Are CDs Dead?

Subject: RE: Are CDs Dead?
From: Martha Burns
Date: 17 Mar 11 - 10:47 AM

Wow. Shouldn't have missed THAT discussion. Thanks, sfmans.

Subject: RE: Are CDs Dead?
From: Joe Offer
Date: 17 Mar 11 - 04:57 AM

...and though he's too modest to say so himself, you can go to http://www.stevesuffet.com/ to find out how to obtain Steve Suffet's recordings.

-Joe-

Subject: RE: Are CDs Dead?
From: SteveMansfield
Date: 17 Mar 11 - 04:20 AM

This was fairly exhaustively explored here quite recently in this thread here ...

Subject: RE: Are CDs Dead?
From: Suffet
Date: 16 Mar 11 - 10:49 PM

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

Subject: RE: Are CDs Dead?
From: GUEST,David E.
Date: 16 Mar 11 - 10:38 PM

Not at all Martha. It took me a long while to give up albums and surrender to cds. They really are more convenient and easier to store and they eventually won me over. But I held on to a number of albums that I figured would never make it to cd or more often, that I had a sentimental attachment to. So we gave up graphics for convenience, fair enough. Then downloading started and I bucked that because it's about more than the music right? I never would have learned, way back when, that McKinley Morganfield was Muddy Waters if I didn't have liner notes right? And so many lovely covers and graphics. Then, I found that you could find things to download that you'd never find, or afford otherwise, so I started downloading because I did want the music if nothing else. No, I would never put all my music on computer. For that matter, none of it is. It's all hard copies whether it's vinyl, cd, cassette or burned download. It's all a jones and as someone once said, we're only a pawn in their game. Happy collecting Martha!

David E.

Subject: Are CDs Dead?
From: Martha Burns
Date: 16 Mar 11 - 09:52 PM

I'm curious. I keep on reading about how CDs are on their way out. A performer friend of mine even sells cards at his concerts with a code on them that allows you to download his album(s) -- as an alternative to selling CDs. I've never seen anyone else in folk music doing that. Wonder if it's common at other kinds of performances.

Me, I'm pretty much stuck on hard copies. Can't imagine storing music entirely on my computer, with nothing to hold in my hand and peruse. But then, I'm generally slow to adapt to new technologies.

Have been wondering about others on this list. Are we all stuck on CDs? Or am I just unusually old-fashioned.