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Why play a music CD? No ads, no privacy terrors, no algorithms

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171–180 of 452 posts

Re: Why play a music CD? No ads, no privacy terrors, no algorithms

#171
post #2

I buy CDs occasionally and rip them, but it's 2019, there's no real need to amass a CD collection (unless you want to). For most of my needs, spotify works out. I don't mind paying $10/mo since I use the offline listening so much. I only buy and rip CDs for my own collection if I -really- like that album or a song on it, and a web download isn't available. Occasionally spotify doesn't have a very specific version of…

I think CDs are still a very good option when you think about how you intend to maintain your digital collection in the next 30 years. CDs I bought in the early 90s are there, in a box. I'd like to see people's iTunes collections in 30 years... Yes, I know that CDs have a shelf-life and that real long term storage would involve backing them up. But CDs still seem a better option than the current alternatives. Edit: T…

Pressed CDs do quite well over time if you keep them in a dry and cool place. I do think finding optical drives will be the rub, they are already becoming niche products. With SSD prices as they are, it’s not hard to imagine a world without SATA connectors before too long. It’s really hard to imagine that there won’t be some Asian company selling optical drives with usb-x connectors or something but I expect people thought that about various floppy disks over the years too. And then there is the software to read and rip it, probably not super difficult but you never know.

There is an awful lot of music simply not streamed, if you live near a college town or in any city of say 80,000 people then there probably some local bands, chances are good they’ve recorded some stuff and outside of that run of CDs, the music is nowhere else. It’s not like we’re losing part of the Beatles catalog exactly but if you’ve bonded and heard that band a few times it might be meaningful.

Re: Why play a music CD? No ads, no privacy terrors, no algorithms

#173
post #158

Where are my Rockbox users at? My tiny plastic Sansa Clip+ MP3 player has been going for years, I'd be nothing without it. >10hrs playback, supports >128 GB microSD, plays OGG/FLAC/MP3/AAC/anything. The Rockbox firmware is still being developed, albeit at a slow pace. By far the best combination of hardware+firmware I own. Unlikely to replace it for another few years. Sadly not produced any more :(

Found my circa 2007-2008ish Sansa the other day. Gave me that wonderful feeling "this was a quality purchase" that only seems to come along every so often. The default firmware was actually pretty solid, but I had Rockbox installed a week after buying it.

Re: Why play a music CD? No ads, no privacy terrors, no algorithms

#174
post #62
post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I can not find the songs only alternate versions from other people who made a cover version of the song. Try some jazz like Coltrane or Miles Davis. It seems they never stoped issuing albums - remastered, Coltrane for lovers, Miles for cooking. It is next to impossible to find original album or remastered original. Yesterday on Youtube Music oldest Coltrane album was from 2015.

"or" here really simplifies things. Nowadays almost every 70s-90s album on streaming services is a remaster with overloaded levels and clippings. One has to resort to torrent sites to find rips from original CDs or vinyls.

This[0] is a good resource if you're interested in the dynamic range of remasters.

If you listen to anything that falls into the "progressive" genre, this[1] channel may interest you. Only high-dynamic-range versions of albums, often ripped from vinyl. Steven Wilson has been mixing everything he can get his hands on and most of it is both brilliant and faithful.

[0]http://dr.loudness-war.info/

[1]https://m.youtube.com/channel/UCXL-7ZVrR7wf7Nf5-FcUVRw/about

Re: Why play a music CD? No ads, no privacy terrors, no algorithms

#175
post #158

Where are my Rockbox users at? My tiny plastic Sansa Clip+ MP3 player has been going for years, I'd be nothing without it. >10hrs playback, supports >128 GB microSD, plays OGG/FLAC/MP3/AAC/anything. The Rockbox firmware is still being developed, albeit at a slow pace. By far the best combination of hardware+firmware I own. Unlikely to replace it for another few years. Sadly not produced any more :(

Just today I thought how much I appreciate that exact setup and that I should donate considerable money to the project.

So hereby I pledge that I will send 100 dollars this weekend. This is not even 2 dollars per months that this project provided me with a perfect portable media player setup.

Who's with me?

Re: Why play a music CD? No ads, no privacy terrors, no algorithms

#176
post #2

I buy CDs occasionally and rip them, but it's 2019, there's no real need to amass a CD collection (unless you want to). For most of my needs, spotify works out. I don't mind paying $10/mo since I use the offline listening so much. I only buy and rip CDs for my own collection if I -really- like that album or a song on it, and a web download isn't available. Occasionally spotify doesn't have a very specific version of…

I think CDs are still a very good option when you think about how you intend to maintain your digital collection in the next 30 years. CDs I bought in the early 90s are there, in a box. I'd like to see people's iTunes collections in 30 years... Yes, I know that CDs have a shelf-life and that real long term storage would involve backing them up. But CDs still seem a better option than the current alternatives. Edit: T…

>But for a local iTunes library you need IT admin skills to manage it...

If we're talking actual files, it's just basic file management skills, and maybe some simple knowledge of ripping (assuming we're not taking the EAC lossless route). Almost everyone in my office (which are mainly non-tech people) have the former.

>...how are people going to keep that over 30 years?

It's way more likely someone's going to burgle my remaining CDs than they are to destroy every instance of my virtual collection.

Re: Why play a music CD? No ads, no privacy terrors, no algorithms

#177
post #103
post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Coltrane for lovers, Miles for cooking. And programming?

Personally, Goa works for me. Try Astral Projection, Hallucinogen. https://ektoplazm.com/ is a great place to start sampling this type of music for free.

I generally like throwing on di.fm while working, but have started to really dislike commercial breaks.

Re: Why play a music CD? No ads, no privacy terrors, no algorithms

#178
I have been buying CDs lately but only because of market irrationalities - bizzarely at times CD + autoripped MP3s are cheaper than just downloading. I can only assume this bizzare inefficency is related to someone's bonuses related to disc sale metrics or accounting and logistics which encourage reducing unsold stock over the effectively infinite downloads.

Re: Why play a music CD? No ads, no privacy terrors, no algorithms

#180
post #2

I buy CDs occasionally and rip them, but it's 2019, there's no real need to amass a CD collection (unless you want to). For most of my needs, spotify works out. I don't mind paying $10/mo since I use the offline listening so much. I only buy and rip CDs for my own collection if I -really- like that album or a song on it, and a web download isn't available. Occasionally spotify doesn't have a very specific version of…

While we're on the topic of prog, Spotify also has nothing by Henry Cow or Fred Frith in general, which combined with the lack of King Crimson is a dealbreaker for me.

Totally understand your pain :| They've recently added some very hard to find prog albums there, like Planet X, Andy West, Liquid Tension Experiment, Mahavishnu Orchestra, etc, but that obviously depends on what you like.

I dislike renting in general, especially something so important like access to music, but the only reason I do it in this case is indeed the availability of some hard to find rarities.

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