Why I Never Want CDs To Die

A member makes their (jewel) case.

I am certain that this era does not mark the death of the physical album.

I’m fully aware that streaming is becoming the new way to listen to music. I understand that. It’s cheap, efficient and much easier than carrying around a Walkman and a physical CD collection.

But for Kayne West to Tweet that the physical album has reached its demise is completely untrue.

uuuuuuum, so there it is... No more CDs from me

— KANYE WEST (@kanyewest) March 7, 2016

the Yeezus album packaging was an open casket to CDs r.i.p

— KANYE WEST (@kanyewest) March 7, 2016

Physically owning an album is an incredible thing and while it’s not the most popular option any more, anecdotally, I’ve found it’s still popular among teenagers and adults. My mum loved music and I grew up with a bookshelf lined with case after case of various genres. It was a collection that represented my mum entirely and we would often get people over to admire the shelf, then proceeding to find an album they hadn’t heard in forever and asking to play it.

By having the physical copies, we didn’t forget about songs like it is so easy to do when they’re on a database, hidden among billions of others.

For me, a physical album is so much more than just the music inside. Most had and still have lyric booklets that are not available through Spotify; something you can physically hold in your hands, reading the artists' words as they sing them. Catfish and The Bottlemen’s album had all of the songs in their own handwriting and The 1975’s lyric book had an accompanying photo for each song. These booklets introduce a visual element that amplifies the experience such albums provide.

Not to mention, all the people that worked on the album are included in the physical packaging. It’s intriguing to find the amount of well-known artists that collaborated on an album and who put in the hard yards for that album to play in your car.

There are going to be fathers and mothers one day that can show their children a certain album and point to their name in a booklet to say, “Hey, look what I did.” It’s a physical credit to their efforts.

My CD collection is something I am very proud of. I have my first ever CD (Simple Plan’s Still Not Gettin’ Any) and the last one I bought (The Kooks’ Bonk) as well as everything in between.

Sure, it’s not the cheapest habit to have. But every one of these albums carries a unique story, similar to a book. I remember buying my first Michael Jackson album, waiting out the front of the store for the Hey Violet EP and taking a day off to listen to Taylor Swift’s 1989.

How can streaming give you that experience? I believe physical CDs will never die out. Physical DVDs haven’t, nor will they. Even vinyls haven’t died out!

It’s amazing that Kayne would think that he could say such a thing without even giving any thought to the amount of physical CDs that are within people’s lives and mean everything to them. If he doesn’t want to release The Life of Pablo on CD, that’s fine - it makes more room for the rest of my collection.

The music industry and the experience of listening to an artist’s work will always rely on physical CDs. It keeps a song from being just a sound. CDs offer the full experience.

Congratulations to Hannah for winning this writing challenge, answering: What I'll Miss Most About CDs. Hannah wins a $50 Westfield gift card for her submission. For your chance to win, check out our latest writing challenges in our Comps section. Also, be sure to follow this guide on how to win the writing challenge!

Photo: iStock.