MISSING (iNightmare)

Have you seen these or their cousin, the DVD?

Does anyone still go into a store and actually buy CDs? I love buying CDs. Especially for my favorite artists and those artists that I like but aren't gold and platinum selling. I love walking out of the store with and having that case and liner notes in my hand. Everytime I buy a Hip-Hop CD and I know DJ Premier has a track on it, I scan the notes for his song and it's typically the first thing that I play.

Lots of times I like to admire the artwork on the cover while I'm listening to the album the first time through if it cover art of note. Although, sadly, that's a dying art as well. Last dope album cover I remember was Blackstar's album cover. Now, I'll buy individual tracks online and sometimes albums that I just absolutely can't find a physical copy. When buying digital music I use Amazon.com's mp3 store, which by the way is the greatest thing ever! All of their songs are DRM free, which means they can be played on any mp3 player. They also have a massive library of music, which doesn't require a subscription or software that needs to be downloaded in order to use their store, which can't be said for most major online music retailers. I can't believe it took them this long to finally get into the digital music business. Seemed like such a logical step. I know it's definitely good for the consumer since Apple has become the top music retailer of any kind. They definitely need the compitition. Monopolies are never good for the consumer.

Enough with the Amazon love and back to the original topic of this blog, CDs and why people aren't buying them. I know it's so easy to cop music online, but when you hear a great album don't you still go to the store and cop it to support the artist? I know you're saying, "but, 8, you have music to download on your blog!" Yes, this is true, but I tend to keep things to an indivdual track or mixtapes, which are for promotional use only. :) But, even when I do download an album for free, if it's hot I still go out and buy it, unless we are talking about Jay-Z's of the world (although the only hot album he has is Reasonable Doubt and I do own that) who along with Madonna & possibly 50 Cent are no longer focusing on CD/music sales. They are concentrating more on other means of revenue like clothing, vitamin water, acting & concerts. Hell, newer artists like The Cool Kids aren't even that concerned about selling albums at all. According to Chuck of The Cool Kids in an interview with Rhapsody.com,

Everybody is like, “Aright, so when’s the album coming out?” We’re probably just going to keep leaking songs till we figure this thing out. Why not? Who cares? If we have a song and you want to hear it, you can get it. So what is the point? I’m just really rebellious toward what I can and can’t do. I can do whatever I want. If it was up to me, I’d just make CDs and put them out. You can’t sell music, man. It’s not possible. You can sell tickets to a show so you can do those songs. We’re past selling music. It’s boring.

If I'm lucky enough to ever have children, I wonder if they will even know what a CD is. It's probably going to be just as bad for DVDs in the next year or two. Movie and TV show rentals make total sense. I would download or stream a rental, easily through something like Netflix, Zune Marketplace or iTunes. Apple now makes movies available to buy the same day as the DVDs hit the shelves, previously they would be available a month after DVD release. Even Blockbuster is attempting to throw their hat in the video download ring. With their bid to buy Circuit City it's believed that they would use Circuit City as a way to sell set top boxes that would receive the movies that you would download from Blockbuster's website.

I can watch a TV show on my laptop, but I don't know if I want to sit infront of a monitor to watch a movie. I'll often find myself catching an episode of The Office on Hulu.com. But, when it comes to movies the only options in regards to downloading for me would be something like Apple TV or the proposition that Blockbuster may offer if the aquisition of Circuit City is successful. I need to see my movies on TV, but even with that as an option I still want that case and cover. Plus, do these movie downloads come with all the extras of the DVD? I just caught Iron Man in the theater on Friday and when that movie is released how could you not have the extras, also?

There's something to be said for shelves full fo CDs & DVDs. I guess it's the High Fidelity in me.

*shrug*

p.s. What's the last CD or DVD that you went into a store to buy?

p.p.s. When and if you do legal downloading, what service do you use?