Is the Physical CD Still A Viable Market?

An anonymous reader writes "With iTunes and P2P networking dominating the online music scene, does the physical CD have any place in our future? Slyck is running an article on the study conducted by the NPD Group." From the article: "Since its peak sales year in 1999, there has been a steady deterioration in the number of physical CDs sold and shipped. The most immediate blame is typically placed on piracy, however over the course of the last six years this has proven superficial to reasons of more substance."

Comments

Re:And what about games?

[PeterBrett]

What do you XOR against? Should I assume 0xFF Or did you fuck up and mean "Double ROT13"?

It doesn't matter what he XORs against, as long has he XORs against the same thing twice. I think you should go and beat yourself over the head with a clue stick. Repeatedly.

Generally it's a good idea to do some basic fact checking before you start mocking someone.

Re:Bitrates

[Xtifr]

Not sure from your post whether you're aware of this or not, but FLAC is a lossless format. Most FLACs are exactly the same quality as CD, bit for bit, and the exceptions are usually higher (not lower) quality.

Re:Nope

[TheRaven64]

I take it you haven't upgraded iTunes for a while. JHymn still doesn't work if you have installed iTunes versions after 5.0.1. The current version is 6.0.4.

Re:The Collector in Me Cringes

[zakezuke]

At th thought of not owning physical media with an album. Plus I think the CD has a bonus of liner notes, art etc. I realize most people don't care about this, but I do.

Current technology permits printing to your own CDs. You have the Canon and Epson inkjets, as well laser etching as with Lightscribe via HP and LabelFlash by Fuji & Yamaha, or wax transfer as with the Signature printers. While inkjet is spiffy enough, it's not as spiffy as a true blue silkscreened disk in terms of durability. Wax transfer is OK, at least water proof, but the wax will scratch off. Lightscribe/LabelFlash are monochrome only.

The cover and booklets are, in the most simple terms, paper and ink. Making your own covers is a time consuming task and people using OEM ink on their printer can make one but at the cost of bucks a piece, where as commercial printing can produce a better product in bulk on mass for less. I've said this before but the best way to cash in on the pirate market is to offer for sale licensed covers and booklets for the consumer as a form of license to listen to the media no matter where they got it from.

Even those who don't care about booklets and cover art might care about a disc with a spiffy spine that they can spot on a shelf, rather than a slew of unmarked cases. This is something worth paying a few bucks each for.