New Digital Album Formats On The Way

The "big four" major record companies have joined forces to launch a new digital album format that they hope will take on Apple.

Sony, Warner, Universal and EMI are putting the finishing touches to an album download that will include a digitised version of the record sleeve, including artwork, lyrics and videos.

Dubbed CDX and launched in November, the new format is designed to boost interest in a digital album sales, according to The Times. While online music has flourished via sales of single tracks, sales of whole records are still suffering. While nine out of ten single sales are digital, that figure is reversed with nine out of ten album sales being physical.

The alliance apparently approached Apple, the giant behind iTunes last year with the plan but were rebuffed. Apple are now apparently developing their own album format, codenamed Cocktail which they plan to launch in the next two months.

A label insider told the paper: "Apple told us at first but were not interested, but now they have decided to do their own, in case ours catches on. Ours will be a file that you click on, it opens and it would have a totally brand-new look, with a launch page and all the different options. When you click on it you're not just going to get the ten tracks, you're going to get artwork, the video and mobile products."

A spokesperson for the Entertainment Retailers Association said there was a demand for digital music to embrace the old qualities of a physical album. "It is the great conundrum of our age: what would an album look like online? At the moment a download in no sense replicates that satisfying quality of a physical album.

"Think about the importance of the gift market for albums. Online it's stripped down to bare music, and there's a lot more to an album than that."

Thanks for the report to Nme.com.

Comments

[messenjah]

If I buy an album I will go out, find, and purchase the CD itself. It's about more than just having the music and the artwork but also supporting your local record store. Buy from the smaller vendors rather than places like Best Buy and whatever else. Best buy can get money for their videogames, computer stuff and whatever else. Your local record stores rely on you for your support in order to continue.

SUPPORT CDS
SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL RECORD STORE

[Aftertime]

yea i agree, i rather spend an extra few bucks to buy it at a record store. i also get a hard copy and chuck it in my giant cd pile :P

and also it's a social outing thing too. going out with friends to a cd shop you never know what new music they'll show you or you'll accidently discover.

maybe i'm just old fashion :/

[Mootallica]

Aftertime wrote:

yea i agree, i rather spend an extra few bucks to buy it at a record store. i also get a hard copy and chuck it in my giant cd pile :P

and also it's a social outing thing too. going out with friends to a cd shop you never know what new music they'll show you or you'll accidently discover.

maybe i'm just old fashion :/

In this case, Old Fashion is THE BEST FASHION.

Went down to a record store in the city a few months ago, never been there, down to earth owners, vinyls of things I didn't know existed, full catalogues of cd's, vinyls and cassettes, some of this shit looked more like collecters items rather than sale items.

They had so many stories and shit from gigs, hell, they could charge me double for the CD but I'd go there to buy it just to go and meet those guys again.

[RyoujokuNoAme]

I very rarely buy music online. The only time I do is if I like a song by a certain band/artist, but don't want the whole album.

It's much more satifying to have a CD collection. I have hundreds of CDs, and do not plan on stopping buying CDs. Hell, I've bought CDs for double the price of a download, and would rather do that. Plus, like others, I like supporting local music shops.

[Quicksand15]

"Think about the importance of the gift market for albums. Online it's stripped down to bare music, and there's a lot more to an album than that."

That's why I buy physical products. Small pics on the screen can't replace the real thing.

[Lion_Slicer]

I love to buy albums. I think this MAY be a good idea just because once I got to college I realized how many people have like 1 or 2 songs per artist. I can't explain how much that bothers me. I do buy physical whenever I can, I'm proud to own all five of Mastodon's releases in their "true form" haha. Oh and all of Tool's stuff too. Now there's stuff you can't replicate online, their booklet thingies are crazy cool, but only in person. Oh and Cynic's Traced in Air comes with a badass mini-poster and the artwork in the booklet is PHENOMENAL. I could really go on forever... Unfortunately, I'm pretty broke now. one of the reasons I want to be a rich chemical engineer is so I can buy loads of albums all the time.

[badreligion17]

ehh, nothing beats the hard copy it just is better. and hey if your gonna get music online, especially from bands on these labels, why pay?

[pwrmax]

F*** digital lifeless files. I like starting at my pile of CDs.

[Night_Warrior]

Im still sticking to CD's. Good luck sony

[nathan7007]

im gonna go buy the cd i want in a store i dont want to go to a computer or a mp3 player to listen or read whats inside the liner notes.cds are better **** off with digital.i dont wanna spend 15-20 bucks on a file

pwrmax wrote:

F*** digital lifeless files. I like starting at my pile of CDs.

CDs are digital >.>

[xaviergray]

What I think they need to do is figure out an easy way for the average person to print out all the album art and booklets, and put them in a blank. Maybe even take a blank CD and print the album label on it. That way you still have the physical copy of the CD.

[ordinary_story]

Nothing beats the satisfaction of buying a physical CD...

[RockDragon]

I'm glad they're thinking of the appeal of an album beyond the music but I'm with everyone else, I much prefer owning a CD, and if I need that in digital format for my MP3 player, well I can just rip it and transfer the files.

As much as I can see downloads being the way forward for individual tracks, there's something about an album that just needs it to be represented in a physical format.

[Jøhnny]

messenjah wrote:

If I buy an album I will go out, find, and purchase the CD itself. It's about more than just having the music and the artwork but also supporting your local record store. Buy from the smaller vendors rather than places like Best Buy and whatever else. Best buy can get money for their videogames, computer stuff and whatever else. Your local record stores rely on you for your support in order to continue.

SUPPORT CDS
SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL RECORD STORE

Totally agree. I just like CDs more than some songs in my computer. Yeah, now you can have the artwork also in your computer and stuff like that, but it just doesn't have the same feeling.

Support CDs!!

[JoeyDengler]

Wow reading all your comments has restored some faith in the music buying public. I hate all this downloading-if thats what you want to do then sure feel free. But to me it seems lifeless and disposable. I think that if a band allows people to access any kind of format for their music then that is a good thing-if you want to download then fine as long as people can still purchase physical versions of the music because i hate it when bands you love release download only albums. Yeah Mp3s and Ipods are handy when you're out and about and want to listen to music but when i'm in my room i dont want to have to listen through shitty little headphones, i want to hear music through a trusty of radio.
Another thing which is slightly going off track but still is about downloading...the reason i hate all this downloading is that it has(to me at least) made music seem less important like its disposable. In this age of technology and downloading we no longer have lasting and iconic musicians like David Bowie, The Cure, Elvis, Johnny Cash etc; people and bands that are successful and hardworking and important and memorable-instead we seem to get shitty little one single bands that you'll never remember in thirty years and bands that just rip off old scenes and sounds or bands that are merely following the current trend. I for one hate this whole downloading trite...

[PumpkinPieces]

Glad I'm not alone on the CD buying. Granted I don't have a local record store (just best buy.... because Fye is damn expensive) I still like to think I'm supporting the CD/album format in general.

[ComradeClassen]

Lion_Slicer wrote:

I love to buy albums. I think this MAY be a good idea just because once I got to college I realized how many people have like 1 or 2 songs per artist. I can't explain how much that bothers me. I do buy physical whenever I can, I'm proud to own all five of Mastodon's releases in their "true form" haha. Oh and all of Tool's stuff too. Now there's stuff you can't replicate online, their booklet thingies are crazy cool, but only in person. Oh and Cynic's Traced in Air comes with a badass mini-poster and the artwork in the booklet is PHENOMENAL. I could really go on forever... Unfortunately, I'm pretty broke now. one of the reasons I want to be a rich chemical engineer is so I can buy loads of albums all the time.

I also can't stand when people only have two songs from an Artist because it usually leads me to believe this person only likes that Artist's hits or hasn't really LISTENED to the artist...

I love CD's not just because to have all the little extras but it's more of a Collection thing...I've had people come over to my house and just stumble across all the cd's i have and say "OMG you have this and that! I love this band!", and besides...i can pass these cd's to my kids rather than just throw them an online file which would probably be wiped out in 5 yrs or so...

P.S. Cynic is just AMAZING...I love how people are getting into Traced in Air because not a lot of people have heard of Focus which is also an incredible album by them..

[FoxBox]

I like being lazy and getting music online right then and there, but I do prefer getting a CD if I like the band enough.

[RukiaTH]

As someone else said, if you're gonna download it, why pay? I'd be more than happy to pay for physical copies of the albums I have downloaded because I most certainly enjoy them but I'm not about to buy crap online and wait for shipping nor is there any real record stores close to where I live.

[mtllica]

I love buying actual CDs, not the digital crap

[Nicky Tuna]

Yeah, CDs ftw.
Interesting with someone trying to take down Apple, though.

[TheConjuration]

I wouldnt care if CDs died out, fine with me.

[Quicksand15]

JoeyDengler wrote:

Wow reading all your comments has restored some faith in the music buying public. I hate all this downloading-if thats what you want to do then sure feel free. But to me it seems lifeless and disposable. I think that if a band allows people to access any kind of format for their music then that is a good thing-if you want to download then fine as long as people can still purchase physical versions of the music because i hate it when bands you love release download only albums. Yeah Mp3s and Ipods are handy when you're out and about and want to listen to music but when i'm in my room i dont want to have to listen through shitty little headphones, i want to hear music through a trusty of radio.
Another thing which is slightly going off track but still is about downloading...the reason i hate all this downloading is that it has(to me at least) made music seem less important like its disposable. In this age of technology and downloading we no longer have lasting and iconic musicians like David Bowie, The Cure, Elvis, Johnny Cash etc; people and bands that are successful and hardworking and important and memorable-instead we seem to get shitty little one single bands that you'll never remember in thirty years and bands that just rip off old scenes and sounds or bands that are merely following the current trend. I for one hate this whole downloading trite...

Best comment I've seen in a long time regarding this topic!

[punXander]

messenjah wrote:

If I buy an album I will go out, find, and purchase the CD itself. It's about more than just having the music and the artwork but also supporting your local record store. Buy from the smaller vendors rather than places like Best Buy and whatever else. Best buy can get money for their videogames, computer stuff and whatever else. Your local record stores rely on you for your support in order to continue.

SUPPORT CDS
SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL RECORD STORE

that would be great, but we are living in a world of capitalism (unfortunatly)... and the big box, crap stores (ie, Wal-Mart, Best Buy, HMV, etc...) are buying out those home town record stores. These small places can't compete due to the low prices the big boxes can offer, as a university student it will always come to cost regardless of my personal preferences and beliefs. I'd sooner go to Wal-Mart and buy the EXACT same CD from there then go out to a local record store and pay the marked up price. I will only buy a CD now a days to get the physical copy (CD, artwork and all), other then that I will download them for free. I believe I do support the artist by going to their concerts and buying their merch...

[GUNIT!]

Although I agree with everyone about liking CD's more than digital downloads, I'm starting to get tired of CD's and digital stuff(even though, unfortunately, this is the way to go for music on-the-go).
I just recently started acquiring vinyls and to be honest, they are much, much better.
CD's are more convenient and have more artwork and "better sound quality" and all that, but you just can't beat having a 12" circle spinning right before your eyes. Plus they have a unique sound.
Maybe I'm just older fashioned.

[AFallenJake]

^^^^^
Woot! Vinyl Revival FTW!

[T00l 46&2]

Go buy the damn CD! I hate iTunes and all this download shit.

[TBezza]

Richycinsideme wrote:

messenjah wrote:

If I buy an album I will go out, find, and purchase the CD itself. It's about more than just having the music and the artwork but also supporting your local record store. Buy from the smaller vendors rather than places like Best Buy and whatever else. Best buy can get money for their videogames, computer stuff and whatever else. Your local record stores rely on you for your support in order to continue.

SUPPORT CDS
SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL RECORD STORE
i agree strongly FUCK THE DIGITAL REVOLUTION!!!

Not quite how I'd put it, but I agree.

[SatanPriest]

I'll stick with the used CD store thats in a basement, its an hour away from where I live but its worth going out there for the big collection of underground CDs and vinyls. And its cheap! Fuck FYE and their jacked prices. If I can't put it in my stereo or record player then its not worth buying.

[tommyt]

Yeah a while back the "big four" were offered a chance to be part of a website that offered free downloads, totally free, with the money paid for by advertising (some big companies already had ad space lined up) and they declined in favour of their current over priced plastic system

I can understand why some of you guys like to hold the cd and actually have something tangible, but to me the only thing that matters output wise from an artist is their music, not the press pack that comes with it.

[HGF]

I TOTALLY AGREE WITH THE 1ST COMMENT!!
good things always disapear, and then they talk about innovation, F*CK INNOVATION, IT'S JUST A WAY TO TAKE PROFIT, NOT AN INNOVATION!!

[callumslocombe]

I'm different from you lot as there are some bands that I like, but won't spend money on an album, like DragonForce, instead I'll download it for free and go to a concert instead. Anyway, bands see pennies from record sales, they get their money from merchandise and ticket sales.

\m/

[HGF]

and dont call me oldfashioned,its just my opinion, but I think that some things shouldn't change, like it happened to the vynil, remember?

[Taargus]

I buy cd`s. I much prefer having a physical copy, it makes me feel special, and it`s good in case one`s hard drive dies and one doesn`t back up files often. That and I just prefer to have them, they make me happy.

[Restlesscow]

I'll stick with CD's, wanna let my collection g r o w

[suggitt]

i buy albums and i but vinyl better sound quality and there nice to have

[i_am_metalhead]

For me I'd rather just download the album from iTunes. Why pay $20+ at a store (at least where I live) when you can get the same thing off iTunes for half the price!?

[FlyingPirahna]

Hey nightraven, way to completely miss his point.

[gabrielr]

I have to say, these comments are pretty rediculous (and not something I would expect from musicians and music lovers in this generation). Digital, "soft" media (by that, I mean not presented over a physical medium like CDs) is no longer "the future". It's the present. There are two types of entertainment companies: those that will evolve to the new medium (as they did when CDs took over tapes, and tapes took over 8track, and 8track took over vinyl), and those that will try to fight it, and become extinct.

The same goes for music listeners. Evolve, or stop listening. But no matter what, one thing is clear: no matter who complains, CDs will probably not exist a decade from now, or will be so far gone that one can only find them in $2 bins in the backs of headshops and collector's stores. Embrace change, learn to live in a world that changes not because it wants to or needs to, but just because it does, and there isn't shit all you can do about it.

Peace

[YourMessiah666]

support CDs man. they're the way to go. instead of digital music sleeves and stuff.

FlyingPirahna wrote:

Hey nightraven, way to completely miss his point.

hey flyingpirahna, way to completely miss the joke.

checked

[aocrkid]

why get a digital sleeve if you could get a JPEG of the real artwork? just put it all into a folder. you can't optimize that.

[DeepEcoDoom]

I personally am up for with what These Arms Are Snakes (and several other bands mostly likely) have done with their newest album. They sell it as a vinyl with a digital copy download code inside. Therefore one can have the dynamic, rich and uncompressed sound from the vinyl blazing on your stereo and also the ease of the digital, compressed sound format for ipods and such. The real travesty that may well happen is that all music would become released digitally only and compressed to hell which takes the "oomph" and emotional peaks and lows out of music. I see the pro's and con's of both the vinyl and digital mediums and I say that the idea presented above would be the best way to get the best out of all.

[BullonParade]

tommyt wrote:

Yeah a while back the "big four" were offered a chance to be part of a website that offered free downloads, totally free, with the money paid for by advertising (some big companies already had ad space lined up) and they declined in favour of their current over priced plastic system

I can understand why some of you guys like to hold the cd and actually have something tangible, but to me the only thing that matters output wise from an artist is their music, not the press pack that comes with it.

thats true, but some artists like the effort they put into their artwork. someone mentioned tool earlier...you couldnt totally appreciate the 10,000 days package on a computer.

however, it is a great idea for everyone who prefers downloading.

[B-Hart]

I like how everyone here supports CDS. I support CDs 500 percent and have a huge CD collection, but all of our support isn't enough to stop from this format taking over. This, of course would be the fault of the non-rock/metal listeners because they out number us 100-1. A lot of people I know couldn't care less about CDs and always wonder why I'm against downloading and buy CDs. I guess their logic is "Why buy it when you can get it free?"

[partyawesomeska]

i could care less either way. it's not about having a collection for me or anything, it's just about the music. as long as i can listen to it it's fine by me. and for the record i haven't bought a cd for at least 5 years.

[koolguy1029]

doesn't anyone still buy vinyls? that is the most satisfying form of music.

[tucksteel33]

Dubbed CDX and launched in November, the new format is designed to boost interest in a digital album sales, according to The Times.

nope, not working.

[Xanadu_ROCK]

messenjah wrote:

If I buy an album I will go out, find, and purchase the CD itself. It's about more than just having the music and the artwork but also supporting your local record store. Buy from the smaller vendors rather than places like Best Buy and whatever else. Best buy can get money for their videogames, computer stuff and whatever else. Your local record stores rely on you for your support in order to continue.

SUPPORT CDS
SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL RECORD STORE

If i want to have an ALBUM, i'm gonna buy it and have the cd, booklet and all. Besides, i'm into metal. And most stuff i listen too can't even be found on itunes!!!

[AngelWolf]

i like going on a journey into town andfinding a cd ive wanted for ages rather than sat here buying it.. theres nothing fun about that.. and this is just to make money for the big 4 like they need it.. **** them

[SharpObject]

"a download in no sense replicates that satisfying quality of a physical album."

Yea no shat. People just don't care about the album anymore, it's pathetic.
I'm so ashamed of my generation

koolguy1029 wrote:

doesn't anyone still buy vinyls? that is the most satisfying form of music.

That's a pretty small hole, dude.

[AngelWolf]

face it... if we download.. we wont get exorsise and if the only exorsise you got was going to the shop to buy a cd youd get fat and unhealthy and shit theres nothing exciting about going on to a site thats really dull to get 10 tracks of music and what ever.. its dull and your more likely to get computer problems like viruses and spywear.. going to the shop is more fun it gives you fresh air, you might see other music u want at the same time in the store or dvd or a shirt or what ever what ever shop you go to its still more fun to collect cds read the booklets and listen to the cd and have a collection rather than an electical download that if your machine breaks you probably have to buy again

[[x]Huffy[x]]

Good luck with that, I'll stick with buying REAL CD's.

[Andrew Tanner]

their first flaw. calling it CDX. surely trying to immitate something physical in a digital, non-tangible format is set to fail. in order to benefit from this people will need to buy blank cd's. pointless. i download music, paid downloads. i do this because im not bothered about any other crap.

[AdamDK]

I prefer to buy CDs now, have been for the past year or so just because I prefer physical copies, but I think regardless of if this succeeds or not, digital downloads are still going to remain popular.

It's became a trend for people to just buy singles and albums with the click of a button on the iTunes store, etc, and with the popularity of iPods and various other MP3 players seeing as its so easy to get music from the iTunes store onto an iPod more people are using it.

...Which sucks. Becuase I don't see this trend declining any time soon and it will **** up the music industry even more soon enough, especially if the CDx thing gets popular.

[whysky]

men, please don't digitalize music, going to a store and look for your CD and then got it in your hands it's just amazing, then in the future there would not be artwork in the album's 'cause you won't need it you just type the name of the band and that's all... **** it, i prefer t spend some xtra bucks and take a new CD to my collection... plus this will get all the fun off this, i mean it's so fun goin to buy CD's with a good friend and discover new bands and music

sorry for my poor english

[punk_mike_88]

So, I've waited my whole life to work at a record store, I finally got the job and now this is happening? No, I love my job, and this won't interfere. There are still people who love CDs and vinyl. So poo on you, Apple/Big Four.

[Super Llama]

I totally agree downloads are crap. I like CD's. But at least they're trying to get the whole album out there, right? So that people will actually buy the whole thing? On a website that's all about people who are into music, of course we're going to say physical albums are great, but it is a step in the right direction to get the common person listening to a whole album instead of just the top-ten singles, right? this could be the first steps towards legitimate artists again!

[Haunted Boy]

the article says:

When you click on it you're not just going to get the ten tracks, you're going to get artwork, the video and mobile products.

and probably 3000 ads... Anybody else seen Idiocracy? I despise ads, and for the moment, live a fairly ad-free life. I hate being bombarded with stuff that I'm not interested in. If I need something, I search it out. Sorry to rant.

[Quicksand15]

aocrkid wrote:
why get a digital sleeve if you could get a JPEG of the real artwork? just put it all into a folder. you can't optimize that.

You're joking, right?

koolguy1029 wrote:
doesn't anyone still buy vinyls? that is the most satisfying form of music.

That's a pretty small hole, dude.

gabrielr wrote:
I have to say, these comments are pretty rediculous (and not something I would expect from musicians and music lovers in this generation). Digital, "soft" media (by that, I mean not presented over a physical medium like CDs) is no longer "the future". It's the present. There are two types of entertainment companies: those that will evolve to the new medium (as they did when CDs took over tapes, and tapes took over 8track, and 8track took over vinyl), and those that will try to fight it, and become extinct.

The same goes for music listeners. Evolve, or stop listening. But no matter what, one thing is clear: no matter who complains, CDs will probably not exist a decade from now, or will be so far gone that one can only find them in $2 bins in the backs of headshops and collector's stores. Embrace change, learn to live in a world that changes not because it wants to or needs to, but just because it does, and there isn't shit all you can do about it.

Peace

Let me point something out: you're talking about the 'new medium' download which replaces CDs just like the CD replaced vinyl.
So downloads are the next step forward for you?

The next step forward were formats like DVD-Audios and Super Audio CD's, which have a lossless sound, way better than a CD (not to mention WAY better than a mp3 file). But people did not appreciate this new high quality medium - I don't know why, but these formats almost died before they got popular, because nobody bought it. Now, only very few artists release in those formats.
These two are formats that improved the experience of an album.

But downloads do not improve anything at all.
That is what makes me mad about it.
Downloads are not even a pale copy of what we already have, but a huge step backwards since it does only contain the music (and most of the time in a bad lossy quality) and with no artwork (oh wow, I can watch a Jpg on my screen, how awesome is that?!).

In my eyes, the whole expericene of an album seems to get less and less important for people. It's only about the songs that strike you on the first listen - these songs are downloaded, the rest gets deleted.
For me, that is the only 'advantage' of downloads I can think of - and IMO that's awful, since IMO the best albums are growers and concept albums.

Concerning the 'musicians and music lovers' thing you mentioned: For me as a musician and music lover, the whole experience (that means good quality sound and nice artwork, at least to a certain extent) is very important and downloads fail at delivering this experience. That's why I won't be able to prefer it over CD's, Vinyl and of course, DVD-Audios and SACD's.

By the way, I don't know any music lover who prefers downloads over a physical album because of that.

BUT - and that's the most important thing - both formats can co-exist, there is no need at all to stop producing CD's just because downloads are "the new big thing". It's just the same way as with vinyl a few decades ago...vinyl is still alive.

[The Sharkman]

I despise music downloads.

I don't think much of CD either.

Think of Opening Double albums, Thin Lizzy's "Live and Dangerous", Ted Nugent's "Double Live Gonzo", Yes' "Tales of Topographic Oceans", Genesis' "The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway"....

THAT is Artwork... I think the guys from Tool would keep the LP format if they could...

Just a POV from an old guy.... That experienced the above a long time ago.

[deisegirl]

koolguy1029 wrote:

doesn't anyone still buy vinyls? that is the most satisfying form of music.

When I can, they're harder to get though. But just ordered Muse's new album on vinyl and will do the same for Arctic Monkeys' new album too.

[Alu.card]

I think its pretty cool for new-age vinyls. I bought Opeth's newest, Watershed in Vinyl and got a little suprise as it also came with the cd. I think its a cool concept to have both formats in the same package and I'd be happy to pay the extra if it was more commonly avaliable.

[rOCKINxsOCKIN]

I am still going to prefer a physical copy of the album, I like having an actual piece of something I can hold not jsut some digital file....who else wants to bet that these "CDX" things are gonna cost like 20 bucks or more???

[stueey]

Tbh, I don't really care about what format music comes.

As long as I can listen to it and musicians and the industry get the money they need, not want.

[Sam Wotrey]

In this battle between Online vs. CD, the only thing that makes me mad are greedy bands that do it for the money like Metallica :/

I like pirating, but if I had money, I'd have a lot of CD's.

[Hogfishwater]

If you want people to buy your CDs MAKE BETTER ALBUMS

I'm not spending money on one good song

[whiplash13]

Wow...I had no idea this many people agreed with me about preferring to have a physical copy of something instead of a download. It's pretty sad that so many people would rather download 1 or 2 songs than experience an entire album (the way it should be). Not to mention the artwork and packaging, which just like the music, requires effort to make something worthwhile, and that's something you just can't replicate with some computer file.

I am happy to have an independent record store near where I live, and I'm more than happy to spend a few dollars extra on something than go to someplace like WalMart that censors anything that doesn't fit their idea of what's "normal" or "appropriate".

[de-fexxx666]

Bad idea, I hope this crashes and burns.

[welcomehomeyou]

WOW, Yeah i'm surprised by the amount of people who are supporting the cd record store just when i thought this would mark the end of the cd and record store by people saying, oh all i do now is download music and i get it for free and dont care bout cd's and stores so this makes no difference to me, but everyone here is totally not and saying they rather go to a store and a buy the cd. It really does put the faith back in to the struggling record store down the street you used to go to and spend your whole saturday just looking at the records and experiencing new music and listening to it and then purchasing it and feeling all good inside. I just hope this really is the case and people still support the cd and stores. Dont let music turn in just singles, the top single on a cd aint usually the best song on the record.
As the person said before
SUPPORT CDS
SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL RECORD STORE.

[Somnambulance]

On one hand, I say its awful. That nothing beats the quality of vinyl. CD isn't as good, but it's a miniature version, in a way, of an LP. It's a physical copy and I think that's the essential thing.

On the other hand, I think that album sales are dying, so this might be a way to reestablish the album as a viable, commercial form. I mean, you've probably all seen it happening. With the internet, most people download a single track without delving any further into an artist's catalog. It makes the rest of the album innocuous filler. As a result of this, labels have been pushing records that show strong resemblance to the records of the early 60's and late 50's when records were just getting the big push, and few classics were released in that period. Not saying there were no classics, just very few. If this trend continues, the album as an artistic medium will disappear and the single will take over once again. My hope with this, is to prevent that from happening and to give a new market to new people. Also, it could lower prices. You see, I've got a large collection of records and cds myself, but lately I don't purchase because albums are too costly. Lowering prices, I think, is the best solution for everybody.

If I'm paying for an album, I don't just want mp3's. I want lossless quality. So unless they can put lossless quality into a file the size of an mp3, I'm not interested.

Checked.

[Rokeman]

^^ My thoughts exactly. And making every file lossless quality will take up a hell of a lot of computer space.

[gljbass]

messenjah wrote:

If I buy an album I will go out, find, and purchase the CD itself. It's about more than just having the music and the artwork but also supporting your local record store. Buy from the smaller vendors rather than places like Best Buy and whatever else. Best buy can get money for their videogames, computer stuff and whatever else. Your local record stores rely on you for your support in order to continue.

SUPPORT CDS
SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL RECORD STORE

I'd love that option, but of us in small towns who also appreciate having physical albums? I live in a small town. About five years ago, our "mall" shut down a Soundshop. Why? Too expensive for people teenagers who can't find a job. I'm only a teenager. I wasn't too interested in music way back then, but the fact remains all I have to get music from is (god forbid) Wal-Mart, K-Mart (a little better in my opinion), and the internet. Whenever I go out of town, I shoot for wherever has good music. F.Y.E. and Best Buy are my best shots at getting music in physical form. So take your pick. When an album comes out, buy from Wal-Mart, K-Mart, or Itunes? Or wait for months and months after I've already waited for so long for my favorite artists to put out a record to hear it and buy it from a place that's only a little better than Wal-Mart?

[rhoadsfan92]

an extra reason against this:
when you burn to a CD, alot of CD players refuse to read the copy and will only accept the original.

[mygibsonrocks]

messenjah wrote:

If I buy an album I will go out, find, and purchase the CD itself. It's about more than just having the music and the artwork but also supporting your local record store. Buy from the smaller vendors rather than places like Best Buy and whatever else. Best buy can get money for their videogames, computer stuff and whatever else. Your local record stores rely on you for your support in order to continue.

SUPPORT CDS
SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL RECORD STORE

I would absolutely love to support my local record store but there are none around where I live and I hate it so much. but I love having the physical cds

[whiplash13]

gljbass wrote:

messenjah wrote:

If I buy an album I will go out, find, and purchase the CD itself. It's about more than just having the music and the artwork but also supporting your local record store. Buy from the smaller vendors rather than places like Best Buy and whatever else. Best buy can get money for their videogames, computer stuff and whatever else. Your local record stores rely on you for your support in order to continue.

SUPPORT CDS
SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL RECORD STORE

I'd love that option, but of us in small towns who also appreciate having physical albums? I live in a small town. About five years ago, our "mall" shut down a Soundshop. Why? Too expensive for people teenagers who can't find a job. I'm only a teenager. I wasn't too interested in music way back then, but the fact remains all I have to get music from is (god forbid) Wal-Mart, K-Mart (a little better in my opinion), and the internet. Whenever I go out of town, I shoot for wherever has good music. F.Y.E. and Best Buy are my best shots at getting music in physical form. So take your pick. When an album comes out, buy from Wal-Mart, K-Mart, or Itunes? Or wait for months and months after I've already waited for so long for my favorite artists to put out a record to hear it and buy it from a place that's only a little better than Wal-Mart?

That's true, but if you really didn't want to buy from someplace like that, you could always buy online (Amazon, etc-assuming they have it, but Amazon's selection a hell of a lot better than Walmart's selection, and it won't be edited, which is a plus). It usually only takes a couple days to get there, depending on where you live and where they're shipping it from.

[kirkadolph]

Down with Digital!

[cotton3434]

RukiaTH wrote:

As someone else said, if you're gonna download it, why pay? I'd be more than happy to pay for physical copies of the albums I have downloaded because I most certainly enjoy them but I'm not about to buy crap online and wait for shipping nor is there any real record stores close to where I live.

Exactly how I see it - hell, if I found a physical version of anything by Dream Theater, Redemption, Porcupine Tree, Cynic, Mastodon, or Between the Buried and Me (Colors - don't think I'd go for anything else), I'd buy it immediately. But since I'm limited to a craptastic Wal-Mart, I don't really have that option, and online shopping isn't really all that appealing at the moment either.

There just doesn't seem to be any point to paid downloading, not when you could get the same thing for free - which is how everyone who pirates probably sees it.

[ethic]

they need to focus on relaunching vinyl as the dominant physical format.

[hi_pplz_567]

SharpObject wrote:

"a download in no sense replicates that satisfying quality of a physical album."

Yea no shat. People just don't care about the album anymore, it's pathetic.
I'm so ashamed of my generation

Same here, yo.

[Dylan_Guitar93]

RyoujokuNoAme wrote:

I very rarely buy music online. The only time I do is if I like a song by a certain band/artist, but don't want the whole album.

It's much more satifying to have a CD collection. I have hundreds of CDs, and do not plan on stopping buying CDs. Hell, I've bought CDs for double the price of a download, and would rather do that. Plus, like others, I like supporting local music shops.

I hear that m8

[Ivzm]

so essentially they are going to do what trent reznor has been doing for years but charge you money for it....

[Spoony_Bard]

Buy CDs at shows if you want the money to go to the band. Also buy shirts and other stuff, and make sure to tip the merch guy. That makes bands happy.

Checked.

[Thumper!]

So this is what the future of music is going to be.

Soon you will never have to go out and buy anything. It will all be done online. How gay will that be?

[Jondy]

My local record store doesn't carry ANY of the music I listen to. And it'd really be a pain to carry my 1,200 albums in my car as physical CD's. Online music stores are AWESOME. People who just buy singles aren't likely to buy that much music anyways. People who really love music, when they purchase music online, it's always by the album. I never EVER buy single songs from iTunes. I buy the whole album, because that's the way the music was meant to be experienced.

Every now and then if an extra special release comes out I'll buy the physical copy. But I always have to special order it. Because like I said, the music I like isn't available locally. Online music stores have been the greatest thing ever for the advancement of more obscure acts. It's easier for them to be discovered, especially with the functions of online music stores suggesting similar albums to the ones you've purchased.

And CD's are digital. Ok? CD's are digital formats of music, originally created to be more convenient than the format that came before it. Now we're moving on past them to the next logical step, and to just write off online music stores is just stupid.

This is the future of music, and there's nothing wrong with trying to improve the future of music. Eventually all physical media will be the past, even harddrives, and we'll just have portable computers that connect to the internet that we'll listen to music from.

And I say: bring that wonderful day on. Someone once made a quip "One day they'll just have a chip in your head that will play any song you think of" to which I retorted "And I'll be the first to have it installed in my head."

[chipmunksurfer]

vinyl ftw. at least theyre bringing back the artwork to the public, tho, but support your local cd/record shops

[chipmunksurfer]

^the problem with digital, which your totally missing, is it lacks the true quality of sound recorded to a record. CD's are made up of numbers. You spend your life listening to numbers? One day you'll here your favorite music on a record and itll hit you harder than ever before.

[salival111]

I'd much rather own the cd than buy it digitally. I can always rip the cd to my ipod and than have it digitally and physically.

['Leviathan']

I like buying the CD. I like the packaging, I like the lyric booklet, hell, I like owning a physical CD. Getting it from the Internet seems so worthless if all you're getting is songs, lyrics and artwork. It's nothing compared to the real deal.

[SG-Burchett]

^its not looking at the artwork that makes me want to buy an actual CD-i like owning the actual PHYSICAL thing.

[coheed_kyle08]

I only download songs when I can't find the album at any shop that I know about. But that's the only time. Like old CDs, or rare songs that were never released on a CD. That's all I download. I prefer to buy the album, put the album in my stereo, put some head phones on, lay down, get out the booklet, read all the lyrics as I listen to the song. Maybe I'm old fashion. I just love music. I've done this since I was a kid listening to my big brothers CDs, or my dad's old stuff. Reading all these comments from people, makes me feel better knowing, I'm not the only one in the world that still does this, which has restored my faith a bit.

[RicheyVOX]

Half of you guys are full of crap with the CD shit, I bet most of you just download illegally.
Aha fail.
But I do agree I would much rather a physical item, hint why I buy my CD's. They wouldn't be trying to use this idea if peopling buying them wasn't a problem nowadays.

[RicheyVOX]

people*

[THE BULGE]

i like the physical cd but my biggest arguement against digital is if were to have all the music i own on my computer it would just die i have tonnes of cds and basically my computer couldnt cope plus what happens
when my computer crashes and its memory needs wiped id lose all my music. such a drag plus cds sound better than most digital formats id have vinyls if i could:P

[alexdanson1]

The progression to digital is inevitable, it is so much more convenient and higher in quality. And all downloads can be backed up to prevent loss.
My only concern with this particular idea is, how much is it going to cost? My guess is the price will be disproportionate to the extras you get.

[alexdanson1]

Although despite saying that, the loss of CDs being the primary source of records is sad, but things change and move on.

[kranoscorp]

Apple is going to **** those record companies up. The "big 4" are naive if they think they can fight apple.

As far as the CDX idea goes, isn't it just the band's website combined with a album download? Every single feature they listed the CDX brings can easily be found on any band's website.

[cheetoque121]

CD. Forever.

[str84ever]

messenjah wrote:

If I buy an album I will go out, find, and purchase the CD itself. It's about more than just having the music and the artwork but also supporting your local record store. Buy from the smaller vendors rather than places like Best Buy and whatever else. Best buy can get money for their videogames, computer stuff and whatever else. Your local record stores rely on you for your support in order to continue.

SUPPORT CDS
SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL RECORD STORE

Damn right. I still want the actual cd despite the record companies best efforts.

I don't want the sleeve printed out on glossy paper it just seems so fake to me and i agree with what this guy i've quoted says.

It's just gonna suck the life out of the local small business music stores. Hell where i live most of them have been shut down by the corporate fat cats.

[cam_sampbell]

If my local record shop went under I think I'd cry as it's just the most brilliant place to buy music imaginable

[unininium]

A physical album is often cheaper than the download and even if it wasn't there is just something about being able to hold the cd booklet while you listen to the music. Yeah all my CDs are on my iPod - but I'd still rather have a cd than a download.

[TatarSalad2]

I think the economy would be a little better if all this money from music sales wasn't going into the hands of big giant corporations.

[deadlyMETAL]

Hey! Who wants to go back to 8-Tracks? XD Sorry, saw the mention of the Vinyl Revival and I figured we could shoot back even farther.

Y'know, local shops support LOCAL MUSICIANS. You lose the local shops, small and just-starting-up bands really have a harder time getting their music noticed. I've had this issue with my band, but thank God we still have a local music shop that we can connect with and that sells CDs. You can put your music on MySpace or on PureVolume, but unless you pay for online ads and promos, that music likely will never get heard. At a local music shop....everything is just better than a digital album download.

SUPPORT THE PHYSICAL ALBUM FORMAT!
[quote=messenjah]SUPPORT CDS
SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL RECORD STORE[/quote]