If anyone wants about 875 copies on CD of my band's EP, you're welcome to them. I'll drop them off.
I quite like it when bands release the vinyl and provide the downloads to those who buy it, as I still buy vinyl but it's nice to be able to stick the same music on my phone/MP3 player. And ripping vinyl is something I can never be arsed with.
And ripping vinyl is something I can never be arsed with.
In the sense that it's a pain in the ass? It's not that hard, as you no doubt know. I'm just lazy.
re: 4
It'd mean moving my turntable and pre-amp near my PC, which would be a real pain in the arse, tbh. I suppose if I had a laptop I could just plug it into the tape-outs and it'd be straight forward enough. I know _how_ to do it, and I've done it in the past, it's just the physical logistics of combining desktop PC and turntable/pre-amp in the same spot which is a problem.
CDs may be a pain, but then when your computer destroys all your music and you haven't backed up your hard drive for six months, you kind of wish your music came with its own storage device. Oh, yeah, it used to come on pre-backed-up storage discs. For an extra fee, you can still buy it that way.
3 gets it right. Plus, I love buying vinyl at shows. So much more satisfying than getting a CD.
Not counting little tiny records designed to be played on a turn table made by Fisher Price, I have never owned or purchased a record. Or an 8-track.
Or more than a dozen cassettes. Or more than a dozen CDs. The radio is free and always there.
Heh. That's an alien world view, right there. It's akin to saying, "I don't eat food."
Heh. That's an alien world view, right there. It's akin to saying, "I don't eat food."
Or "Do people really care about that? I always read the ending first to get it out of the way."
I do eat food. I hardly eat anything that isn't food or finger nails. I'm also married to somebody who bought CDs and now iTunes, so I have a complete collection Aimee Mann on my iPod.
...and you're always tripping, moby. what if you have to listen to a particular song right then? or four times in a row? I endorse 3. as I'm sure you all know by now, my vast vinyl collection is moldering (not, one hopes, literally) away in a storage unit outside savannah, ga. I have bought only a few records here in narnia, like 50.
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Not that I tried to find the least political thread to post this in. But this little piece from USA Today of all places brings home one of the most infuriating aspects of the current political dialogue in the US. "Tax bills in 2009 at lowest level since 1950". (Here's the Gallup trend that supports it.) Keep telling me about big government crushing the little guy, Elwood, because it makes me puke.
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what if you have to listen to a particular song right then?
I can hear "What a Feeling" anytime I want, thanks to the power of imagination.
I suppose if I didn't have to pay such high taxes, I could buy CDs. I feel like I'm paying more taxes that I ever have before and I know I must be right.
I am a complete and utter idiot for not realizing who k-sky is until now. I really should pay more attention here.
16: they wrote an article about moby in the onion!
Even so, my mind has features your iPod will never have. Does your iPod have real-time remixing? No?! Well, if I don't like the original lyrics to Kansas' "Carry On Wayward Son"--zip, zip, zing--my mind can change them! Adding a cool bass line or a rocking keyboard flourish to any piece of music? No problem! Adding images of myself performing on stage with the band? Done!
Does your iPod turn you from just another bus-rider into a lonely figure finding his way down Baker Street? Guess what? My mind can! And it does it all with no moving parts, man. None. 'Cause it's my mind.
I can hear "What a Feeling" anytime I want, thanks to the power of imagination.
And now I hear it too. Thanks, thanks a lot.
I've moved on to "On Night in Bangkok."
I don't know shit about music, but I sure do learn a lot when I'm here! You guys are the best.
Also, I'm not sure what she means, but my mom says "Thanks, men of Unfogged! See you next week!" Just passing along the message!
OT: Once more, slowly: "none" is singular. Jesus eschagrammatology Christ, editors of, inter alia, the New Yorker and other putatively-informed periodicals.
24: perhaps if we make them spell it no'one they'd remember it was "not one" and all would be made clear.
Moby is both insane (9) and eeeeevil (21).
a lonely figure finding his way down Baker Street
And now guess what's stuck in my head.
27: I assume we did the masturbation guidance thing on that (but I don't recall).
Hey, wait a minute. Did one of you guys kiss my mom? ARE YOU GOING TO BE MY NEW DAD!? OHMYGODOHMYGODOHMYGOD!!!! IT'S LIKE CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!!!
To counteract the Moby evil earwurms:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tHDYzPCfo-Q&feature=player_embedded
OH MY GOD! I! AM! SO! EXCITED!!!!! Pleasepleaseplease let it be apostropher. No, no, I hope it's nosflow. No, wait, I mean Stormcrow!
OH GOD, I JUST CAN'T DECIDE WHICH ONE WOULD BE THE BEST. Uh oh, I just peed a little.
78s are a much better medium than CDs. If they're treated ok (i.e. not snapped in half), 78s play the same 75 years later, whereas lots of CDs start skipping if you breathe on them. Also you can't wind up a CD player and that's just boring.
And now I hear it too. Thanks, thanks a lot.
Now I have Neko Case in my head. (Yes, yes, and Prince Albert in a can, and I plan to let them both out.)
re: 33
I suppose. I don't have any 78s [and can't play them], but I have 50 year old 33s that play absolutely fine and I guess 78s are more robust.
Or maybe not. More brittle, but are they more resistant to scratching?
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Let me see
Abdullah of Jordan sacks cabinet
2 million gather in Cairo
Obama tries to call El Baradei, ElB says why should I talk to that fascist clown?
"...the Obama administration is scrambling to figure out whether he is someone with whom the United States can deal." ...The people on the street think that Obama might be able to deal with ElB, and they don't like the idea. ElB gotta be careful.
Andrew Cuomo wants to fuck over the people of New York for the bankers. Evil or stupid?
Time for Americans to bring down our regime(s). One party, the rich people's party. One solution, world revolution.
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Maybe you could all take turns being my new dad!
Just the faster rotation should make them more robust, shouldn't it? The damage of the scratch takes less time to pass?
36: I'm not entirely serious but yes, they seem fairly scratch resistant. They're made of shellac, which I suppose is pretty durable. But also yeah they are brittle. I've broken plenty of them.
If they're treated ok (i.e. not snapped in half), 78s play the same 75 years later, whereas lots of CDs start skipping if you breathe on them.
Are albums really more durable than CDs? That surprises me, although I guess I don't know. I've definitely seen my share of scratched vinyl, and I was under the impression that scratching them was actually pretty easy (moreso than CDs). I've had CDs become unplayable, but in my experience they've usually endured abuse pretty well. Ignorantly, I guess I'd expect either of them to last 75 years if treated well.
(CD players, on the other hand, seem to go wonky after a decade, tops. I can't imagine anyone will have one 75 years from now that's still in working order. But then again almost everything is made more disposably these days than it was 50 years ago, so the record players I'm comparing the CD players against might be benefitting from that general trend. A new record player bought today might be no more durable than a typical CD player--I have no idea.)
I'd expect either of them to last 75 years if treated well
The first CDs I bought in college are now starting to go bad, with little spots of the metallic coating starting to disintegrate. These mostly haven't been out of their cases in a decade or more.
re: 42
I expect it's easier to degrade the audio quality on vinyl than CD without rendering them unplayable. I've had my fair share of CDs that have become completely unplayable over the years, but it's more all or nothing. They either skip a lot or completely fail to play, or they play fine.
Looking at wiki 78s are more resistant to scratching [it's a harder material] but brittle and prone to breaking, when compared to 33s. I've never tried playing 78s, though, as I'd need an entirely new record player, fitted with a different kind of stylus.
re: 42.2
I expect it'd be hard to compare. Most record players sold these days are probably made to a higher price point than the average CD player sold. Although I imagine that as fewer and fewer CD players are sold [replaced by DVD and bluray players] the average CD player sold will become more of a higher priced item, too.
Ignorantly, I guess I'd expect either of them to last 75 years if treated well.
CDs definitely won't. The aluminum layer will eventually oxidize and then it'll be useless. Vinyl will last basically forever if stored correctly (on its side somewhere cool and dry)
At one level I understand the vinyl thing, but it also makes me imagine a balding man with a Van Dyke beard, jacket and goatee patiently explaining the superlative qualities of his massively expensive sound system to the strains of soft jazz in the background ... forever.
I've never tried playing 78s, though, as I'd need an entirely new record player, fitted with a different kind of stylus.
Oh but that's half the fun. Many of them are lovely pieces of furniture. I just have a simple Brunswick suitcase model because I live in a large broom closet.
Get your fucking spy cameras out of my living room, Stormcrow.
Also, how many beards does one guy need?
re: 46
Heheheh. Uncanny.
re: 47
Yeah. I can't imagine that flying with my wife, though, not unless I somehow magically win the lottery and buy a house with a room for those kinds of toys.
CDs definitely won't. The aluminum layer will eventually oxidize and then it'll be useless.
Interesting. Is the problem just oxidization? It might help to store them in a vacuum, with oxygen absorbers.
I got to the point where if I wanted to hear a song of a CD on the living room shelf, I was as likely to torrent a CD I already owned from my seat at my computer than get up and get it.
That helped me decide that it was time to rip my collection. The discs are in storage now but I suspect that they won't come with the next time I move. Hopefully soon we'll all own everything in the cloud soon.
My CD changer had a nice 15-year run.
how many beards does one guy need?
0.5, if you're willing to share.
I haven't played an actual CD in years, although I still buy them. I just rip them and stick the CDs in a cupboard. I have (cheap) streamer to stream the music from the computer, so I don't have to have a computer in the living room.
Maybe we could go outside and throw the baseball around some, Dad? And then you can help me pick out my pajamas (I don't call them PJs any more because I'm a big boy now!) and read me a story?
This is going to be THE BEST!
26: I just have shitty taste, but I'm trying to own it.
49: Also, how many beards does one guy need?
Oops. Believe it or not that was supposed to be "jacket and turtleneck" not "goatee". The rare pan-animal descriptor typo.
Also, I like the crusts cut off of my sandwiches. And Strawberry Yoo-hoo! Mmmm, yum!
Thanks, ttaM! Today is going to be awesome! I can just feel it!
Now I have Neko Case in my head
Sure, but are your 12-pound balls running?
Aww, rats! Mom says you guys can't come over until next week because the /b/ guys are here for the rest of the week. They're okay and all because they always ask me about Mudkips (which I LOVE) and then we all laugh together, but they're not really daddy material. Not like you guys. You guys are--wait for it--superlative and exceptional!
Ha ha ha, I fooled you! You thought I was going to say best, but I have a thesaurus! The Language Log guys brought it for me! They're the second best!
This post is just your way of announcing that you haven't listened to any of the mix CDs isn't it?
As most of you know, I like CDs as a medium, but I'm not sure I can make a good argument in their favor. I have not had the problem that apostropher describes of CDs de-laminating, but I do find that many early CDs (pre-1990?) are poorly mastered and that the various re-masters that get released can improve things (if they aren't just tweaked to be LOUD).
Yeah, re: mastering. I think a lot of the things that people who like vinyl savour about albums are often a factor of the ways in which fashions and styles in mastering come and go rather than a factor of the medium itself.
Speaking of which, nick, did you read Perfecting Sound Forever?
"My mini victrola is the only piece of "modern" equipment I'll touch."
CDs still shine in the fever-dreams of record company executives, reminding them of the lost days of employment, wealth, and 16.99 individual sales, but I fear they are close to lost forever.
I love vinyl (mmm ... vinyl) and the vinyl renaissance, but I don't have the space to keep crates of records around. I like Mp3s, but I'm not about to buy Mp3s; I always worry about losing everything in a crash and I listen to music on a CD player, so I have to burn them anyway. Which leaves CDs: tangibly collectible, easier to store, longer lasting, fine to reasonable sound quality. I only buy vinyl if it's something I think I'll play publicly; I buy CDs for listening at home or in a car; and I acquire Mp3s to hear music that I might only want to hear once or I can't get on CD.
My oldest CDs have crossed the 20 year mark now and they still play fine. I doubt they'll be around in another 20, but I might not be either.
I still almost always buy CD's rather than digital. The price is about the same, varying by album and unless the digital is clearly cheaper I'll always buy the shiny thing. There's the automatic backup thing, better sound quality, and inertia. I spent New Year's Eve over at a place which had several walls covered with packed CD shelves, many thousands in all, plus another big wall full of vinyl. 99.9% classical. All that with a massive sound system with speakers the size of good sized dressers and multiple amps for each. The owners find the very idea of digital music to be offensive. Then again they've never owned a TV.
Hopefully soon we'll all own everything pay monthly fees, forever and ever, to rent access to everything in the cloud.
FTFY.
packed CD shelves,... The owners find the very idea of digital music to be offensive.
They must be wracked with self-loathing.
I still almost always buy CD's rather than digital.
You buy analogue CDs?
I guess my mind has switched all physical formats into the general non-digital/old fashioned category.
You know who never listened to digital music? ... Hitler.
If you could go back in time, would you give Hilter and MP3 player?
Speaking of which, nick, did you read Perfecting Sound Forever?
I did, and I've been meaning to write something about it.
In brief, I enjoyed it, in particular I thought that the chapters about Synthesizers and about the Loudness Wars were both particularly good.
I found the prose style a little trying at times. You can tell that he's a journalist, and his writing was occasionally a little breathless, but it was also clear that he'd done his research. Though I also thought that he wrote about pop music with much more familiarity than anything else.
I would still recommend Repeated Takes as an usefully different perspective.
The part of the book that I found least convincing (but in an entertainingly provocative way) was his analog evangelism.
I'm biased, of course.
I thought he did a good job of describing how the initial promises of increased fidelity in digital recordings aren't met by pop music but he ignores the fact that there are people producing high quality digital recordings (for example).
If his basis for analog sound is based on high end analog enthusiasts it seems slightly unfair to compare that to modestly above-average digital systems playing average recordings (and am mis-characterizing him somewhat ).
Think about movies. People will occasionally remark that classic and foreign movies seem to be of much higher average quality than standard Hollywood releases. But the response to that has to be that we only watch a pre-selected subset of foreign and older movies and so the comparison isn't even. I feel like he does a little bit of that in his comparison of digital and analog recordings.
Yeah, even though I'm broadly sympathetic to people who are pro-vinyl -- I have a nice turntable and buy records myself -- I thought his analogue evangelism was embarrassing, tbh. I would have been more interesting in learning more about the differences in process (rather than the final medium on which the music is delivered). Which he covers, but not as much as I'd like. It's striking how, for example, LPs from the very birth of stereophonic recording, things made within a year or two of the 33.3r rpm stereo record being available are still among the benchmarks.
Speaking of which, nick, did you read Perfecting Sound Forever?
Dunno if I mentioned this, but I picked it up at your recommendation. Good book, although it felt a little rushed at the end.
I have a standup acoustic 78 player. It is surprisingly loud. You can ruin records pretty easy if you don't change needles enough; like once every few plays. i ruined this record:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aHKCPorcBvk
It was my kids favorite.
78s are more robust.
Call me precious: I don't mind
78s are hard to find
Just can't get the shellac since the war.
The vinyl-plus-download option seems increasingly popular (I was just reading yesterday about some coveted-by-me release that opts for it). Alas! All too often one has little control over the format of the downloads.
To the OP (Do high school kids even use CDs$foo anymore?): $foo = wear letterman's jackets?
if i buy music, i'll try to buy cd from the artist. amazon doesn't have lossless audio. usually i just buy tshirts, as i don't want any money going to the label.
This post is just your way of announcing that you haven't listened to any of the mix CDs isn't it?
Actually, mine finally showed up on Saturday, three weeks to the day since Ryan sent them. From, like, 70 miles away.
again, I know we're meant to be ignoring, but Mr. Shore has really been in top form lately. kudos!
Were we supposed to ignore Pauly Shore or traffic signals? I keep getting confused.
44
... Although I imagine that as fewer and fewer CD players are sold [replaced by DVD and bluray players] the average CD player sold will become more of a higher priced item, too.
Are CD only players still made anymore? I had to replace mine a few years ago and there were still a few CD only players around but the combined DVD/CD players were about the same price and I expected them to completely take over.
64
As most of you know, I like CDs as a medium ...
The problem with CDs is they never updated the format. With DVD density and modern compression algorithms you should be able to buy a disc with many times (100?, 1000?) as much music.
91: You could burn the CD as an MP3 CD (or DVD), but you'll have to have a player that can read that format. It's an increasingly common feature but not on every CD/DVD player. And then you have 600 songs on a single disc. (Good luck finding that one song you want to hear.)
With DVD density and modern compression algorithms you should be able to buy a disc with many times (100?, 1000?) as much music.
I tend to think the length of CDs is already a problem, since bands sometimes feel the need to produce 70 minutes of new music of which at most 30 is worth listening to.