MSE News: Music buying: can CDs be cheapest?

expat_mike

MSE_Guy wrote: »

This is the discussion thread for the following MSE News Story:

"Downloading tracks is not always the cheapest way to buy music, research shows ..."

Read the full story:
Music buying: can CDs be cheapest?

Why would anyone pay to download any lossy format like MP3 or WMA if the real CD is no more expensive. If you're paying the going hard copy "CD" rate for a soft download I'd expect it to be in a loss-less format like Flac for archiving purposes in much the same way I buy CD's originals and convert to MP3 for use on my players. Any loss or damage of the files and I can re-constitute them quickly and easily without losing quality. Sounds like greed to me charging that much for low quality sound tracks. No wonder piracy is rife.

Sharon87

I tend not to buy albums anymore, unless I really like the artist. I hear a song and download it. I've only ever bought 1 album I downloaded from iTunes and it was only £4.99.

If I do want an album I definetely look at the physical copy - I got the new Muse one for Christmas and it has a DVD with it as well - but apparantly it was quite expensive (that's what he got for leaving it last minute and not being able to get a good price on line lol.)

Mr.Mulla

I prefer to buy CDs as well especially if they are my favorite artist. I only download music as a preview of the albums I want to buy. More like reviewing the album first before I buy them.

Kite2010

brightonman123 wrote: »

like thats stopped anyone,, lol (elder relatives often had vinyl record swap parties, 'back in the day'..)

whether the then took it back for exchange / refund, they never said ;-)

Like the law which says your not allowed to make copies of your CDs onto the computer has stopped people :P

[Deleted User]

expat_mike wrote: »

Why would anyone pay to download any lossy format like MP3 or WMA if the real CD is no more expensive. If you're paying the going hard copy "CD" rate for a soft download I'd expect it to be in a loss-less format like Flac for archiving purposes in much the same way I buy CD's originals and convert to MP3 for use on my players. Any loss or damage of the files and I can re-constitute them quickly and easily without losing quality. Sounds like greed to me charging that much for low quality sound tracks. No wonder piracy is rife.

....is the right answer. Lossy is for losers.

tonyh01

I've started to sell my CD collection on Amazon as I can't remember the last time I played a CD - always seems to be digital through my computer or MP3 player. Not as sad as when I sold my Vinyl collection as they were works of art and spent much of my youth listening to albums and studying the information on the cover. Could never do that on CDs.
Never thought about the aspect of deleting the MP3s when you sell the CD.
Any justification in the fact I paid £10 -12 for the CDs and selling them for £2-3?

KimYeovil

tonyh01 wrote: »

Any justification in the fact I paid £10 -12 for the CDs and selling them for £2-3?

No. Idiot.

Bobmcdingleberry

I buy CDs 2 for £10 and then put songs on computer, then sell CDs (sometimes).

Maz4501

thanks.......