In this article, I'll get into why CDs are making a comeback and why I feel they are vital to helping us take back control of not only the music we listen to, but can also be an important first step in helping us reclaim control in other areas of our lives.
Let's get into it…
The Huge Problem CDs Solve
Howzit, my name is Hugh and I just bought my first brand new CD in over 20 years, after getting rid of almost all of my CDs about 10 years ago.
Do I regret getting rid of those CDs?
I actually don't.
More on that in a bit.
But to understand why CDs are so important, we first have to zoom out and look at the bigger problem that CDs are solving.
In my opinion, the biggest problem in the world right now, by far, is hyper monetization.
We have reached a point where many products have been over optimized to produce the maximum amount of profit for a company, at a minimum cost to the consumer.
While that sounds good in theory, it means that many times a small number of people make a ton of money by delivering a crap product.
Just look at the brands that have a name that are just a random collection of letters.
In those cases, they aren't even trying anymore.
Now not all products are crap obviously, some are excellent.
But in many industries, the lowest cost products puts pressure on the higher quality, higher price one and it becomes a race to the bottom.
Unfortunately, this is happening in many industries, especially in the music industry.
Even more unfortunately, the musicians get caught in the middle in this case and have the most to lose.
Luckily there are always solutions.
One of the best solutions is physical CDs.
So let's take a look at the 7 ways CDs can solve the problem of the hyper monetization of music and why this 40+ year old technology just might rekindle your love of music again, and help you take back ownership of your life.
Support the Artists
If you want your favorite musicians to continue to make awesome music, it has to be worth their time and effort.
When you buy new CDs, you directly support the artist because they get a cut of each sale.
Yes, there are going to be times when you simply cannot buy a certain CD brand new.
But with CDs, at least there is that option in many cases, which is fantastic.
Research how much artists make per stream on streaming services. It will make you sad.
Buying new CDs gives you a more direct way to support them.
Are you buying CDs again? Or did you never stop? I would like to know, leave a comment below.
Presence
This is a big one for me.
I've found that when I have millions of songs available to me all the time, I rush through the songs to find the good ones.
I'll only listen to a few seconds of each song because there are so many other songs to listen to.
But then I also get tired because there are so many playlists to listen to and decision fatigue kicks in.
The important thing is that I don't listen as closely to each song on streaming as I would as if I had a CD.
With a CD, since that album is the only thing I can listen to at the moment, I give each song a fair shot.
On top of that, I might not like a song the first time I listen to it. But after listening to it a few times, I really like it.
So CDs force me to be present and intentional with the music.
If I'm going to buy a CD, it's because I really want a few of the songs and I want to explore the other ones deeper. In addition, sometimes CDs have hidden tracks.
For an awesome portable CD player, consider this one. I think it's crazy that companies are making new CD players again.
Song Preservation
Now let's get into song preservation, which is more important than you might think.
Once you have a CD, you have that version of those songs forever.
Many times, streaming services can actually serve a version that's different from the CD or the track can get remastered and not sound as good as the original.
For example, someone commented on one of my videos to check out the song Garbage by twenty one pilots on streaming vs CD.
Kind of crazy, right?
Even worse, songs can disappear altogether.
I had some He's My Brother, She's My Sister songs on a Spotify playlist, but at one point, those songs were gone.
Another example is this CD by Don Carlos.
I cannot find this album anywhere on streaming and it's even hard to find on CD, which is a shame because I really like a couple of the tracks.
So having the CD allows me to always have access to these songs and create FLAC files that I can listen to on a phone or iPod.
Sound Quality
I didn't realize how big of a difference there is, until I did a test.
CD quality music is much better than streaming. Many times it can be better than even so-called lossless downloaded files from services like Spotify.
It's hard to explain how much better this music not only sounds, but feels.
When listening to CD quality tracks after being on streaming for years, I got excited about music again.
The CD version was more immersive, while the Spotify version sounded more flat.
I didn't know what I was missing until I did the comparison test and I now get much more enjoyment out of listening to the CD quality versions.
So you might want to do this test for yourself too.
Remember that you need to have decent headphones to tell the difference though.
If you use regular earbuds, it's all going to sound the same.
But if you really care about sound quality, I have a list of a few excellent high bang for buck headphone options that will get you started.
Freedom of Choice
This one took a little while for me to realize, but once I got it, I was sold 1000%.
You see, an iPod or phone, can be a more modern version of the mixtape.
Here's what I mean…
It all started with this track by Stick Figure on Bandcamp. It's a mashup of Sublime and Biggie songs.
If you don't remember mashups, they were somewhat popular in the early Napster and Limewire days.
People would mix 2 or more songs together at home, many times from very different genres to create some super interesting songs.
Think mixing Metallica with Taylor Swift, for example.
Most of these songs were terrible.
But once in awhile, someone would hit it just right and it was magic.
Girl Talk has a few tracks like this.
Half the fun of going through these songs was discovering the gems.
Obviously most of these homemade mixes weren't copyright safe, so they could never be sold on the open market.
Buuuut…
If you still have one of these songs on your computer, you can put them on your phone or iPod and listen to them along with the songs you ripped from your CDs.
The same thing goes for rare live recordings that people recorded on a phone in a bar or at a music festival.
By the way, if you want to get into iPods to play your ripped CD music, check out my guide to buying the best iPod.
There are 3 iPods that are actually still awesome today, but the rest are duds.
So read that guide to avoid buying the wrong one. You can also add Bluetooth to your iPod.
Anyway, the point is that when you get off streaming, you can listen to whatever music you want, not just on CD, but on your phone, computer or digital music player also.
If you want to throw in your high school tuba recital you can drop that into your playlist too.
You have complete freedom and aren't tied to only what's available on the streaming service you're using.
It's like creating the largest, most awesome mix tape and having it with you all the time.
No More Ads
Even if you pay for a streaming music service, many of them still serve ads.
They aren't like Netflix that blatantly shows you traditional ads, even though you are paying a monthly fee, but they are ads nonetheless.
You get served the latest releases on your home screen, sometimes of artists that you don't even care about.
On top of that, you get served new podcasts, upcoming concerts, audio books or anything else that can potentially keep you on the platform longer.
Buying CDs ensures that you always have the music you love, without ads, notifications or pop ups.
Longevity
Let's face it, when it comes to music, CDs are the most durable and most accessible form of physical media in the world.
That's why they will be extremely important to preserving music in the future.
Here's how they compare to other forms of physical media.
Yeah I hear you…MiniDiscs are super cool.
I used them a lot in the past and they were great.
But there are a very limited number of albums available on MiniDisc and the equipment is getting harder to find.
On top of that, the sound quality isn't the greatest because the disc is so small.
Vinyl is awesome but they are fragile and take up a ton of space on shelves.
On top of that, there are many variables that determine the quality of sound you get out of a record, including the pressing run, the cartridge you use and more.
And the more you listen to a record, the more worn out it gets.
I realize that there is a distinct sound with vinyl that you cannot get with other media forms.
But for me, it's more trouble than it's worth.
A huge shout out to the vinyl heads out there though, I totally understand why you're into it.
As Biggie said, “I let my tape rock 'til my tape pop.”
Cassettes are fragile and have low sound quality, so they are a no go for me.
I understand how important cassettes were to the spread of music, but they are one type of media that I feel should be left in the past.
Now we get to a more modern storage device, the SD card.
They can hold a ton of music and are great for popping into a music player, phone or computer.
However, the downsides are that fewer devices utilize them nowadays and it can be easy to lose them or accidentally stick them in a digital camera.
CDs on the other hand, are super durable and since the information on the disc is read with a laser, there is no physical contact with the disc and therefore no physical wear.
They are meant to be a permanent recording media, similar to vinyl, so the quality is locked in, unlike cassettes or MiniDiscs which are rewriteable and trade quality for flexibility.
CDs also don't fit into digital cameras, so the music is safe.
Final Thoughts
Anyway, this isn't an either/or situation, you can have both physical media and streaming, especially when it can take time to build up your CD collection again.
Remember, the middle path is usually the best solution.
But take some time to figure out what's important to you.
Personally, I'm thinking about owning 100% of my music and quitting streaming altogether.
Streaming is becoming a mess.
Oh, and why do I not regret giving away most of my CDs 10 years ago?
Sure, it would be great to get a few of those CDs back, but I'm just going to buy them again and go out and discover new stuff.
The reality is that I'm a very different person now and I simply don't vibe with most of that music anymore.
So getting to start over with my CD collection is kind of a blessing in disguise.
Now that I understand the value of physical media and what I actually enjoy listening to, I can make more conscious decisions about which CDs I really want to own.
In the past, I bought many CDs just to have an impressive collection or because a CD was popular.
Now the big question is, what other areas of our lives would benefit by applying the same mentality?
Taking control of the music you listen to can be the first step to taking back control of other areas of your life.
Once you realize what's possible in the world of music, you might start to see parallels in other areas.
In what other situations could owning be better than renting?
Think about it.
Long live awesome music.