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CDs and vinyl are outselling digital music downloads

froggyboy604

froggyboy604

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Digital music downloads began to outsell physical media since 2012. It took four more years for digital music revenue to surpass those from physical media as well. Then streaming happened, and last year generated more money in the US than all the other formats. Now, digital downloads are coming in dead last, with fewer sales than CDs, vinyl or other physical media, according to the latest annual report from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).

CDs and vinyl are outselling digital music downloads

I feel paying for digital downloads is not the best way to buy music for more dedicated music fans, and poorer music fans who want to save money by buying many used music cds, and only a few good vinyl records.

More dedicated music fans usually rip their CD to Flac or high bitrate MP3 files which sound better. Fans enjoy collecting music related CD booklets, and Records which sometimes come with cool artwork on the box.

Some people also buy Cds and Vinyl records to use to get autographs from their favorite singer when they meet a singer at a concert, or fan meetup. There are also special edition CDs and Vinyl records which are autographs for fans.

Music fans who want to mainly save money on music can buy many used CDs for $100 on eBay, or they may buy a few very high quality vinyl records for $100. Users can also re-sell them if they don't want a CD or Vinyl record anymore. In some cases, the music cd, or vinyl record maybe worth more money in the future if the CD and vinyl record is no longer being sold at a store, or suddenly a lot of people want to pay a lot of money to buy them to collect.

The popularity of popular social networking sites like Instagram, YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, and Snapchat, and personal blogs and websites is most likely make buying music cds, and vinyl records more popular because there are many people who like posting stories, photos and videos of their CD, Vinyl record, and physical music collection.

Owning a lot of music cds, and vinyl records is a status symbol to some people like richer people who like to show off their wealth and unique musical taste with physical items rather than showing off their music file folder on their PC or smartphone/tablet which looks less impressive than a shelf full of music cds, records, and music collectables.
 
Kind of surprising CDs are still strong, I think now that vinyls made a come back they will remain strong.
 
Demon_Skeith said:
Kind of surprising CDs are still strong, I think now that vinyls made a come back they will remain strong.
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There are more dedicated music fans who buy more music to collect different versions of album artwork of the same cds. Many dedicated music fans don't want their favorite singer or singing group to not sing anymore because the singers are not making enough money, so fans buy albums to support their singer, and the company which produce and records the music.

There are also impulsive buyers who randomly see a CD they like at a store, and are willing to spend $20 on a CD which has a collection of songs which they like rather than going home, and spending time buying each individual song from iTunes or Google Play where they may end up spending more money if they need to buy more than 18 songs on iTunes or Google Play.

CDs are popular with the millions of dedicated fans who go to worldwide concerts where fans can ask the singer to sign their CD, hats, and shirts with the singer's brand on the product. Fans also like collecting the CD photo cards of singers, CD booklet, covers, and autographs which come with CDs.

South Koreans, and Japanese music fans also buy a lot of CDs, so they can increase their chances of winning a ticket to go to a fan meeting event ,concert to meet the singer, or stuff like a Autograph copy of a CD or poster.

If you buy an older album, buying the CD is sometimes cheaper since there are good discounts on older CDs at retail stores, flea markets, outlet stores, and discount stores where you maybe able to buy older albums for less than $10 like $5. Stores also sell new albums for cheaper prices during a sale to convince people to visit their store, and hopefully, buy a lot of other stuff at the store.
 
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Demon_Skeith said:
kind of a bad comparison, music is a lot more strongly tied together in the Asian countries.
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I think music is popular in America because Elvis, KISS, Bon Jovi and Whitney Houston are very popular in the past. More recent singers like Christina Aguilera, Britney Spears, Justin Bieber, Miley Cyrus, and Ariana Grande still have a lot of fans. But, it seems harder for most fans in America to officially meet with the singers and other fans.

In Asia, Buying new CDs also increases your chances of winning a fan meeting ticket to meet your favorite singer in Asian countries like South Korea.

I think in South Korea, the fan clubs are huge for popular singers like Psy, so there are many fans who are willing to buy many copies of the same CD albums to increase their chances of meeting their favorite singer.
 
froggyboy604 said:
I think music is popular in America because Elvis, KISS, Bon Jovi and Whitney Houston are very popular in the past. More recent singers like Christina Aguilera, Britney Spears, Justin Bieber, Miley Cyrus, and Ariana Grande still have a lot of fans. But, it seems harder for most fans in America to officially meet with the singers and other fans.

In Asia, Buying new CDs also increases your chances of winning a fan meeting ticket to meet your favorite singer in Asian countries like South Korea.

I think in South Korea, the fan clubs are huge for popular singers like Psy, so there are many fans who are willing to buy many copies of the same CD albums to increase their chances of meeting their favorite singer.
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actually Asian countries use a lot of music in tv show/games/ect. openings, inserts and endings. Not to mention they have large pop groups that drive events. Music has a bigger impact than in other countries.
 
Demon_Skeith said:
actually Asian countries use a lot of music in tv show/games/ect. openings, inserts and endings. Not to mention they have large pop groups that drive events. Music has a bigger impact than in other countries.
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This is true Music is a huge part of Asian countries lives especially in countries like South Korea, Japan, and China. The fan clubs for some Asian pop groups like BTS, Wanna One, AKB48, etc are huge. Asian music is so popular that many non-Asian countries like America have many fans who are interested in Asian singers like BTS, PSY, BoA, Utada Hikaru, Girls' Generation, AKB48, etc, and go to events like concerts and music conventions like K-con which is a kpop music convention.
 
I could add that if you walk around for example shopping destricts in Japan, you'll hear music all over the place alongside the many advertisement boards that make sound too.
 
While I love CDs thenselves, for me it get annoying when I have so many of then and can't search for the one I want quickly. The other issue is that many computers (including the one I got at work) no longer have a CD drive in it.
 
Danielx64 said:
While I love CDs thenselves, for me it get annoying when I have so many of then and can't search for the one I want quickly. The other issue is that many computers (including the one I got at work) no longer have a CD drive in it.
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I think the library book categorizing system can help organize cds, or organizing cds in alphabetical order helps. My local library has hundreds of Cds which people can listen to. A portable USB CD/DVD drive cost about $20, so using a USB CD drive is affordable and simple for most PC users.

Buying a new Windows desktop computer or laptop with a CD drive is not very inconvenient to buy and the CD drive does not make a computer a lot more expensive than buying a PC without a disc drive.
 
And a nice bonus of buying an older PC is that they're usually longer lasting than newer ones for some reason.

And more stable too, considering someone at work uses a like 10 or so year old laptop and works with Microsoft's wireless screen cast thing without any issues, while one other person uses a brand new Surface Book and it keeps disconnecting many times from the same screen cast thing while we have a meeting.
 
SuwakoMoriya said:
And a nice bonus of buying an older PC is that they're usually longer lasting than newer ones for some reason.

And more stable too, considering someone at work uses a like 10 or so year old laptop and works with Microsoft's wireless screen cast thing without any issues, while one other person uses a brand new Surface Book and it keeps disconnecting many times from the same screen cast thing while we have a meeting.
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The person's Surface Book maybe having software hardware driver or other software and hardware compatibility problems. A lot of the hardware software drivers for older hardware can be more stable because the major driver problems are fixed with each driver release over the years. Older software driver for old CPUs and motherboards are less likely to release a software patch to fix security vulnerabilities like Intel Meltdown and Specter. Some software patches for Intel Meltdown and Specter can make a PC less reliable. I read a few blog posts and comments which said some Microsoft Surface PC users experience computer problems like performance problems, crashes and freezes after installing Intel and Windows 10 patches to patch the Intel Meltdown and Specter.

I have a older 10+ year old computers which still work reliably at running software which has less demanding software system requirements which can run on older computers running Windows XP, Vista, and 7. But, newer computers seem to randomly shutdown or freeze more often. I read forum post online of new computers breaking before the warranty has expired, or shortly after the warranty has expired.

Many new computers are design to be affordable, look fashionable, and use less electricity. I think most computer manufactures care less about designing a computer which can work reliably for over 10 years, and rather sell PCs which are affordable, look good, and have long battery life.

Some hardware manufactures may try to save money by hiring cheaper workers like less experience driver and firmware software programmers who are less likely to always make reliable hardware drivers and firmware software. But, they are more likely to release firmware and drivers which break many computers like how Intel recently releasing firmware patches for Meltdown and Specter vulnerabilities which broke a lot of computers.
 
The Surface Book in question is fully up to date actually.

Long battery life is a scam on its own.
Like how they promise 92 hours of battery life, but never mention that:
1. This is only if you run the laptop without any active applications and background services running.
2. Battery life will drain quicker and quicker over time, so it might have lasted about 12 hours after unboxing and heavy YouTubing, but 6 months later you'll find that the exact same usage will make the battery last for like 3 hours.

In the end, battery life is what people want, and corperations is what people trust, so they get away with it really easily.
 
I agree the estimated battery life time printed on user manuals are not accurate since Windows usually end up using more battery life after users need to install updates which were release to fix security vulnerabilities like Intel Meltdown and Spectre, WannaCry, Heartbleed and Windows problems like random restarts and shutdowns.

Sometimes it does not take 6 months for the battery life to be shorten. Some Windows updates for Windows, bundled MS software like Windows Defender and Firewall, etc can shorten the battery life if the update makes Windows use more CPU and RAM resources.

After fully updating a Windows computer a computer has not been updated in months, the battery life could be shorten because the updates make Windows use more RAM and CPU resources, and add more features to Windows.

Windows and Windows bundled software like their Windows Defender Antivirus and Firewall updates can make a PC use more RAM, and CPU resources, and storage space.

The hardware drivers and firmware may cause parts like the video chip, CPU, and motherboard to use more system resources, and use more power, and make the PC hotter, so the cooling fans need to spin faster which uses more power.
 
In general I don't bother with the graphic card drivers, chipset drivers etc from ASUS etc, I get then from Intel, Nvidia etc because quite often they are more updated and have fixes that the OEM wouldn't apply to their set of drivers.
 
Danielx64 said:
In general I don't bother with the graphic card drivers, chipset drivers etc from ASUS etc, I get then from Intel, Nvidia etc because quite often they are more updated and have fixes that the OEM wouldn't apply to their set of drivers.
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I mostly download drivers from Nvidia, Realtek, and Intel, or use the drivers downloaded from Windows Updates.

I think it is safer to download motherboard firmware or BIOS installers officially from PC companies like HP, Dell, Asus, etc because a lot of PC users online say it can be difficult to fix a motherboard problem caused by a bad motherboard firmware install. A lot of users also don't recommend people update the firmware for motherboards because there is a chance of breaking it if the install fails.
 
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