-Digital Medium Phobia?-

Also true. There are both negative and positive aspects of it. It's a two-ended stick as we say here in Russia.

"Calling bullshit on", FYI, is an idiomatic expression for disagreeing with a specific part, similar to "not buying it"

Analogy:

Downloading digital music within the confines on one's house versus the "communal" experience of going to a brick and mortar store to peruse, hang out with others, and buy the concrete product.

Is it analogous to...

Owning a state of the art DVD/satellite system at home and either buying/renting "on demand" new releases or renting from deepdiscount, et al. or buying DVDs from DeepDiscount, Amazon.com, et al.

Rationale behind the analogy:

Flawed but reasonably pure....

Digital download person rejects the community/shared experience of going to a store, experience the sights, sounds, the tangible "feel" and packaging of the product in favor of ease of delivery, cost, and 24-hr access to a wider pool of options (i.e. CD titles). While the debate of sound quality of downloads vs. CD-Rs or redbook CDs will go on forever, for "most" non-audio-philes, the two media systems are interchangeable.

The person who never attends movies in theaters any more is choosing the other option (satellite on-demand, pay-per-view, online renting or buying) for some, not all, of the same reasons. The biggest similarities are the decision by the consumer to forego the communal/shared experience in favor of convenience and, in the case, of a premium home theater system, a perhaps better viewing experience (no cell phones, no talkers, no kids, etc. other distractions). The analogy is slightly flawed because the high-end home theater may produce a better cinematic experience for the viewer than most movie theaters, esp. if there is not one nearby with stadium seating, Dolby DTS, etc. However, the mp3 downloads are, arguably, not as good in musical reproduction as their redbook counterparts.

In each case, these commonalities are possible:

The CD buyer/movie theater patron is seeking more than the "net result" i.e. they want the total experience which accomanies the raw product. Whether it's the atmosphere of a music store, holding the liner notes and artwork in your hand, the interfacing woth friends or other fans...or in the case of the movie goer, the unique impossible-to-imitate "feeling" of sitting in a darkened auditorium with strangers to experience a movie on a huge screen...not to mention the sights and sounds that accompany that (not the movie, but smells from the concession stand, other people's laughter, screams, etc.)

Concluding: What seems to be at issue here is the investment by the consumer. The patron of brick and mortar stores doesn't mind if the selection isn't as good, if parking is a hassle, if prices are higher, etc. and ditto for the movie goer, who will pay high admission and ridiculous concession prices and drive maybe 30 to 45 minutes to get to a quality viewing venue. These people are "invested" in this process because it gives them something extra.

It's not about whether the home DVD viewer or music downloader is LESS invested in the movie/music "per se," i.e. the music itself stripped of artifice or the film regardless of how it is delivered to the senses. (Hell, I LOVE my DVDs and yet I go to films in theaters as often as I can). To infer one subgroup is ignorant or less cultural or less in touch with the artistic merits of a particular delivery system is at the least spurious. Yes, in some cases, it may be true, but there are also people who go to movies and "buy CDs" who treat the experience as nothing more than an afterthought. They are a whole other group that comes into play (not in this argument, though).

My prediction? CDs and brick and mortar will never ever go away completely. Not possible, at least not within 100 years. We would have to see an almost mind-boggling shift not just in technology but in marketing, sales, and the way we "buy" things, period. When we no longer have any kind of cash registers and credit cards and people tele-commute in the millions rather than go to work and seldom leave their houses at all, only then may we finally get there (and thank god I will be dead and buried by then).

Anyway, just my random thoughts. Carry on...nothing to see here anymore.

I liked the thoughts of the author... is it as simple as 'youth drives the market' - that might be a little too simple, but then again, there is a good amount of truth to it.

Music, like all things... change. Period. End of story.

At the moment mp3's are where it's at... it's been coming for a long time now - and it's finally hit critical mass. I'm probably not the only one here that remembers the heyday of mp3.com and discovering artists and friends there... Anyway... CD's are in decline and will continue to go... DVD's are also beginning to decline (replaced briefly by Blu-ray, but I think that's only a temporary step before files over the internet take them over).

I think Altus mentioned the general idea of don't forget who's reading this... we're all music lovers... to the point of actually visiting a forum discussing music. Especially this particular form of music... we're a very small minority of the general population. There's nothing wrong with this of course! (Otherwise, why would I drop by from time to time?) But we're far from the majority of the music buying public.

wow - I'm rambling.

Yes - it saddened me when the vinyl record stores gradually expanded that tiny little cd section into 80% (then 100% of the store) - which had a bonus effect of making used record stores a little more enjoyable for a few years for at least my benefit.

Yes - it saddened me when all of my favorite record stores disappeared one by one years later.

I think the internet is the coolest thing - I've met musicians I would have never ever met before - have formed many great friendships - discovered music that would have never made it to central Illlinois.

I really should go back and edit this - but I'm out of time...