Thought this news report from the BBC was interesting:
Not just for the news that so many games (and games machines) are being sold (which should interest Derek at the Consolarium) but for the observation about music sales:
It is online sales of CDs and DVDs that have grown rapidly, rather than digital downloads, which still only account for around 4% of music and video sales.This seems to imply they've combined music and video sales to get this statistic and I suspect that the market share of music may be higher than 4%.
I find it slightly comforting that people still want to buy a physical product. Certainly, I like the artwork, the lyrics, the details about who played what on which track etc. that you get with a CD but quite apart from that, I like having a physical copy of something I've paid for. In fact, I usually make a copy to CD of any music I have downloaded... when legally allowed to do so obviously. :-)
It may be that even homo zappiens would rather have a physical disc than an intangible mp3 file. For example, I was slightly surprised to discover this when I chatted to a teenager recently. He is a keen music fan, he plays in at least three bands, and has a fairly healthy music collection. I mentioned to him a site where you could legally download, for free, a load of music mp3s from a band I knew he liked. But he said, "Nah! I'd prefer to get the CDs." I suspect I am more mercenary than him. I prefer to have it on CD but if I can get it free or very cheap, then... :-)
I hope to say more on mp3 downloads in a future post. In the meantime, what do you think? Mp3 or CD? Leave a comment or answer the new poll I've just posted.
Now playing: Deep Purple - Strange Kind Of Woman
via FoxyTunes
P.S. I've just lost the game. :-(
3 comments:
food for thought David
it took me a long long time to move from Vinyl to CD - in fact I still have 100's of LPs in the attic along with a turntable that sounds better than any CD player I have ever heard. But make the move I did. Now I very rarely buy a CD, I don't really miss the boxes and there is a lot less clutter in the room. I take them with me - on holiday, in the car, on the train etc etc on an ipod or other MP3 player. OK so the sound quality isn’t as good but neither is my hearing.
Hello Alan
I still have my LPs to (my children call then "those black CDs") but recently bowed to the inevitable and packed away the turntable. :-(
I should have said thought that although I want to have a physical CD, almost all the music I listen to now is from iTunes/iPod. MP3s are much easier to access and transport... but I still want my CD to rip from!
Worth noting that I got three replies on Twitter.
joecar @DavidDMuir live streaming lastfm or seeqpod hits that random itch I had to get jiggy with iggy following your post cds are in our attic 4:32 PM Nov 5th from web in reply to DavidDMuir
andymcswan @DavidDMuir MP3 for me all the way, If I was a music purist records would be a better option than CD 5:19 PM Nov 5th from Netvibes in reply to DavidDMuir
katiebarrowman @DavidDMuir mp3 all the way. Small flat, you see. 6 days ago from web in reply to DavidDMuir
Also, worth noting that 9 out of the 12 votes in my poll were for MP3. I guess MP3 is more popular than I thought.
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