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Best Buy To Cease Selling Audio CDs

Judge

Judge

Well-Known Member
V.I.P Member
The end of uncompressed sound sources? The obsolescence of cassette tapes I understand. But a major retailer no longer willing to sell CDs?

My old ears seem to do fine with MP3 algorithms, but I can't help but wonder what others range of hearing may entail who can tell the difference, or even care?

Lucky for me I've pretty much bought all the CDs I'd ever want, and ripped them all to MP3s anyways.

Going the way of the cassette? Best Buy will stop selling CDs, says report
 
I don't get it. Nothing wrong with CD's at all. They are portable, small enough, sometimes come with a cute booklet. I need to replace a bunch I had stolen out of my car last summer. Being a bit of a Luddite it took me years to get into CDs and I have yet to bother with MP3 and not sure I ever will. Maybe for white noise or something, but if I want an album I want something real, with cover art.
 
I'm with you Kay and much to my annoyance, I've discovered that our new car does not have a CD player so now am forced to learn the MP3 stuff which I was kinda hoping to avoid.
 
This strikes me as yet another decision relative to money and convenience far more than technology.

Demand is all for MP3 files now. More lucrative as you can purchase by the song rather than the album. In this instance it does favor the consumer. But technologically it's abandoning uncompressed sound!

Makes me wonder if most people now are listening to their music collections through a flash drive inserted into either their receiver or a dvd player. Very convenient I suppose. I know it sure is in my car, where I could drive over the worst bumps in the world and hear my entire music collection without a skip. Yet at home I still prefer to listen to uncompressed sound through my living room audio system.

Of course when I'm online, I can play the same collection through my media player in MP3 format. Still a whole lot simpler than physically placing a single CD into my optical drive.

Yeah, when you think about it, convenience alone overwhelms the CD format in comparison.

The only thing though, is ripping a CD to MP3 format involves some work. In many cases you have to input all the music details yourself, which can be tedious.
 
Judge said:
This strikes me as yet another decision relative to money and convenience far more than technology.

Demand is all for MP3 files now. More lucrative as you can purchase by the song rather than the album. In this instance it does favor the consumer. But technologically it's abandoning uncompressed sound!

Makes me wonder if most people now are listening to their music collections through a flash drive inserted into either their receiver or a dvd player. Very convenient I suppose. I know it sure is in my car, where I could drive over the worst bumps in the world and hear my entire music collection without a skip. Yet at home I still prefer to listen to uncompressed sound through my living room audio system.

Of course when I'm online, I can play the same collection through my media player in MP3 format. Still a whole lot simpler than physically placing a single CD into my optical drive.

Yeah, when you think about it, convenience alone overwhelms the CD format in comparison.
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Did you ever get into EAC? Years ago I used to swap live concerts.. they were aa fussy as golfers.. with exact audio copy.

My regret is I once sent this guy in japan a few cds but had accidentally done the same one over and over...
 
Fridgemagnetman said:
Did you ever get into EAC? Years ago I used to swap live concerts.. they were aa fussy as golfers.. with exact audio copy.

My regret is I once sent this guy in japan a few cds but had accidentally done the same one over and over...
Click to expand...

LOL...nope. First time I ever heard of it. Had to look it up. Though a tad too late for me. I have another three more CDs coming this week from Amazon, which may be some of the very last ones I acquire.

Oh well....I'm a life-long Geek, used to doing most everything the hard way. :cool:
 
Got an aux input in my car and a CD player for some reason...so I can choose between thousands of songs from any compatible device and just a dozen or so from a scratched up disc? Seems like a tough choice here.
 
WildCat said:
Got an aux input in my car and a CD player for some reason...so I can choose between thousands of songs from any compatible device and just a dozen or so? Seems like a tough choice here.
Click to expand...

I have to admit, as much as I don't want the format to disappear, I'm absolutely loving my tiny little USB flash drive/dongle that allows me to play my entire music collection and without any skips or whatever. Sure can't do that with a CD.

Funny to see SiriusXM continue to send me specials trying to get me to ultimately pay $15 a month when I already have all the music I'll ever like- and want just a few buttons away in my car that in most cases I have already long ago purchased.
 
LucyPurrs said:
I guess I need to get busy downloading my music CDs onto a flash drive.
Click to expand...

I was incredibly fortunate some years back to have converted all my cassette tapes to CD & MP3 format about a year and a half before both my hi-fidelity tape decks finally gave out.

I must say though, the Windows Media Player sure makes it easy to quickly rip a CD to MP3 format. Just make sure you set the bitrate to at least 192K to maintain the fidelity of the original CD. Though in my case I did have to input all the music details for each file. It became kind of a hobby for me...:)
 
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LucyPurrs said:
I guess I need to get busy downloading my music CDs onto a flash drive.
Click to expand...

In a swimming pool last year we were playing the free version of Pandora.
The one with ads.
The music was probably a bit loud.

The ad shouted out 'do you suffer from a curved p**is'

No more pandora.
 
Ironically I was in the local Best Buy only a day or two ago. Saw lots of CDs, but then you go up the street to Walmart and they had a better selection at lower prices.

But it was the lack of the original DVD format movies that bothered me while at Best Buy. Of course now you're supposed to just throw them out and replace them with Blu-Ray. Er uh.....4X now. Give me a break.

Upconverted DVDs play great on my 1080p widescreen. I have no intention of replacing my collection over more format wars. Besides, wait a bit and 4X will be replaced with 26X. "Homey don't play that." :rolleyes:
 
Judge said:
...I must say though, the Windows Media Player sure makes it easy to quickly rip a CD to MP3 format. Just make sure you set the bitrate to at least 192K to maintain the fidelity of the original CD. Though in my case I did have to input all the music details for each file. It became kind of a hobby for me...:)
Click to expand...

OK, so probably a stupid question...you've had more time with this though (or not?)...is there a noticeable difference between 192kbps and 256kbps? Or, put it this way, do you notice any difference?

I'm asking because I've got a MP3 player that's just sitting around collecting dust and I'm thinking about filling it up to the brim and finally putting it to use. Only thing is, I need a good bitrate to settle on for all my songs.
 
WildCat said:
OK, so probably a stupid question...you've had more time with this though (or not?)...is there a noticeable difference between 192kbps and 256kbps? Or, put it this way, do you notice any difference?
Click to expand...

Not with my ears- or my audio equipment. Besides, you boost the bitrate higher and the file sizes go way up. I was weaned on a bitrate of 192k based on the basic CD format. That serves as a benchmark that's fine to me, though I suppose there will always be someone who insists to the contrary. So I exclusively rip everything to 192k. No more, no less.

Though whether I'm getting the most from ripping cassette tapes (Dolby B, C and HX Pro noise reduction) with a dynamic range/signal-to-noise ratio of 66db to 74db is anyone's guess. It's ultimately more compressed sound than from a CD at no less than 80db in comparison, and yes I can tell that particular difference as I suspect most folks can. Though a few of my tapes were also encoded using DBX noise reduction, allowing for 75 to 80db.

Strange to think of the lack of moving parts and greater fidelity in a DVD/CD player compared to what went into a good cassette tape deck. o_O
 
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Beguiling Orbit said:
Much to the chagrin of artists and audiophiles, society has traded quality for the convenience of compressed audio files.
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Always has. And always will. Most people cannot hear the difference.

CDs require physical processing and transport. This cuts into profit margins.
 
Since my car has neither a USB port nor Bluetooth, I play my MP3 player through an FM transmitter-to-FM radio. I have my wife playing hers on an old-school boombox via a cassette adapter.
 
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