Not sure if this is under the appropriate forum heading to post this (change it at will, Mike!); regardless:
http://www.side-line.com/news_comments.php?id=46980_0_2_0_C Not unexpected news, but that doesn't make it any less distressing.
After reading this, I'm not exactly sure how I want to respond; I could go on for a couple thousand words how I feel about this, but have little desire to do it on a forum (perhaps in a more 'formal' venue).
Suffice to say, I think it sucks if/when this moment comes. To those of you who are happy with the faceless download, where music becomes simply nebulous, artless data (I could care less whether it's FLAC, wav, aiff, whatever), with the dissolution of its reach, power, and mandate as a completely audio/visual synergistic art form, where it becomes just another disposable commodity to be digested without passion, I have little commonality.
I know this is a hugely divisive issue. Regardless of my opinions on this matter, as someone who believes fervently that an actual TACTILE OBJECT, an actual SOUND CARRIER containing true sound dynamics & a visual presentation, design & style (and I'm referring specifically to the CD, though I will include vinyl as well) needs to exist (much like an actual paper-based magazine or book, or a painting on a canvas), I know I'm in the minority, and despite such a position, it sure as hell isn't going to stop the CD's demise.
(And, to reiterate, I don't want to hear about lossless files or the ability to print artwork...why that remains a 'selling point' is beyond me. Don't want to build my own car; why should I want to construct my own art for a recording I purchased? Again, I know my ire will draw various perspectives across the spectrum, and from far & wide, but so be it.)
So, when the manufacturing of the CD finally goes the way of all flesh, I will thus continue to enjoy my existant 20,000+ CD library 'til my end of days, technological 'evolution', or whatever, be damned.
That's my op, for what it's worth.
Back to our regular scheduled program, already, regretfully, in progress...