Sunday, August 15, 2010

Observation And Opinion: CDs Are Getting Shorter


Has anyone else noticed this? A few years back there were many CDs pushing the format’s time limit of 79:57. Many discs clocked in at over an hour. Now, I keep picking up discs that are roughly a half an hour and under. This seems like a throwback to the days when vinyl was the main format. I have several theories on why this might be the case.

THEORY #1: THE DECLINING ECONOMY AND ITS EFFECT ON THE MUSIC INDUSTRY: Fewer and fewer people are buying CDs every year. Perhaps the record companies and artists have realized that they can make more money if they release less at one time. A CD goes for on average anywhere from $9.99 to $15.99 whether it’s thirty-five minutes or seventy minutes. Thus, if you release two thirty-five-minute records instead of one seventy-minute record, you presumably double your money.

THEORY #2: VINYL IS BACK: Yes, vinyl is back en vogue thanks to hip collectors (myself included) who think in some ways that it has superior sound quality. This is a very expensive format to produce. Most record companies, if they don’t want their albums to be over compressed, will issue any record over forty-six minutes or so as a double album. Perhaps then the shortening of albums is a cost-effective measure amidst the rebirth of vinyl.

THEORY # 3: SHORTENED ATTENTION SPANS: It’s sad but true, I think as time goes on and we get more and more bombarded with technology, we have less time and less patience to sit down for a long stretch and just enjoy an album. People are more stressed than ever and thusly are developing a culturally driven lack of focus. Think about it. With the advent of the ipod, you can skip the songs you don’t want to hear quite easily. With DVR, you can skip any commercials you don’t want to see. People are getting used to technology on their terms. Everything is increasingly on demand! The days where you had to sit through everything in its intended entirety are long gone. In other words, the shortening of albums could simply be a fat-cutting measure. Perhaps the longer records of the past contained more filler.

But does all this really matter? Personally, I like the idea that I’m getting more music for my money. Hell, I’m still a little mad that I paid $14.99 for Weezer’s “Green Album” nine years ago. (It’s only twenty-eight minutes long!) Maybe I don’t have as much time as I used to to listen to an album straight through right away, but if it’s an album I went out of my way to buy, eventually I’m going to make the time. Like most of you (I’m assuming) when I get a new CD, the first thing I do is load it onto my ipod. If I don’t wind up hearing these songs in their intended order right away, at least I may hear them when I’m walking around with my ipod on shuffle. For variety’s sake, it’s better to get more tracks for your overall collection. If CDs are going to get shorter, I expect artists to release more albums. No more four or five-year breaks between records.

What’s your opinion? Have you noticed this trend? Do you think shorter CDs tend to be of generally a higher quality than longer discs?

1 Comments:

At 8:58 AM , Anonymous DJ COLA said...

I think techno is to blame for the short CD. Quick access to the best single remix out there for the DJ. But yeah, money, CD baby, disc makers, lots of competition and less is more if no one has ever heard your music before.

I love CDs. Long ones and short ones. I have a huge vinyl collection collecting dust in my basement. I believe vinyl 12 inch quality was discovered during the disco era, until then the 45 was king, but then some famous disco dj, maybe the one who made "I feel love" with donna summers, don't quote me, found the deep bass and sonic quality by making grooves bigger, or 12 inches for one track singles, thus the invention of dub plates and dj singles on vinyl.

I am totally out of it when it comes to mp3 players and laptops. The ipad looks delicious in every way, I checked one out a day or two ago, it will change EVERYTHING.... AGAIN! Soon software will be .99 cents instead of $99. Plus there is a week long traffic jam in China right now.

 

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