So the Compact Disc is in terminal decline, it seems. Everyone is streaming, so those charity shops once stacked high with boxes of discarded vinyl records now have stacks of old CDs instead at a buck or two a pop. It’s currently one of the cheapest ways to acquire music.
I fear that such bargains will not last. Charity-shop CDs are thinning out already: there are only so many old CD collections to be donated, and besides, the very downward trajectory of CD has already started secondhand disc prices rising on online auction sites. The format is now possibly approaching the point where it may be unsuccessful enough to become cool again, like vinyl. Since cassettes have made a comeback I’ve given up trying to predict anything in this crazy world of audio reproduction.
