Well apparently they are again! I thought that I'd been whistling past the graveyard for the last two years with my purchasing, but apparently CD sales are actually on the rise again. It seems GenZ is discovering them for the first time and everyone else is rediscovering them.
Despite my current obsession with MiniDiscs, CDs are still "where it's at" as far as I'm concerned, and—when I really want to get into my music with no distractions—my preferred method of listening. (See: Japanese Jazz) Still, I was surprised when I went down to the library a few weeks ago and discovered that yes, Virginia—they still have those shiny plastic discs available to check out.
Back in the 00's when I found myself out of work and undergoing cancer treatment, the library and it's music collection was my refuge. It afforded me a cost-free opportunity to explore music that would never have crossed my path otherwise. And yes, while I did rip everything I liked onto MiniDiscs or CDRs at the time, when funds allowed I did buy copies of what I'd checked out because I wanted the complete experience including owning the original discs themselves and enjoying the liner notes that accompanied them (something the library did remove from their offerings).
And I find myself in the same position now. Not undergoing cancer treatment (knock on wood), but exploring new musical venues via the Phoenix Library. Yeah, I still rip the CDs to iTunes and onto MDs, but I also end up buying the original CDs for the same reasons I did twenty years ago. (And it's not like the library doesn't know what you're doing; when you check these out your receipt says, "You just saved $13.99 by checking this out."