Is the CD dying?

PITMAN, N.J

(Credit: Sony Corp.)

Pitman, which has 9,365 residents and is about 17 miles southeast of Philadelphia, is home to one of Sony's two remaining U.S.-based CD-manufacturing plants--until it closes on March 31. A longtime employee said  "The CD is dying." The first album released on CD and offered to the public was Billy Joel's "52nd Street" in October 1982.
The compact disc--the dominant music-distribution format for nearly three decades can compete no longer  with the portability of the ipod and similar devices that can store 2000 discs worth of  and after a decade of rampant illegal file sharing, , the plant closure is a also sign that the CD just couldn't compete with free music. (when)"they stopped putting CD players in cars I knew things were bad," the worker said. The CD was once a staple of a car's dashboard but the past several years, car manufacturers have searched for ways to tap into Web-distributed music.