Does anyone still bother buying CD's anymore?

Basically, I just bought a CD at Wal-Mart ("The Black Parade" by My Chemical Romance ), ripped it to my computer, and placed it on my shelf where it'll probably sit for at least a year or two before I ever touch it again...

I still buy the occasional CD (greatest hits, new releases by old favorites, new releases by new favorites), and I like the idea of having them as sort of a physical archive of my musical tastes, but I've become much more judicious about my purchases for the following reasons:

• CD's are still relatively expensive: Given the music industry's belly-aching about 'illegal downloading' cutting into their sales, you would think prices would have fallen dramatically by now - which they haven't
• The sound quality ain't that great these days: I'm no audiophile, but it seems as though sound quality is just getting worse and worse. I'm not sure about the overproduction that Bob Dylan talked about recently, but the volume being cranked up by sound engineers in the studio really isn't helping any - anyone who purchased "Death Magnetic" by Metallica can attest to that.
• Today's music is just, eh...: The Killers, Three Days Grace, Coldplay, The Strokes, Linkin Park, My Chemical Romance, Arctic Monkeys, and that's about it. Even recent releases by old favorites (Nine Inch Nails, Radiohead) don't seem quite up to par with years past.
• There's just something about the music industry...: They'll spend millions on a music video, but if an up and coming artist doesn't sell right out of the gate, they're as good as gone; they'll encourage you to download legally, but have you ever heard the audio quality of these mp3's (128 kb/s? WTF?); they complain about downloading cutting into sales, but have they even heard the crap that gets airplay these days?
• And let's face it...: There are other, less expensive means of acquiring music these days...

What are your reasons for not buying CD's? And if you still do make the odd purchase, what's the reasoning behind that? Looking forward to your feedback...

I usually buy older CD's as well. Buy many of them off Amazon..........a lot cheaper. I have a pretty elaborate sound system at home & can't stomach listening to the compressed sounds of MP3 on it. And yes, the quality of recordings these days is suspect in many cases.

Mugg, I don't mind mp3 too much, provided it's ripped with a variable bit rate, but the quality of recordings these days is just becoming more and more of an issue. I know it varies between producers and engineers, but it's a little jolting going from a CD with relatively pristine sound quality ("Viva La Vida" by Coldplay springs to mind), to one that just sounds 'muddy' (I know it's almost heresy to say it, but I've never cared for the overall 'sound' of "Nevermind" by Nirvana).

Plus, the big thing these days is that the volume is just cranked up so bloody loud - there's a +10dB difference between my original and "remastered" copies of "Document" by R.E.M. !  And, like I said at the outset, if you haven't heard the compressed, overblown sound of "Death Magnetic" by Metallica, you're in for a real shock!

Anyways, here's a sample of the Rolling Stone interview with Bob Dylan that I alluded to:

"Brian Wilson, he made all his records with four tracks, but you couldn't make his records if you had a hundred tracks today. We all like records that are played on record players, but let's face it, those days are gon-n-n-e. You do the best you can, you fight that technology in all kinds of ways, but I don't know anybody who's made a record that sounds decent in the past twenty years, really. You listen to these modern records, they're atrocious, they have sound all over them. There's no definition of nothing, no vocal, no nothing, just like -- static. Even these songs probably sounded ten times better in the studio when we recorded 'em. CDs are small. There's no stature to it. I remember when that Napster guy came up across, it was like, 'Everybody's gettin' music for free.' I was like, 'Well, why not? It ain't worth nothing anyway.' "

In case anyone was interested in reading up further on the subject, here are a couple of links:

"The Death Of High Fidelity"
https://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/17777619/the_death_of_high_fidelity/1

"Analysis: Metallica's Death Magnetic Sounds Better in Guitar Hero"
https://blog.wired.com/music/2008/09/does-metallicas.html

When I get in the mood for some critical listening I don't always put on my fav albums/CD's. There are some I have that are recorded very well & are a pleasure to listen to.
  I demo'd a SACD/DVD-A (Denon 3910) player in my home for a week & loved it. If there were more choices in that format I would've kept it.
 
 MP3 has given studios an excuse for producing crap......

Jack: I would never even consider buying an mp3 online - the terrible quality and the fact that mp3's are "freely" available elsewhere have seen to that. I think artists such as Radiohead and Nine Inch Nails, who both released free copies of their last albums in mp3 format, realize the true fan will always be willing to pony up for the real deal.

Mugg: It's probably a given, but the "softer" genres always seem to produce the better sounding records. Of the "louder" genres, I find electronic based music tends to make for a better 'experience'. In terms of balancing both 'loudness' and 'resolution', Nine Inch Nails "The Downward Spiral" would have to be at the top of the list. As far as straight away rock records, it's hands down Pink Floyd's "Dark Side Of The Moon" - I've spent many an evening just staring up at the ceiling while the sounds (and sometimes images... ) flooded my room.

Jerry: At my peak, I think I probably owned upwards of 300 CD's, but once burners came along, that number started to fall pretty dramatically. The days of buying a record for one song, and one song only, are most definitely GONE.

Judas Priest?!? I didn't even know they were still together... I thought Rob Halford started up another band called Fight (?).

How was the quality?

I own 300+ cd's, i havent bought one in 5 years +. Just dont want to pay their high prices.

Artists and bands making their living of tours and concerts not the music.

Did you guys notice how prices for concert tickets to well known bands have EXPLODED in the last few years.

yeah asking over 150 bucks for a concert tix is kinda ridiculous....  capitalism will listen though...  find smaller venue live music venues and support them.  when is was in philly hiting up the troc & electric factory was more satisfying than paying 150 bucks for a mega show. .......