Are CD players dead

Well, given that you can still purchase thousands (if not millions of CDs) and that probably 98% of albums are still released on the medium, I'd say the CD player is far from dead. It is not the future, that's true, but that's a much different thing. Even though I'm good with computers, I will continue to use mine as my CDs aren't going anywhere and it's what I'm used to. Plus, it sounds great!

Fusion10: In my opinion, the sales of cds don't necessarily mean that the sales of cd PLAYERS will continue. Think about it. When you have a hard drive based system you're putting the music into your computer by either downloading from the net, or burning from cds. You still need to get that music into your computer. So, many people with computers as their source are still purchasing cds.

I think Pettyofficer and Fusion10 bring up good points; CD sources may not be the future but, the future of computer sourced audio is not quite here yet. We will know when it gets here because;
1. source material will be readily available by download,
2. there will be a convenient, quick, uniform, and somewhat idiot-proof method of accessing the source material, that includes easy access to the metadata, and
3. playback will sonically surpass that from good CD players.

I understand that you can't go from 0 to 100 mph in an instant, so I do appreciate that there are folks who are committed to making the computer thing work and that they are the ones working through the learning curve and moving the industry forward. I simply don't have the time or inclination to be involved at that level, yet. Therefore, when computer based sources become as easy as finding and playing a CD from my collection, and/or when the playback methods sonically exceed what I hear from my players, I will be ready to make the switch.

Until there are commercially available music downloads with audio quality at least equivalent to CD's (which Apple, et al assuredly are not)and at a cost reasonably equivalent to CD's (which HD Tracks, et al most assuredly are not), neither CD's nor CDP's will be dead. If you use computer audio, you either have to rip a CD --which someone had to have purchased -- or download from an original sales source, which is expensive for good audio quality. This is the reality.

If the record companies had any brains, they would be selling direct downloads at CD quality bitrates, instead of letting Apple, Amazon, steal their profits.

Neal

Devilboy, that's a good point. I'm not sure how sales of CD players are going (as opposed to CDs). However, there sure are lots of CD players still in production. I'm sure sales are not what they once were, but I would think they are still selling plenty of units, otherwise we would expect to see the supply dwindle more than it has.