I feel the same as Ian, and certainly CDs give you much better fidelity - I'm a bit surprised that this isn't more of an issue among the download fans, considering that I can remember the days (have to stop myself writing the "good old" days) when stereo freaks would remodel their entire living rooms just to get That Extra Bit Of Sound for their speaker positioning. (OK, exaggerating, but they were certainly obsessive about it.) Guess the kids just aren't born to it the way we Luddites were.

Paradoxically this could (perhaps) turn out to be a good thing in a way: As CDs get less & less viable in the mainstream market, and more & more "obsolete", that could open up a specialist trade, especially for non-commercial and hard-to-get recordings, run by people who know and CARE about the product instead of just the financial bottom line. CDs are easy enough to mail, and the internet allows people to buy from anywhere in the world.

All CDs have to do is retain enough of a market interest to attract a customer base broad enough to keep an independent dealer in business - who won't have the overheads that the huge chains do. Let Amazon & Co fish the big waters and ignore the little side-ponds - those are still big enough for us.

Dick, what are your thoughts on this? I may be missing some elephant-in-the-room point, but I see this as a distinct possibility - is it?