Ask Lemmy

What's a CD?

I went to a small concert and you could buy their music on a flash drive. That was awesome. I like that option

At a anime convention there was a table with various CDs of the band playing that night. I couldn't go to concert, but bought a CD to support them even though it was going to be a slight inconvenience to rip it. I still have all my old CDs (I don't really have that much so haven't gotten rid of them. I keep them in a plastic container) so just put it with the rest.

I’m not a younger person but I used to collect vinyl and had to quit because the younger crowd got really into it and the ensuing popularity led to prices going nuts. 10 years ago it was crate digging for $1 records and new releases for $10-15 and now it’s crate digging for $5-10 and new releases for $40-60. Fuck that.

That said before I bowed out I saw plenty of artists also release on cassette and cd as well as vinyl. Those formats weren’t as popular as vinyl but still were popular, likely for one of the reasons I originally got into collecting physical media for cheap. The vinyl releases would be $40 but the cd would be $15 and the cassette would be $9.

Of course, you lose the other main reason which is the vinyl often has superior mastering to cd/web sources but I honestly don’t think a lot of the new releases are being listened to anyway. But that starts the whole diatribe about the new generation buying up vinyl to either never listen to it or to spin it on a shitty $40 record player that will wreck the disc over time. And people always looooove hearing about that lmao

The whole thing got really scummy too. The price rises were initially because the popularity caught labels off guard and pressing plants couldn’t keep up, especially during covid. But more have opened since then and they can press crazy amounts. They have just recognized they can gouge fans for $50+ dollars plus shipping for a single disc LP because they got away with it for a brief period. Plus then they quickly learned the hype tricks and now that shit is everywhere. Every album is “limited edition, only 1/3000” except then you look on discogs and there are 4800 registered. And then there’s 20 variants of the album for you to collect, show your support to Taylor or king gizzard and buy them all. It’s like funko pops except music. Don’t forget that there’s a limited run of 1000 signed copies! They’re not actually signed, they come with a little art card that’s signed and it’s probably signed by an intern but whatever, $75 for the album that’s normally $40 because you believe Olivia Rodrigo touched it for 3 seconds.

Totally gross consumerism but that seems to be what zoomers get shoved down their throats at all times. I thought us millennials got it bad because we had like constant product placement and advertising everywhere and boy bands and shit but man, they really fucked the zoomers even worse

I’ve seen CDs, vinyls, and sometimes digital options for sale at concerts.

Last fall I went to a local event where a bunch of food stalls/stands/trucks gather in the downtown park to sell food. Near an area selling beer they had a local band playing. Someone who had CDs on sale, besides the usual shirt merch. If my debit card was working back then, I would have definitely bought one right away. Not gonna say the event or band because that would immediately tell you where I live with some basic searching.

Granted, I'm not that young considering I'm in my mid-twenties, but I've been recently into CDs. That CD would have made my small collection move up from 3-4 to 4-5 total CDs, even though I'm pretty sure one is just the shittiest reprint from some random company in Florida. Definitely looking into buying more in the future, too.

I went to a small concert while on a road trip a couple months ago and the artists had CDs for sale. I figured cool, I'll have some music to listen to if I hit no cell service areas. But it turned out that my CD changer in my car hadn't been used in so long that the motor wasn't strong enough to ingest the CD. I was sad.

As someone about your age, you are more likely to buy vinyl at a concert instead of a CD nowadays. I've even been to two concerts where I got a CD mailed to me as part of buying a ticket to the event.

It is mostly T-shirts now, with some stickers, pins, and buttons.

Younger person in my 20s. Most of my friends use Spotify. I grew up buying music on iTunes and will continue to do that. I also have little interest in discovering new music and a preference for straight-up owning instead of streaming something I do not own. (Yes, I am aware I should probably go reread the TOS to see if I actually own or if Apple can remotely take my "ownership" away and back up the files like mad.) But I know my approach is uncommon amongst my social group.

I do not have CDs and will not buy one. I know of their use for backing things up. I keep external hard drives but otherwise do not really like physical media and want to keep the count of physical things I have down. Another thing to collect dust, to have to try to keep nice because I like things to look nice, and to be heartbroken about when I inevitably spill something on it/scratch it/otherwise break or damage it, whether in a "it will lose functionality" way or just a superficial way. I'll avoid the pain and just go digital.

I am also just not much of a merch person. I might donate money to support musicians but please don't give me a T-shirt I'll never want to wear (they are not my style, I might buy clothing if it actually fits my style but merch clothing almost always doesn't) or a poster I'll never hang up. If I like your music I might buy sheet music to play it myself. Better be accurate though, not a simplification, or I'll turn up my nose and transcribe it myself. Can't guarantee I'll have perfect results, but I will be closer to the original than the simplified piano/vocal/maybe guitar scores that are often put out.

I also don't know what skibidi toilet is, besides a meme that really belongs to people a decade younger than me. I don't care to find out but I am happy to let them have their fun.

i doubt I count as "younger" anymore. I'm 37 and I've gone back to buying CDs. streaming was good, then it wasn't.

Not me but I know KPop stans will pay exorbitant amounts of money on albums not really for the CDs they come with but for the added art books, photo cards, etc. I know one young person who bought multiple copies of physical albums with CDs so that they can get access to earlier ticket sales and stuff. Also apparently some songs are CD exclusive and people get really upset when you suggest they just look for pirated rips online.

So yeah, art books, photo cards, light sticks, key chains, lots of stuff that young fans are buying from artists they follow, and some of those things still come with CDs

if I respect the artist and their work and they give me the option to, I almost always do. (even if I still use the pirated version for convenience). they almost always have a CD available on their website and they look pretty cool together displayed on a shelf

I almost never purchase a piece of media if they only allow me to buy a license for it, so I have a lot of respect for the people who give me the option to actually pay for it and own it and will support them for that

Nkt exactly young anymore, but I would and I do. Music you don't own can disappear any day on the whims of a company. I don't like that.

I've bought usb drives with music and pictures and tabs. I don't trust usbs anymore, but I would be open to buy a code for downloads.

Im 25 so slowly leaving the young person sphere, but I do have CDs and I did buy some at concerts.

Im a metalhead, so it was mostly for metal bands, and maybe this is specific for this genre, but every show i went to, I saw CDs being sold. I think out of 20-25 concerts, i bought 5-6 CDs, that i mostly listen to in my car. Two of them were signed by the band, so this was one more reason to buy it.

When I don't listen to metal, im into folk, rap or electro. I do have some folk CDs, that i listen to with my parents. But for rap and electro, everything happens online. My brother released a first rap EP, and printing on a CD was a very distant option for him and his crew, like 'this would be cool but that' s too much for now'. On the opposite, my friend who have a metal band immediatly started a crowdfunding to get their first EP printed on a small scale

I never really liked physical media. But I also don't have a Spotify subscription. So I guess my music is downloaded from YouTube and other sources.

22 here, the only device in my apparent rn featuring a CD or DVD drive is an old ass iMac my gf intends to gut and put a mac mini inside just for fun, aka, likely disabling the DVD drive :(

We also probably have an external DVD reader in some drawer...

Considering we have like 5+ laptops and 2 desktops here, I'd say that says it all.

I predominantly download my music from bandcamp and my gf mainly uses Spotify.

I am currently still buying CDs for my Plex collection off of eBay, so for sure I would.

I've bought one CD, but that's because it was signed

They sell tee shirts stickers vinyl and sometimes drum heads or tour eps.

Said the 43 year old guy