Rumors of CD Demise Exagerated? New Hegel

I see new formats erasing the old having one thing in common, convenience. The cd had remote control and track skipping. It was also novel with clean playback and tight bass for the masses.

Streaming has unlimited access to new sound/songs, radio and made-for-me playlists. It was novel too.

There seems to be a resurgence when it’s recognized that the previous format can give superior sound at a lower price point and it has become novel in itself. Those who can afford the best don’t really fuel the comeback. It’s the kids.

There will be a market for CDs and LPs as long as at least a few companies continue making them, though it'll never be at the level it was in the past. 41 million LPs is a lot, but still no where remotely close to the nearly 350 million units sold in 1977. .For CDs, the top figure was over 900 million CDs sold each year in 1999 and 2000. And remember the population was much smaller back then. 

Heck, there is still a market for buggy whips and horse saddles, though nowhere near the product volume and number of manufacturers there were in 1890. 

actually lots of good new CD Players have been released recently...Marantz, Rotel, Hegel, Denon, Leak and others,  transports too...

@misstl

Not sure how relevant quoting sales from 1977 is, when there was no other options for the consumer.  The fact that vinyl and CD sales are growing is a positive sign regardless.

@tony1954 -- I think it's quite relevant to look at where things were in the past and how they've evolved. Today we have streaming as the primary way of listening to music. The music industry now gets 84% of its revenue from streaming. 82 million Americans have paid music subscriptions and they listen an average of 75 minutes a day (per Midia statistics.) 

And, even in 1977, lots of people just listened to music on the radio which provided a constant flow of hits. In fact, FM was still relatively new at that point and gave better sound quality than AM. I think you also had a lot more music stations to choose from in those days versus all of the talk radio, sports stations and like that fill the radio spectrum these days. 

I'm perfectly happy that CDs and LPs are still available and hope they continue to be so for those who prefer those formats. But, it is also unlikely that either format will return to its former dominance even if they continue to grow.