Is the CD and DVD/Bluray going away?

"Vacuum tubes are dying". We have only been hearing that for sixty years.

Mlsstl,

Yes, you're right that there is a difference between what is being counted and that's why the numbers are different.

Nielsen is the only organization I'm aware of that counts total record sales and I'm sure they use estimates in their count, so the numbers aren't exact but probably close.

The RIAA numbers for 2011 are:

Cds shipped - 241 million
Lps shipped - 5.5 million
Album downloads shipped - 105 million (I don't know how you ship a download)

RIAA numbers for 2012 won't be out for a while yet.

I put the numbers up because people say stuff like cds are not going to be produced after year end or that vinyl is outselling digital or whatever. The Nielsen numbers have some basis in reality and I hope they help people make better decisions and make for better informed discussions.

If someone has sales numbers from another source, put them up.

Much effort goes into producing CD/DVD/LP/BR. These formats are not going away anytime soon.

Just yesterday I spoke to someone at OPPO about my BDP-103 and asked about HD downloads (wired and wireless) and came to the conclusion that nothing beats Blu-Ray for the quality and that's why I got it in the first place. I won't settle for streaming if it has the occasional stutter or hiccup, convenience be damned.

What prompted my call to OPPO was the offer for half off on the ROKU streaming device.

A lot of time and effort has gone into Blu-Ray and they won't be giving it up any time soon. Besides, they've gotten really good at transfers. All one has to do is watch Lawrence of Arabia and see just how good something from 1962 can look and sound.

All the best,
Nonoise

Tomycy6, would just point out there is a difference between "product shipped" and "product sold". It take more time to accurately determine the latter.

But, we're quibbling over accounting details. The trend is the same.

Cd will go away the way vinyl has. It hasn't and won't for years. Downloads will be just another alternative but a growing one and getting better. Sooner or later I will get into it but it will likely be in a year or two. The technology is maturing. Jallen

Mlsstl, Nielsen releases their numbers within the first few days of the new year. The RIAA releases numbers for product shipped in a few weeks. In the past the two sets of numbers have been fairly close.

shiny discs aren't going anywhere. Their demise is much exaggerated.

Interesting the differences noted in sales between sources. The numbers I noted above were from a Reuter's article based on Billboard magazine figures. See
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/01/05/us-albumsales-us-idUSTRE8031NY20120105.
(These are 2011 figures, but I'm not sure how much I would trust 2012 figures so soon after the close of the year.)

However, the trends noted are similar and the comments agree. CDs are going to be around for many more years.

However, another impact that many have noted the past few years is the loss of local stores with a big inventory of CDs.

According to Nielsen SoundScan for 2012:
193 million Cds were sold
4.6 million Lps were sold
118 million Digital album downloads were sold

Cd sales were down from 224 million in 2011
Lp sales were up from 3.9 million in 2011
Digital album downloads were up from 103 million sold in 2011

http://www.dailyfinance.com/2013/01/04/the-nielsen-company-billboards-2012-music-industry/

So cd sales continue to decline but they should be sold for a while yet.

Levchappy, I have always thought that the thumb drive/SD type card would be such a great solution. Physical Storage, no moving parts, cost of production, little tiny thumb drive racks,no concern about scratches, Clocking issues, the list goes on. But for retailers it might be a theft problem. But I am sure they could come around to a solution for that as well. As far as down loads my concern is what happens if your drive crashes, will they maintain a license that allows you to re-download. I would rather have a tangeble product that I can dictate where and what I play it on. Unless we settle for a pay per use download then that would suck in my opinion. I am giving a Thumbs Up on Thumb drives:)

CDs and DVDs aren't going away, but they are no longer the sales behemoth they once were. The top sales year for CDs was 2000 when they sold almost 800 million of them. Now CD sales are less than half that, around 300 million. (Vinyl sales, while up, are still only about 1% of CD sales.)

Now, that's still a lot of CDs and record companies are still going to serve that market for a long time. While some people have moved to downloads, there are still a lot of buyers who don't download and aren't going to start anytime soon.

(One other aspect to consider -- while downloads are generally cheaper than new CDs, there is a tremendous market for used CDs. You can often buy a like-new CD for less than the lossy format download. But, the used market also depresses new CD sales.)

So, yes, the trend is toward download, but CDs are going to be around for many years to come. The same is true of DVDs. There is a trend toward streaming, but there are still a lot of buyers who prefer the physical disc.

Download movie offerings are so limited. I would only embrace this if that changed dramatically.

Hi Theo,Shakedown, Tpreaves
Thumb drives would be a lot quicker and hopefully offer better performance over disks. We just acquired an Emotiva UMC-200 pre/proc. I was told by an industry insider CD/DVD/Blurays will disapear in the near future in favor of down loads. To me Vinyl is King. I hope you are all correct.
Happy listening/watching

Well the LP was supposed to go away several years ago but they're still around.

Yes...there has been some chatter, but thats all it is..There is too much on the plate at the moment that involves the whole picture of those lil shiny discs from manufacturing, retail sales and rentals etc. Not all have the capability to stream with ease yet. I live in a rural area that still does not have any form of great internet abilities. I did buy the new Oppo BDP 105 for its musical abilities and also for the DVD/Blu Ray...My library provides many hours of enjoyment...

It seems that rumor has been going around for some time now. I doubt it will ever completely vanish. I do wonder why in todays technological in media storage why we haven't seen a Thumb Drive or SD type card for media. Way back in the early 80's when CD first started to gain traction I waited to jump on board because I had read in Popular Mechanics that the cassette was about to be replaced with a cartridge similar to todays SD card only larger, the sample they showed was about 50% the size of a deck of cards. So I waited, and waited and finally bought a CD player and bunch of CDs and more recenly just keep upgrading my analog system. The old is forever new...so they say.