CD Format To Be Abandoned In 2012 By Major Labels

I guess it's a good thing that, in terms of music, I'm trapped in the past and don't have an MP3 player or listen to much new music (about my only exposure to new stuff is through Little Steven's Underground Garage radio show and alot of that is old music anyway) or this would bother me more.

Have "embraced" the MP3 music download thing, but much prefer seeing the physical version of a CD in front of me. Can't beat having a booklet inside the case and the CD itself.

Even though I do most of my listening via 320kbps AAC, I will miss the CD sound quality from which 99.5% of my AAC files are rips.

Most likely this will be a "race to the bottom" with 256 AAC (via iTunes) the new standard. I'm hoping (but very much doubt) that some niche product will still exist, whether it be vinyl or some form of high quality CD process (like Mobile Fidelity). Some speculate that "special edition" CDs will still be available. Hopefully if that's true. then the remaining CDs won't be "brickwall" mastered like most current mass production CDs are, and that dynamic range will be restored and proper care given to the music. Hey I can dream, right?

I guess that's why Pink Floyd reissued their uber sets this year and early next. It really is getting to be about the last breath for physical media.

I don't care about current music, but it sucks for the thousands of albums from the past I'm either yet to discover or just havent gotten around to. I better get them soon. I've only purchased one album from iTunes, and I've always planned to replace it with the physical disc one day.

Damn kids and their MP3's...

Maybe it's time for music albums on a Blu Ray disc?

I will miss the CD. I have never bought an album from I tunes and I hope special editions are plentiful. Blue Ray audio would be nice to see expand.

To me, The validity of this article seems to be in question, as there's no real "official" info included. It states that it's Heard, but no record labels confirmed, and later states they were "Approached by people working with major labels", but is apparently still unofficial. I would say chock it up to the rumor mill until such a time as an official statement is released.

I agree Casey. When you stop and think about it, despite declining CD sales, there is still an entire infrastructure built around physical media that the industry would need to work with in order to transition peacefully away from the platform (retail stores, Amazon, etc.). Only Apple has the cojones to just stop something and tell the rest of the world "tough luck, figure out how to accommodate our new direction" because they're largely self-sufficient (by design).

The music labels are dependent on their retailers for some revenue, and even if the goal is to eventually go all-digital, they likely won't risk damaging these relationships by simply turning the spigot to off in 2012.

I would hope that if they do decide to bury the cd that they at least release things on dvd or bluray. Even though a lot of people are downloading music these days there has to be a huge segment of the population that just hasn't embraced that yet. In any event, there are millions of cd's out there, both new and used, that it would take years for it's demise to have any effect on me. Most of the music I listen to that I don't already own on some sort of disc comes from Sirrius via Dish Network. I'm fairly happy with that. But Music on Bluray would be fantastic! . Which means they probably won't do it .

I saw this articles posted a while back and it's not a definitive fact. Obviously stores are removiing cd inventory at an alarming rate (which in turn means less sales) but this article is not some statement of fact.

I won't miss the format. I haven't purchased a new CD in ages and don't plan on doing so. I am, however, buying a lot of vinyl. The kind of music I listen to - much of it never made it to CD anyway.

The article says the major labels are talking about abandoning the CD format, not physical media altogether.
RIAA is a member of UltraViolet, the new video format. UltraViolet specs and license agreements are written for music as well as video.
CDs are all-digital; the disc is merely a container for the bits. Ultraviolet files can replicated and sold as discs or on SD Cards.

Possible retail products:

Toshiba introduces Write Once SD card

SANDISK’S WRITE ONCE READ MANY “WORM” SD CARD STORES IMAGES FOR UP TO 100 YEARS

Ultraviolet may be (and is) a really cool and interesting format, but I think it has a tremendously long way to go in order to gain "Industry Standard" acceptance. Unfortunate as it is, the way people consume tends to dictate where the industry heads. And while I question the validity of the above article, I do think that all forms of physical media are on their way out as streaming becomes more prevalent and easier to use.

I'm not opposed to downloads of music and film, but I am opposed to music that has the crap compressed out of it simply for the convenience and the right to say "I have 86 Billion songs on my iPod!" The upsides of downloading music, I can now get actual full resolution masters! That's pretty frickin' sweet! It helps with independent music producers getting really cool music out there on a budget (although I have mixed feelings about this one, as that can also lead to a lot of people home-recording and causing a general reduction on recording quality across the industry).

Overall, I think even if they do go away, it should force the industry to recognize the need for Hi-res, full bitrate downloads. I'm not opposed to that, and I can easily adapt, but I am not the sole voice for this, and there are many (my mother comes to mind) that could not adapt to this.

@Carlo
I like how you reference apple and have Steve Jobs as your Avatar. We know where your loyalties stand.

Just for the record: I admire Steve Jobs and like Apple products, and his passing is why I have (temporarily) changed my Avatar.

That said, I have many instances where Apple and I, or Steve and I, didn't see eye-to-eye.

Personally I buy all my media (CD, DVD, BD) so that automatically puts me at loggerheads with his "download everything" philosophy. I also wish Apple would show some love to the professionals in the various music/movies/photography industry by keeping the Mac Pro alive, but they have moved away from that group of people (who ironically helped keep them on life support when they weren't so "cool") and are now fully focused on being a mobile device/platform company.

I recognize that Apple wouldn't be where it is, and its products not as cool and integrated (and I do enjoy my Macbook Pro, iPhone and iPod Classic) without Steve and Apple holding firm to their beliefs, some of which I've outlined are against my own.

I'm a fan when they make stuff I like, but I'll criticize when I need to.

It wasn't a slam. Merely a jest. I'm not attempting to start another Apple sucks/rules debate, ad nausem.

I also only buy physical media, with a few exceptions of albums that are no longer in print, or far cheaper to DL (legitimately) than to import, really my point was that if it happens, I can easily embrace it as long as there's support for high performance audio.

No worries, I didn't take it as a slam, just wanted to clarify my position.

I think your last sentence is the one that has most of us worried if this is indeed in the death of the CD. My suspicion is that if the Music Corporations do go download only, it will be a race to the bottom and high performance audio will have little to no support, outside perhaps directly from the artists who can create and sustain a release channel for it.

Of interest to me is what Billy Corgan is doing with the re-release of Gish and Siamese Dream. There are uber-physical media releases (2CD+DVD) of each one, but there's a download only option for high resolution 24/96 versions of the albums, direct from the band's webtsite. Unfortunately there is no "combo deal" to be had for those of us who want the CD/DVD and the high res, we have to essentially double dip if we want all items. The DVDs are exclusive to the 2CD+DVD sets for each album, and the 24/96 is available only via download with no DVD option. So for the completist they'll have to shell nearly $30 per CD/DVD set and another nearly $30 for the high res versions.

Good riddance

CD's wern't just one of the most important advancements in the music part of my life, but in my life as a whole. They worked equally well in the car and boom box as they did in the home. What a huge improvement over the cassette tape. They sounded almost as good as an LP (can't say that about mp3's) and lasted forever. And who didn't enjoy un-wrapping a cd on X-mas morning? So yes, when the cd finally does go away, as it should eventually, I will miss it. I just hope something better comes along eventually as well.

It's funny...I have a friend in "the Biz" who works as a "supply chain coordinator" for a major musiv company, and we discussed this issue just this past Saturday night. He told me that he truly believes that the major labels are purposely trying to kill off the CD format in favor of digital downloads. I find it peculiar that the companies have totally embraced the format they believed would kill the music industry as a whole. I imagine that the biggest reason for this is that the labels now expect to recoup the "billions" they believe they have lost through piracy by having no costs for pressing and distributing physical media

I will miss the format for reasons everyone here was put forward. I have a huge amount of music on my iPod. I'm not a big fan of Apple, but the iPod is the "holy grail" I had been hoping for since my early teens (a million years ago): I am able to carry a huge amount of my music with me. Owning "physical media" is still a big deal for me. Besides having liner notes and photo booklets and artwork, I look at the CD as a physical "backup" of everything I own in the MP3 format. I don't have to burn anything to CD-R for safekeeping. I'll be the first to admit that I have some CDs on my iPod that were given to me in MP3 format without me owning the physical CD at first, but EVERYTHING I've acquired that way gets purchased on CD when I like what I hear (everything else gets deleted). I can't tell you the number of CDs I've bought this way (many of which I've had to pay quite a premium to own). The artist gets his or her deserved royalty, I get my physical backup, I don't have to "rip" the tracks myself, and I have the peace of mind that I haven't done anything illegal.

I'd like to point out an interesting idea that several "smaller" acts I enjoy have implemented. I listen to a huge number of symphonic hard rock/heavy metal bands with female vocalists, most of which have no footing in the American market (it's a HUGE list). I have to purchase their CDs on from the band's website. The part I love about this is that aside from some shipping charges (nothing too outrageous, mind you), the CDs usually cost about ten dollars. The kicker is that after the order is placed, the band sometimes provides a link to high-quality MP3s or FLAC downloads for me to enjoy while waiting for the CD to arrive (Magion and Noctura are two such bands that provided this service). Earlier this week, I discovered that an act I wanted to hear offers their latest album for FREE on their website. They don't even have CDs pressed yet, but rest assured that I will buy it if/when they eventually release it.

I had conversations with folks many years ago when the CD format was born, and most were convinced that CDs would NEVER replace vinyl. Look what happened! I realize that LPs have made a "comeback" of sorts, but it's a niche market. We're on the cusp of this happening again with the impending "demise" of the format, and I will hate to see it go.

Sorry if I'm "rambling," but it's VERY early...

I believe this 100%. I think the studios regret having allowed an uprotected media format become so entreched. You can rip a CD to your hearts content. Doing that with any other format puts you in DMCA violation. When the music studios tried to lock down CDs a few years ago (people remember that, right?), the public went nuts. What they are doing now is letting the public think this is a good thing, and then they'll lock the digital versions back up.

I access all my music digitally: iPods, NAS, etc; but I always purchase on CDs. That way I can recreate the rip any time I want. And hell, more often than not these days, the CD is the less expensive purchase. They're charging more for a product that has less manufacturing and distribution cost - that irks me too.

I'll confess that this is probably my most pananoid, grumpy old man topic. I can dispassionately discuss religion and politics, and give all sides their due; but I get wound up knowing they're out for my music. (Talking about those BD bastards that stole away my preferred HD-DVD format (cheaper to manufacture media, cheaper hardware) comes in second; but I think I have to let that one go ... no damnit, it WILL rise again!)