What will become of my beloved CDs?

folkfreak,

I guess, for now, I will have to stick to my copy of Sunrise CD that does contain first two Elvis’ songs together with pops, crackles, and whatever else it is. I stick to the CD while actually having it hard-driven. Hey, you do not want to ruin the CD.

An article in HI-Fi News recently (June issue) discussed an event introducing the new Magico A3 speakers, and Alon Wolf attended the festivities. He played all sorts of stuff from a computer, and all of it was at the "Red Book" standard...Wolf said, "We are not using any hi-res material. We see no need. You can overdo things, you know." The author, Barry Fox, feels that new gear "unlocks" the otherwise missed potential of great Red Book recordings, and I agree. I own plenty of CDs and also enjoy vinyl, and am amazed at how insanely good many CDs sound these days...a good DAC, a clean, coherent system, and you’re set for many years of excellent sounding music.

Now, the first question remaining would be if CD-resolution downloads/streams can actually sound like those CDs. Assuming that new gear does unlock whatever potential CDs have. If downloads/streams equal it, it becomes matter of, more or less, only convenience and then we are back to the original question. What will become of CDs?

elizabeth, 

Your argument about not being able to decode CDs in the future is the same one I use to refuse to go digital in photography - - but to stick to film and photographs printed on archival paper. 
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Matthew Brady's photographs of the Civil War are still with us, my latest iPhone photo already has been deleted.

Simply nonsense all around...Although actual film is certainly a quaint art form, if you bother to print digital photos they can stick around like any printed film can, and if you utilize safe and redundant storage you can save digital photos instead of losing them to fire, rain, or any of the other losses incurred by most film over the years...research movie film restoration efforts. Elizabeth imagines some less sophisticated future world that can't get CDs to work...science fiction at best and utterly irrelevant to today's world. Downloads and streams allow the rental of music or buying for digital storage, but an actual physical CD can't be deleted, and acts as a permanent physical reference...I can access any of my CDs quickly by sticking one in my CD player.