The CD player is dead.......

Devilboy: Going through the responses, I've noticed that the majority of you have not gone the hard drive route because you don't want to spend the TIME copying your music to a hard drive. That doesn't tell me WHY you think cd players are superior to hard drives. That tells me you are lazy.

Tvad: Speaking, I believe, as about the only participant who prefers a CD player over a computer-based front end, I can say unequivocally that laziness has nothing to do with my decision ....

I too use a one-box cd player, and at this time I have no interest in computer-based music playback. That is perhaps ironic in my case, because I am heavily into computers (I build my own high-powered desktop computers, and I am a moderator on an internet forum for computer enthusiasts).

I do not believe that either approach is superior or inferior; both are capable of providing excellent results if well implemented. And as Tvad seemed to imply, I don't see any point in ideological debates about the superiority of either approach. There is no one right answer that is universally applicable; it is a matter of individual needs, preferences, tastes, and interests.

In my case my music collection is relatively small by Audiogon standards, and it is well organized, so the convenience factor of having everything on a computer wouldn't mean a whole lot to me. I enjoy, to a minor degree, having a collection of physical media, although I could certainly adapt to not having one. I have lots of cd's and lp's that are as yet unlistened to. And having made some major changes to my system in the recent past, re-listening to much of my collection on the improved system will keep me happily occupied for a considerable amount of time to come. Mainly because of that, I will have no interest in acquiring hi rez downloads for the foreseeable future.

Given all of that, and along the lines of my earlier post, a nice side benefit of my present preference for a one-box player is that I don't have to concern myself with jitter issues.

As for the inflammatory and unfounded allegation of laziness, I don't consider it worthy of a response.

Regards,
-- Al

I would find the jukebox like convenience features of a music server less valuable I think if I listened only to classical music where compositions are often longer and consist of multiple parts that have to be listened to in sequence compared to most popular music.

Very good point, Mapman. I should add to my previous comments that my listening is 90% classical.

Best regards,
-- Al

@Almarg

a nice side benefit of my present preference for a one-box player is that I don't have to concern myself with jitter issues.

Are you saying cd players don't suffer from jitter just because they are cd players?

Now today for example, it was very nice listening to Mozart piano sonatas and then adding the Beethoven Pastoral Symphony while sitting in my chair in my bigger listening room and not having to get up and go into the next room to change things.

I use the VisualMR program on a Windows PDA with a wireless connection to control my Rokus (one on each of two systems on different floors that connect to a shared music server laptop to select songs or entire albums from any room in the house.

Now that is sweet and something I could never have even dreamed of before!