Ten years from now, will more people be listening to vinyl or CDs?

I can't speak for everyone, but *I* will definitely be sticking with CDs. There's no way I'm going to start converting my 1,600+ collection of CDs over to vinyl.

 

You guys have it all wrong, Vinyl is not a fad, a fad implies everyone gets something as its in vogue for a short time period.

The average person has not a clue that vinyl is even around anymore. Most individuals you were to ask wouldnt even realize ANY vinyl has been produced in the last 20 years. Only US types in here realize or care.

Most average people think vinyl was due to die and its a pointless format that is outdated and not useful. They see it as totally dead and dont care about it in any way.

Its a tiny niche market, that has enjoyed a nice resurgence lately. Its dead no matter what and has been for over 20 years. Dead implies the average person doesnt buy it or care about it.

 

Right, and a few of us contrarians who are snapping up cds at discount prices as others dump theirs. My cd collection has more than doubled in the last 3 years. And I know I am not the only one. Often I will pass on something at the used cd store only to find it gone the following week.

 

The lp is dead as a mainstream format and the cd is a dying mainstream format. Both will be niche formats in 10 years.

 

you'd be correct if that wasn't completely backasswards and silly.

wow. you're just a big bag of fun will you come to my home for thanskgiving

..gimmie a download any day.

agreed

 

Same here. I couldn't possibly replace my cd collection with vinyl, even if I wanted to. Oh technically perhaps, if I felt like spending a million dollars on original 45s and 78s. Charlie Patton and Charlie Feathers discs don't grow on trees anymore, if they ever did, and unless I was John Teffeteller, I wouldn't even know where to begin. Plus trying to listen to totally beat up vinyl is not my thing. Most of the music I collect isn't available on pristine new vinyl reissues. Unfortunately, I don't see the sense of going to Goodwill and buying vinyl that I wouldn't have bought new in the first place. That's not collecting music you love, in many cases it's just hoarding product.

So, I guess if the doom and gloom vinyl enthusiasts are right, I better go out and invest in a couple of cd players to get me through the last half of my life. After that, who the hell cares?

 

That's not even the argument. The argument is that digital can be distributed and enjoyed perfectly well without the little silver discs, therefore the little silver discs will eventually go away.

 

Vinyl, because those who prefer digital will have moved on to other forms of music delivery.

John K.

 

True. But will cds be completely gone in 10 years, or will it take longer, maybe 20 or 25 years for this to happen? Just as I didn't dump all my lps in 1985, or even in 1995, I don't plan to dump all my cds in 10 years.

 

No, they haven't.

 

"Completely gone" will be much farther in the future, but I suspect that in 10 years, many if not most of us will not be using discs to listen to digital music. You and I may still own many CD's, but we will have little reason to play them. It's not the same as LP's, because there is not a direct correspondence between what LP can do and what CD can do in the way that there is between CD and lossless digital files. And if is is reasonable to say that hi-res digital can offer better sound at higher resolution than CD (which seems to be the case, although I have not investigated this myself), then the CD seems even more superfluous.

Also, I think that with the continuing emphasis on environmentalism in the world, once it becomes apparent that there is little or no advantage in pressing music into discs and packaging in plastic, then there will be pressure on companies to offer music largely or even exclusively by download. Furthermore, I think that this will also eventually lead to many more titles being offered, since the cost of manufacturing will not be a factor.

 

Actually, I'm not sure that we'll be listening to CDs or LPs or any music ten years from now. Within the next decade, I assume a terrorist will detonate a nuclear device in a major city, which will cause a mass exodus from urban areas in general. The major problem for those of us in the countryside will be keeping the refugees - former corporate attorneys, stockbrokers, record company executives - off our lawns. And the major problem for everyone else will be trying to find a scrap of plastic to hold over their heads when it snows.

 

I'm in the same boat. I just turned 32 and my collection isn't quite as large (300 lps) but growing. I'm 2 years in. Cds just aren't that interesting. My cds have way more scratches than my lps as well but that's due to care.

I spent about 4 hrs listening to vinyl yesterday while watching football. I wouldn't do that with cds for sure. They just don't sound as good to me.

I also think many up and coming younger musicians are interested in the vinyl medium. Now, if they could only afford to record analog, we might have an even brighter future for vinyl.

 

On the Download

Downloads.

Get real.

 

Please read the original post:

 

Well, the Technics 1200 is no longer manufactured, what does that tell you? Most of the CDs most people will be listening to will be downloads from pre-existing CDs and the manufacturing base will continue to decline.

 

Given the choice of only those 2, I'd have to say CD. Vinyl has been a part of my entire 52 year life, but in the 18 months that I've had surround sound for DVD-A, SACD, and Blu Ray Audio, it's become increasingly clear that the number of people willing to sit down in a dedicated listening room, and not be constantly on the go with their portable devices, is a minority.
Thinking that will change in only 10 years is beyond belief. If anything, life will likely be even more fast-paced. It's only on a forum like this, that one encounters others willing to sit in a "sweet spot", for the entire duration of an album, let alone get antsy after only one song.

 

LISTENING and BUYING are two totally different things.

Vinyl "listeners" will number about the same in ten years as now.

CD "listeners" will decrease in numbers over the next decade, but will still outnumber vinyl listeners.

Just because they stop making CD's (eventually) doesn't mean people will quit listening. I have 3000 CD's, many people have MANY more. It's not like we're all going to simply throw them away as downloads become the norm.

 

CDs, but just barely.

I cannot speak for other cultures, but in the United States, convenience wins over quality every time. You cannot play an LP in a computer, DVD player, or BluRay player. You have to go through the trouble of buying a turntable (if you do not already have one) and set it up before you can play your LP. Most people simply won't do that.

It will be more than ten years before CDs disappear for good. They will have to get close to that point before vinyl overtakes them.

 

more cds than vinyl, but very likely something else besides cds will be the majority format. wax cylinders or something.

 

Of the two choices, I voted for CD but in all fairness I don't expect CDs to be around in ten years time. It's gonna be downloads all the way, with people listening to sounds playing on their smartphones. Most people don't care about quality, they just want convenience.

 

I think there will still be more people listening to CDs, but definitely the number of folks listening to CDs is going to decline steeply over that period.

 

That clarifies things.

This year's Blu-Ray player can play back CDs, this year's computer can play back CDs, there's billions of those little metallic suckers floating around and it takes a lot more work to render one unlistenable than it takes to ruin an LP. So in ten years time, a lot more people will be listening to CDs and a hopped up 1200 will go for some serious money.

 

I'll still be spinning vinyl but I think downloading music will be the main way to go.

 

Everybody I know use streaming, so my bet is on that. I know that it’s not available in the USA yet, but it’s extremely popular in my part of the world. Hopefully there will also be a small following for vinyl and CD.