How are you buying Alpocalypse?

[TMBJon]

This is a sign of the times unfortunately. I guess a majority of people buy their muic online. Target didn't have any Al and our local borders closed down.

Ugh, I went to Target yesterday morning because it was the only CD-selling store open before 10am. They actually did not know what I meant by "CD" and acted puzzled until I said "music discs." Then they knew what I meant. Seriously. They had one copy of Alpocalypse in stock but it was the standard version.

[The Doctor]

They actually did not know what I meant by "CD"

How old was this person? I find this story almost impossible to believe.

[TMBJon]

How old was this person? I find this story almost impossible to believe.

He was around our age, somewhere in his 20s. I thought I was in an alternate universe for a minute.

[AlejandraDD]

Maybe the first thing that popped to his mind was Certificate of Deposit and got really confused as why you were looking for those in a store.

[The Doctor]

That would be even sadder. When you work in a store and someone is asking for something, you don't assume that they want something obscure. "A DVD? What is a DVD? Why would we have any Disco Velcro Dogs?"

[DrDecay]

Wow. That's no good. That is really sad when someone doesn't know what a compact disc is. I wonder how many of todays youths do not know what a cassette is or video tape. I remeber listing to! L on a walkman. Does this make me old?

[crazygurl14]

I can hardly believe someone in their early 20's did not know what a cd was. I remember having cassettes when I was little. I don't know when people began to steal songs off the Internet but maybe that all that pitiful person has ever used. I like having a physical cd. I like the booklet with all the pictures and lyrics in it. I will be very disappointed if that format ever does become obselete

[Yankomaniac]

Speaking of which, I love the Alpocalypse pics, the band looks awesome when you fully open it up and there all looking at you all grim, like a pack of mad butchers!! The booklet pics are all good too.

[The Doctor]

I like the booklet with all the pictures and lyrics in it.

Well, to be fair, there will always be the capability for the booklets with pictures/lyrics.
Most albums you buy online now come with "digital booklets", for example the last few Lady Gaga albums came with a PDF file with pictures, lyrics, etc, etc.
And iTunes has similar digital booklets, but there's also "iTunes LP" which can be very interactive with pictures, video, lyrics, etc etc. So really, I wouldn't mind if music ditched physical cds to go all digital, because then artists could spend more effort on creating some really awesome iTunes LP content.
Gorillaz' "Plastic Beach" had a really cool iTunes LP with some games and video and just pretty art.
Tyrese Gibson had a few songs he released in iTunes LP with his "Mayhem!" comics. Really cool, because it had a song, then it had a comic book, and then there was the comic book animated with narration.

And since Alpocalypse came with absolutely no extra content, I'm sure that if given a chance, next album could adopt iTunes LP and have all kinds of awesome interactive stuff.
Alpocalypse actually comes with an iTunes LP file, but I haven't gotten the itunes version yet, perhaps I'll be surprised.
But Alpocalypse iTunes LP, I'm sure, does include a digital booklet program type thing, with pictures and lyrics.

All the more reason why there's no real reason for Physical cds to hang around, other than for the "OMG physicalllll", but people can just as easily burn their own copy if they want. Otherwise, all the music lives in the cloud and can be re-downloaded forever and ever without worrying about losing the CD or it getting scratched.

[jbracciante]

all the music lives in the cloud and can be re-downloaded forever and ever without worrying about losing the CD or it getting scratched.

One problem with that Stephen:

Zombie Outbreak.

Once the precious internet music clouds disappear when the zombies break lose and eat 95% of us, the remnants of humanity will have to rely on AA batteries and gasoline generators to power their ancient "CD players" and the music discs they find littered around urban dystopia. It is for this very reason that LP's are even better than CD's. You can drag a small paper cone across a vinyl disc and hear the sound reproduced through the cone at very faint levels. No power needed! Perfect for the zombie apocalypse, if you ask me. Long live the physical formats of yesteryear!


Actually in all seriousness, I support physical formats over virtual downloads for one big reason. First you have to understand that a CD or LP isn't about the music anymore. It's a conversation piece, a symbol, a representation of interest in a particular work. What confuses people is that CD's and LP's were once delivery services, essential to process of transporting music to listeners. I agree with you Stephen, their time as "means of delivering music" is up. Downloads and digital files are the future. Why CD's continue to be popular (and why LP's are actually becoming MORE popular) is buying a physical product means something else. It is satisfying to hold up an object and point to it and go "I love this band/artist, and this shows that." Like baseball cards, or pogs, or posters, they are simply a display of fandom. LP's are bigger, more visually impressive, so naturally they are becoming more popular. I have quite a few friends that own LP's of their favorite albums that don't even have record players. They own them so they can put them in their room and point to them and say "Hey that album kicks @$$ and I have it on vinyl, (and CD and on my ipod)!" Do they listen to the album on vinyl? Maybe. Do they listen to the album on their ipods? Certainly. Is this relevant? Not really. They bought the LP and CD so they could support their favorite artist, have a cool thing to show people, and get a great collectible. A download will NEVER be collectible. That is why "physical" music will never go away.

-James

Edit: Also at the moment, CD's and LP's typically offer slightly better sound quality. This has/is changing and will change completely with time.

Edit: Since collectibles have a considerably smaller market then let's say...the actual music, physical CD sales will continue to shrink and shrink until only the hardcore collectors are buying them. The thing is, the hardcore collectors will keep buying them. They will NEVER disappear. So far digital has yet to supplant any physical product because of this.

Edit:If you need proof that these weird "collector" people exist, just scroll back through this thread and look at all the people buying multiple versions of the album just to "have it" for no reason in particular.