ok I get it, cd's are going out of style because people like the "seemingly" cheaper alternative to download individual songs and nobody likes to have a large case full of cd's in their car when they are easy to scratch. I can understand not wanting to pay $15 for a cd but there are a bunch of places that sell them much cheaper (maybe not for hot new releases). I do what most people with cd's do. I rip them to my computer and then use the ripped song to listen to the music. I do purchase some songs online and for me its a cost per song debate. I first determine how many songs on the cd I am interested in buying at which point I am willing to pay about $3.00 per very good song, and about $2.00 per just good song and maybe $1.00 for songs I kinda like. So if a cd has 2 very good songs on it and nothing else then I'd be willing to pay $6.00 for that cd. If I cant find a good cost per song cd then I'll purchase the songs seperately.
I know many people dont care about a high quality sounding song, as long as it sounds pretty good, they can get it pretty cheap, and they can take it with them. Unfortunately with downloads you can have a hard drive crash and then also forget to backup your music, or even just some of the music. This means you have lost that $1 purchase for good, and this doesnt even include all the restrictions that often come with song downloads. With cd's you always have the highest quality backup that can only be lost if you scratch or lose the disc, but thats just a matter of not taking care of your stuff. If somehow you lose the song after its been ripped to your computer then you can rerip it from the cd. If in the future you decide to rip at a lower or higher bitrate or the ripping process is improved even more, well then your have the original highest quality source of the cd to go from.
Highest legal download bitrate I have seen from a large collection site is 256 kbps, which is good but a little under the 320 kbps maximum bitrate you can get on ripped mp3's. From the cd you can rip at a lossless format which preserves all the audio and the song sounds as good as it possibly can. Whatever audio quality you choose the cd will allow you to choose it, but the downloads wont. I'd be willing to bet that 75% of people that buy cds or download songs don't know what bitrate their music is or even what bitrate means.
When it comes to purchasing individual songs I just don't think people consider all the negatives that cd's dont have like lower sound quality, restrictions on use, and the relatively good chance of something going wrong and losing the song for good. I think the best option is to buy the cd if the cost per songs that you like is within your preference, then rip the songs to your computer and then safely store the cd away as backup. If the cost per songs you like is too much for you then ya purchase individual songs, but in either case you should be making a safe backup and even two safe backups. Backing up to another hard drive and the hard drive can have problems but backing up to something that doesnt have mechanical parts that can break like a dvd or blu-ray disc is better.
I know many people dont care about a high quality sounding song, as long as it sounds pretty good, they can get it pretty cheap, and they can take it with them. Unfortunately with downloads you can have a hard drive crash and then also forget to backup your music, or even just some of the music. This means you have lost that $1 purchase for good, and this doesnt even include all the restrictions that often come with song downloads. With cd's you always have the highest quality backup that can only be lost if you scratch or lose the disc, but thats just a matter of not taking care of your stuff. If somehow you lose the song after its been ripped to your computer then you can rerip it from the cd. If in the future you decide to rip at a lower or higher bitrate or the ripping process is improved even more, well then your have the original highest quality source of the cd to go from.
Highest legal download bitrate I have seen from a large collection site is 256 kbps, which is good but a little under the 320 kbps maximum bitrate you can get on ripped mp3's. From the cd you can rip at a lossless format which preserves all the audio and the song sounds as good as it possibly can. Whatever audio quality you choose the cd will allow you to choose it, but the downloads wont. I'd be willing to bet that 75% of people that buy cds or download songs don't know what bitrate their music is or even what bitrate means.
When it comes to purchasing individual songs I just don't think people consider all the negatives that cd's dont have like lower sound quality, restrictions on use, and the relatively good chance of something going wrong and losing the song for good. I think the best option is to buy the cd if the cost per songs that you like is within your preference, then rip the songs to your computer and then safely store the cd away as backup. If the cost per songs you like is too much for you then ya purchase individual songs, but in either case you should be making a safe backup and even two safe backups. Backing up to another hard drive and the hard drive can have problems but backing up to something that doesnt have mechanical parts that can break like a dvd or blu-ray disc is better.
