Are CD players dead

Ditto, Realremo. I got involved in Computer Audio because
everyone was saying, "I think the day will soon be upon us
when most new Music will only be available via the Internet"! It still sounds to me like an ultimatum. I was lied to as to the so-called convenience of PC Audio. Multiple Formats, multiple Software, multiple Media Players, multiple versions of said Media Players, Multiple
Sampling Rates, Multiple ASIO's, Multiple Drivers, complete lack of Manufacturer's instructions for proper
installation on multiple levels, and Z-E-R-O Manufacturer's
Customer Support for troubleshooting. Hard Drives Crash, Music Files Fragment, Viruses, Malware, Spyware. No CD has
-CONVENIENTLY- ever been affected by these things! Plug and
play has been replaced with a requirement to have a degree in Computer Science for the priveledge of listening to Music, or it will be if PC Audio fanatics have their way. This will NOT provide more Music to everyone, but reserve the priveledge of listening to Music to a select few-again if PC Audio Fanatics have their way. Why the obsession to severely limit the Formats that everyone else shall be regulated to? Why limit the Music for everyone else?
Perhaps Ego is involved here, not the sharing of the Music listening experience, but reserving it for the select few!
Ain't that special! No market ever survived by providing only one choice, and ultimately one choice only. That is not a market-that is a dictatorship!

I did attend the recent RMAF and could play my CDs in 80% of the rooms I visited, there were many CD players available.

You'll know when they're dead when you stop seeing them on the cover of Stereophile. If companies are still making them, it's worth the cost of R&D to make them. You have to wait until anyone who's 38 years old right now to die of old age.

Pettyofficer: Oh no! Does computer audio mean that people will have to.....god forbid......LEARN SOMETHING?

Here is a Lesson, Devilboy, in economics. You need to look beyond your nose of Computer Audio logic. I have no problem
with the Market sharing between CD, Downloading, and Music
Files. For those who claim CD sounds better, motivation to
improve the sound of Computer Audio. For those who claim
Computer Audio sounds better, motivation to improve the sound of CD. This is a win, win for the consumer-more bang for his buck. This is what stimulates the market-COMPETITION! Take it down to one exclusive Format-where is the motivation, where is the competition? A single
exclusive product doesn't make a Market. It destroys the
Market, destroys competition, and destroys the choices that
Consumers have. Computer Audio Fanatics are the only ones
preaching this exclusive form of what-marketing? Based on
Consumers being REGULATED to a single Format. I'm preaching
multiple Formats to give Consumers choices, not to exclude
all other Formats for the sake of one. My Philosophy is one of inclusion, yours is one of exclusion where everyone loses. Sheldon, Howard, and Leonard are losers no matter how sharp they are with a Computer. Why drag the rest of us down with them? Is this some kind of Geeks revenge or what-destroy the entire Audio Market for everyone instead of just sharing it? Ernst Stavro Blofeld would be proud, and you will get your Spectre Ring in the mail!