MP3 DIGITAL DOWNLOAD vs CD

Now those are the kind of links I was hoping for, thank you

How is it possible that MP3s can become outdated in the same way that physical media does? Its very simple to add the ability to read any given audio format to a personal audio device, so I can't imagine that any manufacturer would randomly cease supporting the format.

There's no precedent for a file format becoming illegal. How on earth could such a thing possibly be enforced, when piracy isn't?

I would think (hope) that the general populous' tolerance for new formats is coming to an end, it's physically impossible to see the difference in any higher resolution than Bluray unless you have 20:5 vision :D ... so they are trying to get people to adopt 3D as the next cash cow but that's a bigger challenge because a large percentage of consumers do not like 3D.

In the past, new formats were adopted more easily because they had obvious, marketable benefits. Most people can see that Bluray is better than DVD is better than VHS. But that road is at an end. Something will have to change. Especially given the state of the economy.

I don't think Alan was being completely serious in that respect.
(On the other hand, who in history would have thought mandatory "region coding" for films would be an accepted standard at some point? To make money, sometimes truth is stranger than fiction...)

However, a scenario where a certain format is being actively retired certainly isn't unthinkable.
While obviously of course I'd prefer backwards compatibility in the future, such a thing by no means is guarantueed (especially when future music encoding will take the route it's already taking, with a completely different design of and philosophy towards coding and decoding).



Interestingly there does seem to be a backlash there....but only on the cinema front!
It's still gonna be the next big thing in home entertainment!



Now that is an excellent point and the primary (indeed maybe even the only) one I can see effecting a real change in the bigger-BIGGER-BIGGER mentality we've come to expect from the entertainment industry over the last half century or so.




Utterly, completely, totally, ultimately, intensely agree.


Hm. I never thought of that.
Not a bad point, really...

I think the main reason CDs will survive as a music medium is that with digital download, there isn't any motivation for the person of gray morals to purchase albums...at least with CDs you are getting something physical that you can hold in your hands and that looks nice enough (theoretically) to display.

I am in a small private sharing operation where we buy albums and scan the album art for each other for CDs that are not easily available in our regions, and even though "piracy" is occuring, at least one person MUST purchase the physical CD to scan the artwork...with digital downloads there is absolutely no incentive to buy the CD.

What will survive in the not too distant future will be used CD's, books, corded telephones. The days of selling a million copies of a particular release are history. Do you think the record labels care about a 1000 piece sale of Casanova? I doubt it. This will hold true with DVD's, books, and mail. Do you think the average older person participates in illegal downloads? I don't. There will be a few who will hang onto the older technology until the end. VHS, LP's, 45's, cassettes, laser discs, 8 tracks, reel to reel tapes are still around. But millions of people use and pay for downloads and the quality is less than but more than good enough for the general public.
Tom

Most people who go the illegal route, wouldn't have bought it anyway.

I just moved into my own place and have no money, but I refuse to give up my addiction to obtaining and listening to new music, so piracy is the only way. I'm keeping a list of all the music I obtain illegally so that I can buy it later when I have more money. Yes, I actually will, I did this once before and afterwards placed a rather LARGE order...much plastic wrap ensued...

On the original topic, another interesting thought I had is that the MP3 vs CD quality debate is often a much less important factor to quality than the all-important recording and engineering quality. A bad recording is going to sound just as bad on CD (or even worse, since you can hear the flaws better!), and John Williams percussion still sounds brilliant compressed on my ipod in cheap(er) headphones. When I notice flaws on my high-end equipment, its far more often an error in the recording rather than an insufficiency in the compression algorithm of an MP3.

Unlike most people my age, I never really went to loud concerts and I rarely listen to music particularly loudly, so I probably have less damaged hearing than most people.

I see from MovieMusic Store that the US Postal Service have raised the shipping rate for International orders of a single CD by 90%!! Shipping on multiple CD orders is up 'only' 25%.

I am assuming that this will feature in orders from other stores too?

It is bound to affect CD sales and is a further squeeze on these outlets. Lower sales could mean increased CD prices, making matters worse.

Wow, when did this happen? SAE's rates are still the same I see, will everyone increase those shipping rates?

According to the USPS site, the new rates came in yesterday:

http://about.usps.com/postal-bulletin/2 … ml/kit.htm

So I would expect stores to pass on the costs to the customers asap. But I can't see such a huge hike from my brief skim of the information.

Looks like SAE have put up their shipping costs. There's now a cost of $10.00 for the "ordinary" international shipping to countries other than Canada.

For a single CD sent internationally, the cost used to be $7.10.

So, if ordering a single Intrada release (for example) total cost for CD including s&h will be $30.00. I think that multiple CDs per order is what's best.

Packages with CDs do go missing - I have had it happen to me in the past. People may not know that it's film music in the box/parcel but they take their chances and perhaps take it (at whichever part of the mailing process) just out of curiosity and hope. They must be so disappointed when they see that it's something like Tyler Bates' latest offering.

One of the main reasons I switched from CD to digital purchasing was to save on both the cost of the CD and shipping costs. To get the benefit of this cheaper option has been at the expense of things like (apparently) audio quality (I don't hear that so it doesn't matter to me) and not receiving elaborate booklets (for things like the recent Adventures of Don Juan release).

Back in 2008 I placed 33 orders with SAE whereas in 2012 I ordered from them only 6 times. Digital purchases were minimal in 2008 but last year most of my orders were digital. And with increasing costs of buying CDs from home and abroad together with my reduced disposable income, going the digital route has meant that I have been able to maintain a reasonable level of purchasing.

I was reading about someone who had ordered a new mobile phone online but hadn't received it. They had contacted the retailer, who said that it had been sent. They also said that it was up to the buyer to contact the postal service (in this case Royal Mail) to make a claim.

The piece says that it is the responsibility of the company sending goods to ensure they arrive and that if an order goes missing while on route to the consumer, the company must send new goods or offer a full refund including postage costs. A buyer has a contract with the seller and not with the postal service.

Does anyone know whether the same situation applies for CDs and for CDs sent international? This piece made me think whether SAE was entitled to charge extra to ensure that a second order would be shipped if the first does not arrive.

Has anyone had much luck trying to get things sorted out when they have bought digital downloads and they are not satisfactory?

I've had a few recent experiences with this, with varying degrees of success. Trying to get some sort of resolution from iTunes is virtually impossible in my experience. I bought one particular album from them and it was constantly skipping/interrupting. I contacted them about it and I think that they just refunded the cost of the album. I went back some time later to the store and the problem with the album was still there. I had emailed the composer of the album and he gave me a copy of the album free - and a thanks for letting him know. He went on to contact iTunes but obviously nothing was done about it.

eMusic seems to be quite good at refunding if tracks are not what was advertised. I had a duplicate track sent even though it was labelled as being a different track. They refunded for one of the tracks but never got back to me saying if the error had been corrected on the album.

And, most recently, Google Play is advertising Geoff Zanelli's Into The West score for purchase (one of the few online stores to do so) but about a dozen of the tracks have track times of "0:00" and don't play an audio clip. I've tried to contact them about it over the last few days but I've heard nothing back and the error hasn't been corrected.