The CD lives on

[Dave2002]

I actually increased my CD collection considerably in recent months - at 200+ classical discs still an infant, compared to others here, but I prefer them to downloads and streaming. I've had some devastating incidents of loosing data by hardware failure - if a CD breaks down, thats 70 Minutes of music lost. If a 3 TB external hard drive fails, however ... As for streaming, I like to own what I like, and I generally have little trust in companies providing a service I like as long as I like.

Seconded, or thirded ....

The technique of streaming to screen CDs for purchase or not sometimes works, but not always. So tonight I clicked on buy for the Dennis Russel Davis Haydn set having failed to find it on a streaming site. Also, the quality is usually better - though some expensive downloads may actually be better than the CDs - even though I've not experienced that myself.

[visualnickmos]

I actually increased my CD collection considerably in recent months - at 200+ classical discs still an infant, compared to others here, but I prefer them to downloads and streaming. I've had some devastating incidents of loosing data by hardware failure - if a CD breaks down, thats 70 Minutes of music lost. If a 3 TB external hard drive fails, however ... As for streaming, I like to own what I like, and I generally have little trust in companies providing a service I like as long as I like.

Yep - that's exactly it. A CD collection is the musical equal and equivalent of a book collection. It's nice to browse one's shelves. You can't browse a machine.

[HighlandDougie]

Seconded, or thirded ....

The technique of streaming to screen CDs for purchase or not sometimes works, but not always. So tonight I clicked on buy for the Dennis Russel Davis Haydn set having failed to find it on a streaming site. Also, the quality is usually better - though some expensive downloads may actually be better than the CDs - even though I've not experienced that myself.

Eh? Not very difficult to find HD downloads from the likes of eclassical.com which are cheaper - and audibly superior (if you can't hear the difference there's something amiss with your ears) - than the equivalent CD on, say, Amazon. If you don't like the idea of downloading, fine, but don't sneer at the many people who do.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

If you don't like the idea of downloading, fine, but don't sneer at the many people who do.

Personally, I would never sneer at people who prefer downloads, but I do have issues with advertisers who fabricate their own version of the truth about CDs, in order to sell their wares to store downloads.

Not very difficult to find HD downloads from the likes of eclassical.com which are cheaper -

…except that getting nothing at all apart from permission to rearrange the molecules on the hard drive you'd already paid for, doesn't feel like much of a bargain.

[Dave2002]

Eh? Not very difficult to find HD downloads from the likes of eclassical.com which are cheaper - and audibly superior (if you can't hear the difference there's something amiss with your ears) - than the equivalent CD on, say, Amazon. If you don't like the idea of downloading, fine, but don't sneer at the many people who do.

I'm not going to argue with, or even sneer at anyone who can hear the difference between an HD download, or an SACD compared with a CD. My point was that, taking the Dennis Russell Davis box set as an example, I would expect the audio quality to be good, possibly good enough for most, and I think it works out at less than £1 per CD or CD equivalent. I doubt very much whether most HD downloads work out cheaper than that - possibly by a very significant margin. I don't think, on the whole, the streaming sites such as Spotify give comparable quality, but it is nevertheless possible to assess something of the audio quality and also the musical performances, where such performances are available for streaming.

I'm not sure that a comparison with video is truly valid, but I'll make it anyway. The video quality of some of the new 4k TV sets is stunning, compared with HD TVs. I particularly liked an LG OLED one, but Samsung have some great models too. I will concede that a so-called HD audio recording may sound better than a CD, but I think the quality differences on video are much more noticeable - though it probably depends on the particular video material being displayed. However, the new TVs are somewhat expensive, as well as large, so perhaps many people will stick with regular HD TV or even SD TVs for quite a while to come.

Cost and other factors are often significant for many people, and some CDs still offer good value, and are hopefully less vulnerable to being wiped out due to technical failures than other means of "acquiring" musical contant.

[Ferretfancy]

There's also the "tranny in the kitchen" syndrome, where quality of sound may be poor but the music can often still be enjoyed nevertheless. I draw the line at listening in the car though.

[Dave2002]

There's also the "tranny in the kitchen" syndrome, where quality of sound may be poor but the music can often still be enjoyed nevertheless. I draw the line at listening in the car though.

Some of us get "driven" to it, and when parked on the M25 or A3 for hours it may be the only sensible way to keep moderately sane - CFM and at times R3 (e.g In Tune on a bad day) being alternatives which can quickly be ruled out. The Nielsen 5 yesterday was really good - and I did hear it in my car. Despite the less than ideal circumstances, the performance was good enough for its qualities to come through.

[pastoralguy]

What I love about listening in the car is that I can turn the volume way up!!

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

What I love about listening in the car is that I can turn the volume way up!!

Oh, it's you is it?

[pastoralguy]

Oh, it's you is it?

Yep! 06.15 with the windows down and the finale of Sibelius 5 at full blast. WAKE THE BUGGERS UP!

[visualnickmos]

There's also the "tranny in the kitchen" syndrome, where quality of sound may be poor but the music can often still be enjoyed nevertheless. I draw the line at listening in the car though.

Never had that one, but a "go-go dancer boy" in the lounge - that's a different matter......

[visualnickmos]

Yep! 06.15 with the windows down and the finale of Sibelius 5 at full blast. WAKE THE BUGGERS UP!

Isn't there a story about a guy in USA getting pulled over for speeding, and saying to the cop
"Have you ever tried driving slowly to the last movement of Beethoven's 7th?"

[richardfinegold]

Yep - that's exactly it. A CD collection is the musical equal and equivalent of a book collection. It's nice to browse one's shelves. You can't browse a machine.

In general, I agree. Yet scanning your collection on a program such as Roon or Soolos can also be fun, and the links they provide can cause you to go off on interesting tangents.

[BBMmk2]

Richardfinegold was saying how how he uses Spotify, as I do, for hearing cds before buying and is a good way of doing so, as I prefer, really the physical aspect of these kind of objects.

[Ferretfancy]

Never had that one, but a "go-go dancer boy" in the lounge - that's a different matter......

You don't know what you've missed !