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

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

#421

Post by JudgeWapner »

Mediterraneo10 wrote: post #44

Another reason CDs are still worth considering: classical music and, to a lesser extent, jazz CDs often feature extensive and informative liner notes that have never been posted online anywhere. I myself typically rip all my purchases to FLAC immediately and then I listen through my media centre, so I often forget that I have the original physical release there on the shelf, but when I do go back and look at that CD…

Also because classical doesn't fit the CDDB style metadata format very well. The peformer and composer aren't the same person, and it's common to have many copies of the same piece, say a symphony performed by different orchestras at different dates. It just doesn't lend itself to a computer filesystem that well.

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

#422

Post by skinnymuch »

aidenn0 wrote: post #399
skinnymuch wrote: post #301

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Spotify has never recommended a typical “top 40” mainstream artist to me. I looked at the top 100 Billboard list and while I recognize most of the artists, I don’t recognize any of the songs or albums since i don’t listen to those artists. The only exception is that I have listened to Offset’s songs recently. The algo isn’t the best, but it’s not awful or just giving you the most popular music around. For example the…

That's weird because for the first 6 weeks or so my "Discover Weekly" was all hits by bands I already knew. It did fairly quickly transition to deeper cuts and more obscure artists though.

Perhaps they did. I probably shouldn’t have been so certain in my wording. I likely did not check the Spotify playlists when I first got the service. It’s been a while now.

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

#423

Post by munmaek »

Crinus wrote: post #7
munmaek wrote: 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 don't buy through itunes because of drm iTunes does not have DRM and is the only reason i buy albums through them: after i download the album, i have a bunch of m4a files i can play with any player i want, in any device i want and store on my own external drive.

It looks like itunes has changed its ways in that regard.

However m4a files are lossy and thus not desirable for me. If I purchase music I want it in flac/alac format because I can transcode it to say, m4a if I need to in the future, or any other format. You can't do that with m4a without a degradation in quality.

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

#424

Post by munmaek »

Nextgrid wrote: post #8
munmaek wrote: 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…

Just wondering how you manage Spotify + your own music collection. Is there an app that can play both Spotify and imported files and present them in a single UI? At the moment I can’t enjoy anything that’s not on Spotify simply because I wouldn’t be able to listen to them really. I have hours of music on Spotify playlists and I would only need maybe a dozen of songs that aren’t on there, so manually switching apps fo…

I just use separate apps. I generally use spotify but occasionally I'll just play my local songs via vlc or itunes.

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

#425

Post by voldacar »

poelzi wrote: post #270
rchaud wrote: post #261

I'm definitely on board with physical media. Almost all the vinyl I've bought comes with a download code anyway, and album artwork shines on a 12" x 12" canvas much more than it ever could on the tiny thumbnail you get on a music player app. That being said, indie music stores like Bandcamp are digital only, but offer one-click DRM-free MP3 downloads for purchased songs/albums. The UX is focused on buying music first…

Badcamp has physical media as well. It's up to the artist to produce and deliver them. Since I find mp3 unacceptable audio quality, especially on PA sound systems, I collect flac only. Many shops have a shitty policy on lossless, thanks bandcamp for being proper.

Agreed. No flac = no buy

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

#426

Post by munmaek »

comboy wrote: post #20
munmaek wrote: 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…

For all flac lovers: http://abx.digitalfeed.net/ I do understand the sentiment though.

As I noted, my reason for flac/alac is for transcoding purposes. I mainly just transcode them to mp3 currently and play them in itunes anyways, but I have the freedom to transcode to any format in the future without a degradation in quality. You can't do that with lossy formats like mp3.

Double blind tests show that 320kbp/s mp3s are indistinguishable from flacs, barring very poor masters or some extreme edge cases. For a lot of music you could get away with 256kbp/s probably, but it doesn't cost you anything to just go with 320kbp/s.

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

#427

Post by wyclif »

rchaud wrote: post #261

I'm definitely on board with physical media. Almost all the vinyl I've bought comes with a download code anyway, and album artwork shines on a 12" x 12" canvas much more than it ever could on the tiny thumbnail you get on a music player app. That being said, indie music stores like Bandcamp are digital only, but offer one-click DRM-free MP3 downloads for purchased songs/albums. The UX is focused on buying music first…

As far as I can tell, Last.fm is still quite active, but not as much as it was at its peak. I wonder if that's what you meant, or something else. Anyway, as far as I'm concerned it's active: https://www.last.fm/user/wyclif

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

#428

Post by munmaek »

ubermonkey wrote: post #255
Crinus wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I don't buy through itunes because of drm iTunes does not have DRM and is the only reason i buy albums through them: after i download the album, i have a bunch of m4a files i can play with any player i want, in any device i want and store on my own external drive.

It's amazing to me that people still think iTunes music has DRM.

It makes sense to me. I evaluated it years ago (when it did have DRM), and simply moved onto different solutions. I never had a need to re-evaluate itunes because I haven't had any issue with the alternatives.

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

#429

Post by GenghisSean »

JohnFen wrote: post #372
kstenerud wrote: post #225

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Same way I have for the past 30 years. I listen from time to time to stations that play the kind of music I like. Sometimes I check out various places that have top 100 charts. If I find something I like, I go get it and add it to my collection. Rerun the script and resync my devices.

> I listen from time to time to stations that play the kind of music I like. You're lucky! In my area, there are no such stations. All of the stations are essentially top 40 (in each of the major genres -- top 40 country, top 40 pop, etc.), talk, and sports. There's nothing in any of those for me.

Internet radio may be able to solve your problem. Music podcasts, and internet radio sites/apps mean geographic location is no longer the limiting factor for what you can listen to.

There are big names like iHeartRadio and SlackerRadio but lots of smaller radio stations have internet streams and/or apps. Podcasts are nice because they can focus on niche genres or provide more information about artists/releases. Mixcloud is one of my favorite sites for listening to radio shows.

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

#430

Post by JohnFen »

GenghisSean wrote: post #429
JohnFen wrote: post #372

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I listen from time to time to stations that play the kind of music I like. You're lucky! In my area, there are no such stations. All of the stations are essentially top 40 (in each of the major genres -- top 40 country, top 40 pop, etc.), talk, and sports. There's nothing in any of those for me.

Internet radio may be able to solve your problem. Music podcasts, and internet radio sites/apps mean geographic location is no longer the limiting factor for what you can listen to. There are big names like iHeartRadio and SlackerRadio but lots of smaller radio stations have internet streams and/or apps. Podcasts are nice because they can focus on niche genres or provide more information about artists/releases. Mixcl…

> Internet radio may be able to solve your problem

It's a problem that I've solved long ago, really. Internet streaming services bring their own set of problems, so I don't use them.

I do listen to podcasts (downloaded, not streamed), but not for music.

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