I'm going to spend very little time on this because this blog isn't the ZDNet corrections dept. But this is the second time in as many days that I've come across a ZDNet article that was just laughable in it's very premise and as I think back I'm realizing it's kind of a pattern with ZDNet these days.
In an article entitled "CDs still sell: Who are these people?" Larry Dignan says this...
Great, then we’ll all get to ask who is still buying CDs all over again.
So who are these CD lovers?
- They’re the same bunch still subscribing to AOL dial-up.
- They’re the same folks that still like albums.
- They’re the same people that read liner notes.
- They’re also a lot like me once in a while—People that would rather have the source material instead of screwing around with various formats (I also buy from Amazon’s MP3 store).
Perhaps he should do a quick Google search under the term "bitrate".
As in, "even Tom who is not an audiophile by any standard can hear the difference between 256kbps and lossless" (and true audiophiles claim to be able to hear the difference between low end lossless (around 500kbps) and CD quality (around 1400kbps))
That doesn't even take into account technologies like DTS-CD and DualDisc which allow CDs to be played in 5.1 surround sound (both are floundering sadly but it's my hope that falling CD sales might change that)
Back to my original point. What the heck is going on down there at ZDNet? Have they fired all the editors? Are they pushing writers to create "controversial headlines" at all cost? I don't know. But it's sad to see a brand whose name is linked to the likes of Mary Jo Foley and Dennis Howlett fall so short in other places.
Addendum: For the record Dan Frommer of Silicon Alley Insider brings up the same point and even when faced with a bunch of comments pointing out the bitrate difference he says...
I love that my audiophile readers love the lossless stuff, but if you were the ones buying most of the CDs out there, America's music charts would probably look a lot different!
Now, as I pointed out above it doesn't take an audiophile to notice the difference on a home audio system. But I wanted to point out a few other factors.
First, for those who think "everyone is on iTunes" I'd point to the April 2009 Pew Research Study that found only 63% of Adult Americans have broadband access. I have to doubt many dial-up users are getting their music via online download. Second, another group who might buy CDs in large numbers are a group I like to call "Those who like getting the most value". Let me explain. This week George Strait's Twang is expected to top the Billboard 200 chart. That CD costs $9.99 on Amazon while on iTunes it costs...$9.99. So why wouldn't you get the physical copy with the better quality music, linear notes, pictures, etc...?
(For the record the last CD I bought was from Darius Rucker of Hottie and the Blowfish fame which cost $7.99 on Amazon and $9.99 on iTunes)