Linn Abandons CD Players

I had a Linn Unidisc 1.1 and it was amazing. That said, I don't have it anymore, it was replaced (after another reference disc player) with a turntable as my source of choice after 25 yrs without one.

I'm an analog guy also, but I have a huge CD collection too. There is something about going into my Record/CD room and browsing through my collection and then choosing what to listen to. The actual handling of the "physical" media is half the fun for me.

Then there is the fun of record shopping in a real store and finding the one elusive record or CD that you didn't ever think you'd find. Paying for a "down load" song or album without actually touching it and looking at it and reading the liner notes, seems to me, a fleeting moment.

I realize there are down sides to this, but I'm really not interested in exchanging this ritual for scrolling through some screen for my songs.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/8368895.stm

Mofi,

I'm with you on this one. I am not necessarily against new technology per se, but this very issue really struck me just today. My wife and I are out of town visiting her family this week for Thanksgiving and we are going to do our Christmas "gift exhange" this week while we see them. We went shopping today and were looking for Bob Seeger's new CD for her brother when we stopped at a Best Buy. The "music" section was literally 1/6th its former size and most of that was downlaod iPod stuff. What few CDs they had (no new Seeger CD) were clearly older Top 40 stuff.

Sadly, in my lifeftime, I will have have witnessed the almost complete extinction of the physical medium of music (other than the niche and used markets). I couldn't help but feel like I lost an old friend.

While new technology does produce some incredible stuff, I can't help but feel like computers and the Net are reducing human physical interaction so much that it won't be long before you will simply have an "app" on your iPhone for an "orgasm" and you'll never have to leave your house or interact with another human for anything.

Now where's my remote?

CD packaging was a disaster for the consumer from the beginning and has only gotten slightly better over the years. Too small, hard to remove seals when new, jewel boxes crack and break, etc. I will not miss CD packaging for the most part. 33 1/3 vinyl is the medium that got the packaging most right.

Whatever physical mediums survive or come about, I hope they decide to just package them in larger 331/3 like album covers for those willing to pay a premium for packaging. That is my hope.

The problem for vendors like Linn regarding players is that it is becoming almost impossible to justify the expense of high end CD players when music ripped to a hard drive and played back via server, controller, and DAC provides all the sonic benefits that most anybody could require.