CDs, PCs, MP3s and ATX

So, I’ve lately been contemplating my music collection (such as it is), and whether I should take the plunge and go completely digital. I’ve got most of my favorite albums ripped to my PC, and never even think about the CDs anymore, much less use them. How many people under 30 really do?

I used to listen to my CDs all the time. Even after the iPod overtook and mauled the MP3 player market and became a proprietary eponym (Wiki that), I was perfectly content to take my little CDs in and out of their fragile cases and pop them into my dinosaur of a stereo.

It’s a Sony shelf micro-system with a five-disc changer. I received it back in 2005 as an 18th birthday present from my dad. I used the crap outta that thing, tossing in five random discs and letting them play all day long, even if I wasn’t there to listen. Needless to say, the poor thing eventually keeled over and died, unable to play a single note more of Enya’s “A Day Without Rain”, despite my best efforts to will it back to life by removing and re-inserting my discs like a broken jukebox arm.

Of course, the warranty had recently expired (manufacturers design their products to only break after the warranty expires, you know), so I hauled the beast into a repair shop and ended up paying over again what I paid for the stupid thing brand new. I remember the serviceman grumbling about how much he hated working on micro-systems. At the time, I was obviously thinking, “Like I give a fritter… just fix the piece of junk.” However, now that I’ve worked with both ATX and Micro-ATX PC cases, I have a little more sympathy for the poor guy. It can get pretty tight in there.

 
[The big black one on the left sporting the cop lights is an ATX case. That’s my baby. The HP case on the right is micro-ATX. That’s the overcooked child that was donated to science.]

[This angle gives you a better idea of the size difference.]

However, when I had to rip up my carpet and put down hardwood last fall, the Sony system was boxed up and packed away, never to be heard from again. I have two CD drives in my PC, which is not quite the same as a five-disc changer, but it means I can listen to two CDs at the same time. Try to wrap your brain around that one.

But other than the compulsory rip when they’re initially obtained, most of my CDs never see the light of day again, much less get popped into a disc drive to do what they were made to do. Which brings me to my question: are CDs obsolete? Should I dump all of my CDs at a used media store and forget the format ever existed?

According to one enthusiast, despite the popularity and portability of digital media, CD sales still made up 80% of all album purchases in 2009. Do that many people really still use Walkmans and shelf-top CD players that they absolutely must have the original hard copy of the albums they’re purchasing? Do we still have that crippling distrust of technology that mandates a “backup copy” of every single album in our digital collections in case our media storage unit of choice decides to crash and burn? Why are people still buying CDs? They’re bulky, they collect dust and they’re fast becoming obsolete (did I answer my own question, there?). How much longer until music downloads overtake CD sales and collectors are left with piles upon piles of grimy, chipped cases embodying mankind’s desolation and despair…

Sure, the album inserts are cool and the CD art can occasionally impress, but even if you keep your discs in a media wallet, that’s still stuff that takes up physical space rather than a few megabytes on your hard drive, thumb drive or MP3 player. Buy a nice, cheap external hard drive and back up your tunes every once in a while if you’re afraid of losing your collection to some rogue virus, unexpected hardware glitch or super-hacker (you paranoid freak). You should be backing up your music collection regularly anyway. For shame.

I suppose I’m just trying to convince myself that I really don’t need all of those CDs I’ve got stashed away in my closet somewhere. I’ve been trying to get them organized for years, and if they were suddenly teleported away tomorrow by an alien exploration vessel attempting to analyze human pop culture, I doubt I’d miss them (although said aliens would likely return the CDs and then destroy me for my lack of taste). Half of them are cheap instrumental samplers from the dollar store.

Yes, I know the argument is old and tired. It has been bantered back and forth by audiophiles, collectors and enthusiasts far greater and more knowledgeable than myself. Some don’t trust technology to keep their music safe and intact; some insist that CDs produce a better audio quality than MP3 files; some argue that CDs can be had for less money; others have a crippling mental illness and will hoard anything that’s not nailed down. In all honesty, though, I did not really intend to present a detailed argument here about the pros and cons of physical versus digital media. I just wanted to use that “drowning in CDs” shot in a post. ;)