Martha,

CDs may be down but they are definitely not out. Even the best MP3 downloads do not come close in sound quality to a CD. And you are not alone in wanting a product to hold in your hand, whether it is a CD with its tray card and booklet or an LP with its jacket.

That having been said, if you want people to buy your CDs you need to price them realistically, and that usually means $10, which is what most digital albums go for. And if you are willing to deal with the hassles of copyright clearances, you should consider making your album and its individual tracks available in digital form, even if you also release it as a CD.

For my own part, I lifted twenty tracks from my various CDs and bundled them into a digital album called Old Fashioned Folksinger. Since I only took songs that were my own creations or were in the public domain, copyright clearances were not an issue. I encourage people to buy the original CDs, and most people do. I haven't tried selling download cards, but I have met younger musicians who do sell them.

Bottom line: CDs are not dead, but it doesn't hurt to offer a digital download alternative.

--- Steve