The Demise of disc formats

[bigbillquad]

It has hit me like bolt of lightning one of the biggest store in NZ called the "Ware House" has virtually pulled all disc formats of the shelves with in a week 4k Blue-ray CD`s. and LP`s. GONE.....
There is still shop`s where you can still buy from who specialized in these items but when a big business does this you can see the writing on the wall of these formats.

Are we heading to a place where you can only get music as a down stream or buy a music file?????? have you notice this happening in your country.
BBQ...

 

[Ranasakawa]

You still have JB HiFi in NZ. Even JB has cut back on new releases and actually has more vinyl than CDs releases each week. That alone tells me how many CDs are actually purchased

 

[4-earredwonder]

It has hit me like bolt of lightning one of the biggest store in NZ called the "Ware House" has virtually pulled all disc formats of the shelves with in a week 4k Blue-ray CD`s. and LP`s. GONE.....
There is still shop`s where you can still buy from how specialized in these items but when a big business does this you can see the writing on the wall of these formats.

Are we heading to a place where you can only get music as a down stream or buy a music file?????? have you notice this happening in your country.
BBQ...

I think it's readily apparent that no one music chain or 'ma and pa' store can compete with the internet. I do believe physical discs will still be pressed for some years to come, probably in more limited quantities.

Hopefully, there will still be 'specialty shops' specializing in used/new vinyl for a few years to come but as far as stocking new CDs, blu ray, UHD4K discs, etc., the internet stores cannot be beat in terms of quantity of selection and lower price points.

 

[JonUrban]

I was in Best Buy today (killing time) for the first time in ages. Saw that there were LPs but no CDs. And a very small section of "New Release" BluRays and 4K video movie discs. That was it. Now, I may have missed the CD section, but if I did it's way in the back where I didn't go.

A far cry from what they had back in the early 2000's

 

[Audiowannabee]

It has hit me like bolt of lightning one of the biggest store in NZ called the "Ware House" has virtually pulled all disc formats of the shelves with in a week 4k Blue-ray CD`s. and LP`s. GONE.....
There is still shop`s where you can still buy from how specialized in these items but when a big business does this you can see the writing on the wall of these formats.

Are we heading to a place where you can only get music as a down stream or buy a music file?????? have you notice this happening in your country.
BBQ...

YES UNFORTUNATELY

 

[timothyemerson]

It has hit me like bolt of lightning one of the biggest store in NZ called the "Ware House" has virtually pulled all disc formats of the shelves with in a week 4k Blue-ray CD`s. and LP`s. GONE.....
There is still shop`s where you can still buy from how specialized in these items but when a big business does this you can see the writing on the wall of these formats.

Are we heading to a place where you can only get music as a down stream or buy a music file?????? have you notice this happening in your country.
BBQ...

Yeah, I noticed them cleaning all discs out a few weeks ago. Apparently, The Warewhare will still sell the occasional 4K/BD/DVD in store (probably when it's some popular release) and on their website, but it doesn't look like they're going out of their way to get lots of new releases.

That leaves pretty much just JB Hifi, Mighty Ape, Trade Me and Real Groovy for movie and CD purchases in NZ.

Outside of NZ, I get most of my movies/surround music purchases from www.amazon.com or www.amazon.co.uk or direct from movie labels like:
https://arrowfilms.com/https://eurekavideo.co.uk/https://www.powerhousefilms.co.uk/Kino Lorber | Experience Cinema.

For music, I'm glad to see that these websites have opened up sales to NZ (although HD Tracks access seems to switch on and off as they determine):
HDtracks | You can hear the difference. Listen on the go in master studio quality. If you sign up to be spammed, you'll get the occasional 20% off coupon which makes things a reasonable price and sometimes, a Googled coupon will apply a discount.
https://www.qobuz.com/nz-en/shop
I also use:
https://nz.7digital.com/https://bandcamp.com/https://bleep.com/https://www.junodownload.com/https://boomkat.com/
For purchases that are only available on CD, there's always www.discogs.com/

Like 4-earredwonder said, I reckon discs will be around for years still but will become more of a niche. They pretty much already are. I'm the only one I know who still buys them but then I'm also the only one I know with a decent sound system too.

 

[Sonik Wiz]

It has hit me like bolt of lightning one of the biggest store in NZ called the "Ware House" has virtually pulled all disc formats of the shelves with in a week 4k Blue-ray CD`s. and LP`s. GONE.....
There is still shop`s where you can still buy from how specialized in these items but when a big business does this you can see the writing on the wall of these formats.

Are we heading to a place where you can only get music as a down stream or buy a music file?????? have you notice this happening in your country.
BBQ...

Somewhat along the lines of what Jon said, Best Buy and others in the USA stopped selling CD's & other discs a few years ago:

https://www.theverge.com/2018/2/6/16973538/bestbuy-target-cd-sales-vinyl-cassette
As I've mentioned elsewhere I am a big fan of anime, J Pop/Rock & in general Asian entertainment. These country's still love the physical discs. LP/CD/Bluray. For a large part of what I want I have no shortage of physical media. I am good with high res downloads, not so much streaming for audio, so I have some good paths to follow.

Edit: yes at BB or NFM there is more vinyl LP to choose from than digital.

 

[Mr. Afternoon]

Where I live there isn't a single store that sells CDs anymore. The kids don't know what they are. Ironically vinyl is making a comeback because of the Taylor Swift fangirls here, but that's it. No physical media.

 

[4-earredwonder]

I was in Best Buy today (killing time) for the first time in ages. Saw that there were LPs but no CDs. And a very small section of "New Release" BluRays and 4K video movie discs. That was it. Now, I may have missed the CD section, but if I did it's way in the back where I didn't go.

A far cry from what they had back in the early 2000's

Jon, if you recall, a few years ago Walmart and Target actually gave the major record companies an ultimatum: Either give us your new CD releases at $6 or less [their cost] or we'll just eliminate them and substitute other 'sundries' on those shelves.

And even if these 'chains' do stock a 'few' cds, they're usually at list price so why bother!

 

[4-earredwonder]

What's even MORE distressing is the RISE of Vinyl and the demise of the CD. Most people are under the impression that vinyl is better as a LOT of recent Rock/Pop/Heavy Metal RBCDs have been brickwalled to death and suffer compression artifacts....but what vinyl lovers don't realize....MOST of their vinyl is pressed from digital masters ...... so much for ALL analogue. And unless you buy those boutique custom pressings ... you're likely to get an 'indifferent' mass produced pressing replete with ticks and pops.

And sadly, as a collector of UHD4K discs ..... they're being released, selection wise, IMO, very haphazardly. And ironically, DVDs are still being pressed in MASS quantities. Don't people realize a Blu Ray player plays and UPSAMPLES DVDs ..... and plays CDs as well and the pricing of DVD and blu ray discs is almost on parity with each other. And yet people steadfastly hold on to to their DVD players when they could actually buy a BD player for about 100 bucks ... or LESS, and experience a major uptick in quality across the board!

And my gripe with 4K discs ..... the selection SUCKS! But 99% of them are awesomely replicated and unless you saw the film in its first run at a quality theater, with state of the art projection, it's akin to watching the film for the very first time! And most of the major studios are licensing out their titles to smaller boutique companies like Kino Lorber, Arrow, Shout/Scream and other smaller video companies and charging double what the majors would normally charge for a 4K title.

 

[Bill B]

It's definitely becoming difficult to buy physical media at B&M stores. Especially anything but the most popular movies and music. I have a sneaking suspicion that as long as there is demand Amazon will be selling them. Even if they have to produce the disc themselves (as they already do with some).

 

[4-earredwonder]

It's definitely becoming difficult to buy physical media at B&M stores. Especially anything but the most popular movies and music. I have a sneaking suspicion that as long as there is demand Amazon will be selling them. Even if they have to produce the disc themselves (as they already do with some).

And since Amazon just spent a whopping $8B buying up the MGM film catalogue.......wonder if they'll replicate that vast catalogue of titles on BD~V and UHD4K besides offering the films on PRIME VIDEO!

 

[Wathen1955]

I've been buying CD's from Goodwill dirt cheap! I bought over 200 for only $50. After going through them, I kept 175 as the rest were rap which I do not like. I gave those away. At our local music store, they have LOTS of CD's coming out the woodwork and are not selling. What is selling there? Vinyl.

They had boxes and boxes of unopened used CD's that they haven't even opened yet. According to the owner of the shop, he gets them for pennies on the dollar, but having difficulty in trying to sell them.

 

[Perp]

I did try streaming for a couple of years but eventually went back to purchasing discs because the quality of the music in streaming is all over the place whether it is hires or not. Also, I’ve tried Tidal first, then Apple, and later Amazon Music, when they offered Redbook quality or better, and all three of them have category problems. I really don’t have the space to keep purchasing discs but I keep getting them anyway. At least, I owned a physical product and only have to pay for it once.

Purchasing downloadable music I gave up on too because of the up and down quality for the type of music I buy and not having a physical product to touch. Though, I still have a lot of music on hard drives.

As far as movies, the last one I purchased was the latest 4K Star Wars movie at Best Buy at the beginning of COVID. I’m quite okay with streaming movies even if the quality is not as good as an actual disc. Though, I have noticed that a lot of movies I’ve streamed in the past few months have looked and sounded very good.

 

[Perp]

And since Amazon just spent a whopping $8B buying up the MGM film catalogue.......wonder if they'll replicate that vast catalogue of titles on BD~V and UHD4K besides offering the films on PRIME VIDEO!

I don’t see that happening. They’re going to keep streaming it, only, for their Prime Video members.

 

[4-earredwonder]

I don’t see that happening. They’re going to keep streaming it, only, for their Prime Video members.

I suspect, Amazon will license them out to the Boutique video companies for replication ...... And movies like [gulp!] Gone With The Wind has yet to make its UHD4K debut!

 

[J. PUPSTER]

Haven't bought physical media in a B&M for years now; mainly due to they're all gone, and it's too easy to sit at a computer, price shop and have it delivered.

But I still enjoy physical media (as long as it's priced reasonably- no T.O.M.B.S.!)

I did love the days of shopping the Tower stores (original to my city of Sacramento.)

-Tower Teddy and my last Tower shopping bag

 

[Mr. Afternoon]

It's definitely becoming difficult to buy physical media at B&M stores. Especially anything but the most popular movies and music. I have a sneaking suspicion that as long as there is demand Amazon will be selling them. Even if they have to produce the disc themselves (as they already do with some).

Amazon just shut down their disc manufacturing facility, so uh, start sweating.

 

[Old Quad Guy]

This argument remains us of 20 years ago when everyone started panicking over MP3s and iPods. What happened? Records came back and entered the mainstream to a whole new audience.

15 years ago, we were bemoaning the death of DVD-Audio and SACD, only to see both formats come roaring back to various degrees, and new Oppo and Sony disc players. Now we also have Blu-ray and 4K titles. But instead of buying music and movies at a big box retailer, you buy them online from a warehouse, where it’s shipped to you. There’s simply not enough retail store floor space to keep in stock all the variety of titles people want to buy.

Let’s not forget that streaming is just another form of AM-FM radio, and instead of MP3s, we now have Hi-Rez downloads. It’s never been just one format.

 

[kfbkfb]

Over in blu-ray.com there's much discussion about streaming vs. physical media (audio/video content only), with the point being continually made that content on central servers is subject to editing to stay politically correct.

Of course, audio only content is also subject to editing, but so far, I've haven't heard about any editing (of streamed audio only content) to keep it politically correct.

Around here, we have a large F. Y. E. store and several Vintage Stock stores (I've bought a lot of [new/used] CDs/DVDs/Blu-rays and 1 HD-DVD from them).


Kirk Bayne