Why Do We Continue To Buy Cds?

Hi Everybody!

I'm a student at University of Liverpool, England, and I'm currently working on my MBA dissertation.
I'm studying why we, the consumers, continue to buy CDs even when we can find the same music for free on the Internet, and I'm interested in your points of view.

What is the added value of the physical product?

What are the advantages of a physical CD collection over a digital one?

What can the music industry do to add value to the physical product, so that you will continue to buy the CD instead of downloading the track?

I appreciate any feedback!

Arildho

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Originally posted by arildho@5 August 2003 - 14:57
What can the music industry do to add value to the physical product, so that you will continue to buy the CD instead of downloading the track?

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add more content...i.e. videos/bonus material

however, any bonus content would be easily ripped anyway

Warrington (between manchester n liverpool)

i have laods on my computer so i can just select the track i want without going through all my cd's

i still by cd's as i see it as a way of investing money (not a very good way but i would rather spend ity on a cd than by sum fags which i would if i just didnt spend the money on the cd)

haveing a good cd sollection is somehting to be proud of and to show off.

when havein a load of mates round you have a big rack of your cd's on show n just play sum of the ones that stand out, or poeple can flick through and find other tracks they would not normally hear, it not very sociable all sitting around a computer screen trying to decide which track to put on.

it also better showing sumone a bob dylan album that now one else has found and n then letting your mates be able to read the info in the sleve, rather than just playin him the track without him knowing much of the ack ground.

i used to buy loads of dance compilations, but i am happy to just download them and put them onto cd myself.

i sumtimes tend to download a load of songs, then if i like go and buy the proper ones as to avoid shellin out for a crap cd.

dowloadin music enables me to find remixes that you just can not get in the shop n t get songs before they hit the shops also.

i never buy singles anymore but still buy albums.

i think your cd collection says a lot about you, taking that away from you is like taking sum of your personality and individualism away.

what about just goin to the likes of hmv or virgin or musiczone with your mates n just goin through the cd's n discussing them, it a lot betetr to do with real items with people opions you can trust ratehr than sumone in a chat room telling you what they think about a track which may lead to you been given the wqrong information.

it is easy to jsut swap a few cd's with a mate n get sum of his n then you get to listen tgo a wider range of music.

sum albums are hard to download all the tracks, if you do sum are cut short or just one long track which is annoying.

hope this has helped a little.

what bars do you normally go in liverpool, n what music you into?

ever heard of warrington or mr smiths nightclub?

some people are LOADED http://www.ml20.nowinbeta.org/smilies/marsa37.gif

and buy them all the time

there not much point in buying them though if you have crap taste in music......

another point you could look at is the effect of poeple downloading music on the current uk music chart.


i beleieve that a lot of the childish, annoying, immature groups and songs are suceeding is due to poeple downloading music.

the children who tend to buy the likes of busted, attomic kitten, s club juniors, west life, triple 8, girls aloud, gareth gates, will young, darius etc... (you can see who i mean) are of an age who dont seem to download music. this could be that they dont know who, or not allowed i dont know, but... if these people are not downloading the music that means the must have to buy the music.

where as people who are a little older and into better music (in my opinion) know how to download the music and thus do not need to buy it in the shops and so bands like star sailor, oasis, cold play, the coral (even though they are number one) and other bands such as ocean colour scene, travis ( many mnay others)

i beleiev that is why so much pop n that is donimating the charts as older people simply download it n dont buy it where as kiddy music is not as downloaded as much and and has higher sales making them better in the charts.

it is not that the manic street preachers, travis, rem, coral,[ and the rest are not as popular, just look how many sell out tours they d o compared to teeny boper music, they do a lot more.....

what about all the events like glastonbury, homelands, t in the park, leeds, reading, creamfields, love parade etc... these attract a lot more people than the like of one true voice, girls aloud etc......

do you understand what i am on about or have i rambled on in a manner to which is complicating?

hope i got my point accross

I don't buy cds because I am a 15 year old who has no money and no desire to work. :angry: :(

The advantages over a digital(cds and mp3s are both digital) collection is that you can start, stop and fastforeward songs instantly and playing them are very fast as opposed to physical cds. Another advantage is that you can keep the songs you want and get rid of the "filler" songs or the ones you just don't like. Plus the obvious they are free. :P

Mp3s are also good because you can hear new, signed or unsigned artists on the fly.

The advantage of cds is you support the artist that makes great music(I'm talking about indie bands, forget mainstream) and the quality is better. The quality is better because of the lossless quality of the cds and you are probably playing it on a stereo as opposed to cheap computer speakers.

Well one way to increase the value of a cd is to lower the price of them. $15 for a cd is too much. Dropping it into the price of $10 or lower? Or if they are going to charge so much then there should be extras like on DVDs. A band poster, artist commentary or some videos to go along with the album.

I still buy CDs because I like to support the artists whose music I enjoy. I know that if I wanted to, I could just burn all the CDs I want and save a lot of money. But then I would be stealing from a band that I like. I buy CDs because when I listen to a song on my computer, it feels good to know that I've actually supported the artist who created that song.

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the children who tend to buy the likes of busted, attomic kitten, s club juniors, west life, triple 8, girls aloud, gareth gates, will young, darius etc... (you can see who i mean) are of an age who dont seem to download music. this could be that they dont know who, or not allowed i dont know, but... if these people are not downloading the music that means the must have to buy the music.

where as people who are a little older and into better music (in my opinion) know how to download the music and thus do not need to buy it in the shops and so bands like star sailor, oasis, cold play, the coral (even though they are number one) and other bands such as ocean colour scene, travis ( many mnay others)

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I have to disagree with this guy. Sure, older listeners have more experience and can probably find and download music more efficiently than a child, but I find that kids don't really care about whether they hurt a band by downloading their music; people in my age range (18-21) are more open-minded and therefore more likely to be inclined to purchase the album of a band they like. They are also more likely to enjoy bands that are just under the mainstream radar, and know that it's important to support those bands. Having a job and steady income also helps them since they have extra money to spend on CDs.

I am a college student...*enough said*...

Little kids are the most gullible and will swallow up whatever crap these media companies throw at them. <_<