http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/29/opinion/sunday/what-starbucks-is-ditching-along-with-cds.html
I still think the demise will be slow in genres like jazz and classical, where buyers still want to
read liner notes. However, I do think the day will come in my lifetime when the compact disc is a
submerged medium. Also DVD/SACD/Bluray and all other 5" plastic shiny discs read by lasers. I don't
think they'll be fully submerged, they'll pop up here and there in specialized applications and may
well make a "comeback" among hipster music fans like the current cassette fad.
For what it's worth, I still buy CDs and I occasionally buy high-resolution downloads. In the entire
time since the launch of iTunes, I have paid less than $100 all told for lossy downloads. They are a
last-ditch thing, I'll only buy them if I can't find the music in any better-sounding format at a
halfway reasonable price. I know, I'm a walking antique!
-- Tom Fine
|