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Post subject: My interest in owning tangible music has been decreasing.
Posted: Mon Feb 01, 2016 5:35 pm
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Aspiring Musician
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By tangible I mean music media in physical form. I find myself downloading more and more music and passing on buying CD's altogether. Digital media quality has come leaps and bounds over the years so it almost makes no sense to buy CD's anymore because I'll end up ripping them and adding it to my digital music library and then stow the CD away to never be seen again.

Just the other day I wanted to upgrade my car CD player to one with Bluetooth and ports for digital media. As I was browsing, I realized that I could save some money if I just get a head unit without a CD drive and that way I didn't have to haul with me my CD booklet and fish for CD's whenever I wanted to listen to music. So I did and couldn't be happier. Now I can stream the music from my phone via Bluetooth and loaded a SD card with about 25GB of music. Now I can go for weeks without listening to the same song again. Couldn't be happier.

Any of you guys feeling that the era of physical media is ending?

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Post subject: Re: My interest in owning tangible music has been decreasing
Posted: Mon Feb 01, 2016 6:10 pm
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I did not know there were any CD buyers left - haha. I am generally towards the back of the "technology adoption" line, and I haven't bought a CD in well over 10 years. Back 10-12 years ago, I was using allofmp3, then it went away (not sure if it ever came back). Then I discovered the iomoio website, where I have been paying around $1.50 per album (it used to be half that), and I could not be happier with their quality downloads and great selection (tons of bootlegs, too).

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Post subject: Re: My interest in owning tangible music has been decreasing
Posted: Mon Feb 01, 2016 6:53 pm
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I still buy CD'S , I collect them and enjoy reading the printed material that is on the jacket.

The only time I've ever downloaded music is if I buy CD's from Amazon and a download is included.

I buy CD's directly from artist's whenever possible at live events where they may be promoting their music and have CD's on hand , hey , maybe they need gas money while on the road .

I'm proud to support musicians , they gotta make a living too.


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Post subject: Re: My interest in owning tangible music has been decreasing
Posted: Mon Feb 01, 2016 7:10 pm
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LPs are nice, because you get large format liner notes.
CDs, not so much. They only made sense to the industry because they are dirt cheap to produce.

Instead of CDs for when wanting physical media, I'd like to see miniature USB keys with FLAC/WAV files and absolutely no executables. CDs are still too big for most pockets, and it takes time to rip them.

The last decade or so, the only CDs I have bought have been to get albums that weren't possible to buy in any other format. Especially foreign releases, because online music download stores still haven't figured out that there's a world out there, and money to be made from the long tail. It doesn't make sense that if I want a recording by a German band in the original German instead of bad English, I have to import a CD, or search for music sites in languages I don't know.


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Post subject: Re: My interest in owning tangible music has been decreasing
Posted: Mon Feb 01, 2016 7:35 pm
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Aspiring Musician
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01GT eibach wrote:
I did not know there were any CD buyers left - haha. I am generally towards the back of the "technology adoption" line, and I haven't bought a CD in well over 10 years. Back 10-12 years ago, I was using allofmp3, then it went away (not sure if it ever came back). Then I discovered the iomoio website, where I have been paying around $1.50 per album (it used to be half that), and I could not be happier with their quality downloads and great selection (tons of bootlegs, too).

That's something I can't do. At $1.50 per album, you know the artist is making zero money on that.

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Post subject: Re: My interest in owning tangible music has been decreasing
Posted: Mon Feb 01, 2016 9:52 pm
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I was at GC again today to check out my favorite Telecaster and found their limited collection of vinyl. Glad to see a resurgence of interest in vinyl. I will probably look for some albums that I've wanted. I still buy CD's especially at live shows to support the acts on the bill like bluesguy55. As far as decreasing interest goes, I'm just glad that members here post new music because it keeps me interested, thank you Bros.

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Post subject: Re: My interest in owning tangible music has been decreasing
Posted: Tue Feb 02, 2016 3:35 am
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Aspiring Musician
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1neeto wrote:
Digital media quality has come leaps and bounds over the years so it almost makes no sense to buy CD's anymore


I grew up in a time when an album was not always a collection of new songs. Many time there was a theme to the album and by listening to one or two cuts out of context, you miss the point of the album and maybe even the song itself. I also am a fan of liner notes, they are not so great on a CD because the print is too small, but there is sometimes really good information on liner notes. Even if the songs on the album are unrelated, by listening to all of them you get a sense of where the artist's head is, what they are thinking about.

1neeto wrote:
I realized that I could save some money if I just get a head unit without a CD drive and that way I didn't have to haul with me my CD booklet and fish for CD's whenever I wanted to listen to music.


This I understand. I have heard people argue for years about digital music over analog, and about the poor quality of mp3 files. The fact is when you are driving down the road at 40-60 MPH with the road noise and car engine noise you can't tell the difference. Now, when I am sitting in a quite room listening to music I want the best sound quality I can get. I favor CD's, I grew up on LP records but I can't stand the scratches and pops.

In conclusion I like to own my music and I want it on something more stable than a hard drive or memory stick.


8)

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Post subject: Re: My interest in owning tangible music has been decreasing
Posted: Tue Feb 02, 2016 7:05 am
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Aspiring Musician
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I still buy CDs and LPs regularly...if possible, directly from the artist or the artist's website.

I often/usually rip the CD to my laptop and download it to my phone, and I have a turntable with a USB out port that allows me (with appropriate software) to digitize a vinyl LP.

Having a tangible physical copy is good for me, partially because I want to hear the artist's work in total and partially because I like to have a hard-copy backup if the electronic device fails. (Yes, I understand the cloud and how it works...I still like to do this the old fashioned way).

I also prefer books over a reader app or device, although I use both.

I'm a partial luddite.

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Post subject: Re: My interest in owning tangible music has been decreasing
Posted: Tue Feb 02, 2016 9:27 am
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Hobbyist
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My music collection is my most prized possesion. Both records and CD's
It's just a completeley seperate, better experience.
They're a lot more special than just a collection in a smart phone that does everything else in life these days.


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Post subject: Re: My interest in owning tangible music has been decreasing
Posted: Tue Feb 02, 2016 9:59 am
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Aspiring Musician
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omar59 wrote:
1neeto wrote:
Digital media quality has come leaps and bounds over the years so it almost makes no sense to buy CD's anymore


I grew up in a time when an album was not always a collection of new songs. Many time there was a theme to the album and by listening to one or two cuts out of context, you miss the point of the album and maybe even the song itself. I also am a fan of liner notes, they are not so great on a CD because the print is too small, but there is sometimes really good information on liner notes. Even if the songs on the album are unrelated, by listening to all of them you get a sense of where the artist's head is, what they are thinking about.

1neeto wrote:
I realized that I could save some money if I just get a head unit without a CD drive and that way I didn't have to haul with me my CD booklet and fish for CD's whenever I wanted to listen to music.


This I understand. I have heard people argue for years about digital music over analog, and about the poor quality of mp3 files. The fact is when you are driving down the road at 40-60 MPH with the road noise and car engine noise you can't tell the difference. Now, when I am sitting in a quite room listening to music I want the best sound quality I can get. I favor CD's, I grew up on LP records but I can't stand the scratches and pops.

In conclusion I like to own my music and I want it on something more stable than a hard drive or memory stick.


8)

I think digital music is as stable as music can be. When was the last time you scratched an MP3 file and rendered it useless? I have 10+ year old iPods that still work perfect.

Yes I understand the whole "package" thing when you buy a physical copy, I too like to peruse through the pictures and lyrics from a CD booklet, but insisting on owning physical media in this day and age is nothing much other than the pack rat in us trying to hold onto something tangible. The quality difference in between a CD or lossless file vs a iTunes+ file is unlistenable unless you're in a studio room with some very expensive studio headphones. We were fine in the 70's to the 90's with the terrible quality of magnetic tapes, but now all of a sudden everyone is an audiophile able to listen to the difference of a CD vs an MP3 file with their $800 studio headphones.

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Last edited by 1neeto on Tue Feb 02, 2016 10:09 am, edited 1 time in total.

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Post subject: Re: My interest in owning tangible music has been decreasing
Posted: Tue Feb 02, 2016 10:07 am
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1neeto wrote:
The quality difference in between a CD or lossless file vs a iTunes+ file is unlistenable unless you're in a studio room with some very expensive studio headphones.

It should also be a non-issue today. I have a 128 GB memory stick in my pocket, which is smaller than a pack of chewing gum. That's enough space for around 400 CDs in FLAC format. Why are we still using MP3s, when there's no real rationale for lossy compression anymore?


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Post subject: Re: My interest in owning tangible music has been decreasing
Posted: Tue Feb 02, 2016 10:39 am
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Aspiring Musician
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Here's a little blog post I wrote about feeling nostalgic over the disappearance of the CD:

https://markhahnguitar.wordpress.com/20 ... a-for-cds/

That said, other than my own CDs, it's been a long time since I've bought someone else's CD... and as like another poster said, most the CDs I buy are from local artists... mostly just to be supportive. I imagine that the people who buy my CDs are doing so because of this...

But the loss of a physical artifact makes the music seem much more throwaway... also has killed the idea of an "album." I guess this makes sense in our hyper short attention span instagram society where people can't be bothered to stop and contemplate anything!

When checking the stats on my bandcamp page, I was kind of disappointed that I had so many "partial listens," but my teenage kid told, "Dad! No one listens to a song all the way through anymore! Just getting past the 10% mark means they like it!" Sheesh! I guess I'm just an old dinosaur!

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Post subject: Re: My interest in owning tangible music has been decreasing
Posted: Tue Feb 02, 2016 12:28 pm
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For the longest time, I resisted the idea of downloading music. I liked the idea of owning a physical copy of an album with all the artwork, etc.

But over the last year or so, I've probably bought more downloads than discs. I noticed I was hardly ever playing CDs, and they just take up a lot of space that could be used for other things. I can always burn a copy if I want a CD for my car or what not.

The sound quality difference between digital downloads and CDs is pretty negligible to by ears.

I also like the convenience of the instant download, as opposed to having to wait several days for your CD to arrive in the mail (because the chances of finding anything but the absolutely most popular albums at your local store are next-to-none).

Vinyl is still the best, but it's expensive, and in a small house with two kids and a ton of toys, I just don't have room right now for a big record collection.


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Post subject: Re: My interest in owning tangible music has been decreasing
Posted: Tue Feb 02, 2016 1:08 pm
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The RIAA is for it... :D

http://pitchfork.com/news/63273-riaa-an ... fications/

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Post subject: Re: My interest in owning tangible music has been decreasing
Posted: Tue Feb 02, 2016 3:15 pm
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I still buy CD's, usually from the used record store (is record still a word?) I rip them with no compression to my dusty 120g zune. I will eventually update my car audio to something with memory. I went looking a few weeks ago for a new one for my Scion XB but I couldn't justify the $1k price for a good one. I guess I'll move on when the zune dies.


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