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The Avett Brothers | I and Love and You
The Great Debate
To buy the physical product or not – that is the question. We now live in the digital era where it seems that almost anything can be put into digital form. Music, movies, books, pictures….you name it and there is probably some digital form of it. As a music enthusiast I have grappled with the question, “to buy the CD or not” more times than I care to remember. For those of you who know me you know that the answer to that question has almost always resulted in a defiant, “YES!” I’ve always been a proponent of buying the physical product. I like having it. I like having something tangible when I spend money on it. I like looking through my CD collection, choosing an album, taking the CD out its case and putting it into my CD player – as stone age as that sounds. I like flipping through the CD jacket. There are a lot of things I like about having the physical thing. You know what I don’t like? I don’t like that it just doesn’t all make sense anymore. I want it to…I really do, but as the years pass I’m struggling to continue justifying buying the physical CD. A few years ago I wouldn’t even be having this conversation with you, but I think the time has finally come where it might be time to change my ways. And here are a few reasons why:
Have you tried this?
Amazon MP3
To put it simply it’s amazing. One of my biggest gripes against digital music (and hence why I continued buying CDs) was DRM (Digital Rights Management). I can’t tell you how annoying DRM is….I can’t tell you because you already know. It’s awful. Amazon MP3 has solved this. Digital music, without the annoying crap. It’s also incredibly simple to use and the instant gratification is wonderful. And did I mention it’s cheaper? A LOT CHEAPER. In some cases, the MP3 album can be $2 below the CD price (and that’s without shipping). When you’re talking about a $10 CD versus an $8 download…well that’s saving you 20%. If you buy a lot of music, think how much you will be saving over the years. All in all, Amazon MP3 just makes sense.
Microsoft Xbox 360 & Windows Media Center
Windows Media Center
I own an Xbox 360 and along with its video game capabilities it allows me to do something else I really enjoy. Stream music from my desktop computer to my stereo system wirelessly. This means my entire music collection is just a few clicks away while sitting on my couch. And no awful computer speakers – I get to listen through my stereo. You know what else I like – Windows Media Center. Is it perfect? Absolutely not, but it is does what I need it to and does so in an atheistically pleasing way. You can browse your music collection any way you like (artist, album, year, genre, etc…) and WMC shows you the album art of each. When you finally choose something you can then leave the album art on the screen or choose to a view slideshow of your pictures if you like. I think the reason I like WMC a lot is because it fills the void of not having something tangible. I can go onto Amazon, download the album, and then there it is on WMC. I can see the album art – it’s not just a list of songs in a folder somewhere. This sounds ridiculous, but seeing the album on WMC does something for me.
Space
It seems like I’m moving every 18 months. I’m tired of lugging around my CD collection. I don’t really have anything else to say about that.
So those are the reasons why I think I may be finally giving up on purchasing CDs. It just doesn’t make sense anymore – I want it to, but it doesn’t. And as much as I like having the CD it’s just a lot simpler to……well…….not. I’d love to hear your thoughts on all of this – I’ve had the debate with several friends and I think most of them will be happy to hear that I’m finally giving in. If you still buy CDs though….I want to hear why. If there’s a good reason – maybe I’m not done with it.
If you have something to say...
But you love CDs! You’re the only person I know who actually still buys CDs! Now there will be no one left. How sad.
Well, I guess that means it’s official: CDs are dead.
You were the only person I knew who still passionately bought albums in CD form – and I think you single handedly kept the music industry alive.
Having said that – I’m glad to hear that you’re switching over to downloads. It just makes more sense!
For me, it really took the AmazonMP3 market. Your reasoning behind DRM is HUGE for Amazon, giving straight and raw mp3 files. What I also love is that a) the downloads are AMAZINGLY fast – near instant. And b) I don’t need iTunes to do it.
I think iTunes is a handy piece of software with a nice interface and great organization options… that takes up half of my computer’s RAM to work. Sometimes I just want to listen to a song, not bog down my computer.
And also: Yeah, Xbox media center extender is fantastic. When I moved to the city and got rid of my car- I stopped listening to music much- until I really started utilizing Xbox. Now- I use the Xbox for listening to music just as much as playing games. It’s awesome.
Lastly- while I’m rambling – another awesome thing about Amazon’s downloads- are the deals and free songs it offers every day through this page here. For example – today, for VDay weekend – Marvin Gaye’s Let’s Get it On is free. Enjoy!
Huh… my Marvin Gaye link didn’t work…
Here you go: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001NTNJD2?tag=MARVINGAYE-20
@Zach Yup…since I’m giving up it looks like CDs are dead.
Amazon really was the deciding factor. It’s just too easy not to utilize. It’s just about perfect.
I completely agree with the iTunes thing…although I use the Zune software. I don’t know iTunes works, but with Zune they do that stupid point thing. Just tell me how the freakin song is. Plus it’s DRMed…so yeah Amazon solves this problem again.
Xbox really just put the icing on the cake. I can listen through good speakers without moving any hard drives or crap. Just load it up.
Just checked out Amazon mp3 for the first time. Lots of great free songs (Albert Hammond Jr! The Streets!) and the sound quality can’t be beat. I have been converted.
@Emily you bring up a great point – sound quality. I was really deterred from digital music early on because the sound quality was just not good (you could clearly tell a difference between an iTunes song vs. a song played from a CD). Again, Amazon fixed this with great sounding mp3s.
Hey Drew………..well I’m amazed!! Just 4 weeks you were firmly committed to purchaing the physical CD. I mean “really” committed. It’s great to see your continued growth and flexibility and ability to remain open to new possibilties. Who knows where this will take you! Maybe graphite shafts!!! While I only understand about 7% of what you are talking about I would like to talk to you more about this……….offline!
@Dad the whole switch from buying CDs to not CDs has come on rather suddenly. I think it was mainly b/c of Amazon MP3. It just makes purchasing music so easy.
Never on graphite shafts!
Let’s definitely talk about the 93% of what you don’t understand sometime soon!