[Glice]

In terms of the making money part of the music industry, CDs are dead. People who listen to whole albums, absorb artwork and post on message boards are, increasingly, a marginal market. There's a lot more money to be made out of mp3s. No packaging, easy marketing, increased consumption (you don't have to even wander down to the store or wait for it to be delivered). Albums won't die, but I doubt the younger generation of casual music listeners (not the sort of people who'll post here) will bother with buying artwork and physical copy any more.

I don't buy mp3s, but I don't disapprove of them. CD albums won't die, but they probably won't increase in sales - inasmuch as single whole albums won't sell enormous amounts of physical copy an more, but I suspect album sales overall will go up. The market is diversifying, which can only be a good thing. As I've said before here, increased proliferation of mp3s has meant that kids getting into music now - 12-19 yr olds - generally have a much easier access to a wider range of music, something which I can only approve of.