Why CD players with optics and mechanical parts instead of SS

[Divakar7]

Soolos Music Server system (now under Meridian I think) had a service where they transfered all your CDs into the media server: Sooloos Music Server System | Stereophile.com

I know, I will have to do transfer the CDs at some point in my life. Hopefully, when my daughter is old enough she will do the transfers for pocket money!

 

[corElement]

^ LOOOL hahahahahaha you evil father you

 

[Divakar7]

It's easier/more comfortable to rip CDs than mow the lawn or deliver the newspaper AND I am giving her a head-start in learning about audio tech and managing the digital hub AND she will get paid

 

[BLASTO]

Why petrol/diesel in the age of hybrids, clean energy propulsions??

I plan on going eco as soon as I can and away from fossil fuel nonsense.

You got it wrong.
Its not about you.

I was saying that there is a transfer time in replacing all existing technologies.
Companies have to recover their monies invested in R&D and then there is problem of upgrading the whole supply chain and control machinery and most of all, if you don't have a competitor, you don't really have a problem.

But time and again it is proved that the first companies who come out of this inertia are the ones that are most successful in the next gen technologies.

Ofcource all the above is not specific to audio but to all innovation. Specific to music though, the next gen is not SSD as someone mentioned. It is the cloud.

Frankly, there isn't much people are gonna miss due to compression too. The best sound stages are captured in audio CDs from the 80s and 90s and not from the 2000s. Unfortunately.

 

[musicbee]

Problem is that I have over 500 CDs and moving all my music using FLAC to a hard-drive (solid state isn't viable from a price point of view for the amount of music I have) will take ages. And hard-drives also fail. So even though I won't invest in a new CD player, it will still be core to my music system for a long time to come.

I have ripped 500 GB of CDs and painstakingly tagged them (with Tag&Rename). It took me 2 months working 8-10 hours a day.

PS - I had quit work and was taking it easy (otherwise its hard to invest so much time into it but people will go to any lengths for their hobby/passion).

Now I have 500 GB HDD on my PC and an external backup of 500 GB HDD.

So unless you can devote this much time... its better to hire someone else to do it (can never be sure they have done the job 100% correct though).

 

[Shivam]

Sometime back Apple Records had released 'Beatles' remastered at 24bit on an Apple shaped USB flash drive.

 

[gryph0n]

CD players going bad fast is one thing, cd's themselves go bad due to poor handing or manufacturing. There can be no further improvement in CD optical delivery technology as the medium is already obsolete and not further researched into. The delivery method is the same and has been the same since 1990, there can be no profit expected from holding onto a dead delivery medium, only the electronics post the delivery.

SD cards are amazing in that regard, I've had an sd card since late 90's which has been in use daily on tons of different pc's and it's never had an issue while I've run through dozens of discs and usb drives to completely not using any optical discs today, I dont have ANYthing on an optical disc anymore because the delivery medium itself is so fragile it's like throwing your money at a burning fire.

I believe you haven't the 'opportunity' to see a SD card go bad
Believe me, it happens; and has happened to me. Consider yourself lucky.

Also do consider the flash memory chips used in SD cards, etc. too have a limited lifetime. I believe most flash chips can only sustain writes to the order of 'tens of thousands'.

While its true that CD's and even DVDs can be easily scratched, Blu-Rays have a harder surface than CD/DVD, and are more scratch resistant.

Ultimately, all physical formats with resolution higher than Redbook Audio CD have failed in comparision. There's a long list of outright failures & might-have-beens: SACD, DVD-Audio, Blu-Ray Audio

On the other hand, there's been an exposion in popularity for lower resolution lossy music: AAC (iTunes) & MP3.

The writing on the wall is clear:

• Lossy formats (AAC & MP3) for mass market consumption; usually downloaded online.
• Audio CDs for those who want to archive, and want music in lossless 16/44.1 resolution.
• Online downloads for those who want higher resolution at 24/96 or higher. Of course, there's a good ongoing argument whether this high resolution is really 'better' by itself, or whether its superior mastering thats actually being percieved as 'better'.

I don't see the market aligning towards SD-Cards, DVD-Audio, or Blu-Ray Audio for distribution. The consumers have spoken for online downloads, and the Audio CD only survives due to inertia & the existing installed user base. There is no space for any more physical distribution formats.

 

[anm]

number of writes should not be much of an issue for a music application, as one won't be modifying music files on a regular basis.