CDs, downloads, streaming

[CallMePaul]

Parrott...good choice....but are we in download only territory again? I may have mis-heard.

When, when, when will the BAL editor ask reviewers not to consider recordings available only as downloads? Sadly, most R3 listeners are not tech-savvy twenty-somethings who download everything and don't have a CD player and decent speakers. The sound quality of all downloads I have heard will not persuade me to go down that route! The quality of sound from any source played through ear-buds is atrocious and in any case MP3 compresses the source too much to allow much of the detail in classical recordings to be heard. Please, reviewers, you are reviewing for CD Review, not Download Review!

[Nick Armstrong]

When, when, when will the BAL editor ask reviewers not to consider recordings available only as downloads? Sadly, most R3 listeners mare not tech-savvy twenty-somethings who download everything and don't have a CD player and decent speakers. The sound quality of all downloads I have heard will not persuade me to go down that route! The quality of sound from any source played through ear-buds is atrocious and in any case MP3 compresses the source too much to allow much of the detail in classical recording s to be heard. Please, reviewers, you are reviewing for [B][I]cd Review[B][I], not [B][I]Download Review[B][I]!

I'd take issue with you about that, to the extent that I think your rationale only gives a small part of the actual picture. I'm not a 'twenty-something', I'm not particularly tech-savvy...I have a CD player and decent speakers.... and yet I have for some time relied more on downloads than CDs, and haven't used 'ear buds' for ages.

It's a relatively cheap and simple matter these days to play downloads through my main hifi - and the price of downloads which are superior to MP3 is equivalent to CD, with absolutely no compromise on sound. I'm pretty picky when it comes to sound quality: I can not detect any lack of quality when I listen to downloaded music of suitable audio quality through my hifi.

I would regard a review that ignored a superb recording/performance on the sole ground that it was available by download only, as being severely deficient.

[ardcarp]

I'm afraid, Calibs, I'm with CMcP on this one. I don't like having to rely on the dodgy laptops, i-pads, i-pods, i-Paqa, etc, which seem to proliferate in our house along with the teenagers, none of which...and I refer mainly to the gadgets....is reliable. When CDs bow out (as surely they will) and music is supplied mainly on memory sticks (or whatever they're called) we shall no doubt have equipment dedicated to playing them. Until then.......

[teamsaint]

I'm afraid, Calibs, I'm with CMcP on this one. I don't like having to rely on the dodgy laptops, i-pads, i-pods, i-Paqa, etc, which seem to proliferate in our house along with the teenagers, none of which...and I refer mainly to the gadgets....is reliable. When CDs bow out (as surely they will) and music is supplied mainly on memory sticks (or whatever they're called) we shall no doubt have equipment dedicated to playing them. Until then.......

I'm not sure physical media will bow out, and there are good reasons not to let them.


physical books aren't in danger of disappearing, even if sales are static at best.

[richardfinegold]

When, when, when will the BAL editor ask reviewers not to consider recordings available only as downloads? Sadly, most R3 listeners mare not tech-savvy twenty-somethings who download everything and don't have a CD player and decent speakers. The sound quality of all downloads I have heard will not persuade me to go down that route! The quality of sound from any source played through ear-buds is atrocious and in any case MP3 compresses the source too much to allow much of the detail in classical recording s to be heard. Please, reviewers, you are reviewing for [B][I]cd Review[B][I], not [B][I]Download Review[B][I]!

I agree with the sentiment, CMP, but current format availability is a labile thing. Next week a download only may reappear on CD, or a version on CD may no longer be available in that format.
Fwiw, download sales are now in decline, much as CDs have been. Streaming will be the ultimate format.

[ardcarp]

Streaming will be the ultimate format.

....and dependent on our creaky broadband connection? And paying each time you want to hear something? Or will the brave new world be both bullet-proof and free?

[Nick Armstrong]

Fwiw, download sales are now in decline, much as CDs have been. Streaming will be the ultimate format.

Yes - had a guest staying last night who is a big consumer of music, had the first iPod I ever saw shortly after it was launched etc... I learnt that the main iPod, the 160GB 'classic', has now been discontinued by Apple as fewer and fewer people want that amount of storage any more - 4G streaming from Spotify (or similar) to iPhone (or similar) is now widely preferred.

[ardcarp]

It's scary how quickly things become obsolete. It only seems yesterday that my g-kids were plugged into mini-ipods. As you say, Calibs, phones do everything....even make phone calls. A new one seems obligatory (for everyone except me) at least once a year. I'm sure i-phone 8 is only just around the corner, while sundry i-pods have joined the redundant e-clutter languishing in forgotten drawers.

It seems CDs have rather bucked the trend. It's quite re-assuring that they go round and round just like records used to. Maybe Compact Cylinders will be next?

[Cockney Sparrow]

I do stream Downloads to my audio system - like Caliban using Airport Express. I also have a CD player as I have many CDs as well. Recently I've used a free trial of Google's "Play Music" streaming service - much like Spotify and in high bit rate mp3 (320kbs). I can't say I've done an exhaustive survey, but it seems to have a good and wide selection of works and interpreters - for example it has Avie/Bychkov recordings including his Mahler 3 which is nla, and the Chandos Locke Brass Ensemble Richard Strauss Disc (for the Festmusik Der Stadt Vien, one of my audio demo test tracks). In fact it has most of my test discs as well as Folk/roots and of course popular music too. When looking for a recording of Handel's Dixit Dominus I could compare at least 4 versions. I could go on........very convenient and good value at £120 a year, for ruling out recordings as well. Sadly the Solti Missa Solemnis on LPO live will remain something I listen to (for soloists) only on Google or Naxos Music Library as sadly I can't tolerate the congested/distorted chorus sound.

The weakness is no booklets and limited information about Label and performers (unless you pick up the clues from the album cover thumbnail). And yes, dependent on internet service - but I had no dropouts playing music on the train from Kings Cross to Edinburgh.

I'm also astonished by the range of labels on Naxos Music Library (available through my library membership) but am awaiting assistance from NML on accessing their app on my Android phone. Although the bitrate is supposed to be low (under 100kbs) I find the quality of sound surprisingly good. So yes - streaming is great - but I do think partly this is because I know the landscape of labels / performers . works and know where to look for the full information.

[ardcarp]

It doesn't sound so bad if you just have to pay a one-off annual fee for 'all you can eat'. But:

And yes, dependent on internet service - but I had no dropouts playing music on the train from Kings Cross to Edinburgh.

...try doing it from Waterloo to Exeter, or indeed anywhere in Somerset, Devon and Cornwall where network coverage (or rather lack of it) is scandalous. In my daily travels in this area, I am within phone signal only 20% of the time...and most of that isn't 3G.

[Don Petter]

It doesn't sound so bad if you just have to pay a one-off annual fee for 'all you can eat'.

Excuse my ignorance of modern mobile services (all mine can do is phone and text, which suits me fine), but don't you have to pay a second time, to the phone provider for data access?

[teamsaint]

K

It's scary how quickly things become obsolete. It only seems yesterday that my g-kids were plugged into mini-ipods. As you say, Calibs, phones do everything....even make phone calls. A new one seems obligatory (for everyone except me) at least once a year. I'm sure i-phone 8 is only just around the corner, while sundry i-pods have joined the redundant e-clutter languishing in forgotten drawers.

It seems CDs have rather bucked the trend. It's quite re-assuring that they go round and round just like records used to. Maybe Compact Cylinders will be next?

I'm not really sure they have in fact bucked the trend. My suspicion is that their continued presence is very much part of a trend.I think that we are told what trends are, and follow them if they suit, or we are foolish enough to follow them even if they dont suit us. Physical books still account for the vast bulk of book sales, despite low price e versions of many titles, and terrific user friendly digital platforms.

I was talking to a colleague today whose 18 year old son is starting to buy and listen to his music in physical media,because he prefers it.
Streaming , and online access to music are here to stay. But the lesson of the last 30 years is surely that the diversity of media is actually increasing,and it is up to consumers to encourage and use this diversity.

Books are now multi platform products, and often in a healthy way, so there is no reason at all why music , and music consumers, shouldnt similarly benefit .
IMO, things like amazon Autorip are a glimpse of the future, ( with its added value aspect)and probably one that consumers like, and would like to see replicated elsewhere.

Streaming and online access is a great tool, but it is, and will remain, far from a catch all and complete solution for music consumers.

Downloads likewise are here to stay, but IMO they will only be part of the music companies and artists offer in the future.

[ardcarp]

Reassuring to hear all that, teamsaint. I might add that there is a certain pleasure to be had in the ownership of a book or a CD and in seeing much-loved physical entities ranged, however haphazardly, on the shelves. There is also certainty in concrete things. For instance we have favourite Christmas records and CDs which are given a spin every year. An i-cloud, as a real cloud, might shed contents without warning.

[ardcarp]

Excuse my ignorance of modern mobile services (all mine can do is phone and text, which suits me fine), but don't you have to pay a second time, to the phone provider for data access?

DP, my family would be doubled up with mirth if they knew I were answering a technical question. Smart phones connect to wifi when it's available (eg at home) which is 'free'. When no wifi is available they do indeed get data via the mobile phone network, but most people these days have a contract which includes pretty large amounts of data (e.g. 4GB per month) or even 'all you can eat', which means you don't have to count the pennies when surfing the net, downloading music, etc.

Mrs Ardcarp is the proud owner of an i-phone...and it's amazing. But we only need one between us. Like you, I still carry a basic brick.

[Don Petter]

Like you, I still carry a basic brick.

Brick! Brick!!

I'll have you know I can lift mine in one hand (for short periods, anyway).

[PS Thanks for the technical update.]