The world’s biggest record company is not ready to give the compact disc up for dead just yet, and is giving the venerable music format a revamp.
Universal Music Group, home to artists such as U2 and Mariah Carey, is rolling out three new tiers of CD packaging in Europe, ranging from lush deluxe editions down to bare-bones cardboard sleeves that are designed to compete with albums sold online.
Despite the hype about online music stores like iTunes, the huge majority of music is still sold on CDs, usually inside the “jewel boxes” that have been around for decades.
“We thought we should reboot the consumer’s experience of buying CDs,” said Max Hole, executive vice president for marketing and A&R at Universal Music Group International. “Ninety percent of what we sell is physical goods, and the CD hasn’t had much of a revamp in the last 20 years.”
Aren’t dying? The passage of time guarantees that they will. Who here as any cassette tapes leftover that they play regularly? The only time I use CDs is when I burn them for other play to play in their cars. But even over time maybe a memory stick type MP3 car player will be invented where u could transfer music onto it from your PC and then simply plug it into your car stereo……..hey what a great idea that’s be!
I don’t they CDs are dying they are particularly simple to use because of course the majority of people will never go to something like iTunes to get music. This will prove interesting but not nesciary for the continued use of CDs.
CDs will be around for quite some time – they aren’t going to just die. As for UMG offering better packaging – LOL! Who cares?
Cd’s = Dieing technology