The CD
The CD
13 February 2013
Scott Jessup
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Despite all the talk about the impending doom of the CD format that has seen us eagerly parting with countless $$$$$$$$$$ and served us so well for many years, they are still readily available much to my liking.
The download option has been with us for some time now, and sure it would have put a decent dent in the number of CD's sold but they don't look to be going away anytime soon. Plus with the resurgence of Vinyl the old school options are still enjoying a sizeable popularity.
Call me old hat but I am not the biggest fan of downloading music, being still in the camp that prefers the good old physical CD. I can still transfer the contents onto my Ipod Classic, and with better quality results than if I downloaded it at the highest available option we get here in Australia. Someone please tell me what are the benefits? Besides my issue in relation to sound quality I fail to see the point paying prices that aren't that significantly different to that of a CD. When we are charged at such a high rate to download a new release and so many older albums or even per track I really find it hard to warrant the need to change formats plus CDs prices have dropped. Sure if I go the download route I can get much quicker access to new music, but that alone is not a good enough reason to override the negatives.
Finally last year the Australian Government had taken notice and launched an enquiry into why we Aussies pay so much for a range of products including music downloads. Compared to what customers are charged in the US the price difference is substantial and this needs to be investigated and questions asked.
Now in 2013 those responsible for this pricing have been requested to appear before the enquiry committee, and to explain why consumers are charged such prices here. Being an election year I suppose this may also be seen as a way to gain some much needed votes, especially with the present outlook from the opinion polls is quite gloomy for those currently in power. I hope I'm wrong but I see this more as a way to act as if they are actually doing something constructive about the issue. So even though I hope to be proven wrong I do have my doubts that we music fans will see an improvement anytime soon. Consequently we could very well continue to be charged such high prices.
Maybe one day my opinon may change if we eventually get presented with better quality and far lower priced alternative legal options like those that many other countries enjoy. But until these obstacles are rectified I will continue to happily support the old faithful CD.
Scott Jessup
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