I found an interesting article over at Digital Media Thoughts in which Jason posed the question, is the CD dead? His proof is CD’s diminishing sales in the last few years and its continued downward spiral. Jason feels services like iTunes Music Store is to blame for the lowered sales of the shinny discs everyone once considered cutting edge technology. With iTunes Music Store now in the top ten of all music retailers, the only online service in that list, digitally compressed music files are giving the higher quality compact disc a run for its money. As more customers stay at home and purchase more music, will this be the final nail in the CD’s coffin? Doubt it.

Yes sales have declined in the past few years, but iTMS isn’t the main reason for that. Just part of it. Throw in file sharing and higher prices on CD’s and now you’ve got a more accurate reason for falling sales. I would say the major reason for the lower numbers from Soundscan is the greed of Hollywood. I don’t know how many times I’ve said this, but the high ticket price on a low cost format is what is killing it.

I remember in 1982 when the CD first came out and how it was about $30 a disc. That was a lot of money when compared to the $12.99 you could buy a record for. But I had read that as the format became more popular, it would become cheaper then vinyl. Outside of sale and bargain bin CD’s, that’s really never happened even though everyone knows it costs the labels about $4 to produce and ship a CD. Add the overhead for hot artists such as Britney and the CD still won’t cost the label more then $6. So why are they about $20? Good question and it’s one the rest of the public is asking by not purchasing them.

Now enter iTMS. With its common price of $10 an LP, this is a more desirable price. Most consumers are not audio savvy and thus don’t care about the loss of quality when downloading their compressed music. Truth is, I am an audiophile with a $4,000 Denon amp with pricey speakers to match. I can tell the difference when an ADD or an DDD compact disc is playing with ease. So yes, when the Sonos is blaring some of my MP3’s or JHymn liberated iTMS songs, I can hear the difference there, too. But do I care? No, not really since most of my music listening is in my car, computer, or off some descent headphones connected to my iPod. These are all environments that don’t demand high quality. Because of this, I skipped the whole SACD / DVD-A war that really still has no clear winner yet.

So back to the question at hand. Is the iTunes going to kill the CD? No. In order to take advantage of iTMS, you need a computer. Then you need an Internet connection, preferably broadband. Not everyone has these items but with CD players as cheap as $25 at Wal-mart, it’s a no-brainer for people to go that route. Further, I’ve heard this argument before…back in the late 80’s. No, I’m not talking about vinyl, I’m talking about the cassette. Guess what’s still here twenty years later? Ya, the cassette. The CD will be with us a little bit longer, I think.

[tags]cd,itunes,itms,compact disc,dead[/tags]