More teens moving away from buying music CDs

By Kat Wood

Teen correspondent

Ten years ago you could find local teenagers at a record store, but now they are in front of computer screens downloading music from iTunes or using Lime Wire or other miscellaneous download sites and applications.

iTunes has sold more than 5 billion songs, according to a company news release, making it the top music retailer in the United States.

More teenagers are embracing the change to digital music compared to those still attached to compact discs. According to The NPD Group, a marketing research organization, 48 percent of U.S. teens did not purchase a CD in 2007, compared to 38 percent in 2006.

In October 2007, Radiohead released its first digital album, "In Rainbows," without a record label and allowed fans to pay what they wanted for the album, if they wished to pay at all. According to Rollingstone.com, the band made more money selling through the Web site than it would have made through a label.

One of those people who has embraced the digital music scene is Kris Smith, 18, of Yorktown.

"I switched exclusively to iTunes about a year ago and haven't looked back. I've spent over $1,000 on iTunes; the only time I buy CDs is at shows because they're rare.

"I think with bands and labels realizing the potential in digital music,... you'll see a lot more bands and labels going exclusively digital."

Music can be purchased digitally off iTunes, which has a free download each Tuesday, and Wal-Mart, Rhapsody, Napster and band or record-label sites. Lime Wire, Frost Wire, BearShare, message boards and online forums are a few of the places teenagers download illegally.

The Recording Industry Association of America is cracking down on file-sharing by filing copyright-infringement lawsuits against college students. Recently, for example, several students at the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg agreed to settle by paying $3,000 to $5,000 each.

Amber Garland, 17, of Churchland High School in Portsmouth downloads music daily from Lime Wire. She likes the prospect of "being able to get online and download whatever I want at the click of a button," she said.

"I'm a teenager. I work a minimum-wage job that is mostly used to pay gas."

Tallwood High School in Virginia Beach student Danielle Elliot, 16, sees "good and bad about it." Music is "easily accessible, so more people are stealing it, but it also makes it easier for people to start a music career because of the easy access."

However, some people prefer CDs.

Biliana Hristora, 12, a student at The School of International Studies at Meadowbrook Middle School in Norfolk, thinks that while digital is practical, "that doesn't mean CDs shouldn't still be available." Albums, she believes, sound "so much more real on CD or vinyl than it does on your computer."

Adam Gecking, owner of Volume CD Exchange in Virginia Beach, thinks digital music is "greatly affecting the sound quality."

MP3s have a third of the sound quality of a CD, and MP4s have quality that is a bit better but still isn't as good as a CD, he said.

Alex Osben, a 14-year-old homeschooler who lives in Norfolk, loves "going out and buying CDs" and "looking at the artwork and inner pages," but she would download an album for free.

"Sorry, but I might as well if they're offering," she said.

Gecking said the "music nerds out there," like himself, will keep CDs alive.

Kat Wood, a senior at Churchland High School in Portsmouth and a participant in The Virginian-Pilot's 2008 High School Diversity Journalism Workshop, k.g.wood@vzw.blackberry.net