I love that they play in my car, don’t take up a tonne of space, have liner notes, and occupy physical space. I stick them on in the house as much as my LPs, and like picking out what to play.
I’m okay with being in the minority, but the sentimental value of where I was when I picked an album, where I’ve listened to it, and who I was with means a great deal to me. :) I download too, but usually things just sit on my drive and don’t get listened to.
You present a good point about licences, but I’ve not ever experienced this, and my main concern with licencing is things vanishing from my library - it bothers me when an album vanishes from spotify, and that never happens with physical media (same is true of downloaded music to be fair). It’s not that I’m blindly loyal to Phillips or whatever, just that I like this format for my specific use case.
I’m with you 100% :) I have a record collection too, but heck if I’d want only records! There’s a use case for each, even if mine’s oddly specific.
I feel Steve Albini’s take on CDs hit it correctly, it was basically to the effect of “welcome to the rich man’s eight track tape, the music industry’s newest way to make you re-buy your music and spend more money”.
I will say he couldn’t have forseen CDs lasting like they have and being the last big physical format, but I think it’s very true. You’re right that physical formats don’t negate the greed/capitalism, and there’s a compulsive desire from companies to control how you enjoy the media you paid for and “own”.
In short, I completely agree with you and the media industries are really restrictive/anti-art, but love CDs as a format. :)