# The future of the compact disc **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 7, 2005, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-future-of-the-compact-disc/293311 "2005-03-07T04:08:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2005, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-future-of-the-compact-disc/293311/1 "2005-03-07T04:08:01Z")
I was reading an article in a computer magazine the other day in which the author predicts the CD going the way of the LP & cassette. Not gone entirely, but not selling like they used to. He based this theory on the steady increase of downloadable music and iPod-type players. I can see his point to an extent, but not everybody who owns a CD player necessarily owns a computer and/or an iPod-type device, etc. Opinions? Comments? ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2005, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-future-of-the-compact-disc/293311/2 "2005-03-07T04:17:00Z")
I think there will always be a market for a portable, permanent, stand-alone storage medium, and I can’t see how the CD could be significantly improved upon. Maybe they could get to where the same amount of music could be recorded on a thumbnail-sized disc, but it would be too small to handle. Same goes for DVDs. ---
**Author:** ![ultrafilter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/3d9bf3/32.png) [@ultrafilter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ultrafilter)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2005, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-future-of-the-compact-disc/293311/3 "2005-03-07T04:21:12Z")
mp3 players are still a little too expensive to really take off, so I’m not holding my breath on this one. ---
**Author:** ![Fritz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c57346/32.png) [@Fritz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fritz)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2005, 5:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-future-of-the-compact-disc/293311/4 "2005-03-07T05:11:40Z")
Optical disc (CD and DVD) is one of the most effecient and cost effective means of storing data. I don’t think that CD is going away anytime soon. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2005, 5:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-future-of-the-compact-disc/293311/5 "2005-03-07T05:14:59Z")
Call me cynical but I suspect as soon as the record industry feels it’s saturated the market, a new medium will be announced and everybody will be told CD’s are going extinct and they’ll have to buy their old favorites on the new product. ---
**Author:** ![Duderdude2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/cdc98d/32.png) [@Duderdude2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duderdude2)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2005, 5:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-future-of-the-compact-disc/293311/6 "2005-03-07T05:40:48Z")
> [@Little Nemo](#): > > Call me cynical but I suspect as soon as the record industry feels it’s saturated the market, a new medium will be announced and everybody will be told CD’s are going extinct and they’ll have to buy their old favorites on the new product. They already exist. It’s DVD audio. Hasn’t caught on yet, but give it a few years. ---
**Author:** ![nevermore](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a587f6/32.png) [@nevermore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nevermore)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2005, 6:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-future-of-the-compact-disc/293311/7 "2005-03-07T06:29:20Z")
CDs are great, but jeez, isn’t there some way of storing data without the sensitive data-storing surface being exposed to the elements? I lose about 5 CDs a year to scratching, and they don’t go anywhere but between my CD holder and CD player! something more durable would be realllllllly nice. ---
**Author:** ![dangergene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@dangergene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dangergene)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2005, 7:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-future-of-the-compact-disc/293311/8 "2005-03-07T07:14:48Z")
> [@nevermore](#): > > CDs are great, but jeez, isn’t there some way of storing data without the sensitive data-storing surface being exposed to the elements? I lose about 5 CDs a year to scratching, and they don’t go anywhere but between my CD holder and CD player! something more durable would be realllllllly nice. You mean like MiniDiscs? _sigh_ and what happened to _that_ as a format? It died a death without ever really living. So sad, MD, to think we barely knew you. (yes, my MD benchmount sits proudly beside the rest of the AV gear, but it doesn’t get the use it should). again, _sigh_. ---
**Author:** ![Eonwe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eonwe/32/240_2.png) [@Eonwe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eonwe)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2005, 7:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-future-of-the-compact-disc/293311/9 "2005-03-07T07:23:17Z")
> [@dangergene](#): > > You mean like MiniDiscs? > > _sigh_ and what happened to _that_ as a format? It died a death without ever really living. > > So sad, MD, to think we barely knew you. > > (yes, my MD benchmount sits proudly beside the rest of the AV gear, but it doesn’t get the use it should). > > again, _sigh_. Heh. I use minidiscs for live recording purposes. I think the problem with minidiscs (aside from compression issues) is that, well, they’re too small. Attractive and meaningful packaging is hardly viable for them. Anything much smaller than a CD and any sort of cover art, liner notes, or even track listings become horribly small. Cassettes I think were at the absolute minimum for size. ---
**Author:** ![Jeff\_Lodoen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b3f665/32.png) [@Jeff\_Lodoen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jeff_Lodoen)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2005, 7:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-future-of-the-compact-disc/293311/10 "2005-03-07T07:51:01Z")
> [@nevermore](#): > > CDs are great, but jeez, isn’t there some way of storing data without the sensitive data-storing surface being exposed to the elements? Actually, the earliest CD-ROM hardware used caddies for disks (ie, the drive slid the caddy open inside the drive). My first Plextor burner was like that, back when CD-Rs cost ‘real’ money. Mostly a nuisance, but a useful concept for data integrity. DVD-RAM uses [caddies](http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:DVD-RAM_FUJIFILM_Disc-removalble_Without_cartridge-locking-pin.jpg) currently. ---
**Author:** ![James\_Westphal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b9bd4f/32.png) [@James\_Westphal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/James_Westphal)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2005, 8:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-future-of-the-compact-disc/293311/11 "2005-03-07T08:41:11Z")
I keep hearing about MiniDisc and DVD-A (love that acronym) like I heard about HDTV a couple years back. Wait a while, it’ll catch on. I honestly think the whole MP3 thing is the wave of the future, but we’re still playing CDs in our cars or backyards or places of work. One downside is that you don’t have a real physical copy of the music. I know, LPs and CDs can split in two and get scratched, and I’ve witnessed the worst things happening to tapes, but if your hard-drive crashes, doesn’t your MP3 collection go down the tubes, even if you paid for it? ---
**Author:** ![Scissorjack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c67d28/32.png) [@Scissorjack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scissorjack)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2005, 9:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-future-of-the-compact-disc/293311/12 "2005-03-07T09:18:33Z")
> [@dangergene](#): > > You mean like MiniDiscs? > > _sigh_ and what happened to _that_ as a format? It died a death without ever really living. > > So sad, MD, to think we barely knew you. > > (yes, my MD benchmount sits proudly beside the rest of the AV gear, but it doesn’t get the use it should). > > again, _sigh_. Maybe in the US, but MD’s were _huge_ in Japan, and probably still are - I left a couple of years ago - and nearly all the gajins bought one: of course, there video stores rent audio CD’s, so for a couple of bucks you could rent all your favourite CD’s and rip them to MD. Now, whatever happened to DAT? ---
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2005, 9:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-future-of-the-compact-disc/293311/13 "2005-03-07T09:34:08Z")
> [@nevermore](#): > > CDs are great, but jeez, isn’t there some way of storing data without the sensitive data-storing surface being exposed to the elements? I lose about 5 CDs a year to scratching, and they don’t go anywhere but between my CD holder and CD player! something more durable would be realllllllly nice. My thoughts exactly! I mean how hard would it have been to make CD’s with covers on them. (Like they do with flopy disks) :mad: It remeinds me years ago I installed a new cd player in my Mom’s car. Two weeks later she made me pull it back out and put her cassette player back in because she said it was too much of a pain in the ass to handle those cd’s while driving. (Where as tapes she could just toss them around with out having to worry about scratching them) ---
**Author:** ![levdrakon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2005, 9:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-future-of-the-compact-disc/293311/14 "2005-03-07T09:40:11Z")
I’m ready for CDs to go away. Or mostly away. They’re so bulky, fragile & tedious. Who wants to carry around a 1000 CD music collection? Who wants to deal with a 100 DVD movie & TV show collection? Who wants to store 10,000 por… er, family pictures on CDs? Not me. I want it all on a hard drive kinda thing. All accessible, all the time. Some sort of iPod device with a huge storage capacity is the future, man. ---
**Author:** ![Hail\_Ants](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/dc4da7/32.png) [@Hail\_Ants](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hail_Ants)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2005, 11:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-future-of-the-compact-disc/293311/15 "2005-03-07T11:05:07Z")
> [@](#): > > They’re so bulky, fragile & tedious. Who wants to carry around a 1000 CD music collection? Who wants to deal with a 100 DVD movie & TV show collection? Who wants to store 10,000 por… er, family pictures on CDs? Well, that’s kinda where we’re heading. You buy a CD, rip it and put it on your portable MP3 player, computer etc. then store the CD in your ‘vault’ (i.e. let it collect dust in your CD rack). They’re becoming an archive medium. That’s what I do anyway… ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2005, 11:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-future-of-the-compact-disc/293311/16 "2005-03-07T11:16:50Z")
> [@dangergene](#): > > You mean like MiniDiscs? > > _sigh_ and what happened to _that_ as a format? In a nutshell: Sony proprietary grip happened to them. ---
**Author:** ![Cheesesteak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cheesesteak/32/3694_2.png) [@Cheesesteak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheesesteak)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2005, 12:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-future-of-the-compact-disc/293311/17 "2005-03-07T12:26:00Z")
> [@levdrakon](#): > > Some sort of iPod device with a huge storage capacity is the future, man. The future is now, baby. They sell 60GB iPods, that’ll hold ~ 15,000 songs. CDs are an excellent medium for purchasing individual albums. The quality is high enough to satisfy 99% of consumers. The size is small enough to be convenient, but large enough to allow cover art and ease of recognition. DVD-A/SACD is a red herring. Most people don’t use the full fidelity of CD to begin with, either by running the sound through a crappy home system, or converting to .mp3. Would you replace an album you already have when you can barely hear the difference? You might get some market traction with a smaller format, but you still need large enough text on the the thing so the user can read the album name and tracks. We might see a shift towards electronic purchases, but I don’t see a physical medium on the horizon that will bump CD to the dustbin. ---
**Author:** ![Phnord\_Prephect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/df705f/32.png) [@Phnord\_Prephect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Phnord_Prephect)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2005, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-future-of-the-compact-disc/293311/18 "2005-03-07T13:42:48Z")
Prediction: Within 10 years a new data storage form will be created and marketed as ‘holocrystals’ or something along those lines. This will consist of a solid geometric shape, possibly attached to a carrying device like a keychain, made of a clear or translucent material, most likely plastic. The ‘working surface’ of said shape will be inserted into a read/write device similar to… well… every crystal-based computer thingy you’ve ever seen in movies/tv. Think a practical version of Superman’s crystal ice thingy in the fortress of solitude. The device will use two or more lasers whose beams create interference patterns within the material, effectively etching the data within the 3-d interior of the crystal. The accuracy with which they do this will be such that the ‘pixels’ can be placed very close together, offering a massively increased ‘surface area’ on which to write. Thusly, a very small crystal can have a very high storage capacity indeed. Basically a 3-D DVD. ---
**Author:** ![E-Sabbath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e19adc/32.png) [@E-Sabbath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-Sabbath)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2005, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-future-of-the-compact-disc/293311/19 "2005-03-07T14:13:12Z")
Phnord: Prototypes of such technology exist. ---
**Author:** ![fishbicycle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aeb1de/32.png) [@fishbicycle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fishbicycle)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2005, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-future-of-the-compact-disc/293311/20 "2005-03-07T15:18:36Z")
**dangerene** , minidiscs are still used daily in radio stations. They replaced tape cartridge machines, and are the best thing that ever happened to instant-access sound files in a portable storage medium for radio. On-disc editing is a fabulous feature that no other format has ever offered. Long after the public has forgotten about them, they will still be used in radio stations. I love our Tascam machines. The very model of engineering excellence. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-future-of-the-compact-disc/293311.md?page=2)