Why I Still Buy CDs

I’m generally not someone who shies away from the latest and greatest technology — after all, I work in IT! (Though I did just start using Gmail last year.) I use my computer and the Internet for so much: I pay all my bills online, I buy things from Amazon all the time, I’ve got a 3G smart phone running Windows Mobile 6, and I’ve been using Vista since it came out (and I like it!). But one thing I haven’t done is made the leap to digital downloads of music. I still much prefer to own the actual CD than to pay for MP3s of the same thing.

Why?

One reason is fidelity. Any rip of a CD is only an approximation of the original — you’ll never get quite the same sound out of an MP3 as you do out of a CD. Okay, you could use an absurdly high bit rate, but then you end up with an enormous file for each song. But otherwise, an MP3 will never sound as good as the original CD. Now, I don’t claim to be an audiophile. I can’t necessarily hear the difference, but my mind knows it’s there.

Another reason is DRM. Who wants to deal with that garbage? Fortunately, Amazon has started selling DRM-free music downloads. I purchased “Love Shack” by the B-52s!

Then there’s cost. A lot CDs are pretty damn cheap these days… so cheap that buying digital downloads is actually more expensive at times. I buy a lot of my CDs on Amazon — there’s no sales tax, and since I’m a member of Amazon Prime, there’s also no shipping. Cheap, cheap, cheap!

There’s just something comforting to me about owning a master copy of the music. With the CD, I can rip MP3s of any bit rate at any time. If I accidentally blow away my hard drive one day, I don’t have to buy my music all over again — I just have to re-rip it all.

I think the biggest reason is that I don’t have a dedicated MP3 player that I can store a ton of music on and easily hook up to my stereo. (Yes, ladies and gentlemen… Kurt does not own an iPod.) I use my phone as an MP3 player, with a 2GB Micro SD card. Otherwise, in the car and at home, I listen to CDs the old-fashioned way — through the stereo.

I guess the bottom line is that I think owning the CD ultimately gives me more flexibility, and I like that a lot.