Are You Still Using CDs?

I have an mp3 player, laptop, PDA, digital camera, camcorder, cell phone with a billion features, digital cable with on-demand, yadda yadda yadda, but I still use my CD's. I guess for me, while I am in my study, I enjoy picking up my favorite classical music CD's and putting them in my shelf top system. Could I use my PC, or just throw on my MP3? Sure, but I find it more convenient to use my audio rack. No battery life to be concerned about depleting, no system resources on my pc to eat up, and the best of all NO EAR BUDS in my own home!!!!

I listen to music pretty much regularly. I have bought maybe 300CDs in the past 3 years, out of which 2 were audio cds. The last time I "used" the latter was to check them if they were still there. I do not own a MP3 player, a home Audio system or any other CD player except the one in my computer. But, I still know people who buy CDs simply because they either do not want the computer to play music or they own excellent home audio systems. CDs were still essential till I got my external USB hard drive few months back. Now the only time I use CDs is to transfer some old software on a CD which I had purchased long time back and is no longer available to be transferred to my USB hard drive. I had started buying CDs when my hard drive capacity was 540MB. Now it is 120+40GB.

I do still listen to my cd's. I play my guitar thur my CPU and blend them together as a way of daily pratice. I have them in a large leather case and when I go out on a road trip......I make sure I have them with-in reach. The odd thing is, I never do reach for them because of my satillite radio. I do play some of my cd's in the living room on my dvd player, but only if I have guest over. When I first started collecting cd's back in the 1980's.... it was the new-way to keep music that won't degrade over time and thats the number one reason I still buy them. I have thought about transfering all my cd's to an external hard drive.....but just so I don't need to keep picking-up the case, which now weights 10 lbs. Over-all, you got to love the album art. I don't see any art on an mp3.

I haven't listened to audio CDs for a long time. At work it's all PC. At home it's either my desktop or laptop if I am working or my Panasonic MP3 bookshelf audio system for the rest. But like you I still buy CDs, specifically from the music clubs (now reduced to only one: BMG Music Service) which still offers a much better deal than any of the online music stores at about $5 per CD depending on the offer you get.

Many CDs however have never been played but just ripped and gone directly to "the box". Some time ago I finally decided to store all my CDs and print work in those big portable CD cases and got rid of the jewel cases. So now I still feel assured that the original CDs are there and occupy like one fifth of the original volume.

As a question aside: I've heard that CD sales through music clubs don't geenrate income for authors, is that true? If it is, how can that possibly be agreed?

I still buy and listen to CDs. I do rip some of them over onto the computer but I do like having something physical for my collection at the end of the day. It's the same way with books. Digital is nice for portability, but I still prefer having the real thing in my hands.

I listen to CDs every morning on the way to work. These days I buy them on iTunes and burn them to CD. I don't like the audio quality of FM transmitters for my iPod (this area seems to have interference on every station) and I don't have a cassette deck, so I just take CDs along for the ride.

I still haven't bothered with podcasts personally. I haven't listened to the radio since I was in high school.

I have yet to see any convincing reason to switch from cds to an mp3 player. I have cd players in my house and truck. Why spend extra for equipment? It would be nice to have an mp3 player for jogging though. So probably when one of my cd players break I will splurge on an iPod nano.

The way I listen to music in the past two years has changed drastically. I used to always listen to cds in my cd player but now I just rip my favorite cds to my hard drive and listen to them through win media player. Radio wise, I just pretty much listen to XM these days and hardly ever listen to broadcast radio.

I do like the freedom to create my own playlists over having to listen to whole cds. Maybe Im in the minority but I still believe in the moral obligation to pay artists for their work. I am a huge downloader from several sites but always pay for what I get. Plus I don't want intrusive spyware put on my machine from the "free music" services.

All 700+ CD's are ripped at high quality (320kbps VBR) and listened to through the computer. I use a USB powered FM transmitter to listen in rooms away from the computer.

I sometimes like to buy CDs especially if they're around $12. I'd pay the extra $2 for the album art, automatically backed up music, and case over a $9.99 iTunes download. After my first generation iPod mini broke I've been using my old CD player to listen to music.

I haven't used actual CDs in a long time. I have hundreds in folders (dumped the jewel boxes long ago), but most of the good stuff is in my iTunes library, plus podcasts, my favorite classical/public radio stations, Audible.com books, and so forth.

The transition to computer-based collections was made especially clear to me last week. I had been saving my money and excitedly waiting to purchase a famed Tivoli (Model Two) tabletop radio for my office, hoping to pull in tough-to-get radio stations in my area. I set it up and found that it still couldn't catch the stations in my office inside a 1920s academic building with very thick walls. So, I plugged in the auxilliary connection to my computer and now I listen to these radio stations over the web through iTunes or Windows Media (where it's the only choice, of course).

My wife has made fun of me for getting the radio and not using the actual radio capability, but I tell myself that I'll use that part in the future (in another office, or at home), and that at least I'm getting the benefit of some of the best small-box speakers made, plus a really cool retro style (think Radar in "Mash").

why use cds? with mp3players you get just as high quality, much higher capacity, no space wasted on crappy songs that you never wanted. plus playlists and other nice features.

Rarely. With an iPod photo and Winamp's compatibility with it through the ml_ipod plugin, I am satisfied whenever I'm working at college or home listening to all my tracks. I use CD's to rip into .mp4 format and leave them alone. The only time I truly use them is in the boombox near my shower, and my car, though that will change soon.

It was a pain to put the time in to rip my CDs (not tons but still about 3,500 songs) but now that it?s done my iPod goes from home stereo to car stereo and back and the CDs collect dust (the files are resident on the iPod, computer and backup hard drive since I don?t think I could bear to sit and do it all over again). I probably could have dispensed with a few of the CDs (think Halloween Hits for the kids) but I was on a mission to go digital ? so I get some interesting shuffle selections. I?m also beginning to really appreciate the online music store. At 99 cents a song, I buy the songs I really want to hear and don?t end up with CDs that have one or two songs that I really like. That?s one collection that?s already big enough.

Still use them at home at bed time. Put one in the big machine and go to bed. Covers the ambiant noises until I am asleep then shuts off.

When my mother died I inherited several hundred cassette tapes. Some new, some she had made of her old LP's. some from radio, etc. When I die my daughter will inherit sever hundred cd's. Mostly new, some from my old cassettes, etc.

But they are mostly backups now. Even bought a separate hard drive just for music storage.

Still use them all the time, I've owned several MP3 players and they are great for mobile listening, but even the highest bit rate rip does not capture the full fidelity of the music when played through a high end audio system. Technology has advanced greatly, but for an audiophile, it is still impossible to replace the sound of vinyl & tube amps

I am a professional DJ, after hauling cases upon cases to gigs for years, getting discs scratched or stolen, and just generally worn out, i moved to digital format. Carrying a laptop to a gig and an external hard drive total weight 7lbs, is way better than carrying about 300lbs of cds. I am selling all my cds 6000 of them as a lot on ebay, and I have all of them backed up on a multiple hard drives, and DVD's, just to insure I always have them. I do not use mp3 for my favs, becuase of sound quality, but for most PA's at most gigs, 128m is perfect, and only 1 out of 10,000 is an audiophile who ever notices.

Yip! I still use CDs. MP3s sound OK in the car or through headphones but played back through a good sound system, they sound flat.

Yes I still use CD's. My CD player broke a couple months ago and I'm going to buy another. Even though I've stopped burning CD's, i find that PC's can't replicate CD quality sound. I have yet to own an mp3 player or have satellite radio (i listen to radio a lot). It's not like i can't get them but for now I'll stick to what I know and love.

I usually avoid commenting on other PCW folks posts (especially my boss') but I couldn't resist.

The day isn't far off when hardware like the SqueezeBox2 will match the top CD transports and DACs on today's market. When that happens I'll stop using CDs for serious listening.

Until then, it's the SB2 for parties and background music, and my CD transport and DAC for complete envelopment by the music.

BTW: I have to agree with Lanman. NOTHING tops clean vinyl, a great turntable, and tube gear.

Ramon McLeod, Editor, PCWorld.com

I only buy CDs so I can rip them to put on my IPOD Nano, EB GAMES has used CDs, if I buy one, I use my CD fixer before I rip them.
Now I want to download tv episodes of Star
Trek to put on my soon to be purchased
video IPOD...

CD & MP3? surely these are for two different purposes. MP3 is undeniably very convenient, small, portable etc but for those who value hi-fi quality, mp3 simply doesn't cut it. Compare the same track on a cd and mp3 on a half decent system and youi'll see why. I'm not even talking about ferociously expensive high end equipment either; for the price of a decent pc you could have an amp, speakers and cd player that will make a mockery of mp3.

That being said, you can't lug this sytem into your car, take it shopping or found to your friends house.

It just comes down to how you wish to consume your music

Mp3 is not high quality, it's only acceptable quality. It's fine for commuting and jogging, but if you really appreciate music you could not possibly be satisfied with only MP3's.

I still buy CD's and both listen to them on my 6 disc DVD/CD player and rip them to my PC for mixing my own playlists for CD's burned specifically for commute times.

I love album art, liner notes, liner booklets. I still miss the size of vinyl albums so I can SEE the artwork, etc., but don't miss having to jump up and turn the album over after 15-30 minutes.

I still use CDs, and don't use MP3s yet. I have really sensitive hearing and can tell the difference, and there are still some problems to be worked out with the all digital route - too many formats, licensing issues and such. In a few years, when all that's worked out, maybe. In the meantime, all I do is make complilations on CD for actual listening and keep the originals as masters, in case something happens to a complilation.

I still buy CDs. I have a high-end stereo system, and the audio quality of CDs is superior to MP3s. I intend to rip them all to hard drive some day, but I'll use Exact Audio Copy and compress them with lossless Monkey Audio. It will take more HD space, but I'll always be able to recover the music with no loss in quality.

CDs! Buy, rip, store, but still listen to the CDs. The time it takes to power up the PC in the morning, put together a playlist, etc, takes much longer then just hitting the power button on the 200 disk player and setting it to random.

So my CD usage, while frowned upon by 'geeks', probably saves $$ on the electric bill.

Just these past few weeks, I've commented to my husband that we've gone from 8-tracks to cassette to CD to nothing. That's what mP3 is to me -- air. I love it. Granted, I'm not an audiophile -- I like music but not through my husband's thousand dollar system. Too loud. I buy CDs solely to rip. Then, because I am finicky, it is no issue to me to create a playlist that goes along time-wise with my favorite workouts or to rip an audiobook -- my two main ways to use the iPod.

FM transmitter in the car is amazing compared to a 6-disc changer. We love having our entire collection for the ten hour drive to Tokyo.

CDs are an excellent backup of your music library. I own an mp3 player and two dell computers and have music on all three. If I loose my data on any or all of them (which does happen) I still have all my music. I'll stick with CDs and rip them and store them for backup.

Haven't listened to my CDs since I have an iPod. I transferred my entire CD collection (including "oldies but goldies"!!!!) onto my 60 gigabyte iPod. I have purchased numerous songs through iTunes and burned them onto CDs and also put them into the iPod. The sound quality of iPod is SUPERB. To listen to my CDs in the car I have the little gadget which plays the iPod through the cassette-player in my car. Sound quality there, of course, is only as good as my car speakers are. For additional backup of all my music, pictures, etc. etc. I use my two external 250 gigabyte external hard drives.

I still buy CDs once in a while, depending on what it is. I want the ability to make backups. Not to mention, most digital music is limited -- you can only burn the songs a few times.

What if you're like me and like to make mix CDs -- CDs of different songs from different artists? You can do that with some digital services, but most limit your ability to copy your songs.

If I want to make 10 CDs and I have a favorite song I want on all of them, yet have it be surrounded by other songs, I can't do that with some of the digital services. Better to buy the hard copy of the CD then.

I remember taping songs off the radio and listening to them as a kid. We never had the recording industry leap down our throats then. Why should we have to now, just because the sound quality is better on a CD? It's not like I sell them on E-bay or something, it's just for my own use.

Yeah, I still use CDs. I still buy them in music stores because there's just something about physically having everything there in front of you. However, once I get the CD, I rip it onto my computer, burn one copy for the car, and put the original back into its case where they sit for years.

Let me put it simply:

Good-quality MP3 players = MEGA-expensive
Good CD-Rs = dirt cheap

Yes, I still get real, commercial CDs, and I listen to them to. I'm beginning to think the whole digital music thing is a bit overrated. I refuse to buy into full time until it is reasonably affordable to common-folk like me.

Also, while I may spend much of my day on a computer (both for my job as a computer tech and for my personal activities), the majority of my music-listening time occurs while I'm driving. Having a premium factory sound-system with 6-disc changer in my Ford Explorer, I am much more inclined to either just listen to my purchased CDs or take ripped music and compile my own custom mixes, which I burn on CD-Rs to play on the road. I'm guessing it takes me a lot less time to throw a few songs on a CD than it would to try and organize gigabytes of songs on a single device. I'm not willing to pay several hundred dollars for an iPod and the necessary accessories to hook it into a car stereo system when I can get the same result for the pennies that CD-Rs cost. And besides, if I had a newer car that supports playing MP3 CDs, I would be satisfied for life. Someday I may be forced to change that mindset, but for now, that's my story and I'm stickin' to it.

At home all my CDs have been ripped to PC, added to years of mp3 collecting. I transfer what I want to the laptop for listening at school. Before my car got stolen I could actually listen in the car, which is the only time CDs enter my life in the form of an mp3 cd. I've thought for a long time that traditional CDRs are simply outdated optical media.

Just recently made the switch. I got myself an ARCHOS Gmini 402a and ripped all my CD's. My JVC head unit in my car allows for AUX input from the front so now I don't have to lug my overfull CD case around. Best move I ever made. So now I just download songs off the internet and internet radio thanks to Winamp and Streamripper and I get whatever else I need via Bit Torrent.

Ah, I love the digital world.

You Guys are SILLY!

poop is on all of shoes and sperm is on your lip

DoMo origato mr. roboto

i dont buy cds or mp3s.. vinyl for the win