shorten the lifespan of the unit by doing so because you are over stressing the components.

Well...imagine that.

I spent literally ten farking years building up my CD collection... and I'm still not done. I even have some rare vinyl records.

If people want to tell me to get rid of my "old technology", they'll have to take it from my cold, dead hands.

I still buy CDs, usually from Amazon. I have never purchased an electronic copy or downloaded a copy of an album off the internet. I have never even so much as downloaded a single song. I use dialup at home, so downloading an entire album would take about 12-24 hours.

I purchased my first CD in 1993 when I didn't yet own a player for it. I got my first CD player in 1994 when I got my first IBM compatible PC that also had a cd-rom drive(I had a C-64 before that). I got my first music CD player in 1996 when I was a senior in high school.

I've really only been using CDs for about 10 years. It is only in the last year or so that I have considered getting an MP3 player, but that would be so I could transfer CDs to mp3s and then put them on the player. I really dislike Apple, so I've put off getting a mp3 player.

I would suggest that there are quite a few people like me, and because of that, CDs will be around for at least another 10-15 years.

I still prefer CD's to Mp3s dur to the quailty issue and having a hard copy around. If mp3 downloads were 320kbps or a high-bit rate VBR I'd be tempted to just go the downloading route. That said if anything kills Cds it will be DVD-audio.

A little premature...

/not talking about last night

Only CD's I've purchased in the past 2 years: Elton John's Greatest Hits and "Fortress" by Protest the Hero. Both worth the money.

I don't get the argument about the dynamic range in CDs being horrible. It's just that the newer CDs tend to be mastered with normalized audio at the highest gains without clipping.

Listen to some supertramp CDs for good dynamic range.

With vinyl, all you get at the low end is that constant(relaxing) hissssssss..

dc-kid: the vinyl I can understand but I officially dumped cassettes in 02'

Sentimentality. And there's so many I dread going through them and sorting them out.

bean_bag: CD's finally dead!

So which one finally killed it? DVDA or SACD?


LOL!