Is the CD and DVD/Bluray going away?

Cd will go away the way vinyl has. It hasn't and won't for years. Downloads will be just another alternative but a growing one and getting better. Sooner or later I will get into it but it will likely be in a year or two. The technology is maturing. Jallen

Tomycy6, would just point out there is a difference between "product shipped" and "product sold". It take more time to accurately determine the latter.

But, we're quibbling over accounting details. The trend is the same.

Just yesterday I spoke to someone at OPPO about my BDP-103 and asked about HD downloads (wired and wireless) and came to the conclusion that nothing beats Blu-Ray for the quality and that's why I got it in the first place. I won't settle for streaming if it has the occasional stutter or hiccup, convenience be damned.

What prompted my call to OPPO was the offer for half off on the ROKU streaming device.

A lot of time and effort has gone into Blu-Ray and they won't be giving it up any time soon. Besides, they've gotten really good at transfers. All one has to do is watch Lawrence of Arabia and see just how good something from 1962 can look and sound.

All the best,
Nonoise

Mlsstl,

Yes, you're right that there is a difference between what is being counted and that's why the numbers are different.

Nielsen is the only organization I'm aware of that counts total record sales and I'm sure they use estimates in their count, so the numbers aren't exact but probably close.

The RIAA numbers for 2011 are:

Cds shipped - 241 million
Lps shipped - 5.5 million
Album downloads shipped - 105 million (I don't know how you ship a download)

RIAA numbers for 2012 won't be out for a while yet.

I put the numbers up because people say stuff like cds are not going to be produced after year end or that vinyl is outselling digital or whatever. The Nielsen numbers have some basis in reality and I hope they help people make better decisions and make for better informed discussions.

If someone has sales numbers from another source, put them up.

Much effort goes into producing CD/DVD/LP/BR. These formats are not going away anytime soon.