What would you do if?

[Viz]

Apart from the odd CD from my fave bands, where they don't release it on vinyl, I only buy records.

[GAZTOPIA]

Quite an interesting little animation...

[Fretwired]

As soon as hard drives are big enough and internet speeds are fast enough it is game over. Once both of those things are cheap and are the norm, physical media is dead.

This. Although I think many people will merely store everything in the cloud, as they can then get access to their music wherever they are - I have some of my music stored on my personal Apple iCloud account, which means I can listen to it on my iPhone wherever I am. I think the other revolution will be the mix. Albums and tracks will be mastered to sound good a wide range of formats from low to high bitrate MP3 and FLAC files and beyond - when you buy a download you'll get multiple versions. This happens now - I purchased a John McLaughlin album which was downloaded as MP3 for the iPod and WAV files so you could burn a CD. The other advantage with digital is the much higher 24-bit 96Khz file format which is being offered by record labels like Linn.

[guitarfishbay]

That will only last until people suddenly realise that stuff on the Internet is only there for as long as the company providing the service a) continues to see a profit in the service, and b) manages to stay solvent. Of course, I'm counting hard drives as "physical media", but there's a profusion of streaming services where people are relying on cloud storage. That's inherently unreliable as far as I'm concerned.

The same goes for anything with DRM on it - the files you "own" will only work as long as the servers providing the authorisation exist, and/or devices are still manufactured/software still maintained which can process the DRM encryption. In 20 years' time, all your tapes/CDs/vinyl/MP3s will still work, but those files won't. Sure, you'll need devices to play those physical objects, but the fact is that DRM-based technology is moving on faster than those are being decommissioned.

DRM is less of an issue now as a lot of places offer DRM free downloads (I often use Amazon). I think even iTunes is DRM free these days.

I don't see a way back from Clouds though, I think they're the future regardless of whether they're financially viable for all parties. Sure some cloud services might fail (potentially causing massive problems like you're theorising about), but I think as a concept they're only going to grow from here and eventually become the norm. People want convenience - it is the main reason mp3 beat CDs so quickly, even though most people in the early days were listening to really low quality mp3s due to physical space limitations on early iPods.

What this all means for the music industry is a different debate. Digital downloads have totally changed the market and the way people consume music. I started as an album listener and I still only buy full albums and listen as an album, but I know a lot of people who just cherry pick the best tracks from albums these days - but at least those guys are still buying in some form.

[Viz]

Quite an interesting little animation...

Wow that is completely astonishing! I NEVER knew the cassette had so much over the record for such a long time.

[chillidoggy]

It depends on how you view (not sure if that's the correct term) the quality of your music. If you are a hi-fi enthusiast like me, then only vinyl or CDA will do. MP3 is simply not good enough for proper listening, in my opinion.

There is also something indefinable about clutching an original disc, album, or whatever, in my paws. But that probably goes back to the old days of vinyl. Difficult to quantify, but it's kind of like the Ferrari FXX where you buy it, but are only allowed to drive it on tracks days or something like that. I feel withdownloads, I never really OWN them.

[guitarfishbay]

It depends on how you view (not sure if that's the correct term) the quality of your music. If you are a hi-fi enthusiast like me, then only vinyl or CDA will do. MP3 is simply not good enough for proper listening, in my opinion.

It is possible to download in qualities above CD, just not all companies offer that yet. CDs are 16 bit, which is already compressed compared to what many people record at these days. There was an attempt (but I can't even remember the name of the format) to do higher quality CDs but it never took off.

[mellowsun]

I still buy CDs. Like ICBM, I rarely listen to them, but I do rip them as lossless audio files and put my favourite tracks on my ipod.

I prefer to have the physical product, I feel like I'm getting something worthwhile for my money. I like reading the booklet and liner notes.

I wonder in future if we will have such things as classic albums when all we have are downloads?

[Viz]

I enjoyed that animation so much I just made a static graph of it so people can take their time viewing the rise and fall of the various formats. I do hope you enjoy it. Chilli-D, note the little upturn of vinyl peeking through on the bottom right ;-)

[chillidoggy]

It is possible to download in qualities above CD, just not all companies offer that yet. CDs are 16 bit, which is already compressed compared to what many people record at these days. There was an attempt (but I can't even remember the name of the format) to do higher quality CDs but it never took off.

Was that SACD? I never bothered with it because it would have meant a new CD player, so I waited to see if it took off, but it seemed to fizzle out.