Comments on: 63-Disc Johnny Cash Box Set Due in October; Jazz Goes Honky-Tonkin’; Album Releases

By: Jon

Jon — Fri, 24 Aug 2012 01:09:27 +0000

The eight-track tape was popular because it was the first format that let you buy music and play it in your car. Nothing to do with “new” or “cool” per se. Then the cassette came along and that pretty much put an end to eight-tracks, because they were smaller, easier to use and didn’t sound any worse – at least, not in your car.

I think most people probably don’t have an opinion about whether mp3s – or any other digital format – sound better than CDs. And, in point of fact, you can find lots of people who argue that 320k mp3s are indistinguishable from CDs in many contexts. Just poke around the internet for a few minutes.

By: sunsetpark

sunsetpark — Fri, 24 Aug 2012 00:14:33 +0000

Eight-tracks worked for awhile because people realized they could be thrown on the floor, or the floor of the car, be stepped on, and still work – convenience wins vs sound quality quite often. Other times cool factor or great marketing wins – there is no one determining factor in what the public will buy into. If there was, it would be much easier to create and sell successful products and history wouldn’t be littered with failures.
Adam, I think sooner or later, like it or not, you are going to have to at least acknowledge that you aren’t changing the minds of anyone arguing with you. These are opinions, not facts.

By: Adam Sheets

Adam Sheets — Thu, 23 Aug 2012 23:33:09 +0000

Jon, I’ve never heard somebody compare the mp3 favorably to any other audio format. Have you? I don’t think we need a survey. Do you happen to have a survey proving my statement incorrect?

As for sounding good enough, that’s not an issue. Eight-tracks sounded terrible, but they sold in great quantities for a decade or more. Was it because they sounded good enough or was it because it was the new/cool thing to do?

By: Jon

Jon — Thu, 23 Aug 2012 23:22:52 +0000

“Most people would argue that mp3s do not sound as good as CDs.”

Surveyed them, have?

It’s arguably true, based on their buying habits, that most people would argue that mp3s – or, really, .aac’s – sound good enough. Which isn’t the same thing.

By: Adam Sheets

Adam Sheets — Thu, 23 Aug 2012 23:22:04 +0000

It is a better format as far as sound quality is concerned. As for it’s time restraints, it’s a tough call. I do think that a CD’s 80 minute running time often proves to be a temptation and is one of the format’s greatest flaws. I’ve rarely found a classic album with a running time of more than 45-50 minutes. So at least with a 78 I don’t have to worry about getting bored 16 or 17 songs in.

By: Jon

Jon — Thu, 23 Aug 2012 23:08:11 +0000

“I am very comfortable saying that vinyl’s future is much brighter than that of the CD.”

And right where you offered up the idea that the 78 is a “better format” than the CD is where I found myself very comfortable saying that you’re spouting a good deal of gibberish, leavened by only an occasional factoid and an even more occasional actual insight.

By: Adam Sheets

Adam Sheets — Thu, 23 Aug 2012 22:51:24 +0000

The market doesn’t perceive anything without first being fed propaganda by the corporations and advertising agencies. Most people would argue that mp3s do not sound as good as CDs. Yet digital downloads are King. Is it because “the market perceived mp3s as a superior product”? No, it’s because it’s new and it’s what all the cool kids listen to. The same goes for CDs back in the ’80s.

By: luckyoldsun

luckyoldsun — Thu, 23 Aug 2012 22:42:52 +0000

“Labels charged more for CDs initially because they were nothing more than an experiment and with no way of knowing if it would be a success or not they had to make as much as possible from each CD sold.”

Would that businesses had the power to operate that way!

Labels charged more for CD’s (not just initially, but permanently–until the demise of lp’s and cassettes as standard formats) because the market perceived the CD as a superior product and consumers were willing to pay a premium price for it.

By: Adam Sheets

Adam Sheets — Thu, 23 Aug 2012 21:55:57 +0000

Jon, I do think 45s and 78s are better formats than CDs, as is reel-to-reel tape. As for cylinders, I haven’t heard one in action, but I can’t imagine them sounding any worse than a digital transfiguration of a wax cylinder.

The superior process and quality of work are both easy to understand as well. In pressing plants people get paid more than a few cents a day. They have an incentive to deliver good work. And the process is that CDs have a limited range of sound. A CD is made on a computer and it’s tracks are digital images of a sound. The record is the recording itself and it’s full sound range pressed onto a record. That the process behind making a record is an improvement on that of a CD should go without saying.

All Mike’s post said was how much vinyl is in demand right now with the plant often being in operation 24 hours a day.

I said from the beginning of this discussion that digital downloads will become the dominant top format and probably already is in the eyes of many. The issue is the top physical format. And based on trends and the demographics who still buy physical formats, I am very comfortable saying that vinyl’s future is much brighter than that of the CD.

By: Adam Sheets

Adam Sheets — Thu, 23 Aug 2012 21:45:28 +0000

Labels charged more for CDs initially because they were nothing more than an experiment and with no way of knowing if it would be a success or not they had to make as much as possible from each CD sold. Come to think of it, they’ve come full circle in that regard. As for CDs being more expensive to produce, that’s just typical advertising. However, CDs did probably cost more to produce before the jobs were sent overseas than they do now.

The way I see thing heading right now, vinyl will indeed be the last physical format standing. With the majority switching to downloads due to the improved convenience, there is little use for CDs. I believe it was you who mentioned senior citizens opposed to downloads as an example of why CDs would stay around. I say labels don’t particularly care about that demographic as much as they do the vinyl-loving hipsters and audiophiles. After all, senior citizens know how to use a turntable and probably only abandoned them when they were forced to by the labels. It will be easier to sell them records again than it will be to sell a CD to somebody who knows better.