Beech Tree News Network

We’ve come a long way since 1982.  That covers a lot of territory.  In this case, however, I’m talking about how we listen to music.  1982 was when the Compact Disc was first available for sale.  CD-R (data storage), CD-RW (re-writable), Video Compact Disc(VCD), and others have been available since that year.
In 2004, worldwide sales of CD audio, CD-ROM and CD-R reached about 30 billion discs.  By 2007, 200 billion CD’s had been sold worldwide.  Sales have dropped nearly 50% from their peak in 2000 because everything is going digital.  With the advent of i-tunes, Spotify, and other forms of digital on-demand music, CD’s have almost gone the way of the cassette tape.  Granted, music stores still stock some.  It’s nowhere near how many were in stores even five years ago.
Best Buy now has their CD’s near the back of the store, and there certainly aren’t as many now.  My favorite store used to be Best Buy.  This was before I got my iPod and now iPhone. I also use Spotify heavily.  Now, I can’t remember the last time I bought a CD.  I posed that question on social media.  Here are some of my findings.
I got a variety of results.  One said he last bought a CD 6 years ago.  He no longer buys them.  For the opposite take, another said he bought three CD’s off of eBay last week.  I got one who says she hasn’t bought one in years-she’s strictly Spotify.   There are still your diehard fans of certain artists.  One Luke Bryan fan said she buys all of his CD’s as well as downloading them. 
I’ve bought the occasional CD at festivals from artists I like.  If I order a CD anymore, which I seldom do, I order through Amazon’s website.  I mostly get albums on my Kindle or iPhone these days.  Of those I polled, 50% still buy the occasional CD, whether it be supporting local talent, a diehard fan of a certain artist or purchasing from eBay. 
A friend of mine sent me a picture of one store that has assorted CD’s on sale for $4.88 and $5.99.  It will be awhile, in my opinion, until the CD goes the way of vinyl records or cassette tapes.  That is to say hard to find, not completely nonexistent.  They may be harder to find (Wal Mart and Best Buy don’t stock like they used to), but they are still around.  I’m sure that if I were to re-visit this topic in a few years, this will be a totally different column.

Hello.  My name is Andy Sullivan.  I received my bachelor’s degree in business from Mid-Continent University in June 2009.  I began writing for beechtree in July 2009.  I enjoy writing, photography, watching basketball and football, and playing guitar.  I also write a blog that encompasses sports and entertainment, called Sports and More, at http://andyuk79.tumblr.com If you have any comments, please leave them in the space below.  Thanks for reading!