The Demise of disc formats

[jimfisheye]

At least Wallmart is matter of fact about what you can expect from them. Their logo is literally a butt hole graphic!

 

[Audiowannabee]

I'm still a big collector of UHD4K discs and Amazon usually has THE best prices .... sometimes as low as $5 and I wait for their Amazon Prime and Black Friday Sales where top titles are drastically reduced. Best buy is a close second when they have their UHD4K steelbook sales.

As for music discs ....ImportCD and Deep discount most especially when they have their 15% off sales ..... but NOW only on IN STOCK items ....no pre~orders!

I am trying to do my part to NOT further enrich Bezos n China mart...one $ at a time

Matter of principal...There are other places to buy from!

 

[Sonik Wiz]

At least Wallmart is matter of fact about what you can expect from them. Their logo is literally a butt hole graphic!

I thought that was always an Assterisk.

 

[4-earredwonder]

I am trying to do my part to NOT further enrich Bezos n China mart...one $ at a time

Matter of principal...There are other places to buy from!

When you've ALREADY purchased these movies in various formats over the years in substandard replications .... why enrich the movie companies further by paying any more than you have to?

Bezos is already the world's richest man and NO ONE INDIVIDUAL is going to punish him by buying merchandise at HIGHER PRICES elsewhere...in the end you will only spite YOURSELF!

And quite frankly, kudos to a man who took a risk and started a successful business out of a location which most people utilize as storage space or park their vehicles! During the pandemic, Amazon was INDISPENSIBLE!

 

[Sal1950]

- Online digital is garbage in quality.

Although I want nothing to do with vinyl you did make a few good points.
But the above comment is totally in error.
If your interest is SOTA audio, the best of the streamers can offer that to you at a very low cost.

 

[ar surround]

Time to upgrade your system then:
View attachment 68089

I have been able to locate a turntable, but finding a 1972 Mercury Montego MX to play in it has been quite a daunting task:



Not to mention the lack of Simon & Garfunkel in surround sound.

 

[MidiMagic]

I'm still a big collector of UHD4K discs and Amazon usually has THE best prices .... sometimes as low as $5 and I wait for their Amazon Prime and Black Friday Sales where top titles are drastically reduced. Best buy is a close second when they have their UHD4K steelbook sales.

As for music discs ....ImportCD and Deep discount most especially when they have their 15% off sales ..... but NOW only on IN STOCK items ....no pre~orders!

Maybe they are dumping physical discs because there are too many different formats. The market usually can take 2.5 formats. I went into Walmart yesterday and found 6 different formats.

 

[jaybird100]

I was in a large Best Buy recently, and they were carrying a quarter of the physical media they carried a year ago. It was mostly replaced by podcasting/webcasting gear. No CDs left at all of course.

But the fact they have a pretty fair selection of records... vinyl ones... is interesting. Target and Walmart, too...

 

[ubertrout]

The Bell Curve says "most" people fall in the 90-110 IQ range and it drops exponentially below/above, so I tend not to trust things the "masses" do (from Facebook to drugs, smoking, etc. whatever). Einstein was right about many things where the world was wrong. Thus, I still buy CDs and hold onto them even if I dump/stream them in actual use because it's the smart thing to do. I couldn't care less what Joe Average does. Unfortunately, the economy doesn't work that way. But we should be demanding lossless music, etc. online that's not encrypted, etc. Too many things are going in the wrong direction.

Yeah, I'm around 40, most of my friends are in the 99th percentile on education and a host of other ways. Not only am I the only one who buys CDs, most don't collect physical media at all. An increasing number lack the capability to play back any physical media. If you look at college students a vast majority can't play DVDs et al, and almost all of them don't have a stereo system.

This is a huge cultural shift away from the things we value and treating it as just "the masses are asses" is missing the point. The very things this board is about are completing a shift from mass culture to niche culture.

 

[ubertrout]

I'll also note that I just sold about 200 classical CDs in Princeton. I went through my collection and took a hard look at what I actually wanted, versus discs I purchased because I wanted to own a copy of the work. With streaming and megaboxes in classical, it's increasingly only worth owning something on disc for fidelity/surround or lack of streaming availability. Given that probably 60-70% of my listening is via streaming in my office, car, or even sometimes at home, it was an obvious choice.

 

[MagnumX]

Yeah, I'm around 40, most of my friends are in the 99th percentile on education and a host of other ways. Not only am I the only one who buys CDs, most don't collect physical media at all. An increasing number lack the capability to play back any physical media. If you look at college students a vast majority can't play DVDs et al, and almost all of them don't have a stereo system.

I'm not entirely sure what you want me to get out of that? Your friends don't care about music and high quality audio? I'd find other friends.... Sorry.

I play three instruments (piano/synth, guitar and saxophone) and made my own rock album for a "hobby" while other people watch sports all day. Call it a niche if you want, but watching other people play a game instead of playing it yourself makes about as much logical sense to me as watching someone else eat dinner instead of eating myself.

This is a huge cultural shift away from the things we value and treating it as just "the masses are asses" is missing the point.

Hey, I love that saying! It's so true! Missing the point? You just made the point! They ARE asses.

But it's not anything "new" at all. The masses never cared about sound quality. They simply had nothing else to do back then. Records were popular because it brought entertainment at home. Before that, giant tube radios were popular too. A transistor pocket radio wiped those out. CDs were popular precisely because they were smaller than records with better sound. Streaming is popular now because they don't need to own/carry ANYTHING but the player! There is a small problem there, though and that is if the server/service gets hacked or their WiFi stops working, they then have NO SOUND. Dumping your entire music collection in favor of streaming is short-sighted, IMO. I had my ISP go out just the other day for 5 hours. No music. No movies. No YouTube. No nothing. That's OK. I have around 10,000 songs (I actually like and listen to as opposed to millions I'll never like or listen to) on my own server and 1400 movies, etc. stored locally (with the discs stored in boxes or on shelves somewhere downstairs if I actually needed them again). If you have a movie on Apple's site, they can CHANGE it (e.g. The new Indy movies go upgraded to 4K, but the bass levels were neutered for some reason; I prefer the prior version and fortunately, I have it for local streaming and on a disc that isn't going to change unless it oxidizes or something).

Now I can see if one is just starting out in life, $10 a month for access to millions of songs is probably a better deal than buying music at this point, particularly when you can't even find CDs that easily anymore, etc., but there are down sides as well. Most people don't care that much about music anyway. My dad only liked '50/'60s music and ONLY listened to it in the car while driving. He'd rather be watching baseball or a movie if he was at home whereas I'll sit for hours listening to music in the dark (with a star/cloud projector making it look like I'm outdoors).

Cultural "shift"??? That's just another way of saying people are sheep and behave like sheep (in herds). If you actually analyze their behavior, you start to wonder if we aren't living in some Matrix-like simulation because individuals shouldn't all behave exactly the same +/- 5 degrees, but that is EXACTLY how it appears when you start analyzing things. I could predict almost every word my dad would say on a phone call. He was almost 100% predictable. That's just like a computer program. In fiction writing, you have dynamic characters and flat characters. Most are flat (filler, masses) and the main characters are dynamic (interesting and key to the story). In Dungeons & Dragons, you have Player Characters (individual real people playing the game) and you have Non-Player Characters (controlled by a "Dungeon Master" who is one person creating every monster and other character you mean in the game). When you look at the behavior of the masses on the planet, it starts to fall into patterns that make you (well me) wonder.

Some pimple-faced tosser comes up with Facebook and suddenly the world wants to discuss a bunch of nothing about nothing while he gets rich ripping off their identities for personal advertising. I'm aware of Facebook. I know what it is. I know I'm not stupid enough to waste my time getting my account hacked there to make someone else rich sharing pictures of a dog taking a dump. If that's what the masses are doing, I want no part of it. When the world was using MS-Dos, I was using an Amiga. It was BETTER. Why would I buy what the masses are buying when it sucks? I always wondered why they were buying something that sucks. Because everyone else is? That's circular logic. I bought a stick shift because it was more fun to drive, gave me better gas mileage and faster acceleration for the same car (my first car was a 1988 Cavalier Z24). It was over 2 seconds faster with the manual and still got 2mpg better gas mileage! And wasn't as boring to drive. I followed that up with a ProbeGT and two Subaru WRX cars before I bought my first automatic (turbo Forester had no choice other than to not get the turbo, but it has steering wheel shifters and computer controlled automatics can shift faster than a human being now).

Today's kids mostly don't even LIKE cars. They'd rather be watching that video of a dog taking a dump on YouTube that was shared on Facebook. I'm sure when they reach the end of their lives and they're asked (by their family or "god" or whomever) how they felt they spent their time on Earth, I'm certain, "I loved watching that video of a dog taking a dump on YouTube!" will be at the top of their list!

The very things this board is about are completing a shift from mass culture to niche culture.

High-end music or surround music has always been a niche. Meanwhile, the masses around the whole world LOVE football too (in the US, American football and in the rest of the world what we call Soccer here). So what? I've told some custodians at work if they had spent the time memorizing their homework, etc. instead of sports scores, they could have gotten a free ride somewhere and have a degree now and be making a lot more money. They just look at me like I'm from Mars. "But it's FOOTBALL!!! Ooh! Ooh! Ooh!" (Then they bump chests). I'm reminded of monkeys throwing turds at each other for some reason.

 

[jimfisheye]

Your friends don't care about music and high quality audio? I'd find other friends.... Sorry.

I play three instruments (piano/synth, guitar and saxophone) and made my own rock album for a "hobby" while other people watch sports all day. Call it a niche if you want, but watching other people play a game instead of playing it yourself makes about as much logical sense to me as watching someone else eat dinner instead of eating myself.

Thanks for that! Always good to hear another person talking sane like this!


I've at least figured out how to describe one of my hobbies as related to music listening. I collect not just for what I want to hear, but also for best sounding copy of what I want to hear. This shouldn't even be a thing of course! In a perfect world it wouldn't be. It should have absolutely ended with the digital age. Not get exponentially worse! But it's a fun journey and it's rewarding to get treated to "better seats" for a familiar piece of music when that comes along.

So I'm extra baffled when I see people settling for the real crude stuff. Some of the Victrola setups people had in 1940 sounded better than some of the stuff they sell at Worst Purchase now.

 

[Scott65]

Now I can see if one is just starting out in life, $10 a month for access to millions of songs is probably a better deal than buying music at this point, particularly when you can't even find CDs that easily anymore, etc., but there are down sides as well. Most people don't care that much about music anyway. My dad only liked '50/'60s music and ONLY listened to it in the car while driving. He'd rather be watching baseball or a movie if he was at home whereas I'll sit for hours listening to music in the dark (with a star/cloud projector making it look like I'm outdoors).

Very good point. I don't do streaming (for music) and love having discs but 40 years ago I would have loved to have unlimited streaming of music for $10 per month.

 

[ubertrout]

I'm not entirely sure what you want me to get out of that? Your friends don't care about music and high quality audio? I'd find other friends.... Sorry.

I play three instruments (piano/synth, guitar and saxophone) and made my own rock album for a "hobby" while other people watch sports all day. Call it a niche if you want, but watching other people play a game instead of playing it yourself makes about as much logical sense to me as watching someone else eat dinner instead of eating myself.



Hey, I love that saying! It's so true! Missing the point? You just made the point! They ARE asses.

But it's not anything "new" at all. The masses never cared about sound quality. They simply had nothing else to do back then. Records were popular because it brought entertainment at home. Before that, giant tube radios were popular too. A transistor pocket radio wiped those out. CDs were popular precisely because they were smaller than records with better sound. Streaming is popular now because they don't need to own/carry ANYTHING but the player! There is a small problem there, though and that is if the server/service gets hacked or their WiFi stops working, they then have NO SOUND. Dumping your entire music collection in favor of streaming is short-sighted, IMO. I had my ISP go out just the other day for 5 hours. No music. No movies. No YouTube. No nothing. That's OK. I have around 10,000 songs (I actually like and listen to as opposed to millions I'll never like or listen to) on my own server and 1400 movies, etc. stored locally (with the discs stored in boxes or on shelves somewhere downstairs if I actually needed them again). If you have a movie on Apple's site, they can CHANGE it (e.g. The new Indy movies go upgraded to 4K, but the bass levels were neutered for some reason; I prefer the prior version and fortunately, I have it for local streaming and on a disc that isn't going to change unless it oxidizes or something).

Now I can see if one is just starting out in life, $10 a month for access to millions of songs is probably a better deal than buying music at this point, particularly when you can't even find CDs that easily anymore, etc., but there are down sides as well. Most people don't care that much about music anyway. My dad only liked '50/'60s music and ONLY listened to it in the car while driving. He'd rather be watching baseball or a movie if he was at home whereas I'll sit for hours listening to music in the dark (with a star/cloud projector making it look like I'm outdoors).

Cultural "shift"??? That's just another way of saying people are sheep and behave like sheep (in herds). If you actually analyze their behavior, you start to wonder if we aren't living in some Matrix-like simulation because individuals shouldn't all behave exactly the same +/- 5 degrees, but that is EXACTLY how it appears when you start analyzing things. I could predict almost every word my dad would say on a phone call. He was almost 100% predictable. That's just like a computer program. In fiction writing, you have dynamic characters and flat characters. Most are flat (filler, masses) and the main characters are dynamic (interesting and key to the story). In Dungeons & Dragons, you have Player Characters (individual real people playing the game) and you have Non-Player Characters (controlled by a "Dungeon Master" who is one person creating every monster and other character you mean in the game). When you look at the behavior of the masses on the planet, it starts to fall into patterns that make you (well me) wonder.

Some pimple-faced tosser comes up with Facebook and suddenly the world wants to discuss a bunch of nothing about nothing while he gets rich ripping off their identities for personal advertising. I'm aware of Facebook. I know what it is. I know I'm not stupid enough to waste my time getting my account hacked there to make someone else rich sharing pictures of a dog taking a dump. If that's what the masses are doing, I want no part of it. When the world was using MS-Dos, I was using an Amiga. It was BETTER. Why would I buy what the masses are buying when it sucks? I always wondered why they were buying something that sucks. Because everyone else is? That's circular logic. I bought a stick shift because it was more fun to drive, gave me better gas mileage and faster acceleration for the same car (my first car was a 1988 Cavalier Z24). It was over 2 seconds faster with the manual and still got 2mpg better gas mileage! And wasn't as boring to drive. I followed that up with a ProbeGT and two Subaru WRX cars before I bought my first automatic (turbo Forester had no choice other than to not get the turbo, but it has steering wheel shifters and computer controlled automatics can shift faster than a human being now).

Today's kids mostly don't even LIKE cars. They'd rather be watching that video of a dog taking a dump on YouTube that was shared on Facebook. I'm sure when they reach the end of their lives and they're asked (by their family or "god" or whomever) how they felt they spent their time on Earth, I'm certain, "I loved watching that video of a dog taking a dump on YouTube!" will be at the top of their list!



High-end music or surround music has always been a niche. Meanwhile, the masses around the whole world LOVE football too (in the US, American football and in the rest of the world what we call Soccer here). So what? I've told some custodians at work if they had spent the time memorizing their homework, etc. instead of sports scores, they could have gotten a free ride somewhere and have a degree now and be making a lot more money. They just look at me like I'm from Mars. "But it's FOOTBALL!!! Ooh! Ooh! Ooh!" (Then they bump chests). I'm reminded of monkeys throwing turds at each other for some reason.

I know this is partially tongue in-cheek but it feels like mostly genuine? I think we're coming at this from a different place and that's fine...I love music but I put more energy into law/public policy (which is what I'm actually paid for) and a personal life that never ceases to entertain. And sure, there's plenty of boring/bland people out there, but really hardcore geeks tend to be pretty boring as well, just in a different way. So I'll keep my friends, who while frequently outrageously nerdy, aren't lost in their own little world. I might even watch football with them unironically.

 

[Soundfield]

I might even watch football with them unironically.

In a moment of weakness I was persuaded to watch England play Scotland last night. Like most football games I’ve ever seen it was terribly boring. Wish I’d just put a CD on.

 

[DuncanS]

In a moment of weakness I was persuaded to watch England play Scotland last night. Like most football games I’ve ever seen it was terribly boring. Wish I’d just put a CD on.

Never got the point of footie, just seems to be a ball kicked about (usually in a large circle) until somebody realises they have to do something with it, then when they do get it into the net they seem amazed and run around celebrating. Maybe they are celebrating because they've remembered they're paid vast amount to do it?

 

[Soundfield]

Never got the point of footie, just seems to be a ball kicked about (usually in a large circle) until somebody realises they have to do something with it

No one on either team came to that realisation last night. You'd have thought the idea would have come up in training, but apparently not.

 

[ubertrout]

In a moment of weakness I was persuaded to watch England play Scotland last night. Like most football games I’ve ever seen it was terribly boring. Wish I’d just put a CD on.

I meant American Football. I recognize that doesn't help my case in the eyes of most, but yes, I do agree that soccer is terribly boring

 

[kfbkfb]

https://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread.php?t=259675
This type of discussion has been going on for ~6 years over in blu-ray.com.

One issue that hasn't affected (AFAIK) music (+[concert] videos) much is censorship to keep the content politically correct, over the years, I heard about edited versions of some songs prepaired for certain regions of the World, but nothing about editing the song for everyone.


Kirk Bayne

 

[Soundfield]

I meant American Football. I recognize that doesn't help my case in the eyes of most, but yes, I do agree that soccer is terribly boring

Ah, American Football – I understand that’s a variant where the tedium of the game is extended to a mind (and presumably, buttock) numbing three hours.