Do You Still Own a CD Player? [Poll]

The Compact disc was once at the forefront of technology. A wonderful new invention that was cited as being virtually indestructible and unlikely to be bettered.

That turned out not to be the case, and many of us have now moved on from buying and playing CDs. Many of us, but not all. As we’re about to find out.

Information Overload

To answer this week’s question please scroll down the page until you see the poll staring back at you. But first, we need to look at the results from last week, when we asked, “How Much Information Do You Share Online?”

Out of a total of 194 votes, 35.1% chose Only What Is Absolutely Necessary, 29.4% chose As Little As Humanly Possible, 26.3% chose What I Deem to Be Enough, 4.6% chose Why Do You Ask?!, 2.6% chose I Have Never Even Thought About It, and 2.1% chose Everything… Why Not?

These results suggest that our readers err on the side of caution when asked to provide personal information online. Only a tiny minority either reveal everything about themselves or have never even thought about this. Which is as it should be. Surely it pays to at least be aware of such issues.

Comment of the Week

We received a few comments, including those from fcd76218 and pac. Comment of the Week goes to Peter Fitzsimmons, who earns our admiration and affection for this comment:

With arguments about the right to privacy and the right of anonymity will always be made, the only way the internet can evolve into a more useful tool is by allowing to know more about who we are and what we like/dislike.

It’s a very fine line, but one that we have to chose to cross if we want our technology to make our day to day lives easier and more productive. What happens to our information is an understandable worry for many.

Targeted adverts are not a huge issue for me (I’d rather see adverts I might be interested in rather than tons of random rubbish), but the unknown buying and selling of personal information is very much of concern.

I have no problem with, say, Google knowing where I live and what my favourite TV show is as long as that information is used to tell me about traffic info so I don’t miss the next episode of “Zombies dancing on Ice have talent LIVE” but the thought of my data being used nefariously is a concern, although I do struggle to think of what anybody could do with my info that would be harmful other than spam emails or calls.

Either way, I only share information I assume is going to be public. If I don’t people knowing about my addiction to chocolate biscuits, I won’t join the Chocolate biscuits appreciation society, if I’d hate for anyone to find out my love for ’80’s elcto pop, I won’t publish a playlist of Blonde and Pet shop boys….

I share what I deem is appropriate to my life on line. So far, it seems to be working for me.

Until we can surpass the need for corporations to make more and more money beyond the needs of their customers/users we will never be able trust our information is kept safe and used with our best interests at heart.

We chose this comment because it offers a nice, common sense approach to the whole thing. While we need to stay in control of what information we’re giving up as we live our lives online, giving up a certain amount can be helpful. For us as well as the companies making use of that data.

Conclusive Compact Disc Discussions

The formats which we use to consume media change often and sometimes without much warning. One day, you’re using DVDs and are at the forefront of technology, and the next your collection is regarded as inferior because of the emergence of Blu-rays.

While compact discs haven’t yet been usurped as the physical medium of choice for music (although some would argue that vinyl is actually better), physical media has been usurped by digital formats. A collection of bits rather than something you can actually hold in your hands.

With that in mind, we’re intrigued to know how many of our readers still own a CD player. And, crucially, whether they actively use it on a regular basis. We’re not here to judge, so you can be perfectly honest and we won’t question your technology geek credentials. No matter what.

Once you have voted in the poll above, please explain in the comments section below why you voted that way. If you still own and use a CD player, why do you still prefer the physical medium over its digital equivalent? If not, do you buy digital copies, stream music, or pirate everything?

The more information you can provide with your comment, the more accurate our conclusions can be based on the results. The best comment of the week will win our everlasting admiration and affection. At least until we all meet back here again this time next week with a new question.

Image Credits: Hugo via Flickr