[78-L] RIP, CDs

[DAVID BURNHAM]

I heard on the news yesterday that the major record companies plan to stop production of the CD at the end of 2012.  I've been reading the "Collector's Guide to Victor Records" and, coincidentally, was reading where the author anticipates this development with relish; to quote: 

"The opening decade of the 21st century ushered in a new way to listen to music that effectively eliminated the physical medium.  Digital audio files are now sold over the internet and stored on devices that play any song on demand.  This likely spells the end of 'records' as we know them, effectively reducing music to its essence - pure sound."


Am I the only one who regards this development with dread?  Do we want to see record stores disappear?  This to me is like announcing in 1975 that they were going to stop producing LPs and that from then on if you wanted a record, you paid a fee to the record company and they would send you the record over telephone lines and you could record it on your tape recorder.

What's next?  Will the book industry move to the point where, if you want a new book, you send the publisher a fee and they will read it to you over the telephone?  (I know they now have Kindles and such but that doesn't sound quite as catchy!).

Personally, I want to be able to hold a record in my hands in some form or another.  Why not restore the SACD.  There's a disc with perfect sound and is not able to be copied.  Works for me!

db