Many a prediction has been made the Compact Disc is on the way out with MP3s, digital copying, and wireless music formats looming overhead. The death of the compact disc is a bit far fetched with millions of people in possession of huge libraries of CDs in what is considered by many the perfect audio format and standard.

The CDs Penetration
The CD has made its way into almost every facet of our lives. It's in virtually every computer, boom box, and is the heart of practically every music system. Most consumers view it as the perfect audio format that demands relatively little storage space, offers extreme durability, and has a long enough life span that consumers will most likely only ever have to buy a CD once.

Not the Same Path as LP
There were many naysayers of the demise of the LP, of whom cited CDs colder more harsh sound of its early years as reason not to embrace the format. And many feel that the CD format has finally run its course.

LPs could only be played to a certain volume before sounding harsh and abrasive whereas the CD has much more fidelity and can be played much louder, thus improving the soundstage somewhat by filling larger listening rooms.

The simple fact is that the Compact Disc was a much better format than LP, and there are no new formats that are so markedly better than the CD format that'll make consumers willing to repurchase their CD collection.

LP was replaced by better technology. Which is quite the opposite from what MP3 offers. The MP3 format doesn't offer better sound or performance, what it does offer is more convenient storage, awesome portability and greater convenience.

The Place For MP3 and Other Audio Compression Formats
MP3 doesn't sound better, but it does have a lot going for it. For starters MP3s sound good enough over a portable environment where the full fidelity of the music is not heard, such as portable players and background music.

Over a portable it can be hard to discern a CD from MP3, and the convenience of putting one MP3 formatted CD into a CD/MP3 player is that you'll get over 600 minutes of decent background music. Forgo the CD altogether and get a portable player with a hard drive like Apple's iPod, and you'll minimally be able to hold roughly 6,000 minutes of skip free audio, something CDs can't even come close to achieving.

When the highest audio quality is desired, consumers listen to their CDs, but for areas where convenience outweighs sound quality, MP3 and future Digital Audio Formats will reign supreme.

The CD is the Master
As MP3 and other digital audio compression formats pierce their way into consumer's lives, their CD libraries will become the master recordings. Pulled out for copying and when sound quality matters.

Yes with copying comes many problems that the record companies view as money taken directly from their pockets, but have the record companies lost their long-term memories?

Since CDs inception it has always been able to be copied. The cassette tape has long been used to copy many a CD, and is still in use today by many consumers. The record industry seemed to be OK with that because tapes didn't last forever and tapes didn't have the same audio quality of CDs.

True it took until the early 90s for the Cassette tape to come close to the same audio quality of the CD, but the key word that plagues the record industry is "digital". Add that little word to "recording" and they throw a fit. Having problems with pirates of CDs, which sell perfect digital CD copies for just dollars, is a huge problem. But blaming the MP3 format for the demise of the recording industry is a joke.

Add the MiniDisc format, which can make perfect digital copies, and the music industry's fight against digital recording doesn't hold water. Were they fine with it then, but not now?

Most consumers who have friends copy CDs for them are most likely asking them to burn CDs that they would otherwise not purchase or listen to, all the while the recording industry is being thrown into a tizzy citing "pay for play". But radio is free and with a good tuner can sound almost as good as the CD which can be copied. As can the new wireless radio formats such as XM.

"Pay for play" is simply dumb as hell. If you're going to act like a vulture over the consumers' pocketbook you will be treated as such. It has been the defacto marketing standard in the recording industry since it's inception that "exposure" is the key to success.

The more consumers hear your music, the more likely they will come to like it and be interested in buying a CD. CD copying among friends expands "exposure" which while illegal, helps the future of the recording industry be gaining new consumers that otherwise wouldn't take a chance on buying a CD they might never listen too.

The Music Industry Has It All Wrong
It's so simple and easy to get consumers to stop copying and reselling copies it's pathetic. All the industry has to do is get consumers willing to pay for CDs again. Talk to almost any consumer and they'll tell you CD prices are way too high. Not a little high, like 200%-300% high. Angry consumers don't feel bad about copying music because they feel like they're getting ripped off every time they buy a CD with one or two good songs on it.

That's not to say the next generation of CDs should allow for custom CD ordering where users select what songs they want to only get the best, they make hit albums for that. It all comes down to price. If CDs would generally be priced from $5-$7 dollars a CD, people would snatch them up fast. People are much more willing to give up $7 than $15.

The cheaper price would also promote experimentation with more artists likely able to make it into people's music libraries. More exposure equals more interest, which means more multiple CD sales. Make the consumer see a value in the music CD again and industry woes may subside.

Scapegoating
MP3 and digital music copying are not to blame for the music industry's woeful state. They're merely a scapegoat for executives to bring reason to the loss of revenue and sales.

A recession, September 11th, and lack of anything really new and exciting in the industry have all played their part. Sales are down across the board in many industries, so why does the music industry blame copying and MP3s almost solely for their woes. If anything their scornful remarks about copying of evildoers out there have enraged consumers more.

It comes down to this, the music industry needs to stop scapegoating the issue and tackle it dead on. The old economy is used to making such a huge profit margin that it's unwilling to change with the time to save it's own ass.

Copy-Protected CDs
The big push by many record labels is to encode CDs with copy protection that either disables a CD in computers or disables the copying of the data. Again this is the wrong fix. Copying will not go away no matter how robust the copy protection. Just look at DVDs. Their copy protection was considered to be unbreakable, yet just 3 years ago it was broken, with the software openly distributed over the web.

Copy protection on CDs is just the wrong solution and an expensive mistake at that. Of course the expense of copy protection would be passed on to consumer, thus increasing the cost of already overpriced CDs and increasing consumer anger.

Extended Life Through DVD
CD player sales are down because DVD player sales are up, but the two go hand in hand. Every DVD player sold should be seen as a CD player sold as well. Since DVD players can play music CDs and many play audio better then stand-alone CD players.

With DVD's record-breaking growth and market penetration, the Compact Disc is guaranteed a long life as the audio format of choice.

DVDs Value Point
The biggest impact DVDs have on CDs is the value point. For under $10 you can get a lot of really decent movies, and for $15-$20 you can usually get any new release. With CDs generally priced at $12-$15, the value of the CD has dropped dramatically. Proving once again, it's the price of the CDs that's the problem, not copying.

Embedded
CDs are too embedded in our lives to simply go away. Whether its DVD cousin will replace the CD as the audio format of choice with SACD and DVD-Audio remains to be seen. The CD form factor and audio quality has become the standard expectation of audio quality and durability.

The CD will be around for a very long time, and with a 20-40 year shelf life, consumers are going to need gear that can play their CD libraries. The music industry may change, but the format will continue on for another 20 years and more. The death of the Compact Disc is a fool's prediction.