Thread June 20, 2015 editorial: comments

Walk on the Luddite Side

As of a few months ago, revenues from streaming music surpassed those from CD sales for the first time, so now CDs are in third place, with downloads still leading the pack (streaming is catching up fast, however). For many of us recording types, the decline of the CD’s importance to the record industry dovetails with its loss of value as a studio tool. 

I remember when I used CDs all the time in my studio. I burned mixes to them, I listened to music on CDs all the time, I used CDs (and DVDs) for saving computer data, and most of the computer software I bought came on CDs. I was so into CDs, that I  even remember getting all excited when the CD-RW came out. (“Wow, rewriteable CDs, Cool!”) 

But over the last five years or so, I’ve practically stopped using CDs of any type at all, except to listen to music from my existing collection, and only those discs I haven’t already dumped into my computer. My new music comes via download or streaming. (Yes, I know, CD quality is better than compressed audio, but for sheer convenience, you can’t beat streaming and downloading.)

What’s more, my software comes via download, and my data is backed up in the cloud rather than onto a physical disc. 

I even stopped using CDs when listening to my mixes in my car (which, like many of us, I do a lot when I’m working on a project). Instead, I started syncing the mixes via iTunes onto my iPhone or uploading them to Dropbox and opening the Dropbox app on my phone in the car, and playing the mixes directly from that.

But I’ve realized of late that sometimes it’s a lot simpler and faster to just burn a CD. Dropbox doesn’t always sync the files right away, so sometimes when I go to play them in the car, they’re not yet available. To plug my phone into the car stereo requires that I remember to bring a 3.5” cable with me, which sometimes I forget. So, lately, I’ve been taking a walk on the Luddite side, and burning mixes to CDs. 

I actually ordered some blank CDs recently, for the first time in years, after I finally ran out of the last batch, which had been purchased at least three years ago. For me, the CD maybe on life support, but it still has some value, beyond being a coaster. What about you? Do you still use CD-Rs in your studio?