Music CDs: Who still buys them?

For a while I was a huge CD collector. Then when Megaupload, Mediafire, and Rapidshare, as well as various P2P service like SoulSeek became huge, I was really into just downloading. But after Megaupload was shut down and the others got more restrictive, that all changed. Eventually, I got back into buying my favorite music and have been enjoying my collection again. I've gotten rid of alot of 'fat' in it and have many that I want which can't be found easily online.

To be honest, I wouldn't bother pirating a CD I liked nowadays even if I had the chance. I only really download rare stuff like independant releases or demos. I'm a big japanese music afficianado and the japanese are not as big on piracy as the west is which actually prompts people to buy more (they have great packaging and bonuses too). Much more hidden gold to find in that field.

I also got a few domestic releases from my nearby record shop, mostly classic pop and rock like Simon & Garfunkel and Hoagy Carmichael.

The thing is, I don't generally collect every variation, single, b-side, format, etc. and usually just stick to the main studio albums of an artist I like. Some I only like enough to have a "Best of/Greatest Hits" CD around. I am not really big into DVD/VHS concerts so there are almost none of them in my collection.

Wondering who else here still enjoys some CD love every now and then?

i still mostly buy all my cd's and rip them myself
what i dont rip i buy on itunes

I'm way into Vinyl, and now that Amazon has their AutoRip service I'm a happy camper. You get the best of both worlds that way, digital format for ease of listening and the physical album. I'm just glad vinyl is taking off again, pretty much everything is being re-issued with the AutoRip option these days.

I still buy CDs, when I can find something worth buying.

I buy them at Goodwill for $1.

I have a handful of favorite bands that I still buy CD's of, but sometimes I wait for the price to drop..

so.. no I don't really buy many cd's.

I still buy CDs I only use them at home though, I rip my favorite songs onto my IPod

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Originally Posted by QuickSciFi

I buy them at Goodwill for $1.

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This; I occasionally will buy from a used CD store, but usually get my CDs from thrift stores and rip them to my computer. I like having the high quality, physical backup copies. I also like to have complete albums rather than buy individual songs. I've probably bought less than 10 songs on iTunes (usually for some oddball or rare song).

I buy physical media when there's an option.
I will not pay money for a lossy file format, but I have bought some WAVs and FLACs.

I bought two vinyl albums that just came out within the last year yesterday, and i bought a new CD a few months ago. so yeah, i still buy music sometimes.

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Originally Posted by sketch

This; I occasionally will buy from a used CD store, but usually get my CDs from thrift stores and rip them to my computer. I like having the high quality, physical backup copies. I also like to have complete albums rather than buy individual songs. I've probably bought less than 10 songs on iTunes (usually for some oddball or rare song).

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Yup. Same here also. I like to own full albums. I rip my entire CDs and place full albums on my devices even if I only like one song.

I sample new stuff on Spotify and buy a whole album on CD if I like the album, in the cases of singles / digital exclusives / one track out of the whole album, iTunes can be useful.

I am usually very careful about how I rip and encode whole CDs, trying to do them perfect is like an art and science to me. I usually than enjoy them on any device. Oddly enough I do keep back ups of these, as transfer time is quite faster and less annoying to keep the metadata perfect. I love things like artwork and linear notes and bonus stuff. But like to keep it CIB and the condition is as good as possible. Using lossless formats (often stuffed with metadata) is the best way to keep it. Replay gain (metadata tag) to level out things between albums works quite well (death to the loudness wars).

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Originally Posted by QuickSciFi

I buy them at Goodwill for $1.

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This is what I do now. I used to buy CDs at retail when I was a DJ. Having the legit physical disc became important to me about 10 years ago when I had started to be a DJ. Just a couple weeks before I started, ASCAP had done an audit of the venue. You were allowed to use comp discs or MP3s but you had to prove you actually owned the media too.

Bought two CDs after a longer hiatus.

I will occasionally pick up stuff from Japan, but there's not much domestic that I want anymore. Like others, thrifts are a decent place to hunt for CDs, but I'd rather my shelves have games than music CDs.

I have a 3TB drive full of FLAC, ALAC, and WAV rips; I eventually want to convert them all to level 8 FLAC to save as much space as I can for the time being, at least until I can get my NAS up and running with 12TB of space for media. I keep things lossless because 1) I don't trust someone else's shitty encode to MP3, 2) I CAN tell the difference when I listed back to MP3s vs FLAC and 3) Im driving an 04 Nissan; no aux out for an MP3 player, just a 6 disc changer for now, so I burn a lot of CDs from my FLAC rips, while keeping the originals pristine.

If by "CDs" you mean "MP3s" and "buy" you mean "pirate", then yes.
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On a more serious note, I just listen to songs on YouTube VEVO or whatever.

Just like video games, movies, books, et cetera, I prefer the physical media to digital. That said, I don't spend a lot on CDs, but I pick them up at thrift shops and such. About 5 or 6 times a year a new album comes out that I have to buy. The last one I picked up was the new Liars record Mess. I've really been enjoying it.

Hell no.
I buy Cdrs.
I did buy an album that is hard to get for free complete with p2p.
Meat Loaf Bat out of Hell 2.
I love that album.

I still buy about 5 to 6 CDs a month. I've been slowly ripping my entire CD collection to FLAC files, luckily I haven't run into any CDs with disc rot.

I'm more of "try before you buy" sort of person

I'll usually end up listening to an entire album that's been posted to Youtube and if I like it, I'll purchase it

I buy cheap $5 CDs a lot just to gut the cases for my Saturn games.

i mostly buy my cd's on fleabay for a fraction of their orginal price

I still buy them. I don't buy music CDs all that often, but I do still buy them when a band I like puts out a new release.

MP3s are convenient and everything, but files get corrupt, website log in passwords get forgotten, and websites shut down. Thus, preventing you from listening to, or even getting, your files. And while CDs have their own set of problems, if you take care of a CD, you'll have it for a very, very long time. No passwords or websites needed.

I prefer having the physical discs, so I buy them. Mostly to support my favorite bands.

Some old LPs are being remastered for the second or third time, and I usually give a try at some of these. I'm not an audiophile but I am aware of brickwalled sound compression and other recording issues. A good example of a nice choice is the last Fleetwood Mac's Then Play On remaster, which sounds very superior than its last remaster, which is from the 90s. I acquired the new CD and felt amazed with the sound quality and dinamics, as well as the booklet, which I appreciated. About HD formats, my ears can't really perceive the difference from a normal CD.

The last album i buy was Kiss Psycho Circus

I really find that CD's are more pleasant to own just because of the liner notes and whatever other artwork they come with, like all other physical media. Digital files just aren't the same and lack much of the charm of their physical equivalents. So yes, I still purchase CD's (and occasionally vinyl) on a regular basis. Sometimes, I even buy multiple versions of the same album for better sound quality just because I'm sort of an audiophile.

I'm so glad optical media hasn't gone away yet, and with the recent news of the successor to the Blu-Ray disc, the Archival Disc (http://www.sony.net/SonyInfo/News/Pr...1403/14-0310E/), it looks like it won't be going away for a good long while. I really love that archival discs are disc rot proof.

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Originally Posted by JFLY

I'm so glad optical media hasn't gone away yet, and with the recent news of the successor to the Blu-Ray disc, the Archival Disc (http://www.sony.net/SonyInfo/News/Pr...1403/14-0310E/), it looks like it won't be going away for a good long while. I really love that archival discs are disc rot proof.

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Very cool, long live physical media!

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Originally Posted by joyeux

Some old LPs are being remastered for the second or third time, and I usually give a try at some of these. I'm not an audiophile but I am aware of brickwalled sound compression and other recording issues. A good example of a nice choice is the last Fleetwood Mac's Then Play On remaster, which sounds very superior than its last remaster, which is from the 90s. I acquired the new CD and felt amazed with the sound quality and dinamics, as well as the booklet, which I appreciated. About HD formats, my ears can't really perceive the difference from a normal CD.

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The quality of the player, receiver, speakers, headphones, etc has as much if not more effect on the sound fidelity than anything. With high end equipment, the difference in sound quality is apparent between SACDs and regular CDs for instance.