On our home page, we suggested that there’s a better way to deliver downloaded music and streams to your home or business. That’s true for a number of very good reasons. Here are some of the major ones.

First, let’s talk about CDs and vinyl LPs

CDs are nothing more than a collection of digital music files recorded onto a round plastic disc. There are a lot of good reasons why downloading those digital files makes more sense than purchasing the CD or an LP record. In fact, we predict that CDs as well as LPs will soon be obsolete, much like the old 8-track audio cartridges and 78-rpm record albums. Sounds crazy, doesn’t it? It’s not.

• CDs are costly to manufacture, inventory and sell. They’re hard to ship or take with you when you travel anywhere.

• They consume enormous amounts of natural resources in the form of energy, materials and chemicals.

• CDs are fragile and easily damaged. They take up a lot of shelf space and are easily misplaced.

• It’s hard to “search” a large collection of CDs to find the artist and song you want to play.

• The music quality of a CD is actually not very good compared to the music you hear in person or what was recorded in the studio or on stage. Not only that, but they’re limited to “stereo only” recordings.

• Vinyl records have all of the same drawbacks as CDs, only more so. Their useful lifetime is even more limited than a CD, as they actually wear out with use.

 Downloading digital music files makes a lot more sense

That’s probably not news to you. You can get the same music files that were put on the CD without all of the fuss and problems we mentioned above. You can even get high-definition, studio-quality audio as well as surround-sound recordings if the right file format is chosen.

• Once the artist or record company has prepared the digital music files, 98% of the costs associated with delivering an album are eliminated forever.

• Digitally downloaded music files are eco-friendly. If you’re environmentally conscious, you have to appreciate that.

• A digital music library stored on a media player, a computer hard disk or a networked music server will never wear out. As an added advantage, your library of valuable music will take up only a tiny fraction of the space that a collection of CDs or records requires.

• If the digital files are created according to an accepted standard such as the one we propose on this site, you will be able to find any song, artist, composer or contributing musician in your library, and do it in less than a minute using a Google-like search tool.

 Sounds good. What needs to be done to make it happen?

The music industry needs to acknowledge that it’s time to upgrade to a new digital music distribution paradigm. What does it take to make this transition?

• A different music file format for general distribution is essential—a format that is lossless and capable of implementing the advanced features we suggested above. An ideal solution would be one free of the influence of large corporations or industry-centric organizations—an open-source format supported by independent developers with no agenda other than to create perfection.

• A new standard for preparing music files for distribution is also very important. We’ll talk more about this later on this website.

• Other standards for replacing “liner notes” and the information on album covers and record jackets.

 What makes the most sense?

Well, first of all, we need to agree on a common approach that can meet everyone’s needs without requiring anyone to compromise the quality and usability they desire. This means we need to adopt a better file format and improved delivery standards for digital music, one that can meet the needs of the most demanding listener or application while providing all of the benefits that we already enjoy. The path to that better solution begins here.

• The clear choice of music file formats is the FLAC file format. The justification for this recommendation is found here.

• A new standard for creating music files is described on this page.

• Click here for recommendations and a proposed standard for replacing liner notes with digital “booklets.”