While the music blasting from car radios may have made eras before us cringe, our method of use is something they would have applauded. Music has moved from record players to cassette tapes, from cassette tapes to CDs, then from CDs to the all-knowing and powerful mp3 players. As time has gone on the race for digital perfection in music has left its outdated competitor, the CD, behind. In many stores a piece of paper with digital code is sold rather than one of these ancient disks. Although the age of hard copies of music may be diminished, will it truly ever be gone?
“I remember when I was little and CDs were what everyone had, and that it used to be cool to have a CD collection,” junior Cassandra Boduch said. ”Now it’s rare to find anyone owning more than three.”
It is safe to say that the decline of CD sales is in negative correlation with the incline of online purchases. According to the NPD Digital Music Study, online music sales have increased by 450% since 2008 alone. As the software updates for iTunes steadily increase so does the pull towards digital music. Within recent updates, iTunes allows people to receive music from any computer at their house. Also the new Genius creates 1-Click playlists for different genres that people may have in their library. Updates such as these may be destructive blows to the CD industry; however the CD is not a foreign object to students yet.
“I buy from iTunes,” senior Abby Zandevakili said. “However, if my parents like the music or if I want to read the lyrics I buy the CD.”
Mp3 player accessories tend to be a downside towards iTunes. Due to the high cost, many students would prefer to not buy the adapter that allows them to play mp3 players through their car speakers; therefore CD’s are the next best thing. The hands on quality and readily available lyrics tend to pull students to CDs. Also the predictability of computers has led to students taking a second glance at CDs.
“There are points when I don’t like iTunes,” junior Philip Surdacki said. “I have lost all my songs when my computer has crashed before.”
CDs give off that desired hands on quality not only for the disk but for the artwork. The new digital album artwork that iTunes has does not always meet the standards of people who are used to the intricate designs of LPs.
“The downside to downloading songs off of iTunes is you are going to miss a lot of the artwork,” US History teacher Joe Snider said. “I used to have my walls covered with band posters and CD artwork.”
Although iTunes has many issues, the accessibility of it makes it the easier purchase. With the ability to buy singles as opposed to the whole album, people are capable of spending every cent of their money on something that they want. Also, no one disregarded the quality of digital versus CD.
“I think that the music is cleaner sounding [on iTunes] and it is much more accessible,” Snider said, “Also, it makes it where more people can hear about them. For instance more people are able to hear about a band on iTunes and show up at live concerts.”
In the past the decline of CD sales has blamed the illegal downloading industry. Due to its accessibility and “cost”, software such as Limewire tends to draw students in.
“It’s sad, but true that the quickest, cheapest, and easiest way to get music now days is through illegal downloading,” said Boduch.
The opinion of illegal downloading differs between each person. People tend to not partake in the activity due to the fact that they want their favorite artists to receive money for their good work. Also, many times the idea of getting caught isn’t what stops students from participating in illegal downloading either.
“I know it’s wrong,” said junior Francie Johnson, “but I would probably be using it if Limewire didn’t give my computer viruses.”