Why Is The CD Still Around 40 Years Later?

I used to buy cd boxes to pack CDs that I was selling on Amazon and have been on this company's mailing list since. His weekly emails have links to his videos, which I find informative for anyone in any part of the industry - and music fans.

This is a short video, which I found interesting and also enjoyed reading some of the comments of why so many people still enjoy owning CDs, which have been around for forty years.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wOfy4CkdaY8



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wOfy4CkdaY8

I was at Half Price Books yesterday and noticed all these older folks buying CD's by
the basket full. I also noticed all these young kids buying LP's and 45's. LOL. Go figure.

I don't think this dude gets it right. Consumers of cds do not buy cds because of granted royalties; they have a continued [[though diminishing, regardless whether we want to admit it or not) audience in those who are either lost in the past or firmly in the present and simply like to have a physical product.

I like both, I use Spotify a lot, but I still like to buy CD's for favourite artists, what I fail to understand, here in the UK, with signed CD packages, many make you take a cassette copy? why? and some 2 cassette copies with the signed CD. I do have a cassette player, but I never use it.

Last three cars, first had a CD player, then SD card, which I loved, now the third new car earlier this month, only a radio, why? because the motor companies think everyone has an iPhone, these days I just have a basic mobile, in case I break down, though if in a accident, you have an emergency button. which alerts the nearest dealer where you are?

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Originally Posted by PeaceNHarmony

I don't think this dude gets it right. Consumers of cds do not buy cds because of granted royalties; they have a continued [[though diminishing, regardless whether we want to admit it or not) audience in those who are either lost in the past or firmly in the present and simply like to have a physical product.

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I agree. As someone who is accustomed to going to the store [or shopping online] and buying the music that I wanted, I still support the physical product of music. Also feel that the title of the piece is misleading; people aren't simply sticking to CDs due to the issues of royalties being paid to the artists.

I read years ago that, if remastered properly, the CD has the potential of being the best-sounding medium available. Couldn't agree more! Still buying CDs for the outstanding sound quality as well as the physical aspect with booklet. The only time I made an exception was 7 or 8 years ago when Motown reissued a slew of their albums as downloads which I bought and then burned to CD [[i.e., Smokey Robinson & The Miracles' last few albums which had never made it to CD; all four of Jose Feliciano's Motown albums which, BTW, are quite excellent; some Rick James albums and Stone City Band releases; and several other Motown albums which escape me at the moment. Sound quality on all of them are amazingly good.

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Originally Posted by Philles/Motown Gary

I read years ago that, if remastered properly, the CD has the potential of being the best-sounding medium available. Couldn't agree more! Still buying CDs for the outstanding sound quality as well as the physical aspect with booklet.

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I agree! I also remember when the CD format first became popular in the late '80s & early '90s and record companies really dug into their vaults and reissued a lot of my favorite Soul & Rock Music from the '50s & 60's.

I find myself purchasing more vinyl albums lately, but these new releases appear to be issued on coloured vinyl and priced around $29 to $49, at least here in Canada. A few years back, when many music fans were getting rid of their hard copy compact discs, and downloading music, I started snapping up these discarded CD's at thrift stores. Here in Vancouver, Canada, the going price is only $1.99 at Goodwill, St. Vincent de Paul's etc., although the Value Village chain is now charging up to $7.99 or more for what they think are "collectible." Many people must have cleared out their collections during the initial COVID period, as that was when many great titles were available. Nowadays, the selection has thinned out greatly. I have amassed SO many CD's [thousands), frankly I need another lifetime or two to listen to them all more than once. LOL! However, I predict the day will come down the road, these silver platters will one day make a major comeAttachment 20030back. In my mind, there is NO such thing as "old music," just "good music" waiting patiently to be rediscovered by a new generation. I do occasionally find classic MOTOWN titles, but Jazz titles, especially female vocalists and compilations seem to be more common.

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Originally Posted by Mark Desjardines

I find myself purchasing more vinyl albums lately, but these new releases appear to be issued on coloured vinyl and priced around $29 to $49, at least here in Canada. A few years back, when many music fans were getting rid of their hard copy compact discs, and downloading music, I started snapping up these discarded CD's at thrift stores. Here in Vancouver, Canada, the going price is only $1.99 at Goodwill, St. Vincent de Paul's etc., although the Value Village chain is now charging up to $7.99 or more for what they think are "collectible." Many people must have cleared out their collections during the initial COVID period, as that was when many great titles were available. Nowadays, the selection has thinned out greatly. I have amassed SO many CD's [thousands), frankly I need another lifetime or two to listen to them all more than once. LOL! However, I predict the day will come down the road, these silver platters will one day make a major comeAttachment 20030back. In my mind, there is NO such thing as "old music," just "good music" waiting patiently to be rediscovered by a new generation. I do occasionally find classic MOTOWN titles, but Jazz titles, especially female vocalists and compilations seem to be more common.

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fantastic!

Here's an article from Discogs.com which has a lot to say about the ongoing popularity of CDs.

Three Trends That Prove CDs are Making a Comeback
Vinyl has made plenty of headlines in recent years, but CDs also have quite a few stories to tell. As the second best-selling format on Discogs, CDs have continued to be a popular choice for collectors in the Marketplace. Billboard figures show that CDs recently saw their first sales increase in 17 years. Reputable brands like Marantz offer a high-quality line of CD players as more audiophiles and music fans discover, rediscover, or maintain their passion for CDs.
The big questions are how and why? How have CDs endured and why are they growing in popularity again? The only way to answer these questions is to break down some Discogs data from the last five years and take a look at how artists, fans, and record labels have fueled the CD comeback.


Submissions for CD releases have remained incredibly consistent. Contributors have added between 366,000 and 430,000 CD releases to the database each year since 2017. These numbers point to a few different contributing factors.
For starters, older releases have been discovered by new fans and rediscovered by long-time collectors. As the demand for CDs rises, contributors add older releases to the database. This allows new fans and re-energized collectors to discover classic titles and add them to their collections.
The release of brand-new albums on CD has also influenced this trend. Artists like Taylor Swift, BTS, and Adele have all released their recent albums on CD. This has opened up the world of CDs to a whole new generation of younger collectors.

Since 2017, the number of CDs listed for sale in the Discogs Marketplace has increased steadily each year resulting in an overall 465% increase. The most dramatic surge was in 2021. However, Discogs has seen the number of CDs for sale increase by over 4.6 listings in 2022 so far. If the second half of the year mirrors the first, we may see 2021’s impressive figure more than double! If the number of CDs submitted to the Database continues to remain steady, we can anticipate further increases.


Between 2017 and 2021, the number of CDs sold in the Discogs Marketplace has increased from 1.9 million to 3.9 million. These 2 million additional CDs account for a 208% increase in just five years.
One of the main reasons for this substantial jump is affordability. With rising vinyl costs, used CDs have become a cheaper alternative. Music fans are combing CD listings for budget-friendly copies of the albums they love most.
Much like the recent tape resurgence, there are quite a few Gen Z music collectors that are interested in the format. Gen X and Millennial parents are passing on their CD collections or regaling their Gen Z children with nostalgic tales of the convenience of compact discs. The size and simplicity of CDs speaks to those on the go or anyone who prefers to pop a disc in and not worry about flipping a record or dropping a needle.
Many audiophiles continue to build their CD collections due to their rich sound quality. A lot of vinyl reissues have been pulled from digital sources instead of the original analog masters. As the last prominent physical format before streaming arrived on the scene, many CDs offer a unique hi-fi listening experience.

The current delays in vinyl manufacturing have also inspired artists and fans to embrace the CD format. CDs can be produced quickly and inexpensively, so no matter how you spin it, we can expect to see more CDs manufactured and sold in the Marketplace. Halfway through 2022, Discogs has already seen close to 2 million CD sales in the Marketplace.

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Originally Posted by Mark Desjardines

I find myself purchasing more vinyl albums lately, but these new releases appear to be issued on coloured vinyl and priced around $29 to $49, at least here in Canada. A few years back, when many music fans were getting rid of their hard copy compact discs, and downloading music, I started snapping up these discarded CD's at thrift stores. Here in Vancouver, Canada, the going price is only $1.99 at Goodwill, St. Vincent de Paul's etc., although the Value Village chain is now charging up to $7.99 or more for what they think are "collectible." Many people must have cleared out their collections during the initial COVID period, as that was when many great titles were available. Nowadays, the selection has thinned out greatly. I have amassed SO many CD's [thousands), frankly I need another lifetime or two to listen to them all more than once. LOL! However, I predict the day will come down the road, these silver platters will one day make a major comeAttachment 20030back. In my mind, there is NO such thing as "old music," just "good music" waiting patiently to be rediscovered by a new generation. I do occasionally find classic MOTOWN titles, but Jazz titles, especially female vocalists and compilations seem to be more common.

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Gosh, this looks like one of the rooms in my house. But when I want to listen to a cd at the bottom of the pile? Oh my!

I guess I do not have "quite" the collection Mark has, and apparently others as well, but mine numbered around 3,000 when I started selling on Discogs about 18 months ago. The first thing I did was list every single CD I owned, knowing that when something sold I could make a copy of it if desired before shipping it out.

You would think it would have taken forever to list them all but in very little time, I had my entire inventory up for sale. Things took off right away and in that 18 months, I have probably sold between 1,000 and 2,000 items.

Once I had listed my personal collection, as Mark described I started hitting thrift shops, flea markets, and my personal favorite here in the south......yard sales!!!! Those can be wonderful because people will sell things at 50 cents or a dollar and as I am buying them, I am thinking to myself.........I will be able to sell this for $5-10 or more on Discogs! And of course you can haggle with people. I have had many an occasion when I walked away with a purchase of 20 or 30 items for a total investment of $5-10.

So it has been a wonderful retirement hobby for me and I enjoy it immensely. One person has ordered from me more than 30 times and recently a buyer ordered 82 items in one order. It can be some actual "work" sometimes but it is still fun.

There is only one problem and I doubt if any of you can help me, but there is this woman in my area [[I will heretofore refer to her as "the hussy") and she also collects CDs. So at many of my yard sales, and I sometimes hit 15-20 per weekend, I am always hearing "Oh we had some but this lady came by and bought a whole bunch of them."

So I have to figure out two things........number one.... how is she beating me to every single yard sale?.....and number two.....how can I put a hit out on her without it being traced back to me?

In conclusion, I have also listed some vinyl for sale recently, and so far that seems to be quite popular with buyers. So selling my entire collection of vinyl may take the rest of my days on this earth. Then there were my cassettes..........oh my! I had about 800 of those, but since I had nothing to play them on, I took the whole mess to a record store and sold them for a song. So at least they are out of my life.

Long live CDs as they are my favorite format but vinyl was cool too in its day!

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Originally Posted by daviddesper

I guess I do not have "quite" the collection Mark has, and apparently others as well, but mine numbered around 3,000 when I started selling on Discogs about 18 months ago. The first thing I did was list every single CD I owned, knowing that when something sold I could make a copy of it if desired before shipping it out.

You would think it would have taken forever to list them all but in very little time, I had my entire inventory up for sale. Things took off right away and in that 18 months, I have probably sold between 1,000 and 2,000 items.

Once I had listed my personal collection, as Mark described I started hitting thrift shops, flea markets, and my personal favorite here in the south......yard sales!!!! Those can be wonderful because people will sell things at 50 cents or a dollar and as I am buying them, I am thinking to myself.........I will be able to sell this for $5-10 or more on Discogs! And of course you can haggle with people. I have had many an occasion when I walked away with a purchase of 20 or 30 items for a total investment of $5-10.

So it has been a wonderful retirement hobby for me and I enjoy it immensely. One person has ordered from me more than 30 times and recently a buyer ordered 82 items in one order. It can be some actual "work" sometimes but it is still fun.

There is only one problem and I doubt if any of you can help me, but there is this woman in my area [[I will heretofore refer to her as "the hussy") and she also collects CDs. So at many of my yard sales, and I sometimes hit 15-20 per weekend, I am always hearing "Oh we had some but this lady came by and bought a whole bunch of them."

So I have to figure out two things........number one.... how is she beating me to every single yard sale?.....and number two.....how can I put a hit out on her without it being traced back to me?

In conclusion, I have also listed some vinyl for sale recently, and so far that seems to be quite popular with buyers. So selling my entire collection of vinyl may take the rest of my days on this earth. Then there were my cassettes..........oh my! I had about 800 of those, but since I had nothing to play them on, I took the whole mess to a record store and sold them for a song. So at least they are out of my life.

Long live CDs as they are my favorite format but vinyl was cool too in its day!

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I enjoyed reading this informative update. Thanks for sharing David. Glad this venture is working out for you ! :cool:

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Originally Posted by daviddesper

Long live CDs as they are my favorite format but vinyl was cool too in its day!

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As you say Dave, "Keep 'Em Coming"!

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Originally Posted by Motown Eddie

I agree! I also remember when the CD format first became popular in the late '80s & early '90s and record companies really dug into their vaults and reissued a lot of my favorite Soul & Rock Music from the '50s & 60's.

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Yes, I fondly remember that era vividly, Eddie. It was 1987 when Motown announced the new release of Diana Ross & The Supremes "Never Before Released Masters" which, to my shock, would be released on CD only -- NOT on vinyl. At the time, I had never even heard of CD's. With no other choice available, what could I do but break down and buy the Supremes CD. Soon after, with still no CD player to play it on, I discovered those wonderful [[at the time) 2-fer CDs which Motown was making available on all of their top-tier artists. Naturally, there were what seemed like a ton of them available and, as a completist Motown collector, I had to have all of them which I bought before I even had a CD player. Looking back, that was an exciting era. I also loved the various CD catalogs which became available, listing A-Z by artist, all CDs available in the marketplace on various labels.

PS: I just remembered, one of them was titled "CD Guide". As it turns out, I even saved one for posterity! It's fun to look back at what CDs were available at the time -- back when my Phil Spector Philles and Motown CD wish lists were a mile long!

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Originally Posted by Mark Desjardines

I find myself purchasing more vinyl albums lately, but these new releases appear to be issued on coloured vinyl and priced around $29 to $49, at least here in Canada. A few years back, when many music fans were getting rid of their hard copy compact discs, and downloading music, I started snapping up these discarded CD's at thrift stores. Here in Vancouver, Canada, the going price is only $1.99 at Goodwill, St. Vincent de Paul's etc., although the Value Village chain is now charging up to $7.99 or more for what they think are "collectible." Many people must have cleared out their collections during the initial COVID period, as that was when many great titles were available. Nowadays, the selection has thinned out greatly. I have amassed SO many CD's [thousands), frankly I need another lifetime or two to listen to them all more than once. LOL! However, I predict the day will come down the road, these silver platters will one day make a major comeAttachment 20030back. In my mind, there is NO such thing as "old music," just "good music" waiting patiently to be rediscovered by a new generation. I do occasionally find classic MOTOWN titles, but Jazz titles, especially female vocalists and compilations seem to be more common.

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Mark, that's quite an impressive CD collection you've got there! I hate to be the "fly in the ointment", as they say, but with the massive weight exerted on them, it could cause major warping of the CD discs, rendering them unplayable. I'm just saying...I would be careful regarding that.

The video piqued my interest initially...until I realized it was a sales pitch.

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Originally Posted by Philles/Motown Gary

Yes, I fondly remember that era vividly, Eddie. It was 1987 when Motown announced the new release of Diana Ross & The Supremes "Never Before Released Masters" which, to my shock, would be released on CD only -- NOT on vinyl. At the time, I had never even heard of CD's. With no other choice available, what could I do but break down and buy the Supremes CD. Soon after, with still no CD player to play it on, I discovered those wonderful [[at the time) 2-fer CDs which Motown was making available on all of their top-tier artists. Naturally, there were what seemed like a ton of them available and, as a completist Motown collector, I had to have all of them which I bought before I even had a CD player. Looking back, that was an exciting era. I also loved the various CD catalogs which became available, listing A-Z by artist, all CDs available in the marketplace on various labels.

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Yes Indeed! I purchased my first CD player in 1986 when I saw how much of the Motown catalog was coming out exclusively on those 2fer CDs. They also had Hard To Find Motown Classics Vols. 1 & 2 with CD bonus tracks [not to mention Vol. 3 of the series which was a CD only release]. So I was ready when The Supremes' Never Before Released Masters came out in 1987. I still love this disc all these years later. While it was just the tip of the iceberg when it came to what was in the vaults of the group's recordings, it's still got all lot of tracks that are only available on that collection [including some of the recordings that were made for the Disney Sessions].

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Originally Posted by Philles/Motown Gary

Yes, I fondly remember that era vividly, Eddie. It was 1987 when Motown announced the new release of Diana Ross & The Supremes "Never Before Released Masters" which, to my shock, would be released on CD only -- NOT on vinyl. At the time, I had never even heard of CD's. With no other choice available, what could I do but break down and buy the Supremes CD.......

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I had the same experience, except that I was in music retail at the time and was aware that the CD was on its way to taking over. Until then, I had stuck with my vinyl but when this Supremes' release was only available on CD, as a Supremes fan, I had to have it and got a CD player and the NEVER BEFORE RELEASED CD. It was the beginning of my switching over to CD

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped...ed_Masters.jpg