CD Availability Nearing It's End And The Consequences

[CatManDo]

I no longer buy CDs for new releases (I usually go for the download, especially when there is a hi-rez option), but as a jazz collector, CDs are often the only option to get lesser known older albums.

 

A lot of stuff released in the 1990's and 2000's on smaller labels is not available in download stores, while second hand CDs (most titles being out of print) can still be found on Amazon. Many times, a CD including shipping is cheaper than a FLAC download (when available).

 

That being said, I see myself going to lossless streaming in the near future. Collecting music makes less and less sense. I ripped all my discs last year, they are now just filling up space.

[CatManDo]

SACD could die very suddenly, as there are only a few manufacturing plants in the world. If one of those closes for economic reasons, the labels which use them could stop releasing in the format altogether.

 

Labels like Audiophile Productions have been releasing less SACDs lately, when they used to release the same titles on LP and SACD before. Most new SACDs are very limited edition japanese reissues of vintage classical recordings

 

https://www.hraudio.net/music.php (recent releases are top of the page, the list also includes Blu-ray-Audio releases)

[CatManDo]

It's my understanding that the manufacturing process is very similar (SACD is physically a DVD), so that those plants making SACDs (currently only in Japan and Austria) are used for various disc formats. But the production variation SACD could be dropped because of limited interest.

 

As happened with the CD format at Sony DADC in Terre Haute, Indiana in 2018 (and the SACD format some years before)

 

https://www.insideindianabusiness.com/story/37288821/sony-dadc-to-lay-off-hundreds-in-terre-haute