How much longer will CDs be made?

Yes, maybe a good bar would make the subject a bit more palatable!
Basically, the powers that be want to find a new way to get our money but can't agree on just how to do it. I don't think improved picture or sound quality is really the issue but rather a potential effect of the same old s**t in a brand new bottle. The picture (no pun intended) seems to be murkier than it's ever been. How often has there been this many options on the table?
One irony I see in all this is that content quality seems to be going down while media quality seems to be on the rise. Soon we'll be able to see and hear things that aren't worth seeing and hearing but in ultimate resolution. Now that's what I call progress!8^)
Early adapters beware!!!

I think people will always want the physical, tangible object to hold. There's something about putting on a disk of your favorite artist (digital or vinyl) and flipping through the booklet or lyrics. It helps create that emotional bond with music so many of us love.

Will that format continue to be a round object that spins and streams music? Maybe, maybe not. But if I had $5,000 to $7,000 to spend on a source, I'd definitely spend it on more than a CD player that I would want to replace in two or three years.

The only CD's I 've played the last two years were into my mac mini to rip them to lossless files - I'd be surprised if I used a CD player to listen to music again... I've got my mac mini hooked up thru a 42" plasma and with Itunes I can play whatever I want instantly and random shuffle music if I dont feel like choosing -

I favor your wife. The big box retailers are devoting less and less space for them--a sure sign of death. Many are turning shelve space to DVD and computer games.

I would fully explore DAC and downloadable music or look at integrated computer gaming environments like the Sony Playstation 1 or 3 where Sony is investing hundreds of millions in technology R & D (computer gaming will hit 35 billion in sales). For $40, you get an audiophile grade CD player with PS1 and a great Blu Ray player with SP3.

Vinyl, up until around 1960 was High Fedility Mono format, not stereo. Stereo Vinyl recordings became popular during the 60's and there heyday lasted until the late 80's. Maybe 20 years may be a magic number.