I have to second this. One example does not prove the rule. For that matter, the example of audiophiles -- although a large number of very serious audiophiles I know have gone the server route exclusively -- does not prove the rule.
In the end, the people who put out music will bend in the direction of more favorable market pressures. In this case, the lure to consumers of convenience, safety, portability, etc., will hammer in serious nails in the life span of the CD. Why buy a CD will you can download to a memory stick, BUY a memory stick, or whatever? As for audiophiles, cost and convenience will play into the market. It is a serious market, too. If a conservative bastion of the audiophile world like McIntosh -- and yes, their amps and most of their speakers are that good -- has a music server, then you can rest assured the industry takes it seriously. The fact is that the Transporter is the first full-fledged, off-the-shelf, audiophile-friendly network music player. That's a fact. We don't see it compared to cheap Pioneers or whatever; we see it compared to very serious gear. And this is just the first item! Meanwhile, a Squeeze Box can easily meet and even surpass the needs of most consumers. It won't be long before there are more varieties of this technology out there. Ripping CDs is easy -- at least on my Mac, it takes a few minutes. Then, it's off to storage. One thing that will keep the CD player alive, of course, is that it is a cheap and relatively uncomplicated technology. People around the world, and especially people without access to or funds for computers and routers will still play CDs. In that sense, CDs will not die as quickly as LPs -- because of cost and convenience. My personal guess, though, is that you'll see the audiophile world move to network players or servers at the same or even faster pace than the more generic upscale consumer market. opaqueice;160598 Wrote: > I very much doubt that, although it may take some time before the CD > transport market is totally dead. > > I rip CDs as soon as I buy them - it takes very little effort or time > (only slightly more than playing the CD in a transport, in fact). The > only real obstacle is ripping your current collection, but once that's > out of the way the advantages to doing away with CDs are overwhelming. -- highdudgeon Relax. It's about the music. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ highdudgeon's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=2195 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=30243 _______________________________________________ audiophiles mailing list audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles
