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

One thing is certain, it will definitely be DIGITAL!

JG

 

None of them. I guess only audiophiles will still be listening to full albums, the rest of the world will be listening to the mp3 player or itunes music library on shuffle. Both vinyl and CD will have become irrelevant to anyone but a very small group of people.

 

I go with CDs because they are more portable than vinyl as well as the fact that it is easier to rip songs into your preferred file type. I have a feeling that this will only apply to consumers who care about physical media; a demographic that is shrinking year by year.

 

We have streaming capability here in the U.S.

 

I chose CDs because I figure there will still be a lot more cars equipped with CD Players than vinyl players.

 

Not only that, but many of the vinyl sales are going to hipsters. Some of them may actually like vinyl, others just do it because that's what hipsters do for now.

 

Therefore , many of the CD sales are going to plebs.
People who have a bias against vinyl seem to repeat this like a mantra.

 

Yeah but not Spotify, right?

 

I have nothing against vinyl, I know in many cases (like Springsteen) the vinyl is much better than CD. But hipsters get onto something for a while and drop it.

 

I think thats pretty funny that someone would play records because "it's the thing to do", or whatever. Records are a pain in the ***, but nothing sounds as good to me for certain albums. I never stopped playing them (since the late '60's) because there is no alternative for the "tone" they can deliver.

 

CD's will be around until Itunes goes lossless at least. Computers will also have CD burners for quite sometime so people can still rip their CD's to their hard drives. I think both will probably be niche items in 10 years, but CD's will still be the more popular of the 2, if just for the fact you can use them as back up's in the digital age, and you can play them on blu-ray players. Also, there is less chance of skips & scratches for the most part with a CD.

 

If only that were true! Here in L.A. the competition in the used vinyl bins has gotten fierce. Nearly all my friends that are in their 20's-30's that are passionate about music have suddenly "discovered" vinyl. I qualified the "passionate" part because the vast majority of average folks could care less about what medium the song comes in.
Most of the 17-18 Y.O. kids I photograph are downloading, but a SURPRISING amount of them are starting vinyl collections. And buying up tons of vinyl albums (at the thrift stores) that I take for granted. Go figure.
I figured this discussion would digress into the usual personal preference battle-the CD guys VS. the vinyl guys but a visit to Amoeba records tells the real story as plain as day. The vinyl section has gotten larger and larger over the past 5 years, again a surprise to a long time collector like myself. Niche market? of course. But a niche that continues to grow-at least here in L.A.
Ten years from now? Who knows? But the record has been around for over a hundred years, and it's my guess that when most people have a virtual playlist floating on a server in the netherworld of internet space the LP will continue to fascinate.
The sound of a CD can be exactly replicated with a high quality download. The sound of a vinyl record is unique.

 

Even though I don't have a lot of confidence in my response,
I voted vinyl. I have quite a few CDs and still buy them on occasion.
After they're ripped I almost never play the actual CD.
I would imagine quite a few others do the same. So, I think in the future the middle man (CD) will just be squeezed out.

 

I voted for vinyl because the people I know now listen to their music on devices like ipods and computers and when they purchase music it's through Itunes not CD's. I also see the shrinking of CD sales at stores like Best Buy as being a indicator that people are going the digital download route. Now I will always have my vinyl and Cd's but I think in ten years I will be seen as a old dinosaur.

 

Yes they will

 

10 years is not that long of a time. I remember shopping for CDs in 2000 and there was a lot of uncertainty about CDs future. Everyone was downloading to ipod and MP3 and talking about CDs being "history".

 

Actually Both!

 

In ten years, a significant number of albums will still be sold on CD. I'll guess 20-25%. This presumes normal market forces prevail. If the industry tries to viciously kill the format as they did with vinyl in the late 1980s by starting to not release on that format, well all bets are off, I guess.

Even if it is only 10% of the market, I don't think vinyl would ever reach that level again. Most people do not want to fuss with vinyl. I don't want to fuss with vinyl, but I do sometimes. When another option exists for those who want a physical format, it will be the preferred one. Given the number of needledrops I listen to, one could say that CD is the vinyl format I listen to more.

 

I sense that the vinyl-adoring Steve Hoffman forum members have a built-in bias. While vinyl has experienced an uptick, it's a gnat on the elephant's back in terms of total music sales. At the moment, it is next to impossible to buy a majority of common titles on new vinyl and while some new releases may get the vinyl treatment, most won't. And outside the rock'n'roll world, it's largely CD or nothing. Example- find me a bluegrass album that's been released or re-released on vinyl in the last 20 years.

I don't see vinyl as a viable format for TODAY and I don't see that changing as we move into the cloud. Vinyl will have lots of followers (enjoy) as will CDs (enjoy).

Oh, re prices for collectible media. Vinyl has CDs beat almost every time since vinyl has decades of releases whereas CDs only have two. Older and rarer = more collectible. Value also increases with condition- new old vinyl (or even used but not abused) sounds great but it's rare; CDs, if they play at all, sound great; no degradation through use.

OK, thrash me up good.

 

Old media is dead...my money is on Holograms - our only hope.

 

Another thought, it's hard to disassociate your choice from you want to happen. Many vinyl fans would relish a sustained vinyl revival while CD adherents could care less about cartridges and whatnot and would be happy is Amazon continues to have a great selection.

I personally don't have the time, $, space, or patience to be a vinyl connessior (how do you spell that?!) but I'm glad vinyl's out there and I'm glad people enjoy.

Bottom line- music is great however it's delivered.

 

Like those silly HDTVs which don't have the warmth of the old analog models?

 

in 10 years? Neither.

 

Please read the original post.

 

Dick Tracy watch with a hologram of music videos is the future for the masses...

Vinyl and SACDs will outlast CDs for the "gotta have hard media" group ...