CD vs. MP3

It's the age old (well, couple of years old...) debate: whether to buy a CD or get the download? I'm going to start by saying that to me this is a no-brainer. So if you feel like my argument is one-sided, you're right--it is. If you have the option (I realize not all music comes packaged nowadays and you have to download them) then you should always buy the actual CD.

Here's why...

1. It's a tangible object...it has substance (I like to feel like I'm buying a real object). A download is just a plain ol' file. You can sleep with a CD under your pillow, carry it around with you to the bank and play it at a drop of a hat in your car (assuming that most cars now have CD players). It has artwork, lyrics, thank yous; it gives insight into the artist's blood, sweat and tears to make it all possible. It's also something that you can keep tucked away for a rainy day in a box in the attic (might be worth a lot of money someday like records are today!) and played on your 20th computer--which leads me to my next point:

2. What happens when you upgrade your computer? Or if it crashes? Well, if you have all the CDs right there, then changing your music over can be done while watching reruns of Golden Girls.

3. Simply put CDs sound better. They're a "wav" file as opposed to an "mp3." That's why actual CDs only hold around 15 songs, as opposed mp3 files burned on on CD which translate to around 200 songs. If you buy a download and burn it as an audio wav CD, the mp3 is converted to a wav file but the quality is still mp3 quality. Musicians don't spend thousands of dollars to have their tunes mixed and mastered to then have you listen to them as mp3s.

4. Musicians write albums like authors write books. There's a beginning, middle and end. An album has a story and is written in that way too. You can't just pick up a book and read Chapter Three. If you want to fall in love with a band/artist (I know everyone loves to be that person that says "Hey have you heard so-and-so band?"), then you need to listen to the whole album. How many times have you bought a CD for a few songs and fell in love with the other 8 on it? You feel a connection and that's the whole point. Love for artists is gone because people don't give an artist a chance to wow them with their whole albums.

5. And speaking of the artist: I understand that if you're paying for the music in the first place, you're way better than probably 90% of the world that thinks it's OK to pirate music--but that's a separate issue. The artist (especially the independent artist) makes more money off of a CD sale than a download. Mostly because they don't have to pay iTunes its non-negotiable 33% commission per track sold. In addition, there's a digital distribution fee, which incorporates the distribution off your songs to these sites and then the tracking off the sales (which for me is 9%). So for a $10 CD I sell at a show, I'd pocket about $8.70 (it's about $1.30/CD for printing and duplication). For a $10 album download on iTunes, I'd make approximately $5.77 ($3.33 paid out to Apple, $.90 CD Baby as a Digital Distribution fee). So do the math--hook us up!

   
   
   

Listen I'm all for the convenience of having an iPod. Being a musician myself I'd die without my iPod because of how easy it is to travel with my whole music library. There are major perks to having mp3s, however I still buy the CDs and upload them to my computer so I can sync them with my iPod. So be kind to a musician and buy a CD!

Erik DiNardo is an SEM Analyst at Savings.com and professional musician. Check him out MySpace!