MP3s to replace CDs?

[Flybye]

Am I the only stupid one to realize a prefabbed CD has an almost indefinite shelf life while MP3s are liable to be delted, corrupted, subjected to harddrive failure, etc?

I keep hearing how someday MP3s or the next audio file type will phase out CDs, but I honetly think the advantages of having only MP3s doesnt outweight the disadvantages.

[Synthohol]

having 11 computers i copy my MP3s all around the network, i can scratch or lose a CD but i have a hard time scratching a PC or losing one.
then there are DVD backups of MP3s....

i think the "phase-out" is merely mans quest for more with less.
i can store say 15 .CDA files on a cd, a hundred or more MP3s on a cd or 300+ mp3s on a 1 gig thumb drive.
so the smaller the storage device the more files.. see where this is heading?

and the other advantage is prefab CDs cannot be rewritten where a USB drive can be re-written mega times over.

[tripodal]

not to mention anyone with a decent soundsystem can clearly hear the quality difference between an mp3 and cd, even at 320kbps its noticable.
It would be a tragedy to lower the fidelity once more. Fans of vinyl usually will agree.

[Flybye]

I never paid much attention to the quality. As it is, CDs sound pretty clear to me.

[BigBen]

I am of course biased here lol as my other half owns a music shop, selling CD's DVD's and still some vinyl ..... MP3's sound quality is not as good as CD (I have enough of both to tell)

On another point you really cant beat a proper CD with the inserts etc :)

I wonder what bluray etc is going to bring us in the audio department?

Regards

[WackyComputer]

I will NEVER buy MP3s, I will buy CDs.

[unacceptable_risk]

I said that once about vinyl.

I've been listening to mp3's for so long now, and my system is so tired, I don't think the quality is such an issue for me any more. MP3's are conveniant.

[BigBen]

I am replacing my Vinyl with CD's even though I still prefer the vinyl sound

[sadako1]

MP3 has the upper hand when it comes to convenience - I don't think I'd be all that happy carrying 60+ CDs around with me, while it's a snap with my MP3 player. I love my CDs though. The difference in quality is huge, especially when you're playing it on high fidelity audio equipment. You can tell the difference even at 320kbps as tripodal says! Having said that, lossless .aac is almost perfect. If you've got digital speakers or an amp that takes a digital signal then I challenge you to say which is which!

I don't think I'll ever stop buying 'prefabbed' audio media, whatever the format. There's just something special about holding that shiny disk and having the artwork in your hand. Hell, I even love opening and closing the tray on my CD player... how it lovingly accepts the 5" disks of joy...

As far as bluray is concerned, I believe the same questions were asked of DVD and that came to nothing, with only the big names in high definition audio really having a go at making player and nobody making software! The problem now is that for a system to take over from CD, the mass market needs to be able to see a difference between the old and the new. Vinyl to cassette was a convenience thing most likely - a tape is significantly more portable - you didn't have many people with record players in their cars did you. Cassette to CD was a quality and longevity thing. All that hissing and worn out tapes was a real drag. Now where do we go? Most people can't tell the difference between CD and MP3 so any hardware medium would have to offer something new. DVD-A would have been great. High definition, multi channel sound. SACD was pretty good and HDCD was good too, but none of them caught on. The equipment was too expensive compared with the improvments for the vast majority to jump aboard.

I'd also like to add that, just like Wacky, I've never bought an MP3 and I don't suppose i ever will!

[borkborkbork]

Vinyl Burned To CD Then Ripped As MP3, Quality Loss 5% or Less...