This prophetic article was first published back in 2016. Was Jim’s prediction accurate? Several readers at the time disagreed. What do you think?
My wife and I were driving in downtown Bundaberg the other day when we passed a large DVD rental store and she who must be obeyed commented… “I wouldn’t have thought DVD rental stores stores would still be a profitable business these days“. I have to admit, it was a pretty insightful comment.
With streaming video services booming, PayTV, and so many other entertainment options available, DVDs and CDs are fast becoming a non-entity.
Technology Comes, Technology Goes
It’s just the nature of the beast really, advancements in technology continually see older standards consigned to the junk heap, replaced by the latest and greatest. In a relatively short space of time we’ve gone from vinyl records to CDs to MP3 players. From the dreadful VHS/Beta tape players to DVD players to Blu-ray and PVRs. And with computers; mega capacity external USB drives and flash drives have pretty much superseded discs as the storage medium of choice. Not to mention support for creating and loading bootable USB media which has all but replaced the need for bootable discs.
Where I would once burn a video to DVD to watch on TV, I now just connect a flash drive to the TV’s USB port. There was also a time when I always carried multiple music CDs with me in the car, these days I can carry a single flash drive containing hundreds of my favorite tracks. I can’t even remember the last time I bought blank CDs or DVDs.
When I built my latest machine, around 4 months ago, I seriously considered not including an optical drive, but then, after seeing how inexpensive they are, decided to install one after all – I have yet to use it by the way. This is in stark contrast to earlier builds where I have always included 2 optical drives, mainly to facilitate disc to disc copying without needing to swap media around ~ terminal laziness. Those older systems also always included DVD copy software, AnyDVD decryption software, a full disc burning suite, and other sundry CD/DVD tools. These days, my total installed media software consists of a single video converter. If I were to compare the software installed on my system from (say) 6 years ago to today, the lists would not be at all similar.
This then is how new technology not only influences our lifestyle but also our computer hardware and software choices.
What do you think – are CDs and DVDs well on the way out? Are you still using CDs and/or DVDs?
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Hello Jim,
I learned to write programs on the “Bally Arcade” computer and then wrote for the Atari 8bit line of computers in the early 80’s. I have also built all my PC’s with all the necessary CD/DVD hardware and software.
It’s funny but just a few days ago I opened my computer closet and began to wonder what in the world I would do with all my blank DVD’s. Letting my Grand kids throw them around the back yard came to mind but I soon decided that would be keeping with my normal irresponsibility.
Here in North Texas, all brick and mortar stores are gone except “Family Video” and they are only in some cities. Redbox is still going strong here and I still use it myself. They keep sending me coupons almost every week and if I were to figure an average cost over time it would probably be less than a dollar per movie. This is a great help to my retirement budget. For all other movies, I stream.
I read yesterday that Redbox is going to jump into the streaming game again. If is is successful, I guess it could bring an end to those shiny round things!
Have a great day!
I think they are on their way out. I cannot remember the last time I used a CD/DVD. I use my Amazon Prime for streaming as well as Netflix. The more mechanical parts on a computer, the more chance for somethign to break. Even auto manufacturers will probably elminate them. My 1 vehicle has 4 usb ports to add music via flash drive or mp player.
CD/DVD/BD may be on their way “out” but I still use them all the time. CD’s for boot media (ie, partition, backup, repair, rescue) which I like better than USB boot media which normally requires a dedicated USB stick for each one. DVD’s for film rentals (local store, Redbox) and my movie collection which I prefer over streaming since not dependent on uninterrupted internet connectivity nor Netflix/Amazon’s whims as to what’s in their current catalog. BD’s for HD film viewing and extensive storage on non-magnetic media.
Interesting article. You didn’t get any vegemite on that disc did you?
for some, they are on the way out, but for others (like me) I still have around 400 blank DVD+R’s and around 3 to 4 100 packs of CD’s. Not mention around 20 or so various sizes usb sticks. Why? CD player in me truck, a usb player in the car, a cd player in the woodworking shop, etc, etc, etc. But I have had more problems with usb sticks working. Go figure huh.
I haven’t had a cd player or dvd player or even a blu ray player go bad in all my years of having them (I got my first cd player in… wait for it …. 1982 and it still works and is used!).
It all depends. Most folks are in such a hurry, that only having one way for carrying info/music (ipod/usb) is they way they do it.
But guess what – usb and ipods are on the way out too. : (
Shiny discs aren’t going anywhere, especially with the new Ultra-HD format discs on their way now. I have a decent pair of speakers and external dac linked to my PC, on which I audition certain things online. But I’d never use the PC for serious listening, and certainly never for watching films. I have a proper home cinema with projector and a hi-fi system, with standalone players for vinyl, minidisc, CD, DVD and Blu-ray. My main pleasure is hi-res 5.1 music, and I have around 400 albums in this format on DVD-A, SACD and Blu-ray discs. I have another 15,000 albums split evenly between vinyl and CD, and the temptation to put these all on a digital server is zero. I don’t need them to be portable, don’t have the time to do it and hard drives regularly fail, while I’ve had many of these for 30+ years, and they’ll be good for another 30 as they are. Put simply, I find the physical artefacts superior and more desirable than streaming and downloads – the hi-res versions of which are also stupidly expensive and restricted to stereo only. I realise that I’m not typical – when everyone was getting into miniaturisation, sexy ipods and shitty sound quality MP3s, I was building a six-speaker system where the whole soundstage would disappear if you moved away from the centre of the couch. But there are many like me out there, as the surging demand for hi-res audio, both digital and vinyl, testifies. People have been predicting the demise of physical media discs for years now. I’m not convinced.
I love classical music and have a superb audiophile system. The speakers listed at $6,000 but I bought the betas which went better with my tube preamp and because I let the dealer use my livingroom for a few demos for customers I got them for $1,000. So the system came in at under $10,000. I have over 500 CDs and an excellent $400 CD player. There is no way in the world I’d give these up and even with studio monitors hooked up to my computer that sound doesn’t approach the living room system.
Jim,
I’ve built a small music recording studio in my father’s basement and he has quite the collection of digital recording equipment from Roland to Tascam to Zoom but the one piece of equipment that I value as the best of all of this equipment is my father’s older Korg D1600 Recording Studio with built-in Hard Drive & CD Burner. I use Roland V Drums for percussion and here’s where CD’s comes back into the mix. I burn the mix down to CD and go to my computer to mix the wave file for YouTube & SoundCloud. https://soundcloud.com/vircussion
My father has a shelf load of blank CD’s. That’s about the only use I’ve had with CD’s for a couple of years now.
My Vinyl Collection has taken on a whole new life. I purchased my new turntable, have a professional Hi-Fi system and I listen to my album collection plus have ordered vinyls from Amazon.
I use Kodi for TV & Movies and haven’t played a movie DVD for years.
My Music CD Collection is packed away and I pull it out sometimes to listen to CD’s that are hard to find on the internet so I still have music in my CD collection that has some use.
But, CD’s, DVD’s, Vinyl, Tapes are all on how we regard them for our personal preference. The thing I find annoying is how technology is flipping & flopping all over the place right now struggling with the next hot button on format, quality, delivery, hardware, software, Apps and what we carry around on a daily basis to use the technology that best suits our personal life.
As a musician I can say one thing. The technology has made it difficult for musicians to sell their music when the technology has allowed for pirating their original music.
Here , in the UK, we have “charity shops”. Being retired, I usually stroll around a circuit , for exercise, which passes ten of these shops every week.
All these shops sell used music Cds for a £1 each.
I usually pick up a few classical music discs, mist weeks and rip them onto my Apple Mac Pro. To do this, I bought an Apple usb Cdrom, just over two years ago.
From my main MacBook Music Library, I copy my albums to my MacBook Air and two iPads .
With no usb or Bluetooth in my old Vollvo, I keep a few Cds , for longer trips.
By the way, I like the way that most fournalists start with “we’ve gone from vynil to cassettes….etc,”. Well , let me tell them that there were discs before vynil; they were made from shellac and called 78s.
I still have some, and yes, a few charity shops still sell some of these,
Modern turntables can still be found that will play 78s and store them onto usbs.
I had said a similar thing to my wife about 6 months ago about how do the video stores stay open. Well, they don’t, they have all since closed in my area….not one left. It makes me wonder about how do people rent movies now if they didn’t get to see it at the cinema? I know some things will be online, but in Australia we hardly get anything in our Netflix catalogue compared to USA.
In regards to CD’s and DVD’s….I think they will still be around…although CD’s are more likely to disappear I think first. I personally don’t use CD’s anymore since getting a smart phone and plugging it into my 4wd stereo. DVD’s I sometimes put films on to send to my Mum to watch….and I use DVD of Windows when re-formatting my HDD
Nice to view comments from the past. Occasionally find overlooked DVD’s which I have not converted. Refreshing knowing the optical drives are fully functioning after years of usage. Not sure what to do with my stack of blank DVD’s and CD’s, but one never knows. Did you know LP’s are still being produced, Mindblower!
Hey MB,
Yes, vinyl has certainly made a comeback. I have a large collection of vinyl albums from years ago, the new albums are, in my opinion, way too expensive.
Jim,
Great topic, from reading all the responses it’s a mixed reaction. I personally have gone through all the media formats from vinyl to 8-Track to Cassettes to CD’s which I prefer and still collect today. I have a fairly nice two speaker stereo receiver and modern cd player which I use to play my collection of over 760 cd’s. I like taking the time to choose what I’m going to listen to, physically handling the cd looking at the cover art, reading the liner notes etc. If on days I’m not sure what to play I have cataloged my cd library and will use a random number generator to pick out a cd for me, makes things interesting when I get stuck in a groove of only listening to certain cd’s. The vinyl craze has actually helped cd sells and I add about 2 cd’s a month to my collection. So I personally don’t think cd’s are going anywhere. DVD’s on the other hand I’m not sure about.
Robert L. Taylor
Wow, that’s quite some CD collection Robert.
I’ve gone through the whole gamut of media too. My adult grandkids all use MP3s or one of the streaming music services such as Spotify to play their music via Bluetooth. I guess it’s a generational thing but also indicative that CDs may eventually become a thing of the past.
Thanks for your interesting comment,
Cheers… Jim
I first became interested in electronics back in the 60s and then computers back in late 70s. I went through all the sound and video platforms from 78 records to todays online digital players. I use a Google Nets Mini for music in rooms and have one Android TV and smart units connected to other 2 TVs. I still have one laptop and to desktops computers running Windows/Linux that have CD/DVD drives in them. My latest Windows 11 laptop has no drive but supports all USB connection types. At present I am going through my old CD/DVDs trying to recover photos off them. Some not important ones have completely failed but the good gold DVDs are still OK. Being nearly 76 I want to move these old family photos to USB drives for my adult children. I think Jim and I come from similar background and location so I do agree with a lot of his comments.
Hey Gary,
“I think Jim and I come from similar background and location”
Yes mate, I am going on 78 and my setup is very similar to your own. I am in Bundaberg Queensland, by the way.
I wish you every success with recovering those precious photos mate.
Cheers… Jim
Really fascinating to read the original 2016 comments on this article now in 2024. My father is older than you two guys (82) and I grew up seeing him with cassette tapes. He made the switch to discs in the computer age, but when we got him a new laptop two years ago there was none available with a CD drive, so we had to get him an external USB one. Now those external drives are getting harder to obtain as well.
Jim I am 76 and live just south of Brisbane. I am still involved with 2 senior computer groups where I do presentations on new tech and help solve tech problems for other seniors. I have a computer workshop set up in my garage in my back yard which is connected to my house network. I am at present trying to rationalise all my technology as I am not sure if any of my grandchildren will be interested. My son and daughter are very tech aware.
Cheers Gary
Your situation is very similar to mine Gary. My workshop is also in my garage except it is attached to the house. The garage is my domain. 🙂
Cheers mate… Jim
Ik gebruik nog vaak een cd om muziek te branden voor in de auto..
(I often still use a CD to burn music for the car)
De meeste moderne auto’s hebben geen cd-speler meer. Ze werken met Bluetooth en USB voor muziek.
(Most modern cars here don’t include a CD player any more. They work with Bluetooth and USB for music)
Ik heb geen modere auto met radio met usb of bluetooth, gewoon lekker cd’s luisteren, en dat bevalt mij prima..
(I don’t have a modern car with a radio with USB or Bluetooth, I just listen to CDs and that suits me just fine)
Dat is prima Jan. Zolang je tijdens het rijden je muziek kunt afspelen is het allemaal goed.
(That’s fine Jan. As long as you can play your music while driving it’s all good)
And yet optical disk drives outside of computers had scored like never before. Also, I have a music collection on optical disks of the whole span of varieties, ie CD, SACD, and Music DVDs, and won’t turn back. now that we can enjoy blackouts due to modern technology I can still play my FINE and high-quality music without interruption.
People who are really serious about their music and video will still use physical media, but yeah, we are probably a dying breed 🙁
For music, I have a pretty high end audio system, all separates, that I put together over many years and probably spent over $20k (this was when I had disposable income before I was married and had children). My Snell Acoustics speakers are bi-amped with mono amplifiers through an active electronic crossover, fed by a Threshold preamp. Sources are a mid-level SACD player, B&O linear tracking turn table, FM Tuner, Nakamichi cassette deck and a Sonos Port for streaming. I have around 300 vinyl LPs, over 700 CDs & SACDs. For convenience, I have ripped many of my favorite CDs (lossless) to my Synology NAS and use the Sonos Port to stream.
On the video front, I haven’t made the jump to 4K as my Pioneer Elite Kuro Plasma display is still going strong. I still have Dish Network for linear TV (mostly so my wife can watch her Greek TV channels), an Oppo Blu-ray, player and a Roku for streaming. For movies that I really like, I still purchase Blu-rays since their video and especially audio quality still surpasses streaming. I probably have 500 to 600 DVD/BD movies. Oh yeah, I still have an old Pioneer Elite laser disk player and about 50 LDs, although I admit I haven’t fired it up in quite a long time.
The problem with all the streaming services, there is still so much that don’t have available. I was a Netflix DVD subscriber from the very beginning and up until the end when they stopped investing in their library, you could always find movies and TV series that were not available in any streaming service. Sadly, they obviously couldn’t make enough money on that business anymore.
Hey Peter,
Interesting comment. I have a tale to tell you.
Some time ago I decided to purchase a universal remote control for my entertainment center as she who must be obeyed was constantly confused by the plethora of remotes. I have simple setup; 65″ UHD TV, Pioneer 5.2 AV receiver, Foxtel box, Apple TV device, and Pioneer CD/DVD player/HDD recorder.
I decided to get a quote from a specialist service. When they came back with the quote I was shocked, to say the least… $11000.00 AU. It was not far off 4 times the value of all my equipment put together. I ended up buying a Logitech universal remote with hub for around $400.00 AU and it does a great job.
I know that you mean about remote Jim!
Since my wife mainly watches her Greek channels from either out guest room or out bedroom, she only has to deal with the Dish remote which controls both the Dish receiver and TV. In our family room with the main AV setup, the Dish remote also controls the basic functions of my Pioneer SC-99 AVR. My daughters have no trouble switching sources on the AVR from Dish to either the Roku or Blu-ray player.
What I don’t like about universal remotes is that they mainly work via infrared. the Dish remote, controls its receiver via UHF and the Roku remote controls the Roku via WiFi. No pointing necessary while watching except for the AVR volume.
CD Drives may be on their way out but can be useful for some time to come for some of us, some of us still burn movies , games and such just have hard backups of digital media, CDs can also be used for storage media ….. but why ask me , I still own an external 3.5″ floppy drive ….LOL
Old habits die hard Ed.
CDs can only hold a maximum 700 MB of data. Even a tiny (by today’s standards) 8 GB USB flash drive can hold 11.5 times more data.
I still own a 3.5″ floppy drive too, extracted from an old, broken PC. Not sure why I keep holding on to it. Maybe nostalgia, or perhaps in the hope that one day it will become a valuable antique. 🙂
Like all of you I’ve got a lot of CD’s and DVD’s which don’t see much use anymore, BUT I also have a lot of DVD-Audio and music Blu Ray discs with high end audio and even ATMOS tracks on them. I listen to these relatively often. Even the newer Beatles box reissues such as Abbey Road include Blu Ray with HD Audio and ATMOS. I should probably buy a back up BR player now, while they are still available!
I have been outraged by DVD’s that routinely went bad on me. And, these were brand name ones. I have had enough. And, here I am stuck with two spindles full of DVD’s and CDs that I refuse to use. I was aware that they have a shelf life, which is simply not acceptable. I love my external hard drives with their versatility, flexibility, and comparatively lightning-fast seek times. I will keep my burnt DVD’s for nostalgia and posterity, but will never depend on them fully again.
Sorry to learn of your problems. Were they caused when you burnt data onto them? If so, the software you used, did it have the ability to verify after burning? In the past, I made two copies (burnt the DVD’s), and later transferred them to mp4. Very rarely did I experience a problem, and at the beginning, I used the cheapest DVD’s. Another problem which comes to mind is the recording speed.
As far as the shelf life goes, thought it was quite long, Mindblower!