Bird.

Are CDs really dead?

Recent statistics show that CDs are out of date

and on their way out

By Jay Schreiber, Arts Editor

leek, shiny, round, compact,
S durable, just some of the words

that were used to describe CDs
when they came out almost 20 years
ago. Today, however, they are about as
useful as a coaster with a hole in it.

Compact Disks, a.k.a. CDs, have
been around since the early ‘80s when
the laser reader was invented. The laser
reader was initially created for laser
disks, a hybrid between the CD and
its predecessor the vinyl record. The
upside was the quality of sound, but the
down side was the fact that it was more
expensive and very non-compact at 11
inches in diameter.

In the ‘80s things picked up
and the CD as we know it today was
developed into a portable device
capable of holding all the music that
your vinyl records could. 1988 was
seen as the year compact disks took
over when 400 million CDs were
pressed and released outselling any
other musical medium.

The CD lasted through the 1990s
until the new millennium when the idea
of “files” came out. Music files were
small bits of information that could be
taken off of a CD and sent anywhere
in the world, or-stored on any memory
device. In short, people decided to
forgo CDs and created mediums of
downloading files or “file sharing.”

Today, the CD is extinct. CDs
hold, on average, about 80 minutes
of play time compared to an MP3
player’s average of 1000 songs. A
recent statistic shows that about 75% of
all CDs that were bought in 2008 were
ripped to a computer and then placed
on MP3 players or other mediums of
storage like iPods and those plastic
round things were then left sitting on a
shelf at home.

In my opinion, iPods have both
ruined and revolutionized the way
people look at music. iPods are the
most common form of MP3 players
and with good reason—they’re the
easiest to use once you figure out what

the spinny wheel does...

that CDs went extinct. In recent
history, there’s always been a solid
state form of music dating back to the
gramophone. Today music is bought
online and not in a store making less
jobs in the music industry.

closed several stores in the GVRD,
including their two central locations
at Metrotown and Downtown on
Seymour. Music World went bankrupt
in the winter of 2007 and closed
several locations in an effort to save the
company. The huge Virgin Megastore
that used to be on Burrard and Robson
was sold to HMV and Virgin invested
in other ways to stay afloat such as
promoting concerts or diving into the
cell phone industry.

idea? Sharing files takes away the
beauty in purchasing an album,
including artwork, liner notes, lyrics
and information. Humans on a broad
spectrum don’t give a rat’s ass about
this stuff and just want to hear the latest
hit from Nickelback. Record labels
promote artificial musicians such as
Britney Spears or Lady Gaga and throw
hit songs written by whoever into the
media to keep consumers satisfied
while their empire of handbags or
signature scents just to bring in some
extra revenue.

because of the DJ factor. DJs like
having a physical copy of music right
in front of them and in that way, vinyl
beats out CDs. Yet the market for vinyl
is still niche compared to other forms
of hard copy, and most recordings are
released in MP3 format.

vinyl, | don’t share electronically

and no I do not own a bloody iPod!
File sharing is ruining hard copy, and
there’s nothing anyone can do about it.
Sticking to hard copy will leave you
behind in the dust technologically so
buying in appears to be the only option.

To me, it’s because of the iPod

Since the year 2000, A&B Sound

 

 

So why is file sharing a bad

 

 

Vinyl has stayed around so long

I still collect CDs, I still collect

 

 

 

 

 

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Transformers 2 a fun ride

By Garth McLennan

he latest instalment of the blockbuster
"[esstomes franchise has hit theatres
with a bang, as it easily soared to number
one in the box office rankings and cracked
the coveted $100 million mark for its opening
weekend.

As far as epic movies go, Transformers:
Revenge of the Fallen was a great ride, and
it lived up to its billing as a major summer
blockbuster. It had tons of action, plenty of
incredible cars and most important of all, lots of
Megan Fox.

Revenge of the Fallen didn’t live up to the
first film, 2007’s Transformers, and it wasn’t the
deepest movie of all time, but it was still terrific
for a fast-paced, action-packed blast. Director
Michael Bay, who is undoubtedly one of the
isst in the world when it comes to pumping out

blockbuster epics (Armageddon, Pearl Harbour),
introduces a number of new Transformers and
keeps the comedy coming throughout.

Shia LaBeouf returns as Sam Witwicky,
who is off to college without his transformer
guardian Bumblebee and his girlfriend Mikaela
Banes, played by Megan Fox. Josh Duhamel is
back as Captain Lennox while Kevin Dunn and
Julia White reprise their roles as Sam’s hilarious
parents.

Despite the strong cast, Revenge of the
Fallen loses several actors from the previous
movie that really enhanced the first one. Anthony
Anderson, Jon Voight and Rachel Taylor failed to
make an appearance, along with Bernie Mac, who
passed away before the sequel’s filming began.

Peter Cullen is back, lending his voice as the

leader of the Autobots, Optimus Prime, while the
head bad guy, Megatron of the Decepticons, also
returns, voiced by Hugo Weaving (Agent Smith

    
    

from The Matrix).

The plot gets a little thin at times, with a
few questionable moments (at one point Sam
somehow meets with Optimus Prime’s ancestors)
but the movie is almost always enjoyable. And
while LaBeouf plays the lead, Bay clearly
decided to significantly up the exposure of Fox,
who is the focus of several slow motion running
scenes. In the first Transformers, Fox gained
superstar, sex-symbol status with one iconic
shot of her draped over a yellow Camaro with
the sunset at her back. This time around her first
appearance in the film is what is sure to be an
equally memorable scene of her hanging off of a
motorcycle.

As usual for a Bay movie, there are a
number of larger-than-life explosions and a
titanic final battle scene full of “Brawh.” Without
giving anything away, the final moments of the
movie quite clearly set up a third part of the

increasingly valuable franchise. Revenge of the
Fallen earned a place in box office history by
staking itself to the second best opening day in
movie history with an astounding $67.8 million,
just behind 2008’s The Dark Knight.