Source: Boing Boing
CD players aren't returning because of superior sound quality. Gen Z uses nostalgia as identity signaling, and the format's obsolescence reads as countercultural. This mirrors vinyl's resurgence but with a key difference: CDs lack vinyl's audiophile credibility, so the appeal is aesthetic differentiation and rejection of streaming's algorithmic mediation. Retailers and manufacturers now operate a secondary market that didn't exist five years ago. Format revival cycles are accelerating, and "dead media" has become a product development category.