Physical Media, where do we see it in 20 years.

[flak monkey]

Still be around, just less of it. Cassette tapes are now just coming back. In 20 years CDs will be the same as the resurgence in vinyl now. But they will partially disappear for a period.

My partner has albums out on CD, vinyl and on streaming (tidal and spotify), not big, but physical media still makes more money for the artists than the streaming, especially at gigs. Last streaming payment was under a quid for the year . 

 

[Paul Allen]

I think there is a huge difference with current generations and their perception of 'collecting'.

Despite the current trend for vinyl, certainly younger generations are at some point going to realise that they're going to need a lot of space to store this medium!

Of all the children of friends and relatives I know (bearing in mind I worked in the music industry for 20 years so most people I know are 'in to' music) I know very few who 'collect' CD or vinyl as the older generations do. Sure there are many who are as passionate about music as us but at the very most they just use streamers. Most are happy just playing music straight off their phones!
I love vinyl as much as the next man but I have to admit that these days I don't play it a lot; I think studio sound is just too ingrained in me. For every record I buy, I probably buy about 20 CDs.

CD sales are likely to never be where they were 10 or 20 years ago but sales are still fairly healthy and I don't think we'll see them disappear for several generations. For me collecting a physical object whether it be CD or vinyl still provides a great deal of satisfaction.

(Controversial) Of course, CD is still the most technically superior format 

 

[MF 1000]

I've never been to a gig yet were the band(s) sold 'downloads' ...it's always CDs & vinyl ...long live them both imho.

 

[Bruss22]

Get with it Grandad. Streaming is the future. 

I have vinyl, lots of older cd’s now on a nas, and a few recent cd’s. Just about all my new content is now either downloads or streamed. I listen to more music than  I ever did. The cost model may not be good for the artists but only they ( or their agents) can change that. I don’t see Simon Cowell struggling too much. Vinyl is a nice thing to have for its touchy feely content but its not at all convenient and I’d argue not the end point in quality.

 

[StingRay]

I think there is a huge difference with current generations and their perception of 'collecting'.

Despite the current trend for vinyl, certainly younger generations are at some point going to realise that they're going to need a lot of space to store this medium!

Of all the children of friends and relatives I know (bearing in mind I worked in the music industry for 20 years so most people I know are 'in to' music) I know very few who 'collect' CD or vinyl as the older generations do. Sure there are many who are as passionate about music as us but at the very most they just use streamers. Most are happy just playing music straight off their phones!
I love vinyl as much as the next man but I have to admit that these days I don't play it a lot; I think studio sound is just too ingrained in me. For every record I buy, I probably buy about 20 CDs.

CD sales are likely to never be where they were 10 or 20 years ago but sales are still fairly healthy and I don't think we'll see them disappear for several generations. For me collecting a physical object whether it be CD or vinyl still provides a great deal of satisfaction.

(Controversial) Of course, CD is still the most technically superior format 

I don’t think cd sales are that healthy, around 5m in the uk, even LPs sold more. In 2001 cd sales were over 120m.  Yes some artists like Adele are selling quite a lot on cd but that is a massive fall.

 

[MartinC]

I have no long term interest in physical music formats. It baffles me that vinyl is somehow still 'a thing' but given it is I'm sure vinyl and CD will still be with us to some extent in 20 years time.

I do still buy Blu-Rays for movies and TV series though, and physical PlayStation games for what it's worth too.

 

[audio_PHIL_e]

I was once outside the village pub, going through some LPs that this chap was selling from his late father's collection. It was a sobering thought that one day someone would be doing the same thing to my record collection. I suspect I have up to 20 years left and so long as I can enjoy the records and the HiFi for the rest of that time I'll be happy. When I'm gone I think I'll be past caring.

 

[Jazid]

When I'm gone I think I'll be past caring.

I may get there first but, if you do still care after crossing the styx please, for the love of faith, cause a post in this thread to happen! [emoji120]

Sent from my BLA-L09 using Tapatalk

 

[newlash09]

Vinyl will go extinct, unless they make it easier to mount a cart on an arm

 

[audio_PHIL_e]

I wonder if in 20 years time, people (other than the likes of us) will be at all interested in listening to music. There will be live concert-goers (if live music is allowed at all), and there will be digitally-distributed music which will be of such poor quality that it will be fit only for background "entertainment", but I bet Joe Public won't sit down and listen to music in the future any more than he does now, and probably a lot less.

 

[rabski]

Twenty years from now? Vinyl will still be around. Sometime during the bit from now to then, at least one of the reasonably large players in the audiophile streaming market will pack up. Then people who have all 'their' music on their streaming service will suddenly figure out that they don't actually own any music at all, which may trigger an upsurge in interest in physical media. CDs may come and go, but in another twenty years, a larger proportion of them will have become uplayable due to chemical breakdown, so that may signal the end of the road.

By then, I'll be more interested in what my list of projects looks like, and whether I'll have finished the 300B PP monoblocks

 

[MVJ]

You trying to scare me cos if you are it worked...chemical breakdown bloody nervous breakdown more like

 

[garn63]

He could be right. Those CDs from the 80s dont sound very good today do they ?    Maybe it was just the sh*t music I was buying in the 80s though ?   

 

[audio_PHIL_e]

He could be right. Those CDs from the 80s dont sound very good today do they ?    Maybe it was just the sh*t music I was buying in the 80s though ?   

If they are re-releases of stuff that was originally out on vinyl yes they will sound crap. And you are right about a lot of 80s music sounding crap but there was some good stuff about, it just wasn't in the charts.

 

[flak monkey]

If they are re-releases of stuff that was originally out on vinyl yes they will sound crap. And you are right about a lot of 80s music sounding crap but there was some good stuff about, it just wasn't in the charts.

There's some brilliantly mastered popular stuff from the '80s. George Michael, Michael Jackson, Prince, Def Leppard, Bryan Adams, Dire Straits, Fleetwood Mac and many others. Indeed the original release of Love Over Gold on CD is one of the most common reference/test albums, released about 10 years after the original vinyl/analogue release in '82.

Some early CD mastering was a bit duff while they were figuring stuff out, but a lot of it post '86 is fab.

 

[2010*zuma]

I’ll be darned if I’m ever getting out of my chair to change a compact disc out or turn over a vinyl record….when steaming dies so do I.

 

[audio_PHIL_e]

There's some brilliantly mastered popular stuff from the '80s. George Michael, Michael Jackson, Prince, Def Leppard, Bryan Adams, Dire Straits, Fleetwood Mac and many others.

Some early CD mastering was a bit duff while they were figuring stuff out, but a lot of it post '86 is fab.

I've got Dire Straits and Fleetwood Mac on vinyl. The rest of that list I don't care for much. I also have ZZ Top, Here & Now, James Taylor, Camel, and the Magic Mushroom Band on vinyl; I tried AB-ing Traffic On The Road between Vinyl & CD, the CD was unlistenable (may have been done pre-1986).

 

[audio_PHIL_e]

I’ll be darned if I’m ever getting out of my chair to change a compact disc out or turn over a vinyl record….when steaming dies so do I.

I dislike turfing the cat off my lap to rescue the stylus. At least a CD (or even a cassette) clicks off at the end.

 

[flak monkey]

I've got Dire Straits and Fleetwood Mac on vinyl. The rest of that list I don't care for much. I also have ZZ Top, Here & Now, James Taylor, Camel, and the Magic Mushroom Band on vinyl; I tried AB-ing Traffic On The Road between Vinyl & CD, the CD was unlistenable (may have been done pre-1986).

They are different, just personal preference. I can think of several albums that sound better on CD than vinyl and vice versa. There was an awful lot of cheap, rubbish vinyl produced in the 1980's that ruined otherwise well recorded albums.

I can't say that I'm a fan of all those examples either, but I do know good production when I hear it, even if I wouldn't class myself a fan of the actual music.

 

[StingRay]

If they are re-releases of stuff that was originally out on vinyl yes they will sound crap. And you are right about a lot of 80s music sounding crap but there was some good stuff about, it just wasn't in the charts.

Really, what’s all this good stuff? The 80s for me was one of the worst decades for music.