Let's Not Forget About CDs!

In this day and age, where technology advances at a speed that is hard to follow, sometimes we pass by some of the best medium to translate our love and passion to one's art.

Music, being trapped in this motion of evolution that forces us to always look forward, we forget that not so long ago we were all excited to have the most advanced feature to listen to our favorite songs; the CD. Even more before, and still today, CD's are the best way to listen to your favorite songs. Think I am kidding? Not at all, since none of the major online providers such as Itunes, Soundcloud, Napster or Spotify offers music in a wave format (with the exception of some less known websites). I say the best quality can still only be available on CD's.

You might think, what about vinyl? Well, for the most melancholic of us, waves will never beat the satisfaction of holding and hearing a more organic way to enjoy your favorites pieces of musical creation. Unfortunately, when it comes down to stereo effects and bass level, waves keep being a more accurate version to the original recording and mixes. My guess is at this point, it is simply a question of taste and how you like sounds to trigger your emotions and memories. Of course, CDs do not have a life duration as long as vinyl or pure data, but it will still give you the most loyal sound experience. I'm still listening to CD's I bought 20 years ago, but most of them are ruins. If I only knew back then how to transfer them onto my computer!

Now let's think about all the effort, time and money your favorite artists put into hiring and collaborating with some of the best producers and mixers, which are artists of their own way, to give life to their music. I could understand years ago when data space could be a limitation; people would be seduced by the amount of songs and albums you could fit in your favorite digital music player, which was mostly MP3 players. Nowadays with all formats being readable by software available in your smartphones and storing space being more than enough to have many albums in wave format, why not go for quality rather than quantity? Plus, CDs are now cheaper than ever, even cheaper than buying the album at online providers. So, I say drop those earbuds, get some good headphones and enjoy music at its best everywhere and all the time.

Agree or disagree with me, but I'm a strong believer that CDs have a reason to be here for years to come. For more information about the subject I would suggest watching “Lost in translation: audio quality in streaming media”, a conference by Andrew Scheps available on Youtube.