We are all listening to more music, but it seems we prefer downloading it to browsing in our local HMV etc'.Sales od CD's are down 10 % from last year. ipods are the only way to go. I'm not surprised. Buying a CD was never as exhilirating or as sexy as purchasing vinyl. I do lie about my age online My first album I bought was the Electric Light Orchestra's Out Of The Blue back in 1978.

I don't agree with this "Death of CD" nonsense. Sales may be down but in my view its the music industry trying to kill it off to get everybody downloading music instead. Its just like the late 80s when they systematically killed off vinyl to get everyone to switch to CD. I bought a lot of vinyl in that era and the quality of the vinyl was so poor, you'd hear surface noise etc just on the second play. A deliberate ploy to get everyone switching to CD.

OK... so it goes all download and all we can buy is mp3... fine... but what about the sound quality? I want to buy and hear UNCOMPRESSED music so will keep on buying CDs -or Vinyl - for as long as they are available so I can get "decent" sound quality.

Why all this is happening is beyond me but I suppose its one way for the music corporations to be able to monitor exactly what people buy and listen to.

Elliot it is simple. Economics. CDs have had their day. They are no longer required in the mass market way they are currently used. They are expensive, have limited value and cannot take advantage of modern technological developments. Can you not see that ?

For singles only a fool will make a CD and put it in shops. Unless you have more money than sense. For albums DVD is the way to go. There is no need for immediacy so CD has lost its value. DVD or its successor will be the physical product for albums.

Just picked up Dusty Springfield CD in Tesco for

The biggest thing thats killing off CDs or for that matter LPs is record company greed.
Nothing wrong in a fair product at a fair price...trouble is that you very rarely get it.
Here in Ukraine some companies like Polydor sell off back catalogue at 'very' sensible prices.E.G I bought A Slade Greatest Hits CD for $3!!! Yes perhaps a bit low for newer material,but one that reflects the understanding that current prices are a rip off,and that people will go elsewhere,including piracy if fair play isn't respected.
I just thank those who have made their stuff available on youtube,or at a reduced price via the mail etc.Just shows who'll be left standing at the end of it all.

I`m completely with Chrissy`s view on the love of vinyl as most regular readers will know.
I mourned the loss of my U2 cd collection, but have enjoyed tremendously re-buying the albums on vinyl.
The booklets are fantastic as well.
I think there is a serious need for somebody to do a survey within the industry to see how many of the potential buyers actually have the facility to play vinyl at home.
We have a turntable in every room here but realise that is not the norm.

As for the death of the cd?
Nada nada.
We were only musing last night that should we have a desire to listen to one, there are at least 5 different programmes on each of the four computers to play them on, 6 domestic cd players and 2 dvd players that play them plus the computer game thingy that the nipper has.
I don`t think the versatility of a format with that much accesability can be killed off really.

I prefer vinyls when I can get them, especially if they are gatefold sleeves with booklets. Only second to that do I rate CDs. I do have a few MP3s which I play on my PC, although I tend to transfer them onto a CDROM which basically means I have them on CD. I also have several machines which will play my CDs, so I do search for physicals where possible.

I often think that some people go for the new formats and technologies merely because they are new .. not because they are necessarily better.

But I do applaud the way the internet .. with MP3's, Myspace, Youtube, etc. has opened up the market place to more talent which might otherwise have not been noticed.

How remarkably short the mini-disc was in popularity in a pre-recorded format.