CD Sales are up again …
 

Many say the CD is obsolete. While streaming is still king - at present (no one is making a profit from it :scratch2:) - CD sales made a resurgence in 2021. Vinyl and CDs are a niche market, one’s that some of us still enjoy over streaming.

https://darko.audio/2022/03/cd-sales...in-in-the-usa/

It would be interesting to see the % of usage of all the formats for two channel audio only (CD, Vinyl, Tape, streaming). Let’s take the iPhones and iPads, etc. out of the picture for a moment and observe those stats.

I still listen often to my physical media (CD, SACD, DVD-A and Blu-ray).
But I have to admit that streaming gets 80% of my listening time.

CD Sales are up again …
 

I still buy CD/SACDs but never spin them after ripping.

+1

I play mostly vinyl. With my carts and TT it sounds absolutely amazing. :music:

I still purchase CDs but also rip them using an Aurender ACS10. However, I still enjoy playing CDs more than streaming … I only use streaming when my back is out, etc.

Even though I have SOTA equipment (Aurender N30SA), Streaming from Qobuz is my least favorite format. There is less connection to the music. There’s just something special about placing a CD into a transport and playing it. Plus Qobuz is eliminating many of the songs I enjoy.

Pretty sure I bought a CD in 2021. Don't recall which one, but something I wanted and could not find on vinyl. Might purchase another this year.

I bought a bunch of CDs last year, but mostly HD downloads. I rip CDs to my iMac and play them with Amarra Luxe.

I'm not yet a streamer (color me a waiting-for-the-day-the-Internet-goes-down Luddite).

I divide my music purchases between CDs/SACDs, which I rip, and high-res downloads. I select the medium based on program availability. Since much of what I buy are (typically remastered) film scores, and virtually all of those are available only on CD, a lot of 16/44 silver discs continue to arrive at my doorstep. I'd estimate the medium breakdown at 60% downloads, 40% touchy-feely discs.

:yes:

I buy the occasional CD when I can't find what I'm looking for in vinyl or download, but then rip it and store it. I bought my first CD player in 1984 and accumulated 1k or so discs before streaming came along and I realized I never liked those jewel cases and those tiny print booklets that much anyway. Now I play vinyl and stream from my own files or Qobuz.