What a sad world we now live in.......

If you only do streaming you are not audiophile in any sense of it. You can imagine about yourself anything you like - this won't change the reality of things. As one aspect - cds when done right still sound better than streaming. 
This comes from someone who doesn't accept digital as a serious method of recording and reproduction.

Yr. 2000 U.S. Population = ~282 million

Yr. 2000 CDs shipped = ~942 million

Yr. 2018 U.S. Population = ~329 million

Yr. 2018 CDs shipped = ~52 million

Yr. 2000   3.3 CDs shipped per U.S. person

Yr. 2018  0.16 CDs shipped per U.S. person

Or 6.3 persons in the U.S. per CD shipped in the U.S. in 2018.  

@inna 


"If you only do streaming you are not audiophile in any sense of it. You can imagine about yourself anything you like - this won't change the reality of things. As one aspect - cds when done right still sound better than streaming. This comes from someone who doesn't accept digital as a serious method of recording and reproduction."

Since I (and most of the people I know) don't refer to myself as an audiophile, that's no biggie. As far as your statement regarding streaming, you might consider that you haven't heard everything. Many would disagree with you, however, many might not. I don't even own a physical disk spinner any more, vinyl or digital, hifi or computer...no spinning disks allowed at my place. I'm sure there are many who would consider that heresy but proper downloads and a proper digital playback setup can be scary good...without the hassles.

Sure I miss the rituals on occasion, I used to enjoy watching my VPI record cleaning machine with the vacuum do its thing.  That was cool, and noisy.  I enjoyed opening a fresh album, recording it to my Revox reel to reel on the first play. getting it all just right. It was fun. I enjoyed watching the tape machine operate much like I enjoy a mechanical watch. Its not as accurate but its cool.  Your blanket statement though lacks any credibility whatsoever. I'm sure your vinyl setup sounds great but for people who have a wide array of interests, the amount of time/money/space that it takes to get an analog setup just right may not be worth the trouble to them.

As for the demise of malls and big box stores...really? We will know the apocalypse is upon us if sunglasses kiosks and corn dog vendors begin to disappear.

It’s not, "...a sad world we now live in...," it’s just reality. So what if Walmart and Best Buy don’t sell CDs anymore. Who bought them there anyway? It should not come as a surprise that most of the CDs worth buying have already been bought. As a senior, I’ve lived through the cavalcade of medium changes. VHS was replaced by DVD, and DVD was superseded by Blu-Ray. Vinyl was replaced by cassettes, and then by CDs. Now it’s back to vinyl! The music and film industries have played us pretty well. So what’s next, streaming? Not for me.

I still have my vinyl, cassettes, CDs and occasional Blu-Ray to play. The reality is that the world may be waiting for the next format war to begin (MQA, digital downloads, or whatever) but many of us will just be enjoying the music and film collections we have accumulated.

I am an audiophile and have a front license plate that says so 🙂  I only stream. Well 90% stream and 1000 ripped CDs.  All the new music I listen to is streamed.  In fact I have never listened to this much new music and its all due to streaming! All kinds of new music a click or two away. Audiophile paradise I say.