Steven Hyden writes a paean to CDs:
Steven Hyden was born in 1978. I was born in 1982. I’m not sure how far out of that range an appreciation for this article will extend. Also the article is pretty USA-centric culturally.
So I’m not sure who else here will like it, but I’m posting anyway. Features an appearance by an R.E.M. album that is easily guessable and is also in the article header image.
I have no idea, and never thought about it actually. It’s an interesting read.
I was also born in 78. Can relate to some of this, particularly a hatred for digipaks! I love vinyl though. And my first love was cassette.
totally endorse his praise of New Miserable Experience, lol. even if i am streaming it rather than digging out a CD. 
They Might Be Giants APOLLO 18
The CD has 21 tracks (tracks 17 - 37) that are all short 4sec-60sec songs. The idea was to always play the full CD on “shuffle” and it would be a different listening experience every time by inserting these short tracks in all over the place!
Definitely doesn’t work with Vinyl or cassette…
yes, good call on Apollo 18.
As much as I’d love to read this article I can’t make it through the entire thing without inadvertently hitting something while scrolling that takes it back to the beginning. This happened with a GQ article I tried to read about MJ Lenderman a while back as well. Eventually, I made it through it but it took what seemed like forever. This is one of the downsides of reading on a phone as opposed to a desktop, I suppose. That aside, of what I could read, he makes some good points about what makes the CD listening experience unique.
That said, I’m not going back to them. The biggest downside is lugging them around and despite them being advertised as indestructible, they scratch rather easily. I’m not saying it’s a superior way of listening but I’ve really enjoyed getting back into vinyl. I can’t remember the last time I bought a CD. While I obviously wish the business model was better, it’s likely going to be streaming for me from here on out. With reel-to-reel, 8-tracks, cassettes (on auto reverse), and CDs you had the benefit of continuous listening, each with their own set of downsides. With streaming you can listen without the sequencing being adversely affected by being restricted by time constraints.