They haven’t quite killed the compact disc yet and I for one am thankful. There’s something special about the act up picking up a CD,  putting it in the stereo and leafing through the liner notes as the album plays.

And while I like to have all my CDs on display, like trophies I’ve won over the years, it is getting more difficult to find space for them. In this respect, it’s nice to be able to throw music on a hard drive or MP3 player and keep it out of sight.

Billboard reports that Apple’s iTunes had a market share of 26.7% for music distribution in the United States for 2009. That’s more than a quarter, folks. That’s huge. Walmart is number two at 12.5%. While Walmart does offer some digital downloads, it’s reasonable to assume that most of their music sales are done in retail stores. Amazon (at number 5) was the only retailer in the top 10 to increase their market share (to 7.07%), and they sell both physical and digital media.

Armed with the news that the digital age is here to stay, today I relented and bought the iTunes Weezer Raditude Pass for $19.95. It consists of the 10 standard album tracks, the 4 bonus tracks from the deluxe edition, 13 additional tracks (remixes, live versions, and a live cover of The Clash’s “Should I Stay Or Should I Go”), 5 video clips, and a digital booklet. The digital booklet was the deal breaker (though the Clash cover helped). If it hadn’t been available, I probably wouldn’t have bought the package. Still, it was a little disappointing. The text is hard to make out on my computer screen and it’s more awkward putting my face to the screen to read than reading off actual paper in my hands. So later today I went and bought a physical copy of the Dead Weather’s new album, Sea of Cowards. My only regret is that I purchased it at Best Buy (no. 3 at 8.72%) instead of a local independent record store. Sorry, sometimes it’s hard to come up with the extra cheese to do the right thing.

So where is the happy medium? Maybe retail stores could have liner notes for sale with a code on the back to download the album and the option to walk out with a burned CD copy on the spot? Maybe publishers could offer liner notes to those who buy digital copies online for the cost of shipping? Maybe there just aren’t enough people interested in liner notes and album art and they’ll just fade away. What will you do with your CDs as they become a thing of the past? My cassettes are probably all in a landfill now…

Filed under: General by John