The demise of the music CD inevitable?

we'll live than longer and discuss something in 2116.

Had my 27 year old Nephew over and owns 0 CDs.  Streaming or a few iTunes downloads is all he listens.  My kids are a few years older than him, used to buy CDs, but now You Tube seems to satisfy them.  I do think CDs will ultimately become a niche product most likely to be bought by old farts like myself

mahler12374 posts09-13-2016 11:35amHad my 27 year old Nephew over and owns 0 CDs.  Streaming or a few iTunes downloads is all he listens.  My kids are a few years older than him, used to buy CDs, but now You Tube seems to satisfy them.  I do think CDs will ultimately become a niche product most likely to be bought by old farts like myself

Same I heard about records, but...

I think Vinyl may outlast the CD. My Fathers system spins mostly Vinyl and he loves it, and I must admit, depending on the quality of the recording, sounds pretty good. However, its a "Zen" like process he goes through prepping his vinyl for playback, plus you have to go through the hassle of flipping it over half way through the recording. Still though, for me, I prefer the sound of hi-res downloads or streaming.

Aside from longevity or lack thereof, what worries me most is that many new recordings are being engineered/mastered with the most popular listening devices in mind, which is earbuds, etc., certainly not high end equipment and with little attention (or even concern) for accuracy or staying true to the original. You'll notice that immediately if you switch from pop to jazz content on various streaming sources. It seems that they "color" the music from the get go so it sounds good on a $5 earbud but sounds awful when played on a high end home audio system. I sure hope they don't start f*ing around with less mainstream genres like jazz or classical because that would really piss me off...