CDs on the way out?

I guess I see the next step in music going something like this:

 

• A special “receiver” type unit would need to be purchased $100-$200 range. This would be another component for your system. It would be network ready.
• It would accept up to 4-6 music players that would me married just to it. (limit copying)
• You would go online at your computer and set up play lists from tens of thousands of choices. These play lists would be sent to your “receiver unit” and downloaded into your music players.
• These players would plug into your car or any other audio component with a special wire (similar to HDMI to prevent copying again). The player would also have a 1/8 jack for ear buds.
• The music played would have a static signal played along with the music. This would only be filtered out by using the special cable or a small chip in the ear buds. (Once again to prevent copying.)
• It would be higher quality than mp3 and subscription based, say even at $25 per month which I think would be high. (Satellite is currently around $10) This sounds like a lot, but to replace my 4,500 poor quality mp3s at $1.00 each would be $4,500. Divide that by $25 that equals 180 months (15 years) for a break even point. Or 2 CDs per month ($25) times the same 180 months also equals $4,500. But you would have an unlimited selection the whole 15 years with the subscription plan.

 

Now if you talked to people in the early 70s about paying for TV they would think your were crazy, yet here we are with just about every household paying over $50 per month for TV. It is considered just another necessary utility
 

 I think the plan outlined above would provide a larger quantity of higher quality music than the average person currently has, at an affordable price. It would be flexible and portable enough for the user while protecting the artists.

I only touch CDs to rip them. Then they get boxed.  MP3 for the mp3 player. FLAC (Free Lossless Audio Codec) for serious listening at home.

I use the Squeezebox system for serving it up to various receivers around the house, and it also allows access to many of the online streaming and radio services. Central server running on an old PC with access to my music archive on my file server. Sends music to the Squeezebox by my receiver. Then there's the Squeezebox Booms which have built in speakers which are good for bedrooms. There's even software emulators for use while listening on computers All the players can be controlled individually or synchronized.

So, in essence, we're already at drobbins step, but without interference from the labels/RIAA. And it can be done in better than mp3 quality.

The RIAA would never let you get on demand songs for only $25/month. They wouldn't consider that enough compensation for "the artists".

Maybe that is why they are loosing money. Most companies would be more than happy to have a steady stream of money from each household flowing in each month. They would just need a few big servers as an investment and the internet would do the rest. No running cable wires.

I would jump on that type of service in a heartbeat. Right now they are not getting any "compensation" from me. My household hasn't spend $25 on music in the past year. I do drive 5 hours per week to and from work & I am considering activating the XM radio installed in my car. The only thing that is holding me back is that it would be limited to my car. The icing on the cake would be if I could set up my own play-lists.

DaveF,

"But since digital releases are lower quality..."

Did you finish your thought above?  It seems to have been cut off.

I was wondering the same thing.

Great minds, Scott...

That was a discarded sentence, already expressed in the previous sentence.

In my mind, I'm already gone!

Dave -- your avatar is seriously disturbing. It turns my stomach. I have to look away when reading your posts. I'm from the Kentuckiana region, and I'm pretty sure that's not how folks looked, even on their worst days.

I'll say I agree with DaveF on this one, too.  I'm obviously very much a "follower" these days! 

But, drobbins, that's pretty severe.    There might be a whole lot of "averting" going on around here.  

Yea.. it is even starting to bug me. I think she ate too much peanut butter and it has affected her. I was fooling around with my kids looking for another avatar, being as my old animated one doesn't work with the new software and they said I should use this one. I will change it soon.

Put the Pixar bird back.  Even without the animation it was MUCH BETTER! 

Whoa! Those birds are seriously staring at me...

Boy Mike.. You came up with that suggestion very quickly!! Any reason why?

Thanks this one is much better.

[quote]The RIAA would never let you get on demand songs for only $25/month.[/quote]

Works for zune.net & other subscription services; the catch is that as soon as you stop subscribing, the DRM stops you from accessing the music you've downloaded. It's not quite the service described, but it's close.

I've been a subscriber for zune's service for a while & love it. It's definitely a shift from 'owning', I treat it as an extremely personalized radio service; whenever I hear a song or artist I'm interested in, I'm on the site grabbing their music.

Now that we have Dave's avatar cleared up....

Scott, your avatar bugs me too.  I doubt Johannes Ockehem looked like her.

How about this instead?  

Well this thread got me going. I called XM and activated a 3 month trial. Thanks guys!

Much of what you describe can be effectively accomplished with an iPod and regular music purchases, a Zune and Zune.net, or a Sansa and Rhapsody. Carry it with you and listen. Plug it into the stereo and listen. Sync with your PC; listen to the PC's playlists on your AppleTV, or Tivo, or XBox 360, or PS3. Take it in the car and listen while traveling.

XM / Sirius, as you've done, also gives a broad music selection for a modest fee.

Dave,

Don't pay more than $77 a year for XM.  I've called and requested their unofficial "$77 per year" deal for the past three years and have gotten it every time.

I have an ipod and it holds about 800 songs that I have been listening to for about 8 years now in my car. I have been looking for a little more variety but each time I turn on the radio there is more talk and commercials than music. My mp3 collection while big (4,000+) songe is all different qualities, volumes, and some songs are choppy in places. This is why I would need to replace my collection. I don't want/have the money and I don't want to do it over years just to have the popular/best format change. We will see how XM works out.



Thanks for the tip

XM is a lot of fun. I had it for 6 months. My dad has been a subscriber for a few years now. I wasn't thinking you specifically you go with a new iPod (or other). More that your "fantasy" is pretty much reality right now.

Dennis,

LOL!  Er, I think I'll keep my current avatar.  She's a sweetie. :)

Wow!  You're welcome!  Glad you liked it.

When you get bored with it, you can use the one Dennis suggested for Scott. 

Thanks for making Dave see the light.  I hated that avatar but I wasn't going to say anything.

We're all so damn polite...exceptin' for DaveF, that is! 

Thank goodness he spoke up about the 600 pound gorilla in the room. 

Now I want to know what Dave's avatar originally was!

There isn't a single music shop around me for miles.  The only place to buy music is Best Buy and WalMart or Target.  I hate it.  Every Wednesday I used to hit the shops and almost always came home with something.  Now it's impossible to find cds that I want because I don't follow the mainstream so no one sells them, so I have to mail order.

I much prefer buying my music on CD but honestly I usually rip it to high quality mp3 and add it to my music library on the HTPC.  When listened to side by side I can tell the difference but it's not enough to bother me (unless the mp3 is of a lower quality - 160kps or lower). For driving around or putting on music for company the mp3s are fine.  mp3s can so easily be lost or accidentally deleted and you wouldn't know what happened to it until you actually went looking for it to listen to and it's nowhere.  I just spent a good part of my last day off moving mp3s I've downloaded from various sources over to the HTPC and tagging them.  I could have easily missed some and would have no idea.  I have over 1600 'albums' in my music library and something like 26000 tracks.  That's a lot to keep track of.

I purchase CD's online now because it's hard to find much in the brick and mortars anymore. It seems the future of home audio is a high resolution digital music server. Stereophile recently reviewed one. There's not much out there yet in hi rez to download but that will change. I think the server had a LCD screen for viewing the artwork, lyrics and info etc. Once you download it it's yours, just in a different format.

You can view it here: www.hometheaterforum.com/forum/thread/292141/extream-avatars#post_3599925

This UK article is interesting: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8197574.stm

I was particularly surprised by this finding:

The average size of CD collections was 70 (for 14-17 year olds) and 98 (for 18-24 year olds), and a massive 77% of respondents said that they would still buy original albums even if they subscribed to a music download service.

This seems like a fair number to me; more than I had at the younger period, and probably equivalent to my older period.  It was my impression that CD sales were much less than this. (Or maybe I just wasn't holding up my part of the economy back then.)

I also still buy CDs, mostly so I can rip them at will (I got burnt when I re-installed XP and lost my licences for my iTunes music).  But also because I still want to hear the progression of music as put together by the artist.

On the other hand, my son has no qualms about downloaded music, as he thinks the service will replace a purchase if it's lost or damaged. (He's young.)

Scott,
I don't think many people would like to have a verity of music formats in there living room. Very low WAF having LPs & 8-Tracks & Cassettes and CDs lining the living room walls. The ticket for me would be the quality of CD with the selection and low price of a subscription with the portability and size of a mp3 player.

Dave,

You make some fair points.  I suppose this is one of those 'to each his or her own' kind of thing.  For my own part, I use many of these formats daily.  We have a sizeable library in our home, so space is not a problem.  But beyond this, I would submit that for many people the CD did not replace the LP any more than television replaced radio.  In both cases, the more recently-invented format displaced rather than replaced the earlier medium/format.

What is interesting to me too is that the LP has made quite a comeback in recent years from the standpoint of archivists, private collectors, and others whom have a vested interest in conserving, preserving, and maintaining the recorded medium.  Our university library continues to purchase both CDs and LPs.  It's mostly because there are just some things in the arenas of collection development that cannot be obtained by restricting our purchasing to CDs.  Students also ask to access our LPs as well when they are doing historical research in music.  But from the standpoint of a general consumer, it probably is a very different matter.

Edited by Ockeghem - 8/28/09 at 10:31am

I tried to get my wife to let me pack up all the CDs from the media shelves in our living room, since they're all ripped and playable through the Tivo. She said no way! If we get rid of the CDs, we'd have no decorations on that living room wall!

Scott,
I am glad that someone is archiving music in it's original formats. There is some music that I haven't been able to find on mp3.

I listened to my XM for the first time today. I was surprised at how many songs that I enjoy that I haven't heard in years. I had totally forgotten about them. By contrast, enjoying music that I would consider just so-so or good, has made listening to music that I consider great even more enjoyable.

Mike,
Sounds like you wife has her priorities in the right place. Buying and decorating with CDs instead of flowered paintings. Your a lucky man.