Records vs. CDs vs. digital music

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pacman000
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Re: Records vs. CDs vs. digital music

Postby pacman000 » December 7th, 2018, 10:57 am

Remember, each time a piece of analog media is copied it looses something from the original recording. Copying from a tape master to a disk master to a pressing disk to a disk for sale, in theory, decreases accuracy. Doesn't make it bad, but if a piece of digital music has a high enough sample rate it should be more accurate.

Not the word "accurate," not "better." Sometimes the simple act of copying can add a certain warmth or charm which is difficult to recreate digitally, & some folks like that. Also note the "should;" bad compression's always possible.

I like records; I like CDs. Both work well, but CDs are more convenient. I'm always afraid I'll scratch a record.

Records are probably better for archival purposes than CDs. Digital media tends to become obsolete relatively quickly, & recreating the methods needed to read it can be complex. A record is a groove which makes something vibrate; that's easy. Lasers, codexes, microscopic circuits; even if CDs have been around for 30 years they still sound like science fiction.

100 Year Old Record, works fine: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kSmGjMrVukw

BBC Domesday Laserdisk, was hard to archive: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6c6-nUEcOaM

Voor
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Re: Records vs. CDs vs. digital music

Postby Voor » December 7th, 2018, 6:43 pm

But don’t records deteriorate some with each use?

Herschie
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Re: Records vs. CDs vs. digital music

Postby Herschie » December 8th, 2018, 1:51 am

I'm just fine listening to my tunes on Youtube. I like to sit outside with a cigar and glass of whiskey and listen to music on my phone.

Teddybear
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Re: Records vs. CDs vs. digital music

Postby Teddybear » December 8th, 2018, 9:35 am

As a guy who many times in the 1990's signed up for the BMG "12 CDs for the price of 1" type of record club memberships (using several aliases) it still amazes me to this day that I can check out compact discs from my local library and bring them home to make flawless copies for free.

I have no interest in the vinyl revival but enjoy looking at the classic album covers that have been re-issued at F.Y.E. Then I look at the prices...... Stay prosperous, hipsters!

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pacman000
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Re: Records vs. CDs vs. digital music

Postby pacman000 » December 8th, 2018, 9:44 am

Voor wrote:But don’t records deteriorate some with each use?
True. I was thinking of something stores for a long time, without being used, like in a vault in a library. The library would keep other copies for daily use, but have one or two high-quality copies for archival purposes.

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velcrozombie
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Re: Records vs. CDs vs. digital music

Postby velcrozombie » December 8th, 2018, 12:53 pm

As a kid I actually preferred the sound of cassettes - they sounded warm and organic next to CDs, you could makes copies or your own mixes, they were cheaper and more portable and you didn't have to worry about skipping - but they weren't durable (they would stretch and distort in a way that a properly cared-for CD wouldn't), the art was even smaller than a CD and you could buy used CDs for cheaper than a new cassette. I used to go to flea markets and get a ton of cheap CDs that way or get them for a few bucks used on Amazon or EBay. That was back when I'd listen to the actual discs - as others have said, now all I do is rip them and play them on my phone or computer at this point. I end up buying about one or two new CDs a year on average now - instead I listen to almost everything on Spotify (as a student I get Spotify + Hulu + Showtime for $4.99/month), Amazon (student Prime discount) or (for some rarer stuff) Youtube and then see bands live and/or buy their T-shirts to compensate. I love the idea of vinyl - putting a record on and poring over the artwork and liner notes in a sort of ritualized immersion - but I don't have the money or space for a proper setup at the moment or the time to devote to something like this (I have to take my music on the run most of the time) and (as someone else said) digital recordings pressed to vinyl aren't going to sound any better than a CD would.

[quote="jon" But I'd give all of that away to be able to get music like in the 90's when you'd go to music stores, places that encouraged artistic expression and individuality. Imagine that.[/quote]

Can you explain a little further? Since anyone can put anything up for free now on the Internet to be heard I would think that now is a more optimum environment for what you're describing.

jon
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Re: Records vs. CDs vs. digital music

Postby jon » December 8th, 2018, 9:44 pm

I miss going to music stores. I don't think that there's been much creativity the last decade in rock music anyways, so the internet doesn't really matter. What I listen to for free I could have on cds it would be no different than now except it would be fun to go to stores. As someone who prefers rock to rap, edm, and who knows what garbage, what's the last 10 years been good for anyways, with all the advantages of being able to find any up and coming artist on the internet. Bands still have to play live and get popular. The internet these last 10 years has shown how bad rock music is.

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VideoGameCritic
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Re: Records vs. CDs vs. digital music

Postby VideoGameCritic » December 9th, 2018, 12:16 pm

I agree about missing the music stores. I remember I would learn about what the best new stuff was just by talking to the people who work there! Kind of like going to the video rental store - you saw a whole wall dedicated to one movie and it got you excited!

I was watching Jackie Brown recently and one of the characters goes shopping at a Sam Goody. It made me wish I could go back in time and walk through that store myself.

I also want to mention that while most stores have stopped stocking CDs (like Best Buy) I'm pretty sure Amazon still sells a ton of them! Between that and ebay, you can find whatever you want.

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Stalvern
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Re: Records vs. CDs vs. digital music

Postby Stalvern » December 9th, 2018, 3:16 pm

I love CDs. They're a good compromise between the physicality of vinyl and the convenience of files (unlike with vinyl, you don't have to walk on eggshells when you play, handle, or look at a CD). Plus, if you just use iTunes or Spotify for your music, you're hearing only the newest remasters of everything, which almost always blow compared to older CDs. YouTube is fine if you're OK with crappy sound quality (128 kb/s). I'll admit that nowadays I largely just listen to rips of my CDs rather than the disks themselves, but the CDs are still very nice to have around, especially the more rare and unusual ones.

The sound quality of CDs versus vinyl is a meaningless question. CD fidelity is well beyond the limits of what the human ear can perceive as loss; what matters is the mastering and the stereo setup. In both aspects, vinyl often does have the advantage, but this has nothing to do with the medium – digital mastering quality jumped off a cliff around Y2K, and the people who buy vinyl albums in 2018 tend to play them on much nicer equipment than the average CD enjoys. (The physical limitations of the format make excessively compressed masterings impossible on vinyl, and vinyl demands high-quality equipment in order to minimize surface noise, an issue that CDs do not have.)

It's really up to personal choice and taste. For a true audiophile or collector, vinyl (properly played and cared for) makes a lot of sense. For someone who doesn't want to put in the effort of seeking out the best possible digital version of every album they hear, iTunes and streaming just deliver the music with zero hassle. But for a nerd like me, CDs will always have their place.

VideoGameCritic wrote:I agree about missing the music stores. I remember I would learn about what the best new stuff was just by talking to the people who work there! Kind of like going to the video rental store - you saw a whole wall dedicated to one movie and it got you excited!

I was watching Jackie Brown recently and one of the characters goes shopping at a Sam Goody. It made me wish I could go back in time and walk through that store myself.

I also want to mention that while most stores have stopped stocking CDs (like Best Buy) I'm pretty sure Amazon still sells a ton of them! Between that and ebay, you can find whatever you want.

Maybe it's different for you up in New England, but in the Midwest, we still have plenty of stores. St. Louis has Vintage Vinyl and Planet Score Records, the sister stores Music Reunion and CD Reunion aren't far from the city, and Slackers has locations all over Missouri and Illinois. The omnipresent Half Price Books and V-Stock chains also have CD and record sections. I was recently in Bloomington, Indiana, and that little town has four (!) music stores within 23 square miles. I know that the big retail chains are moving away from CDs, but do you really not have record stores anymore?

Voor
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Re: Records vs. CDs vs. digital music

Postby Voor » December 9th, 2018, 3:31 pm

The last “entertainment “ store we had was Hastings, and I miss it dearly. Went several times a week, and I especially liked going on the weekends to observe the board game tournaments.

I purchase used CDs from amazon, typically only ends up being around $5-6 each.


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