As more and more people get their music digitally the CD has become, in many eyes, a worthless piece of plastic. It’s partly that attitude that leads to things like this: Sony Music Entertainment in shutting down a New Jersey Compact Disc Manufacturing Plant. According to CNET, the plant, located in Pitman, New Jersey, employed close to 300 workers, all of whom will be, obviously, out of work in the very near future.

The plant used to also produce DVD’s but Sony ceased production of those discs last year. The reasons behind the shuttering of the facility are obvious, poor sales figures for compact discs and the economic downturn. Sony spokesperson Lisa Gephardt offered CNET this explanation, “In light of the current economic environment and challenges facing the physical media industry, Sony DADC is taking additional steps to reduce cost from our supply chain network in order to remain competitive.”

Of course this doesn’t mean that Sony will cease all production of physical product. Sony CD manufacturing will now be done at plants located in Indiana.