Do CDs still matter?
Listening habits in 2026
We’ve been talking a lot about CDs in the office recently.
It’s an ongoing, practical conversation. How demand lines up with manufacturing realities. Minimum press quantities. Rising costs. Storage. Cash flow. All the things that sit behind a format that, from the outside, some assume has already run its course.
At the same time, we know there are listeners who still connect with music through CDs in a very real way. People who’ve built collections over years. Who care about the physical object, the sequencing, the liner notes, and that sense of ownership.
We’re trying to sit in the middle of that. Wherever possible, we’ll keep pressing CDs, because for a section of our audience, the format still matters and still does a job.
What I’m genuinely interested in is how formats work in practice now. Do people move between CD, vinyl and streaming depending on mood, context, or how they first found the music? Or does one format still anchor your relationship with what you listen to?
We’d love to hear how people are listening today – especially from younger listeners, where habits, access and expectations may look very different.
DS
If I want to get an album, I'll buy it on vinyl. If it doesn't exist on vinyl, I'll buy the CD. If it doesn't exist on CD, I won't buy it. I'm old fashioned. I can't really explain, but I don't enjoy listening to music, when it comes from my computer ot smartphone.
If I like an album and want to support an artist, I will buy a CD, usually at above the asking price.
Other than that, it is not practical to amass more CDs in this household... ;-)
That said, I do miss proper liner notes with musician credits. This is one of the reasons I generally use Qobuz for streaming full-strength audio. Qobuz also pays artists 10x per stream what their well-known competitiors do.