As if anyone actually needed any more proof that physical music formats are living on borrowed time, news comes today that following widescale abandonment of vinyl production, major labels plan to abandon the CD format by the end of 2012, or even sooner.
“The intention is to replace it with download/stream-only releases via iTunes and related music services. The only CD-formats that will be left over will be the limited edition ones,” reports music magazine Side-line.com.
The effect on the world of DJing
So what would this mean for DJs? Well, just as with records, it’s likely that – especially seeing the investment in CDJ technology in DJ booths worldwide – DJs will continue to buy, burn and use CDs past the point where the general public is doing so. But the fact that it seems likely that mainstream music will be practically fully digital within years if not months surely means the future in DJ booths is also more than ever destined to be digital.
It’s worth noting that most modern DJ booth CD players from most major manufacturers nowadays can also play digital music, and as fewer and fewer releases are made available to slip into the slot on the front of these machines, so more development time will be put into making the digital side of them work more simply.
The day when we can turn up with just an iPad, an iPhone, an MP3 player, or at the very most a laptop, and plug straight into a club’s digital system in order to DJ, today seem closer than ever.
Full story: CD-format to be abandoned by major labels by the end of 2012
What do you think? do you think it’s inevitable that music is going to go all digital? Or do you think CDs (and records, and books, and printed photos) have their place in an ever-digitised world? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.
Phil Morse
