Here's What You've Forgotten About Buying CDs

Do You Still Buy CDs?

This past weekend Blink-182’s new album California was released. Actually it was released on Canada Day, which meant buying a physical copy wasn’t an option until Saturday. Even though it was much more convenient to order digitally, I decided to actually go to the store and pay for an actual, physical CD. Before this, the last physical CD I bought was Blink-182’s Neighbourhoods in 2011 (there is a trend here). In general I (like many other people) find it way more convenient to enjoy my music digitally. But for my most favourite bands, I feel obligated to buy an actual CD that I can hold in my hand. If it’s been awhile since you last bought a CD, here’s what you’re missing out on.

Top 5 Things You’ve Forgotten About Buying CDs

1) Preferred Checkout If you’re buying a CD at Wal-Mart (like I did), you can pay for it in the electronics area, which means you have a shorter line. You also get to ring up other purchases that are NOT electronics like deodorant, candy, or whatever else you grabbed on your way to the back of the store to get to the CD section. The clerk will say, “I’m not really supposed to,” when you ask if you can buy those extra items there, and they will then proceed to ring them through.

2) CD Artwork Is Cool. Sure when you buy a digital album you’ll usually get a thumbnail of the album cover that appears when you play a song, but it’s not the same as seeing ink printed on paper. The new Blink-182 CD has some very cool artwork and you appreciate it a lot more when you’re actually holding it.

3) Shrink Wrap IS The Strongest Substance Known To Mankind. Period.

4) Liner notes are awesome. When you take that disc out of the case and put it into whatever music player you have available it’s pretty enjoyable flipping through the little booklet that came with the CD. You’ll see the lyrics to the songs which is always nice, but you might also find personal thank you’s from the artist to you. You may be shocked to discover that another musician you like lent their background vocals, writing talents, or music abilities to a track. These are things you might miss if you went with the digital-only option.

5) It DOES sound better! Unless you download your digital music as FLAC files or other “lossless” music formats, mp3’s kinda suck. They were designed to allow you to fit a lot of music into a small data package, so they strip away extra frequencies to shave down the song to the bare essentials so you can fit more tunes in your music player. Listening to an actual CD on a CD player (especially with headphones) is a great way to experience a new album for the first time!

What was your last CD?

When was the last time you went to a record shop or the CD section at a store to pick up an album? Which album did you get? Why did you choose a CD over a digital format? Be sure and let us know!