February 09, 2003
i have a theory. cds will never go in style, no matter how much technology advances and gives us tiny microdiscs capable of holding thousands of songs. simply because artistes cannot produce thousands of songs within an acceptable span of time. they will continue to write about 10 to 15 songs per release, and it does not make any sense to print these songs in the form of a high-tech microdiscs or whatever. even if we were to consider maybe several artistes getting together to release jointly their songs on such a disc in order to implement the use of the discs, there would be the problem of restricted artistic freedom. firstly, even if these discs have any space on them for designing, it's not going to be fair to let only one artiste handle the creative aspect of the disc. plus the packaging as well (let's assume these discs come in nice plastic packaging like the ones we're familiar with, cd sleeve attached also) different artistes will have different ideas for their albums. furthermore, if we choose to let these artistes come to a consensus on the creative mien of the disc, the time spent on that would lead to a great amount of unproductivity on the recording label's part. if we stuck to cds as we know them, it'd be more of a wham bam thank you, ma'am job. the prices of these microdiscs would also cause problems. if slipknot and britney spears decided to release a disc together, are the discs gonna cost as much as 2 cds? ok, not those two. nobody would
ever put those two together even in the same sentence. let's say mushroomhead and slipknot. now, ignoring the fact that a consumer might only like slipknot and abhore the poseur-ish mushroomhead, will he have to pay two times more for the microdisc just because he is forced to 'enjoy' double the music? the consumer here doesn't really have a choice, and that would be a disastrous proposal therein. if we were to lower the prices of the discs to say, $29 for a disc consisting two artistes. the artiste that has his album on a cd will actually be earning more, and hence has no reason to endorse the super discs by printing on them. if you price these discs at double the price of a cd, ($50?) then no one's gonna buy them. no one in their right mind. in conclusion, cds will not become passe because of problems of restricted artistic creativity, prices of high-tech microdiscs capable of storing a lot more songs than cds, inability to combine artistic talents according to each consumer's taste, and finally unproductivity of recording labels should artistes be let to jointly print albums.
i'm gonna buy me a cd player.
12:03 AM
