Are audio CDs retro yet?
Reply #4 – 2012-03-13 13:43:27
Ooo, you mean like when Nintendo bundled Super Mario Bros. and Duck Hunt with the original NES? Yes, CDs are quickly becoming "retro" for me - and I grew up with them! I'm 35, and I remember well getting my first boombox that could play CDs (a Panasonic with a full logic tape deck! Yeah, baby!)...it was right around 1990. Up until that point, it had been my mighty Sony Walkman with Mega Bass! for playback, and a couple different boomboxes and dual cassette decks for making mix tapes (which are now "cool retro"). I loved CDs right from the start - instant track access! no rewinding! no dropouts! no wow and flutter! no noise! no Dolby (and lack thereof on most portable/car cassette decks)!! But these days...yeah, all I can think about is how inefficient they are, both as a storage medium for digital data (only 80 minutes/700 MB on something that big?), and as very non-biodegradable/recyclable plastic objects. I do sort of miss the label art on the CDs themselves, flipping through my CD wallets and being able to instantly identify albums by the front of the CD (I much prefer PDF booklets to liner notes, OTOH), but cranking up the album art size in iTunes to the largest size provides much of the same experience. In short - while I buy lossless downloads whenever I can, I would indeed never buy another CD if Apple started offering all their tracks as ALAC downloads (16/44, please - bandwidth ain't free).