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Is the Physical CD Still A Viable Market?

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the more-thrones-out-of-cds-needed dept.

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."

4 of 410 comments (clear)

  1. The Collector in Me Cringes by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    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.

  2. Free-er media by Gertlex · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I still think of the cd as a freer media for getting music... I can own the cd, rip to whatever format I want, and no one is going to bother me... On the other hand, I still haven't looked hard at the online DL services (the legal ones, mind you), but I get the distinct impression that they're all going to restrict me somehow. Naivity says I'm going to want to have the music files i have now for the rest of my life.

  3. Re:Nope by NitsujTPU · · Score: 5, Interesting

    You can strip the DRM on the iTunes music. I probably shouldn't admit to it, but this is how I listen to music under Linux. I should mention that I don't share the music after stripping the DRM and that, if there were a way to do this without stripping the DRM, I would.

    I use iTunes under Windows, then JHymn (http://www.hymn-project.org/). The unencrypted files will play problem-free under Linux and can translated into MP3s without issue as well.

  4. Re:Nope by rob_squared · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Sure, physical CDs still have a market, I think they'll be useful for quite a while for boxed software products.

    Remember when Norton was selling software on Zip disks? I still chuckle at that.

    Now as for music CDs, those may be heading for a downward trend.

    --
    I don't get it.