For those who have seen the end of vinyl records, eight-track tape players, and the serious health issues of the cassette tape, it may seem that the CD player’s days are numbered too. Before you start writing an obituary for this medium, you should look at some differences between CDs and the main competitor, MP3s. The three little digits, MP3, take the place of the longer identity, Moving Pictures Expert Group 1 Audio Layer 3. A CD WAV file can be compressed to 10% of its size for use in MP3 technology. The significance, of course, is the space that it takes to store the music. One small MP3 player can carry thousands of songs, compared to the bulky situation that is present with CDs and players. With the many places available to download music from the internet, there is no reason to go to the music store to buy CDs. It doesn’t require a great deal of experience or know how to put files in storage for playing back on the inexpensive player. Not only are MP3 players inexpensive, they have no moving parts, which generally equates to longer life. They have much broader play list capabilities than CD players. When purchasing music for download, it’s not necessary to buy an entire CD (or album, if you remember what that was); you only get the songs you want. With everything going for it, is there any possibility that MP3 technology will not be the demise of the CD? As with anything that appears so superior, there is typically a thorn somewhere. Due to the compression that WAV files go through for the MP3, the sound quality is compromised. This is not as discerning to some listeners as others, but it is a fact. CD players are not as expensive MP3 players, and they do not require the purchase of storage media. The sound volume of downloaded MP3s varies from one to another, and CDs don’t have that problem. When you want music from a CD, just drop it in and play. You don’t have to encode, transfer files from one place to another, or manage the files. When you want, CD duplication is an easy task. Searching for a certain song on an MP3 player can take longer than it does to slide one CD out and another one in. If you are on a camping trip or anywhere away from the internet, you can’t download MP3s. CDs last a lifetime if you care for them, but hard drives and flash memory players have more limited life spans. There are some file compatibility problems with formats in downloaded content; the CD plays one format only, so there are no problems. The MP3 player is a great invention, but the CD should remain because of the dependability it has shown for almost 30 years.