Music going the way of the Web

in times like these i am wondering if staying in my home is such a bad thing

I still like going to the store and flipping through all the CDs, carrying 10 or 12 of them to the counter and only buying one or two.  ( to the cashiers displeasure usually:-D)  I also really enjoy the wide and sometimes wierd assortment of people you see in music stores.  I also like telling young people "Man, you have got to check out some of this old school.  They really used to play instruments and stuff, it's hip!)

When the article reports that so many "consumers who download music have bought a CD in a store in the past year," it suggests a much more grim trend.  I mean, who buys "a" CD per year?  What has happened to music's traditional place in popular culture?

I assumed pop music was permanent and that technology would only hold it more accountable and introduce the concept of success based on merit.  I thought ease of access would make consumers more discriminating and actually result in better music and increased music consumption. 

Like Forrestg above, I assumed the tactile thrill of handling, browsing, and owning something would endure - that it was an integral part of the ritual.  Like audiophiles who relish their 180 gram vinyl and oversized artwork and dedicated liner notes, there's something to be said for flipping through racks of CD's, manually dropping a needle, whatever.

It seems to me that technology itself has upset pop music's role as cultural palliative.

I still prefer the vinyl, pressed LP Gramophone record albums (33 1/3 not 78's), but again.... (by the way, the pops, distortions, crackles and scratches are part of the charm)

Nonetheless, it was inevitable that music evolved in this manner; it is inexorable that digital music web sales continue to skyrocket.  I do, however, enjoy purchasing a CD because there always seems to be other tunes by the artist(s) that are as good and enjoyable as the single downloaded online.

And as newspapers die, and Murdoch's the lone publisher of paper “papers”, how will journalism react and in what directions will it continue to evolve?

I would buy the majority of my music through iTunes if it weren't for the encoding on the songs.  Though I still want to be able to play my music in the car, and I don't have an iPod yet (what can I say, I'm perpetually broke and can't afford such niceties).  The biggest problem I see with the digital music age is for those of us who like older music.  The availability of older music, and genres that are not as popular with the younger generations (I am thinking specifically of classical here, though other genres apply, I am sure), are not widely available.  This availability issue will need to be addressed in the future for this distribution method to become the de facto way of doing business.  I also think it is only a matter of time.