Apparently, people in Japan still like to buy CDs...

[SuperMillionaire]

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/cd-loving-japan-resists-move-003123863.html

Apparently, people in Japan still like to buy CDs, and have resisted the online downloading of music that the U.S. has shifted towards. In a country that seemingly adapts to new technology much faster than everyone else around the world, they seem to like clinging to the CD instead of shifting to digital downloading from the internet, like the U.S. and much of Europe.

I actually think that's a good thing, because sometimes, your internet connection will crash, and when it crashes, you cannot download anything. And if your computer itself crashes, you can say "sayonara" (that's Japanese for "good-bye") to all of your files, including your music. That's the importance of a hard copy.

[Lone Wolf Leonhart]

I still enjoy getting CDs as well. I usually end up putting them on my mp3 player anyway, but I like getting the booklet and flipping through it.

[Spuuky]

FYI, you can back up files. They don't have to be lost if your hard drive fails. Also, CDs degrade and will inevitably stop playing eventually.

And if your CD player fails, you're just as out-of-luck as if your Internet connection fails, except that you can actually get Internet just about anywhere and you can only find a CD player in a pawn shop.

This whole post doesn't make any sense.

[Shorty]

I have my music backed up on my phone, ipod and an external hard drive. CDs amount to nothing more than just clutter. I will likely never buy another CD again unless I am physically at a show of a new band whose music I really liked.

However, I would and plan to load up on vinyls one day. Lifelong dream.

[Chris]

I haven't bought a CD in years, I do however, collect LPs. I have a pretty collection, with records dating all the way back to the '30s.

[SuperMillionaire]

Here's my opinion: I'm not completely against downloading, but I believe it should be adding on to a hard copy, similar to video games; you get the hard copy video game, and then acquire additional add-on downloadable content for it. I think somebody should invent an even smaller disc that has a ton more storage, perhaps the size of the PSP discs, and then have additional downloadable content for it that you can get only if you get the hard copy album.

[Mirage]

Japan doesn't actually adapt new technology all that fast, except for mobile phones and such. All in all, it's pretty average.

You're wrong in either case. If you use any of the most popular music stores, no music is lost if your computer crashes. It's all linked to your account. Furthermore, you don't need CDs to maintain an offline copy of an album. Computers and even phones these days have something called hard drives or memory cards, where you can actually store several albums in a small amount of space.

I doubt a mini-CD format for music would ever be able to take off now. No one would bother with buying them, or the gear needed to play them. It falls between two chairs. If you want portability, you save it to your phone. If you want a disc, you already have those.

Not completely against downloading? Why would you be against it in any degree at all?

[SuperMillionaire]

I'm not saying that digital is bad, but I'm saying that it should supplement a hard copy, like in video games. And while a mini-CD may not be able to take of in the U.S., I'm sure Japan would like it. And according to that same article I posted, apparently, Germany also still enjoys getting CDs, so it might just work there, too.

[Mirage]

Why would it take off? Why would people want mini CDs?

Also, lots of games are delivered purely digitally these days, with no hard copy at all.

Not to mention, mini-CDs (and DVDs for that matter) already exist. No one seems to want them, for some reason...

[Spuuky]

I'm not saying that digital is bad, but I'm saying that it should supplement a hard copy, like in video games. And while a mini-CD may not be able to take of in the U.S., I'm sure Japan would like it. And according to that same article I posted, apparently, Germany also still enjoys getting CDs, so it might just work there, too.Like with video games, hard copies are mercifully obsolete. I buy many, many games; I have bought maybe one physical disk (only because no digital version was available) in the last 3 years. And I'd get rid of that disk if I could.

[Del Murder]

I like having physical copies of games because storage does become an issue on consoles if you go 100% digital. Also you can't loan the game or take it to someone's house. That's not really an issue with CDs since music doesn't take up as much space.

I would say having your CD get damaged or stolen is about as likely as the internet crashing and you lose all your digital music. Maybe more likely.

[Mirage]

You can actually take your digital games with you to a friend! Sort of. At least if your friend has fast internet and can download 10 GB before you have to leave again.

[Slothy]

Here's my opinion: I'm not completely against downloading, but I believe it should be adding on to a hard copy, similar to video games; you get the hard copy video game, and then acquire additional add-on downloadable content for it.

Using an technology that's superior in pretty much every way to supplement an inferior technology? That's a strange concept.

No thanks. I'll stick to having devices that fit in my hand and contain my entire music collection over ever having to deal with CD's again. I've bought one album physically in the last four or five years. And the only reason I did was because they're a smaller band I wanted to support but their stuff is only available digitally on iTunes which is a no go for me. Once I got the disc I ripped it to my hard drive and I will probably never touch it again.


I like having physical copies of games because storage does become an issue on consoles if you go 100% digital.

Storage being an issue on consoles isn't something that should even be a thing. But companies need to sell their consoles with either hard drives that aren't embarrassingly small, or at least provide the option to upgrade them and/or backup your files to an external drive.

It'd also help if competition was a word that internet providers were familiar with.

Basically the only reason that storage is a concern on any platform is because the companies decided to save a few bucks and give you inadequate storage devices and/or your ISP is gauging you.

I have a ton of games on Steam. I keep very few installed at any given time, but I can always download them whenever I want and most don't take more than 20 minutes tops. There are a few exceptions, but not many. And if I wanted to go to a friends and play it with them, all they need is a decent internet connection. Sign into my account, download it, all of my save files are backed up to the Steam cloud, and we'd be ready to go in no time. If you can't find something else to do for 20 minutes then you need more interesting friends.

[Spuuky]

I like having physical copies of games because storage does become an issue on consoles if you go 100% digital.Oh yeah, people still use consoles. I can't wait for those to go obsolete, too, as they get closer and closer to just being PCs anyway. The vast majority of my game collection is just a quick download away. I can keep maybe 150-200 games installed at once, but I might have to delete some old ones to install new ones.

[SuperMillionaire]

Another issue I have with downloading is censorship. There is no real way to verify that someone if someone is of legal age online to download songs that contain profanities. Music is very weakly censored, in my opinion; how many times do you go into a record store, and you see a little black and white sticker that reads "Parental Advisory: Explicit Content"? Even then, I still don't think they stop you from getting an album with that label on it.

I recently learned in one of my college classes that back in the day, artists were more discreet about cursing in music, as well as singing about sex, drugs, and alcohol; it was not what you did, it was how you did it. They were more discreet about it. Today however, with all of the indiscretion of sex, drugs, alcohol, and profanity so weakly censored, it's very easy for a child to obtain.

[Uchu]

Japan's 'slow' adoption of digital is more to do with record labels trying to prevent it. Similar to how game renting is 'illegal'. It is not the people standing against 'evil' downloads. Oh, and Tsutaya... rent a CD, copy it, return it, done, for less than half the price of a download. Oh, and the second hand market in Japan is so much better different than in the west. Offering even more choice for music, again sometimes much cheaper than a download of the same album.


The digital scene in Japan is interesting to read about, but also annoying as I would like access to more digital content but alas, no (at least not without jumping through a few hoops). But then I have many different options I wouldn't have had back in the west. I don't think its fair to paint Japan as being slower (or faster) to adopt new tech than other countries as it really depends on what technology you're talking about. Too much generalising going on. But i do recommend reading about the history of it, and while you're at it check out video game rentals in Japan too.


As for me, I like digital for some things, but love having physical copies for others. As we're talking about music, i get digital for normal music, but like to collect game soundtracks in physical form.

[Mirage]

Another issue I have with downloading is censorship. There is no real way to verify that someone if someone is of legal age online to download songs that contain profanities. Music is very weakly censored, in my opinion; how many times do you go into a record store, and you see a little black and white sticker that reads "Parental Advisory: Explicit Content"? Even then, I still don't think they stop you from getting an album with that label on it.

I recently learned in one of my college classes that back in the day, artists were more discreet about cursing in music, as well as singing about sex, drugs, and alcohol; it was not what you did, it was how you did it. They were more discreet about it. Today however, with all of the indiscretion of sex, drugs, alcohol, and profanity so weakly censored, it's very easy for a child to obtain.

So you're saying it is incredibly easy for them to buy such music in regular stores, yet still use lack of control as an argument against online purchases. Also, there is no legal age for listening to profane lyrics.

Also, you need a credit or debit card to buy things online, and these aren't handed out to minors without their parents' consent, so please explain to me how there is less control.

[SuperMillionaire]

No, they are very much able to get it. Music is very poorly censored.

And in Germany, they like CDs too.

[Mirage]

Yeah so why did you bring that up in relation to online purchases?

[Spuuky]

Censorship is awful.

[SuperMillionaire]

Because it would be easier to check for someone's I.D. in person, in the store, rather than on the internet.

[Mirage]

But nobody does, so that's a moot point. On the internet, you wouldn't even be able to buy something if you weren't given a credit card by your parents. This means parents have control over what sort of stuff their kids can buy, and what they buy with it is their choice and responsibility.

Of course, you could use the credit card of an adult friend you have, but how is that any different from having that friend buy the CD in stores for you?

[SuperMillionaire]

True, but still, there is no possible way of asking for ID online.

[noxious.sunshine]

Here we go again with the censorship argument.

If you don't like it, don't listen. Plain and simple.

[Shiny]

We put too much trust in digital technology. Also external drives are known to often fail and your back up can fail as well so it's good to have another tangible backup. CD's, dvd's, and tapes are great for archiving. Quite often cd's will have information that will not otherwise be presented in the digital download such as the cover art, lyrics, information about the songs such as samples used, etc. I like to have them sometimes for that reason. I have only bought about four cd's recently because I enjoyed the whole album and the art in the booklet. If I only liked a few songs digital download for those songs makes more sense.

[Spuuky]

No, we put way too much importance on having things be recoverable. Who cares if a drive storing music fails, unless it is an original composition that is somehow only in your possession it is trivial to re-acquire. Almost anything is trivial to re-acquire.

And you don't even need most things you would be backing up anyway. If my hard drive fails tomorrow, I will lose a lot, and none of it will really matter, and I'll get new versions of the things that do.

[Mirage]

CDs often fail after a decade or two too. They are in no way a secure way to store data, even if you keep them in their covers all the time.