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Post by solidstate on Sept 17, 2014 15:58:15 GMT -5
Digital Music Sales Decrease For First Time in 2013 NEWSNEWSDIGITAL AND MOBILELEGAL AND MANAGEMENTRETAIL By Ed Christman, New York | January 03, 2014 9:21 AM EST Digital Music Sales Decrease For First Time in 2013 112 in 1.156 k 78 Comments For the first time since the iTunes store opened its doors, the U.S. music industry finished the year with a decrease in digital music sales. Nielsen SoundScan Mid-Year Report: Digital Album and Single Sales Slow Justin Timberlake's '20/20' 2013's Best Selling Album, 'Blurred Lines' Top Song The Music Biz in 2013: In Flux, Disruptors Disrupted While the digital track sales decline had been expected due to weaker sales in the first three quarters, the digital album downturn comes as more of a surprise as the album bundle had started out the year with a strong first quarter. Overall for the full year 2013, digital track sales fell 5.7% from 1.34 billion units to 1.26 billion units while digital album sales fell 0.1% to 117.6 million units from the previous year’s total of 117.7 million, according to Nielsen SoundScan. While industry executives initially refused to attribute the early signs this year of digital sales weakness to the consumer's growing appetite for streaming, in the second half of the year many were conceding that ad-supported and paid subscription services were indeed cannibalizing digital sales. While SoundScan has not yet released its annual streaming numbers numbers, so far industry executives have been reporting that the growth in streaming revenue has been offsetting the decline in digital sales revenue. Overall, album sales suffered an 8.4% decline, dipping to 289.4 million units from nearly 316 million units in 2012. The CD declined 14.5% to 165.4 million units, down from 193.4 million in the prior year, while vinyl continued its ascension rising to 6 million units from the 4.55 million the format tallied in 2012. That means vinyl is now 2% of album sales in the U.S; digital albums comprise 40.6% and the CD is 57.2% and cassettes and DVDs 0.2%. Meanwhile, album plus track equivalent albums fell to 415.3 million units, down from 449.5 million units in 2012, which represents a 7.6% drop. FOR THOSE WHO CAN READ DIGITAL MP3 SALES ARE DOWN AS ARE CD SALES. I HAVE OVER 3000 CDs. Younger music listeners do not buy CDs You wanna know what most young listeners do for transport/source material? YouTube!
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Post by solidstate on Sept 17, 2014 15:59:20 GMT -5
But what does the SACD format offer that Blu-ray Audio (BRA) can't do at least just as well? To me, Blue-ray Audio seems like the way to go because Blu-ray players have become far more common that those capable of SACD playback, and the Blu-ray format is capable of reproducing uncompressed sound of the highest definition. So what I'd like to see is everything re-released on Blu-ray Audio - remastered (*uncompressed*) from the original source recording material, and go from there. HEAR HEAR!
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emovac
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Post by emovac on Sept 17, 2014 16:06:19 GMT -5
Niche market, but still plenty of SACD fans.
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LCSeminole
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Post by LCSeminole on Sept 17, 2014 18:07:55 GMT -5
Probably so, but streaming sucks IMO...don't like another entity having possession, or control...I like the physical media that I can own and that I can control, or loan, or,...whatever. I did not say I like it but ask around. No one buys CDs anymore Not to be argumentative, but I still buy CD's, and as of late been on a Big Band kick. I personally prefer media to streaming and until CD's are no longer made, I'll keep on inserting a disc into an ERC-2 for my music listening enjoyment.
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klinemj
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Post by klinemj on Sept 17, 2014 20:03:23 GMT -5
Like like to buy the CD so I have it, then rip it and play from my NAS. Note the purchase of 9 CD's just mentioned in the what's playing thread. But SACD's...don't have many but I would like to have lots of hi res stuff for sure.
Mark
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Post by Bonzo on Sept 18, 2014 8:32:36 GMT -5
The CD declined 14.5% to 165.4 million units, down from 193.4 million in the prior year. Thanks for posting. Like I said in my previous post, it's down a lot yes, but people saying it's dead are completely incorrect. 165 million is still a big number anyway you slice it. Loosing grip, yes. Dead, no. People need to keep in mind that in the 90's there was basically no other way to buy music. Vinyl and cassettes died very quickly once CD's became the norm. There was far less competition then. Yep. And this is why eventually they will go away one way or another. This is the day I dread.
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Post by drtrey3 on Sept 18, 2014 8:44:33 GMT -5
I think all of us read just fine. It would be difficult if not impossible to contribute to this forum without the requisite reading skills.
The statement made was nobody buys cds anymore. That is just not accurate. If the statement was cd sales are down, that would have been accurate. The problem was not a lack of reading skills, the post was understood and responded to exactly as written.
Trey
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Post by yves on Sept 18, 2014 14:36:25 GMT -5
But those steps don't degrade the original sample. The PCM format uses a series of frames, or snapshots, for the data. Each frame is a separate grouping of audio containing a left and right sample. In a CD we get samples of the music and each sample is taken 44,000 times per second, once for the left channel and again for the right channel (so the process happens twice as fast in order to get two 44K samples in the same time). Now, mentally take those two samples (left and right) and put them into a package. That’s the frame we are talking about in PCM. Each frame contains one left and one right sample along with some extra information that explains to the equipment what to expect. The DSD format, on the other hand, does not have any frames; instead it is a steady (direct) stream of bits with more or less density according the the music. So here’s the clever thing the designers of DoP (DSD over PCM) did. They simply took the DSD stream apart into discrete 16 bit groups; every 16 bit block was separated from the stream. They then combined a 16 bit right group together with a 16 bit left group, added the identifier information and dressed it up so computers and DACS would think it’s PCM. As far as any computers or USB streams are concerned, it is indistinguishable from PCM so it is passed onto the DAC via USB, S/PDIF or AES/EBU. To match the speed of single and double DSD, they use 176.4kHz ( not supported by the UMC-1 or 200) and 352.8kHz PCM rates respectively. Once it gets to the DAC, it is then converted back to its original stream by simply connecting all the bits back together. There’s no data manipulation, the bits are unscathed and, if your DAC can play DSD you’re good to go. If the DAC does not support DSD, you get silence... Your explanation of how PCM works is not very accurate TBH. Most modern ADCs that output PCM data are based on the exact same thing that DSD is based on: Delta-Sigma Modulation. One of the key differences between a Delta-Sigma ADC that outputs PCM and a Delta-Sigma ADC that outputs DSD (some ADCs can do both) is that the PCM version involves a relatively complex process that is known as (in the tech literature) oversampling/decimation in the ADC, whereas the DSD version does not, i.e., the DSD version simply stores the output of the Sigma-Delta Modulator directly without involving any further process in the ADC (that is, only in theory because modern DSD in pratice does add a few complexities of its own, so... there you go again with "bit manipulation", lol). Another key difference between PCM and DSD is that not only the ADC, but also the DAC is different, in ways that are similar to how the ADC is different. What's very often completely being misunderstood by people who refer to "messing with the bits" as something that is detrimental to accuracy, and therefore necessarily always detrimental to sound quality, is that, quite unfortunately, there is no free lunch. If you don't mess with the bits you can't have very good accuracy so, even though DSD appears "simpler", given the best available technology today, it simply isn't more accuracy, but less accuracy in fact, and so it isn't "closer to analog than PCM" in any way that sonically matters, but farther apart instead. I could go more technical on this subject, but my experience has taught me in the past that some people will just argue to death whenever I start to explain stuff like digital filter artifacts (ringing) or stuff like the relationship between quantization error and dither. (More specifically, they argue to death each and every single time when I try to bring to people's attention the fact that quantization distortion is a purely digital type of distortion, that, even today, is present in properly done DSD, yet completely absent in properly done PCM, so... there you go again x 2 with "bit manipulation", lol x 2).
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Post by jmilton on Sept 18, 2014 14:53:12 GMT -5
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Post by yves on Sept 18, 2014 15:38:38 GMT -5
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emovac
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Post by emovac on Sept 19, 2014 0:44:58 GMT -5
But what does the SACD format offer that Blu-ray Audio (BRA) can't do at least just as well? To me, Blue-ray Audio seems like the way to go because Blu-ray players have become far more common that those capable of SACD playback, and the Blu-ray format is capable of reproducing uncompressed sound of the highest definition. So what I'd like to see is everything re-released on Blu-ray Audio - remastered (*uncompressed*) from the original source recording material, and go from there. HEAR HEAR! Just bought two new ones from amazon tonight: Supertramp - Breakfast in America, and Queen - Night at the Opera. The Oppo 95 will enjoy both of these classics.
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Post by The Mad Norseman on Sept 19, 2014 12:53:11 GMT -5
Probably so, but streaming sucks IMO...don't like another entity having possession, or control...I like the physical media that I can own and that I can control, or loan, or,...whatever. I did not say I like it but ask around. No one buys CDs anymore Well maybe I'm a dinosaur, but I still buy CDs, and movies on Blu-ray, but wish that same music were available on uncompressed (preferably surround sound) Blu-ray audio... Just bought three more CDs, and two Blu-rays in the last month (and like someone else mentioned), I've also bought a few "Like New" CDs on eBay as well. (Those 'rippers' will be happy as little clams until their hard drives crash, or their 'cloud source' shuts them out for any number of ridiculous reasons!). I just absolutely prefer owning the physical medium. Hard drives fail, web sites get balky or inaccessible too often, having to pay for access to stuff that I "sort of" own, or "sort of" can pull up when I want to (assuming everything else works along that string of events) I can't tolerate. But streamers can always do what they like...its just that they may be wreaking it for the rest of us. So gimmie the actual disc everytime - at least as long as they remain available!
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Post by solidstate on Sept 19, 2014 16:27:21 GMT -5
Just bought two new ones from amazon tonight: Supertramp - Breakfast in America, and Queen - Night at the Opera. The Oppo 95 will enjoy both of these classics. NICE! Breakfast in America is one of my all time favorite albums. I'm going to have to pickup a copy as well. BTW have you ever seen that concert video of Roger in Montreal? AMAZING! Roger is one of the most humble and kind superstar rockstars in the world. I love the man.
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Post by illusion on Sept 19, 2014 17:38:44 GMT -5
Amongst my SACD's I have to say Breakfast In America is a definte favorite.
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emovac
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Post by emovac on Sept 20, 2014 2:03:01 GMT -5
Just bought two new ones from amazon tonight: Supertramp - Breakfast in America, and Queen - Night at the Opera. The Oppo 95 will enjoy both of these classics. NICE! Breakfast in America is one of my all time favorite albums. I'm going to have to pickup a copy as well. BTW have you ever seen that concert video of Roger in Montreal? AMAZING! Roger is one of the most humble and kind superstar rockstars in the world. I love the man. Haven't seen it, but I sure love Supertramp too. The BluRay audio discs were prety cheap from a third party highly rated amazon seller, just over $15 each. I have the Breakfast in America on redbook and Japan SHM. The blu-ray should be even better than the SHM.
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Post by yves on Sept 21, 2014 6:58:25 GMT -5
I did not say I like it but ask around. No one buys CDs anymore Well maybe I'm a dinosaur, but I still buy CDs, and movies on Blu-ray, but wish that same music were available on uncompressed (preferably surround sound) Blu-ray audio... Just bought three more CDs, and two Blu-rays in the last month (and like someone else mentioned), I've also bought a few "Like New" CDs on eBay as well. (Those 'rippers' will be happy as little clams until their hard drives crash, or their 'cloud source' shuts them out for any number of ridiculous reasons!). I just absolutely prefer owning the physical medium. Hard drives fail, web sites get balky or inaccessible too often, having to pay for access to stuff that I "sort of" own, or "sort of" can pull up when I want to (assuming everything else works along that string of events) I can't tolerate. But streamers can always do what they like...its just that they may be wreaking it for the rest of us. So gimmie the actual disc everytime - at least as long as they remain available! Eventually, CDs will fail too, and this in fact is one of the reasons why it makes sense to make backup copies onto multiple harddrives so if one harddrive crashes, you still have the other ones, and then you can simply buy a new one to replace the one that crashed. Another reason why harrdrives are the way to go is because they give you full immediate access to your entire music library for both searching and playback, but for it to be reliable storage you absolutely have to, always at all times, have at least one copy of each song completely unplugged from both the computer and the wall, and never forget to, on a regular basis (e.g., approximately every other week), verify the integrity of the harddrives. An easy way of doing this is to just swap harddrives, periodically in such way that each one is rotated in and out of the playback system every once in a reasonable while. Online cloud storage can be used in addition to a local backup strategy to protect important data against the risk of home fire, burglary, earthquake, tornado, inundation, car or plane crash inside the room, multiple harddrive failure simultaneous or shortly after oneanother, meteor strike, UFO attack, sourcery,...
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Post by Gary Cook on Sept 22, 2014 0:58:09 GMT -5
Eventually, CDs will fail too. Really ........... truly? I have a large number of CD's that I bought the day CD's became available, so around 1982. They are now 32'ish years old and they still play perfectly. Physical damage is of course another story, but just fail all on their own, never. Cheers Gary
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Post by yves on Sept 22, 2014 11:28:30 GMT -5
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Post by Bonzo on Sept 22, 2014 12:08:04 GMT -5
On CDs, the rot becomes visually noticeable in two ways:
- When the CD is held up to a strong light, light shines through several pin-prick-sized holes.[1]This statement above is not entirely accurate. Actually I'd say it's mostly inaccurate. The vast majority of pin holes are made during the manufacturing process of the disc, not over time or "disc rot." The reflective layer is so super thin that it's almost impossible to manufacture without "some" pin holes. Almost all discs have some degree of pin holes. As it was explained to me in laymen's terms by an engineer at Sony DADC, the layer is basically sprayed on (in a vacuum environment to ensure uniformity). But unlike say, car paint, which is applied in multiple layers (or coats), the reflective layer on a CD is just "one coat."
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Post by Bonzo on Sept 22, 2014 12:18:57 GMT -5
]Eventually, CDs will fail too, Yes, but no one really knows when this will happen. To make a blank statement like this makes it sound as if you know it will happen to all your CD's in your lifetime. This fact is simply unknown. It is theorized that CD's will last 100 years or more, but no one really knows for sure. If you take good care of your discs, and store them properly, there isn't any proven reason CD's won't live a long lifetime of listening pleasure. Wow, you actually do all this stuff? I'm not saying it's not smart, because it is, but holy crap man, that's a ton of hassle and B.S. that I'm just not willing to deal with. Talk about inconvenient.
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