The CD is Dead! No, Wait …. Maybe Not
If you believe what you read on the Internet (hmmm…), the CD is deader than Monty Python's parrot.
It's an ex-medium! Bleedin' deceased! Pushing up the daisies! Gone to meet its Maker!
Or, at least, as one commentator writes… the CD is entering its hospice stage.
But, then again, maybe not.
Although I was slow to get on board back in the day, preferring my beloved stash of crackly, popping LPs over the bright, shiny wonder-discs with their über-clean sound and transparen't textures, I eventually made the switch.
I've gone back to vinyl from time to time, and I check out the library's streaming services, Naxos and Hoopla, regularly. But I can't tell a lie: the ease and convenience of popping a CD into my player, coupled with the stellar sound, is keeping me a loyal fan.
If you're a fan, too (don't worry, I won't tell), then I've got some great news: most of the gigantic collection of CDs in the Arts Department at Toronto Reference Library can now be checked out using your library card!
That's more than 15,000 items in a wide variety of genres, which you can now take home:
Classical
Opera
Jazz
Traditional
Pop
> 
Soundtracks
What, no musicals?
Unfortunately, not. CDs of Musicals will remain reference only.
There are, however, lots of great collections of musical theatre songs available:
Besides musicals, there are a few other specialty categories that are remaining reference only, so we can preserve them for as long as possible: Canadian music; Boxed Sets; and Indigenous music from across Turtle Island. These reference CDs will continue to be available for in-library use.
But don't worry! There is plenty of Christmas and Seasonal music to borrow for the holidays:
Christmas
Seasonal
So, rejoice greatly!
I'll be loading up on some out-of-print Linda Ronstadt, myself:
Happy holidays, and happy CD listening!
20 thoughts on “The CD is Dead! No, Wait …. Maybe Not”
This news is like an early Christmas present! I’ll be checking out the jazz, pop and soundtracks soon. Is the CD collection included in the TPL catalogue or do we need to browse? Not that I mind browsing as I have made some interesting discoveries that way.
Thank you, Lee for letting us know we can borrow some of the collection.
There’s a pile of them resting on my stereo as I type!
PHYSICAL MEDIA 4EVA
This is so great! I also enjoy CDs and borrow them often, so it’s really good to know there are now more that will be available.
I also love the Naxos music apps, both classical and jazz. Listen to them daily.
Hello Susan,
You can search all of the Arts CDs in the catalogue and either place holds or note the call numbers and come in and get them on the 5th floor of the Reference Library. Enjoy!
Thanks, Beau. You are my people! Long live the CD. Enjoy the collection.
Hello Anne,
Thanks for your reply. That’s one of the things I love most about the library’s music collections — whether you like vinyl, CDs or streaming ( or all three!), you can find them at TPL.
Thrilling! I must look for some Baroque or Medieval ensembles in the collection. I forgot that the Library lends these!
Engineer here. CDs are objectively superior, from an information standpoint, than virtually all the music you can find/buy from any other streaming service; for CDs contain the full, uncompressed encoding of the tracks. Places like iTunes deliberately downsample (i.e., cut out some information) and compress the music in a “lossy” manner in order to save space on their servers. Of course, the rationale is that that information they’re cutting out isn’t detectable by the ear; but that’s a debate for another time.
CDs contain all the information the distributor and artist wanted to distribute. I listen only to CDs if I can help it. If I’m going to spend money on music, why would I pay for anything other than the complete product?
Hello Ariel,
There are definitely lots of Baroque and Medieval music discs in the TPL CD collection, and the collection from Arts is especially rich in music from these periods. I hope you find a few new favourites.
Hello Icarus,
Thank you for your expert commentary. I have seen lots of articles in music magazines about “lossy” compression and its effect on the listening experience. It seems to be an ongoing debate among serious music listeners in all genres. I’m glad that at Toronto Public Library people have access to a wide variety of music formats and choose their favourites. But my ears agree with yours that CDs have the sonic edge.
Thanks Lee!
Already borrowed a bunch including Nina Simone and some medieval tunes.
So glad I still have a CD player in the car and at home.
Time to look for more! : )
Glad you’re enjoying our CDs, Dawn. There are many treasures in the Arts collection that are not available elsewhere in the library system. Happy hunting!
OMG!!! I can’t wait to visit the Reference Library
How can you ensure the quality of those CD will be in good shape and booklet not missing after people borrow them? I have seen a lot of badly damaged CD with booklet or cover missing in TPL regular library CD collection. These CD are mostly non replaceable now.
Please keep good care of the collection for people to enjoy.
Really excellent idea to open the CD Collection. Thank you 🙏
Hello Raymond,
Thank you for your comments and support. It’s certainly a hard life being a circulating CD in a public library system. There’s book sorters and drop-boxes and all manner of borrowers to contend with. There will, of course, be some casualties, and we won’t be able to replace the ones that are out of print, but we hope they will get lots of use first and that our many CD fans will take good care of them during the journey. Enjoy the collection!
Just curious — could you please delve a little into the policy/collections management reasoning behind this? Why open up this collection for non-reference circulation at this point in time? [or, another way of framing this is, why wasn’t the collection previously available for borrowing?]
As other commenters have noted, public circulation can be hard on physical media; you risk damage to items which you may not be able to replace. What is the rationale for changing over from ‘protected’ reference status to circulating? [and why are musicals still in the former category?]
In more broad terms, what makes a title reference vs circulating?
Hello Nathanng,
Thank you for your comments. We decided to let the CDs in Arts circulate to allow as many people as possible to have a chance to listen to them before the medium disappears. Circulation can be hard on items, but we felt it was worth the risk to make the collection more accessible. We have a few specialty collections like musicals, which we collect comprehensively, that we decided to keep as reference to preserve them as long as we can. Canadian material, Indigenous recordings from around Turtle Island and boxed sets are the other specialty collections that are staying reference.
Are circ-ing CD Audiobooks too?
Hello Steve,
The CD collection in Arts is only music. There are many other libraries that have audiobooks on CD and they are all circulating. You can find them in the library catalogue by searching the title you’re interested in, then using the Type filter on the left and clicking on Audiobooks. If you want to see a list of available audiobooks, go to the Advanced search and choose Audiobooks. You can also limit by branch, language, fiction or non-fiction. Don’t put anything in the search box, just click search. I hope you find some great new titles to listen to.
Some time ago, I asked TPL to put a heading on your homepage listing new circulating music CDs. I thought they had done this, but I don’t see it now. I was interested in browsing and possibly borrowing new classical music CDs that the library had purchased without the labour of filtering through some sort of catalogue search. Are you still purchasing any new classical music CDs? How many are purchased each year? Perhaps given the enduring popularity of this medium, perhaps you take this as a vote to purchase more.
Hello Derek,
You can find new CDs by clicking on Books, DVDs and Music on the dark blue masthead at the top of the TPL webpage. You will see a link there called New Music. You can sort by artist, title, date or newest additions. We are definitely continuing to purchase new classical CDs for the library system. You can also access the Naxos Music Library from the TPL website which has over 144, 000 classical CDs available for streaming and Medici.tv which has performances and masterclasses. Our DVD collection has lots of classical music performances as well. Enjoy!