To Be or Not to Be? The SACD?

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OED: That is no longer practiced or used; fallen into disuse; of a discarded type or fashion; disused, out of date….Worn out; One who or that which is out of date or has fallen into disuse.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The people are predicting that CDs will be out of date, obsolete, worthless I think are wrong and I don’t get their strong opinion.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
 
You make a very valid point. Just look at what a lot of people listen to today - classic rock. Older jazz. Classical recordings from the 50's/60's/70's. Much of the new music - especially rap, IMO, is rubbish. I don't want to sound like a grumpy old man - but its true. That being said, there are a lot of great new artists I really enjoy: Colbie Caillat, Christina Perri, Jason Mraz, etc. I also think that rapidly successful artists like Adele sent a shock wave through the music industry. She doesn't have 25 people dancing on stage with crazy pyrotechnics and lights going ever which way. She gets up on stage and sings bloody marvelously.

I do have faith that things will change because of technology. People don't need a record label anymore. Independent artists are popping up all around us and the people are deciding what they like and not what the record companies tell us we will like.

I was reading an article the other day and the guy was saying, "when vinyl is playing, you just can't ignore it." In the 80's and 90's, bad recordings by bad artists on a bad medium with bad technology turned me and a lot of others off of music for a long time. We can blame Naptster and everything else under the sun, but my personal opinion is that the music industry went down because of CD's. Early CD players sounded awful. I owned the first Sony CD player (1979/1980). I thought it would be great - but I knew right away, it just didn't sound natural. That being said, today, my digital sounds better than ever (or as we like to say "most analog like")....kind of ironic when you think about it, isn't it? I love my digital today. I can stand it. Do I prefer it to Vinyl, not a chance. But I don't detest it anymore. I actually quite enjoy it now.

Now....if we can only push along some great young artists, we will be all set. Until then, I'll spin some more Ella on vinyl.
 
It's easy to see what music is crap and what will stand the test of time. Look at the classic rock and golden oldies. There are certain groups whose work is still played and even performed by other groups. This isn't happening with rap and hip hop crap. When the Rolling Stones, Beatles, BeeGees and many many others are recorded as instrumentals and other artists make recordings of them, you know it's going to be around. Classical music is here to stay. So is the CD/SACD and other hard copies of recordings for quite some time to come.

I actually prefer to own a hard copy/disk of a recording than to download it.
 
Mike,

I agree and enjoyed reading your posts . In extrapolating (again) I suspect what is good will stay and as people grow older they will want to hear it on CD players and not portable devices.

But there is something else that we really don’t discuss:

The music industry from 1985-2000, 15 years made huge prices for two reasons, in my opinion:

1 CDs were overpriced, but people bought them. In 1985 records were generally $5-6. People bought, in 1985 money CD’s for $20! Without a thought. They spent 3-4 times what they did on records and CDs cost less to produce. Of course, CD also caused the loss of the single

2. Without producing a new product, or investing to promote and find new talent, the Music Industry simply resold what they had sold before on records. Beatles, Frank Sinatra, Louis Armstrong…. I went into Tower in 1993 and their Beatle’s display was a big as they were in 1963!

But on line music brought back the ability to buy single songs again, many people did not want to pay $20 for an album when they just wanted one or two cuts.

So, not discussed, but a good question, I think….Did the music industry…did CDs price themselves out of the market? I think so.
 
There are two sides on a coin; the money side, and the artistic side. ...Tail or Head.

And today ain't like yesterday; physical music mediums vs downloads. ...The 'audiophile' community is comprised of well healed people (financially, I'd say generally), nostalgic people (emotionally trapped in their past), ...and they are just a minuscule blip on the overall audio/music world's map.

SACDs; people have never heard of it! ...So, where does that put me? ;)
Albums (vinyl) on the other hand has been around for a very very long time; and many more people can easily associate with them LPs.
And that's why they are still making turntables and are pressing new remasters. ...And all that money jazz.

How much do you need to invest on a full analog rig (front end), to surpass a full digital one on sound quality?
...Not only money, but time as well (all the ins & outs).
 
There are two sides on a coin; the money side, and the artistic side. ...Tail or Head

This is America. The money side will always win
 
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