Is this the END of DAYS for the high end CD player

Cbw723

I plan to buy a Mac mini, cheap laptop, and set-up a backup storage bank. My son will help me as he is well versed.

I will post a question on the Ayre vs other DAC's. I like a full, rich sound that is not at all fatiguing.

Thanks much.

Bill

One giant benefit that Jim Smith didn't mention was the access to radio stations from around the world. If you love CD's and never rip a CD to a hard drive, think of a computer like a tuner that can dial into literally thousands of radio stations: every college station, every public radio station, jazz stations from Paris, Madrid, Rio, San Fransisco, and on and on.

Regarding buying CD's: Sorry to hear about those having a hard time buying CD's but the thrift stores in my town are chock full of used discs. There is also a constant stream of people on Craigslist selling their collections as they rip them to their computer. This may be the benefit of living in a college town.

Good luck, Bill. As with everything else in audio, it may take some finessing to get the sound you like, but I think once you do, you'll love the instant access to all of your (digital) music.

If you are going with a Mac Mini, you'll find information all over the web on how to best configure it for use as a music server.

Post a thread and let us know how it goes.

I think the death blow to the dedicated CD player will be the laser mechanism manufacturers. CD only readers are becoming more scarce everyday. There's very little money in it to the big guys, IMO. They'll all make mutli format only readers sooner than later. The universal players aren't nearly as beloved by people like us.

I highly doubt the CD player will completely vanish for a very long time. Then again, I see the turntable outlasting the CDP, and quite easily. Albums are so much cooler to people than CDs and will hold their retro value far longer than a small disc.

I think entry level CDPs like the NADs will die off first, followed by the $1-$4k or so market. All that'll be left will be above or around that. Hopefully not, but that's what my logic tells me.

Along with the theme of this thread, I think the way music gets distributed will dramatically change. I think it'll be downloaded from the artists site directly eventually. I say this because a lot of them currently have their concerts available for download on their sites. They're generally available in mp3 and FLAC. They also have album artwork and CD labels. For an example, check out Live Metallica dot com. Pearl Jam one ups it by adding the option of having a CD created for you. Last I looked, Phish has their concerts available in high-res. Prices are z bit absurd though. The others I've seen are around $10 for mp3 and $12 for FLAC.

I think it's a matter of time until they ask themselves why can't they do that with studio recordings too. I'd love high-res downloads direct from the artist. So long as I have a way of making a hard copy backup though.