US album sales rise for first time since 2004

Long ago I discovered the music industry forcing me to buy an album of crap for maybe two songs worthy of listening to. If an album was created with 12 good songs on it, most people would buy it!

This decline has nothing to do with the medium; but, everything to do with the lack of enduring quality that the crap produced in the last decade reflects. Fly by nighters, aren't they all!

See! Stop blaming downloading for low record sales music industry. When you sale good music, people will buy it. So much of music today is just auto-tuned trash.

there is nothing wrong with CDs you can still put the songs on to a Media Playing device and play them on your computer

buh... buh... but I thought piracy was destroying the music industry? How is this possible.
/end sarcasm

I bought Adele's "21" for my wife for Christmas on CD. Why? Because MP3's sound like crap. Oh...and it's a great album...all of it..not just 3 songs.

To everyone confused about what this article refers to as a "Digital Album"... The music industry differentiates between single tracks downloaded from a digital distribution site (iTunes, Amazon, etc) and a whole Album downloaded from the same site. A Digital Album is a whole album downloaded from an online distribution website. (Not a physical disc.)

I have lots of CDs, and I'd buy more, but the prices are still too high. I gave up on SACD primarily because most weren't worth the $18-$25 being charged, and the same is true of Redbook CDs even at $15 ... they need to be down in the $9 range ... end of story. If they were, then I'd buy more than jazz music.

CD's should be 5 bucks and i would buy so many

Let's throw a ticker-tape parade! Gaga sells 2.1 million, Adele's "hugely popular sophomore album" sells 5.8 million. To put things into proper perspective, Backstreet Boys' "Millenium" (1999) sold 40 million, Whitney Houston's "The Bodyguard" soundtrack (1992) sold 44 million, and the big daddy, Michael Jackson's "Thriller" (1982) sold 110 million! A more realistic headline for this article would be "Album Sales Numbers 95% Lower in 2011 than Twenty Years Ago."

I've never heard Adele or Michael Buble but i pretty sure they don't do dance music. So if the DJ's didn't buy it who did. I don't believe almost 6 million people that would buy a Adele's LP have a turntable. Who are these people with turntables?

Moving to the new distribution system instead of trying to eradicate it works? Who would have guessed?

Albums! Albums! Where can I get one? I've got an ol' turntable just waitin' to be used!

I didn't know people still paid for music anymore. I guess these people need friends to
show them how to download from youtube and convert into a mp3. With the music that's come out the last 20 years - it's not much of a surprise. In this day and age even rap is called music!

Lower prices have increased sales, go figure. It's what I have been saying all along. The record industry just does not understand its place in the market. When album prices are around five dollars, the record industry will be back on track.

we have no attention span now a days...most skip right to their favs on a cd's/disc's etc. albums are for sitting, and twisting one up and listening to, the entire thing.. a journey of sound and memories.. no comparing an after noon of Zep or Rush albums to some buzz clicky auto tune saturated collection of 2 minute money makers from these "famous for 6 months jokers"...
do you really think anyone who has put out a hit in the last 2 years will be around in 5 ?..

the only real music was the 80s lady gag stinks

I've been around long enough to see 8 Tracks, vinyl, cassettes, CDs, MP3s, and download cards. What this new generation of kids don't get is that there is something very powerful that happens when you actually buy something tangible. All these download cards are pretty worthless because you can't put them into anything. So there is no instant gratification of walking out of the store and putting it into a player. CDs and cassettes offered that.

This craze about MP3s is mind boggling. An MP3 is sooooooooooo compressed that you lose a lot of what the song originally sounded like (that's why it is called a LOSSY, and that is a word technology). True it is finite, but if you compare vinyl to MP3 you'll hear huge differences. Digital is far too cold and sounds fake. When you go back and listen to how records sound you'll hear a literal warmth to the sound (that's analog technology, and one that's been around a hell of a lot longer than digital). In fact go get a copy of The Beatles Abbey Road on vinyl, and then compare that quality to a MP3 version of the album. BIG DIFFERENCE in quality.

Another point. In order to play an MP3 in your car you either have to have a radio that has the hookups (and there are millions of older cars that don't), if you don't have that then you have to cough up a few hundred dollars to get a decent player. Cough up more money for the install (unless you know how to do it yourself), then you still have to download the songs onto a external player in order to connect it to your car. And guess what you may have to cough up more money to get MP3/iPod holders, car adapters, and even playing that through your car radio will still not sound as good as a real stereo in your dash. Do you see where I am going with this? It's too many steps to listen to your new music Sure you can argue that you download an album, load it to your player, and then listen is three steps. But that is the ONLY convenience. That is not connected to your car.

CDs and cassettes: Remove cellophane wrapping, remove from case, place into stereo! 3 STEPS!!!! I don't know about you all but I see that the old way was actually more convenient

Records: Remove cellophane wrapping, remove record from sleeve, place on turn table, drop the needle! Wow 4 steps!

Here is another thing to think about. When you bought a record you got a great look at the artwork created. It was like having a painting to an extent, because you could see the detail. What kind of art can you really see on those stupid cards, and does anyone even keep them after they get the MP3 downloads?

The ONLY plus I ever got out of a MP3 was you no longer deal with skipping. That was a beast with CDs and vinyl. Cassettes could get eaten by the machine, but they were cheap to replace. Plus they gave you an interesting hissing/popping effect that some might hate, but again it goes to that sensory part of your brain. Same is true with physically holding something. Can you physically hold an MP3 file?

Everyone complains about piracy. Guess what? Have you ever heard of tape trading, or CD exchanging with your friends for ones they have? How about mix tapes and CDs for your friends! Duh that's a form of piracy! It was going on a long time before the Internet.

People that are complaining that oh CDs and records are too expensive today. You know why? 99% of the American factories that use to produce CDs and vinyl are gone. Wiped out when the next generation decided that records and CDs sucked, and MP3s were the way to go. In fact there are only 3 companies left in America with the equipment to even create records. I'm not sure how many are left that print CDs.

One final thing. Can we even call them record companies? Maybe it should be Digital Companies, or non-tangible companies.

Look I may be old skool, but I don't care. Digital is NOT as convenient than you think.

Today's music stinks..It's old time Rock N Roll for me..It's music for the century..not this new junk..

We're still calling them albums?