CD Dies as the LP Survives. Are You
Surprised?
John Crossett’s review this month of Dual’s new
automatic turntable, the CS 435-1, caused me to reflect on my own
experiences with the LP and what replaced it a quarter-century ago: the Compact Disc.
Not long after the CD was introduced, in 1983, I was
already looking forward to ditching my LPs in favor of the shiny silver discs. What
attracted me were the durability and convenience of CDs -- I hated cleaning LPs,
couldn’t stand the surface noise, and abhorred the inevitable deterioration that
occurred each time I played one. So by 1986 I was 100% into CDs. I packed my LP collection
in boxes and stashed it in the basement.
I was hardly the only one. The thoroughness with which the
CD replaced the LP made it one of the most successful product launches in the history of
consumer electronics, surpassed only by the DVD. What’s more, CD’s reign has
lasted far longer than most experts thought it would -- those in the industry assumed
that, by now, it would have been replaced by a superior physical format. But the CD has
not only survived, it’s won a recent format war to which it wasn’t even invited.
Although the higher-resolution DVD-Audio and SACD formats were intended to replace the
two-decades-old CD, you now can’t find new DVD-A releases, and SACDs are getting
scarcer. The CD remains.
Still, not everyone jumped on the CD bandwagon, not in the
1980s and not now. Although the lion’s share of the music market switched to CD,
there has always been a small, often vocal group -- audiophiles, record collectors, music
lovers, rappers, Gen X alt-rock and grunge fans -- who have steadfastly championed vinyl.
The single overriding reason that most of these people have stood by the LP is that they
believe it sounds better -- and who am I to argue? When I replaced my own LPs, I did so
largely because of CD’s convenience and durability, not necessarily its sound
quality. Most of the early CDs I bought sounded somewhat thin and brittle compared to the
LP releases they replaced.
This is not to say that the LP will ever again be a large
segment of the music market, and appeal to the masses the way it did before the CD came
along. Despite what some vinyl aficionados claim, LPs will remain a small niche market
frequented by those who don’t mind the hassle that comes with their playing and
maintenance. But here’s the surprising thing: However small vinyl’s niche market
may be, it could still outlast the CD.
CD is a vulnerable format, not only because it can be
perfectly copied and easily distributed (even if that’s illegal), but also because it
now has so much competition in its own digital arena. Look at the explosive growth of
hard-drive-based music servers, as well as the success of Apple’s iPod. And as much
as most audiophiles abhor MP3 files, you can’t argue that they’re not a big part
of the music scene, or that they haven’t made a huge dent in CD sales.
These days, digital music is a commodity -- many listeners
don’t care if they get their data from a CD or from some kind of file on a hard
drive. On the other hand, if you want the sound of vinyl -- that certain richness, warmth,
and ease that the LP seems to impart -- there’s nothing exactly like it that can
replace it. And that’s what will help the LP to survive even as the CD dies.
In the mid-’80s, had somebody told me that turntables
would be of as much interest to audiophiles as they are right now, I probably
wouldn’t have believed them. I’m also pretty sure that, until recently, few
would have thought that a turntable such as the new Dual reviewed by John Crossett would
look like a modern, 21st-century device that will be able to be used and enjoyed well into
the future, or that CD players are beginning to look more and more like things of the
past. What goes around comes around -- in more ways than one.
. . . Doug Schneider
E-mail comments to the editor@goodsound.com.
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