Lefisc
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I am having real trouble with the term “obsolete.” Specifically, when it comes to predicting the fate of CD and SACDS.
OED: That is no longer practiced or used; fallen into disuse; of a discarded type or fashion; disused, out of date….Worn out; One who or that which is out of date or has fallen into disuse.
Some eople often use the term to mean something that can no longer be used, PERIOD: like a 1950’s TV set with an analog tuner. Or an eight track cassette. Or an Icebox from the 1920s. or a car that runs on leaded gas. Or a Slide rule. Yet they have, all my life used it as a pronouncement of fact, in spite of reality. (But look at the name of this forum: Computer/Digital not CD)
Every home I have been to has a CD player, perhaps as part of their DVD system. Everyone I know has CDs. A few have SACD. No one is throwing those out. Many learned a lesson.
I remember in the late 1980s a neighbor threw out their record player and a ton of records. I asked them why? “I got a CD player.” I don’t need the record player.”
“Do you have the CD for every record you threw out?”
“No, but I will.”
“Why spend the money if you already have it.”
“I got a CD player, you can’t have a record player.”
That conversation really took place; he and others really felt that way. He felt morally obligated to get rid of his records, or he would not be “modern.” The concept that when something new came out, the “old thing” became worthless is something I don’t get. We still have turntables today.
The people are predicting that CDs will be out of date, obsolete, worthless I think are wrong and I don’t get their strong opinion. Of course, we are in an era where new media players are introduced often. CD will be less of a seller, but they will still sell and be used.
We can extrapolate anything into oblivion. If the birth rate keeps going down 2% a year, in 50 years there will be no children. There will be a time when the CD sales flatten out. After all, Vinyl is making a comeback. But we don’t look at a couple of things:
Most music is bought by younger people, teens and people in their 20s. They are the most likely to latch onto a new format. First 45s, then cassettes, CDs and now digital music. This totally effects the statistics. But when they get older will they want a more permanent version of what they have?
What the industry is NOT saying is that the fall of CD sales may have nothing to do with the format but with the fact there is little great new music out there. Just like movies, the music industry (owned by the same people) are not putting much out much that is new. Frank Sinatra and so many excited the 1940s, Rock and Roll and Elvis took over the 50s, the Beatles and their sound dominated the 1960s. Michael Jackson, Madonna and so many others dominated the 1970s. Disco even went over big???!!!!
We have totally lost that.
Nothing is making throw out our CDs (and SACDS) . And they won’t stop making them in our lifetimes. Sales will be down but obsolesces? Ask Burgess Meredith:
The Twilight Zone Video - The Obsolete Man - CBS.com
OED: That is no longer practiced or used; fallen into disuse; of a discarded type or fashion; disused, out of date….Worn out; One who or that which is out of date or has fallen into disuse.
Some eople often use the term to mean something that can no longer be used, PERIOD: like a 1950’s TV set with an analog tuner. Or an eight track cassette. Or an Icebox from the 1920s. or a car that runs on leaded gas. Or a Slide rule. Yet they have, all my life used it as a pronouncement of fact, in spite of reality. (But look at the name of this forum: Computer/Digital not CD)
Every home I have been to has a CD player, perhaps as part of their DVD system. Everyone I know has CDs. A few have SACD. No one is throwing those out. Many learned a lesson.
I remember in the late 1980s a neighbor threw out their record player and a ton of records. I asked them why? “I got a CD player.” I don’t need the record player.”
“Do you have the CD for every record you threw out?”
“No, but I will.”
“Why spend the money if you already have it.”
“I got a CD player, you can’t have a record player.”
That conversation really took place; he and others really felt that way. He felt morally obligated to get rid of his records, or he would not be “modern.” The concept that when something new came out, the “old thing” became worthless is something I don’t get. We still have turntables today.
The people are predicting that CDs will be out of date, obsolete, worthless I think are wrong and I don’t get their strong opinion. Of course, we are in an era where new media players are introduced often. CD will be less of a seller, but they will still sell and be used.
We can extrapolate anything into oblivion. If the birth rate keeps going down 2% a year, in 50 years there will be no children. There will be a time when the CD sales flatten out. After all, Vinyl is making a comeback. But we don’t look at a couple of things:
Most music is bought by younger people, teens and people in their 20s. They are the most likely to latch onto a new format. First 45s, then cassettes, CDs and now digital music. This totally effects the statistics. But when they get older will they want a more permanent version of what they have?
What the industry is NOT saying is that the fall of CD sales may have nothing to do with the format but with the fact there is little great new music out there. Just like movies, the music industry (owned by the same people) are not putting much out much that is new. Frank Sinatra and so many excited the 1940s, Rock and Roll and Elvis took over the 50s, the Beatles and their sound dominated the 1960s. Michael Jackson, Madonna and so many others dominated the 1970s. Disco even went over big???!!!!
We have totally lost that.
Nothing is making throw out our CDs (and SACDS) . And they won’t stop making them in our lifetimes. Sales will be down but obsolesces? Ask Burgess Meredith:
The Twilight Zone Video - The Obsolete Man - CBS.com