https://www.billboard.com/articles/...hreatens-to-pay-labels-for-cds-only-when

The market for audio CDs is nearing its end for some retailers. Guess you can only survive as Amazon or in a niche. Meanwhile, vinyl records sell strong.

Keep in mind that while vinyl records are selling well, they represent a TINY fraction of the overall market. It's something like 2-3% of the market share.

What's driving all of this is streaming. The mainstream music consumer who represents the vast majority of the market has transitioned to streaming. Even digital music sales are declining (ie MP3's, ITunes, etc.)

I gave no exact number for vinyl sales on purpose. My intent was to express that the old record format is here to stay.

Yes. As long as we have hipsters and audiophiles, there will always be a demand for vinyl.

Doesn't surprise me at all, I knew it was coming. Streaming makes more sense for anyone who hasn't built a large CD collection over the decades, or more recently an iTunes/MP3 collection.

I'll stick with CDs which allow me to burn to a lossless format (no data lost, for archiving), and then to compressed MP3 for space. I also occasionally supplement my CD collection with Amazon MP3s, but I prefer CD.

Still, it's vinyl for the win!

I'm pretty sure the last LP I bought was in 1984.

To be honest, me too, I think (Bryan Adams' Reckless - 1984).

I thought about acquiring a decent Hi-Fi w/turntable and starting a new LP collection, if just for the nostalgia of looking over the artwork and liner notes/lyrics while listening to the album. But I'm too set in my ways of wearing portable headphones 95% of the time, as well as the cost of starting over. Plus my aged and often abused hearing likely wouldn't appreciate the LP sound quality advantages Neil Young likes to go on about. Nah, I'll stick with MP3 portability.

I've thought about getting back into vinyl just as a hobby. I think I would find it relaxing.

A record player just wouldn't be convenient for me. I either listen to music while I'm gaming on my PC or I listen to music when I go to bed. Both occasions really require headphones and portability.

I listen to music on my PC all the time. Satellite radio quiet a bit. But I also have 6000 songs on my PC. These songs are all uploaded to Google Music to stream from anywhere as well. There is a spot in my rec room away from any TV, with a woodstove. I think it would be a nice spot to just chill listening to some Pink Floyd on Vinyl. In some weird way, I think it would be therapeutic.

I'd go LP if only I had money to burn and could afford a really good system (McIntosh tube amp, maybe some old-school Klipsch Heresys, Cornwalls or even Klipschorns [although I have no space/corners]), and enough money to build a decent LP collection quickly. But that ain't happening, and at least I have CD packaging with miniature-size album art and text. It just sucks with some albums like Jeff Wayne's "War of the Worlds", you need a full-size booklet.

I might one day repurchase the Dark Side of the Moon LP, if just for the posters. What a beautiful album...