Disney Tries to Boost CD Sales with New Format

I can't remember the last time I bought a physical music CD at a brick-and-mortar store, and truth be told, I'm not dying to go back. Now here comes Disney, trying to lure us away from music downloads with the extras-laden CDVU+ format. Is it a case of too little, too late?

Disney record label Hollywood Records is spearheading the new CDVU+ (also known as CD View Plus) format, which will pack in such extras as digital magazines, photos, song lyrics, and links to "exclusive" Web content. The new discs will also come in recyclable packaging, so you'll feel less guilty after you toss 'em out the window. (Kidding!)

OK, so what are we talking about here? Haven't we seen traditional music CDs with "extras" before? Well, yeah, although to be fair, the extras on CDVU+ discs look slightly more evolved. The digital magazine content is produced with help from Zinio, the developers of the impressive Zinio reader for online magazine subscriptions. The video extras will be exclusive to the CDVU+ discs (or so says Hollywood Records), and some albums will come with "customizable autographed poster creators" which let you upload your own pictures into "different band scenarios." Right.

It's a nice try, but if record labels thinks the CDVU+ format will help boost flagging CD sales (down 20 percent in the first half of 2007, according to Reuters), they're living in a dream world—especially considering that plenty of downloadable music tracks and albums now come with extras of their own.

Anyway, if you're curious, expect the first CDVU+ disc (from the Jonas Brothers) to hit stores August 7.

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Disney music label offers new CD format [Reuters/Yahoo! News]