Should I sell my CD player?

"Hmmm. Can I hear a real advantage of streaming from someone, instead of 'memory loss, untidiness and lacking the ability to stack CD's on top of the unit' ???"

In no particular order:

*immediate sorting - no more do I have to choose whether to shelve alphabetically or by genre

*playlists

*less faff to play that one track you need to hear NOW

*better sound quality

*no more pucks

*no ugly shelves full of cds taking up wall space

*instant access to lyrics, bio details, tour dates, etc. 

*way way cheaper for equivalent sound quality

*random/shuffle play serves up tracks you may have forgotten about; also makes for interesting juxtapositions

*no more scratched cds or broken cd boxes

*hi def is an option

*advanced search facilities

*if you use a tablet it's a cool remote for the system plus all info in one place and scalable - no more peering at crappy little inserts

*gapless replay over more than 1 hour (useful for us Deadheads!)

I'm sure there are more...

I take the point on the physical experience which is why I am keeping my LP12 and vinyl, but I never liked CD as a medium - too nasty and plasticy - good riddance!

In no particular ordet:

Sounds better. To my ears.

Lol... I believe Hi-Rez is the key. Sounds great when streaming. More Hi-Rez available, more streaming for me. As for cds, does it sound better to my ears: yes... slightly.

Hook good idea; I will try that as I'm strongly considering moving from the NaitXS/HC  to 282/HC/250.2

If I do that with my local dealer and trade in the NaitXS, I can see what they will give me for the cd player at the same time!

"gapless replay over more than 1 hour (useful for us Deadheads!)"

As a 1980 graduate from a college that was run amok with Deadheads, that made me laugh!

For what its worth, I bought an NDX last year and my CDS3 was not used as I needed its 555 power supply. I didn't really miss the CDS3 as I found the NDX/XPS2/nDAC/555ps a really good combination and so easy to use.

I also felt CD was becominginconvenient both from a storage point of view and also because of not remembering what was on what CD and where said CD was!

I have just part exchanged my NDX for the new NDS and decided that it was time for the CDS3 to go. The new NDS/ 2x555ps combination is absolutely fantastic and what misgivings I may have had about my CDS3 going lasted all of 30 seconds.

Out of interest I even tried listening to a CD via the Unitiserve for the first time and I was amazed at how good it was given its primary job is to rip cds. It is about CD5 level so I am told. So I can still play a cd to see if I like it and then buy it and rip it.

CD player prices will fall more and more as streaming takes off and I am certain I made the right choice.

As for the comment

Thank you, thank you, thank you, for so accurately summing up my feelings on this issue. Listening to music must, in my opinion, involve a certain tactile element. Otherwise we vegetate

I can only say using an iPAD to browse my collection is a very tactile experience as is putting the cd in to rip it and/or using the Unitserve to play it should the need arise. Incidentally, the new Nstream app is much faster with the NDS than it was with the NDX due to the firmware.

Hope this helps

Well said, endlessnessism. That's exactly what I feel, especially with classical CDs which often contain more than one composer's music. It is difficult enough in deciding under which alphabet i should shelf multi-composer CDs, let alone trying to find a particular track that i want to listen to. With streaming I can find music easily. Anyway gaining convenience does not necessarily mean sound quality will suffer as a result.

Will probably never touch streaming.  Can't stand ipads/pods/phones.  Can't stand the idea of reducing this hobby to one of file management, redundancies, perfect rips, etc.  Mental.  As for the OP - take it out of your system for a month and see how you fare. 

With you Hastings.

I'm hearing absolutely nothing here to persuade me to move over to streaming.

Yes.  "I think there is a world market for maybe five computers".

Just a thought.

Let's not listen to music at all !!! It's the ultimate in convenience........

MUSIC guys, NOT technology....

Noogle,

Computers improve performance, which as Douglas Adams would say 'is a good thing'.

Streaming does not improve the joy of listening to music.

I don't like smartphones. Samsung don't care.

Maybe we should all follow sheep. And in the end we almost certainly will.

WW, thank you for contributing to my thread.  Streaming has greatly improved our joy of listening to music in our home, which is why I so seldom use my cd player and thus am contemplating selling it.

Cheers,

Bart

Bart, though I am not quite streaming - I use iTunes directly from the PC to DAC - I totally agree with you.

The need for a physical use of discs [LPs or CDs] is something that only gets in the way. I have never heard anyone complain about the radio as a means  of listening to music and entertainment though it requires no more faffing about with discs than streaming ...

ATB from George

Some of the rebuttals earlier had some substance, but a few were a bit weak...

*way way cheaper for equivalent sound quality - CD's have never been cheaper thanks to you nice streaming chaps.

And they'll continue to be cheaper until they go away - just like records did back in the 80's - however, ironically, vinyl will still be around when CDs are long gone, since it has a distinct presentation difference that some people prefer. (And that difference is NOT the point of this post!)  Digital music is digital music, and differences are going to be nuanced and more a function of the playback than the 1's and 0's themselves...certainly not the difference between digital & analog, so CD will have no enduring legacy like vinyl.

*random/shuffle play serves up tracks you may have forgotten about; also makes for interesting juxtapositions - completely pointless.

Not necessarily - maybe you are a genius and remember every track you own, but sometimes I use the shuffle feature on my iPhone in the car and come across one that makes me pick the phone up and "who is that?" or "I know who it is, but which album is that on?", or in listening to something I seldom hear, I notice something in it that I never heard before.  Hardly "pointless" - it's akin to listening to a radio station where I got to be the program director and pick the playlist...but I don't know what the DJ will play.

*no more scratched cds or broken cd boxes - barrel scraping.

Yeah, I just LOVE finding damaged media that no longer plays correctly - doesn't happen very often, but it does happen, and cracked jewel cases are a delight too - that's why I keep an box of spares around in the extra bedroom closet.

Not to mention when I move, I hate boxing up all my CDs and lugging them around - and then finding a few damaged jewel cases upon unpacking (typically the little hinge pieces are the casualties.)  I am sure my CD collection takes 8-10 boxes weighs around a hundred or more lbs - vs a NAS would be one box and less than 20 lbs.  And unfortunately, I have entered a phase in my life where I find that I move a lot, after being in a rather stable housing situation for a long time.

I am not (yet) in the streaming camp (well, other than the SB Touch playing my subset of tunes from iTunes)...and I would always have a decent player and will keep my CDs for ultimate backup.  But to posit that there are no advantages is simply not true, and I will bet you one thing - CDs are going away.  In 10 years you will almost certainly have trouble finding them.

Bart,

Glad to hear you have found 'your way'

I'm playing devil's advocate here a little, but I must admit the sterile way of enjoying music the streaming way does not fill my heart with warmth.

Bart, I am with you, I wasn't  expecting it to be so, but streaming has really increased my pleasure in listening to recorded music. The ability to make listening playlists interactively  that provide style themes, chronologies etc is fun and informative, reading about an artist, an album or other info from my control pad on the fly as i listen has become far more appealing than liner notes tended to be.

Since I have started streaming I have enjoyed listening to more of my collection. When I used a CD spinner I tended to have a dozen or so CDs out by the player that i cycled through for a time until I changed them, but often many recordings would remain hidden for years!!!

So all in all I have found streaming recorded music brings your collection alive... Anything but sterile or passive.

Simon

It's a shame that a perfectly reasonable question about whether to retain a cd player or not has provoked such strong reactions for or against "streaming".

For me, when I moved from LP to primarily CD and then from primarily CD to streaming it was about sound quality and the accessibility and enjoyment of the music. I do not knock anyone who prefers vinyl to cd or vice versa but find it  odd that some people who have not even tried streaming can knock it.

It is not that cd or vinyl replay is inconvenient as such, but if streaming can offer similar, indeed in some cases better sound quality, and makes it more convenient to enjoy your music, then personally I see nothing wrong with that, Each to their own,

Technology is always part of music reproduction. The entire replay chain is governed by technology  and it is obvious that technological changes can bring about huge increases in the enjoyment of music reproduction. If that is not he case then why do we own Naim equipment? Why do we upgrade and add power supplies and/or Powerlines and Hilines? Why do some worry over which rack to use and the best  stacking positions for their equipment etc?

Streaming when done well, as is the case with the Naim options is just another way of enjoying music, which is the ultimate aim.

It happens here a lot  "Streaming vs cd replay" is more interesting than "should I sell my cd player" I suppose

Dr Mark, I am a  little confused by your post. Streaming needs CDs - if CDs went away there would be very little to steam apart from the odd boutique hires download. CD's are cheap as there is good demand and competition. There has never been a greater choice and supply of reasonably priced CDs to which I am extremely thankful (bought 10 for my streamer today average price about £5.50 each) , and reading recent market research material streaming fans have been continuing to buy CD's (albums)  in healthy numbers - as after all that is the medium where most quality (non lossy)  recorded music exists.

Streaming is just another CD transport - one that happens IMO to offer a more flexible CD replay mechanism as per my post. If you enjoy CD I say sell your Cd player (spinner) and enjoy your CDs by streaming I am sure you will appreciate it and its a great way to play and enjoy your CDs which after all is what its all about..

Simon

I think the future will hold all music being obtained from the internet or other means; even look now on amazon or in the large retail outlets here in the USA - the CD section is getting smaller and smaller; eventually it will be all downloads...and for audiophiles, we just have to hope that better quality than mp3 becomes de rigeuer, and at a reasonable cost. Add to that that manufacturers are no longer as interested in making CD players as well; this has to be a function of reduced demand, n'est pas?

For the time being that is correct - CD is the ultimate source for most streaming since many of us have large collections and we are not going to buy again that which we already possess.

But I still stand by my prediction that commercially produced CDs will be gone in a finite number of years, even as vinyl continues on.  We are still in the infancy stage of this whole streaming thing - but it will only grow and eventually replace the CD format. At the very least, they will become a specialty item with a higher price tag.

And as with any prediction, I may be wrong, but I truly think this is the ultimate direction of the industry.  We'll re-open this thread in 10 years and see!

Tog and Dr Mark, exactly CD is just a storage medium - thats my point. It is currently the medium that provides the most accessable way to obtain cost effective quality recorded music. Amazon.co.uk seems to be growing its CD content - and I note there is often new traders appearing on that site providing rare and niche recording at good prices. Perhaps the US is very different from Europe - I don't know.

If there was an alternate medium that bettered CD that provided a global catalogue of music in a non lossy format - then I would jump at it like moit people I'm sure - as long  as it has a secure way of archiving or was phyiscal so it had a backup master - but I am not holding my breath, digital music streaming has been around for ~15 years for consumer and other than the incredibly succesful itunes for lossy music / singles,  I haven't seen a medium to rival the humble CD - in the mean time enjoy your music - which at least here in Europe - is mostly on CD.

BTW I use a lot of CD resellers based in the US for rare and US only masters - so that tells me that CD is healthy there - at least for some markets - perhaps Amazon US has decided not to compete in that market?

Simon

Simon - No - it is largely a resellers market here as well - I use them as well.  But there are even artists that are releasing things, and you go to Amazon and can't find anything but mp3 downloads - this happened to me just last night for a German female vocalist (Milla Kay) - on the USA site nothing but mp3 downloads for 2007 album, and the CD of her latest release was an import CD at over $30 - hardly "affordable."  (And granted, some of this may be the result of her relatively obscure status, but I do try to find new stuff and get away from the "Big 4" (Universal, Sony BMG, Warner, and EMI, who have no imagination any more at all.)

And ironically (juxtaposed to your experience), I just had to order a CD from amazon.uk last week - because here the only copies were used for over $60!

I also think part of the deal is the way we (i.e., those of us on this forum) look at music as a hobby and listen, vs the general public, for whom music is something they listen to on ear buds while surfing the net, walking around, etc.  Someone posted a link to an article here some time ago discussing this, and how everything is being mastered with compressed dynamic range, and it is true - very few young people sit and listen to music, and the quality of reproduction is not as good (e.g., mp3) but as long as it's loud who cares.

I think ultimately the CD format goes away, or becomes an expensive specialty item...but as I said in my earlier post, I grant you that I may be wrong.  Downloads or even "cloud" access to music databases that stream into the home system with access to literally every recorded piece ever will become the norm (as in over 95% of the market.). Only time will tell.

Fun discussion Simon - and I hope you know that I really respect your posts on here, so not trying to be recalcitrant.