I’ve been reading and hearing how music CD’s are making a comeback , albeit a small one.

According to Luminate’s 2024 Midyear Music Report, CD sales reached 16.3 million units in the first half of 2024, nipping at the heels of vinyl’s 17.4 million. This narrow gap hints that CDs are quickly catching up to vinyl, which has sold more than CDs in the past two years.

The twist? This comeback is not being driven by nostalgic Baby Boomers or Gen Xers. Instead, a fresh wave of music lovers, who were barely out of diapers when CDs were king, is leading the charge.

This is a younger demographic that Yours Truly. While I technically may fit in the now forgotten “Gen Y” demographic, I am spiritually very much Generation X. But these are younger people discovering physical media? What gives? Any why oh why, is there so much vinyl? This disappeared when I was a teenager, perhaps earlier, but is now abundant, and when in JB HiFi, the tubs of vinyl are pawed and fondled by people younger than me.

I am someone who perhaps is a bit reluctant to follow new trends. I’ve been buying CD’s since the mid 90s, and have not stopped. It is my preferred format, and I’ll almost always choose to buy a CD over a digital download, an a digital download over just streaming. It’s not just music, but books as well. I have no kindle, preferring books instead.

There has been much said about the advantages of CDs and vinyl. The higher sound quality. The presence of the liner notes. The fact that it cannot be taken away from you. You OWN it. Its yours and no company can just decide to withdraw it. I’ve seen songs disappear from Spotify, but CD’s can’t be retracted. Lost, yes. Stolen, yes. But unless this happens, its yours, for life.

These are all reasons I prefer physical media, but I wanted not to go over these arguments which others have made, and discuss one other important attribute of physical media and books. The fact that they are physical.

This is the first proper music album I purchased. The photo is not one like that CD, it IS that CD. I did buy a spoken word CD before, but this is my first album. It was purchased from Brashs in Puckle Street, Moonee Ponds sometime late 1996. I remember walking into that store, wanting this album, God Shuffled His Feet. Even though that album had been released years earlier, I only had just gotten a Discman, a gift from my parents. I went into Brashs, found it, held it, paid $29.99 for it (if I recall correctly) and took it home. I remember listening to it while carrying the Discman with me on my commute by public transport to Uni. It’s a great album, and I still enjoy it, having recently seen the Crash Test Dummies on their “God Shuffled His Feet” 30th anniversary tour.

Streaming is convenient, yes, but it just…appears. I’ve found songs I like on streaming, but I can’t remember how and when, or where. It was always the same, sitting in front of the computer. There is no real sense of acquisition, and this is what I think is missing now. Whether it is a CD or a game, or DVD, or VHS, actually buying a physical copy creates a small memory. I remember buying Quake, buying Radioheads “Amnesiac”, where I was, the weather, where I went. Most CD’s have a story, even if just a short one. It could have been a gift, it could have been one I found while travelling, in a CD store overseas in Europe, or one from that second hand CD store in the basement of a building. I may not remember how I obtained every CD or DVD or game or tape or book but I do remember many, and the ones where I went out of my way, or someone went out of their way to find it for me, have a little memory, a little story, that adds to my life.

It might sound small, might sound trivial but these little things add up. When I think of how today, everything is obtained in one-click, it seems that everything has that experience washed out of it. There is no longer a sense of time, or place, of physicality to anything. One moment its no there, the next, it is. The music has no more significance than how it sounds. There is no longer anything special about your copy. Does that copy of a book on Kindle have the same backstory, as a copy bought at a second hand store, or one given to you with an inscription?

I’m not sure whether this weighs on peoples minds today, why vinyl is big again, but I suspect deep down, it plays a part. We’re physical beings, and our world is still physical, not purely digital, and physical media just satisfies in a way which digital cannot, in giving us that tactile connection, that permanence, and in that particular physical copy, perhaps also having a story behind it.

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