The Death of the CD?

[Dave2002]

Incidentally, hope that you are enjoying the Decca box - I'd forgotten just how astonishingly good the sound can be on those Kingsway Hall 1950s recordings. The Campoli Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto is simply a thing of wonder.
HD

HD

I think some of the recordings have been improved immensely, or maybe it's just my imagination. I remember the rave reviews of the Karajan Planets when it came out, and a friend of mine had it on LP. It was OK. I played the CD from the box recently, and I was fairly gobsmacked by the sound, as well as the performance.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

That VPO Karajan Planets is something quite special - far superior to that DG digital version with the BPO, recorded at a time when the company seemed to have forgotten what good sound was.

[Petrushka]

That VPO Karajan Planets is something quite special - far superior to that DG digital version with the BPO, recorded at a time when the company seemed to have forgotten what good sound was.

Yes, one of the great Decca recordings and agree it is superior to the BPO 1981 re-make. The terrifying sound of the tenor tuba/trumpet chase in Mars has never been bettered in my view and still, 51 years on, it sounds stunning.

[Dave2002]

Yes, one of the great Decca recordings and agree it is superior to the BPO 1981 re-make. The terrifying sound of the tenor tuba/trumpet chase in Mars has never been bettered in my view and still, 51 years on, it sounds stunning.

Though wasn't the earlier Karajan Planets also on DG? I'm thinking 1960s.

[DublinJimbo]

Another one to add to your list - assuming you aren't aware of it already...

https://www.hdtracks.com/index.php?f...lbums&genre=10

Unfortunately, HDtracks is US only.

[Barbirollians]

That VPO/Karajan Planets is coupled with Monteux's even more stunning Enigma on my Originals CD .

[Ferretfancy]

Barbirollians

That amazing Monteux Enigma was apparently only scheduled for recording at the last minute after other plans fell through! Not only that, but the work was new to Monteux when the recording was made, although he conducted it subsequently at the Royal Festival Hall. I think I'm right in saying that the programme included Victoria de los Angeles in Ravel's Sheherezade.
John Culshaw said that the Monteux Enigma was the best recording he had been involved with!

[Pilchardman]

As long as a physical product is available, I will buy it. I don't like listening to music on my computer, and I like having a real item I can put on a shelf. I really don't like downloading music at all. It doesn't feel to me like I own it that way, and I only have to burn it to disc anyway so that I can play it on my stereo, meaning I don't get a booklet, and have to listen to an MP3 (which, no matter how much I'm told otherwise, does sound different).

I so much dislike downloading music that if an album is too pricey or not available on Amazon, but they offer me the tracks as MP3s, I will put off buying the album until it comes down in price or becomes available again in physical form, even if that means years.

I have no intention of ever owning a Kindle either.

[Mahlerei]

Perhaps those of you who diss the Kindle don't realise what a terrific invention it is for people who are partially sighted. Being able to vary fonts and type sizes restores the pleasure of reading to those who find conventional print too small to see. I'd much rather have the paper and ink, but if it's the Kindle or nothing....

Off to bed (with my Kindle).

[Pilchardman]

Perhaps those of you who diss the Kindle don't realise what a terrific invention it is for people who are partially sighted.

I realise it's great for all sorts of people. I don't want it banned, I just don't want one myself.

[johnb]

Let us start with the river-all things begin with the river and we shall probably end there, no doubt-but let's wait and see how we go. Soon, in a minute or two, a young man will come and stand by the river's edge, here at Chelsea Bridge, in London.

There he is-look-stepping hesitantly down from a taxi, paying the driver, gazing around him .....
....
... He crosses the road, having no idea how his life is about the change in the next few hours-massively, irrevocably-no idea at all"

That is an extract from the Kindle screen in the long running advert that Amazon ran for the device some time ago.

That advert both astounded me and alienated me to the Kindle (not that I was ever likely to buy one). The text is from the first page of William Boyd's "Ordinary Thunderstorms", a novel which I knew. What was, to me, incredible was that it had converted all the dashes (and there are plenty) into hyphens - making the page extremely difficult to read!

I found it surprising that the ad was allowed to be run in the first place and then I was astonished that it continued so long. My only explanation was that Amazon didn't give a toss.

[DublinJimbo]

Despite an ongoing predilection for downloading, I do occasionally purchase CDs as well. For instance, thanks to glowing recommendations here, I ordered Charles Mackerras's 2009 Philharmonia recording of Tchaikovsky's Pathetique direct from Signum Records. In this case I got the physical CD because the recording wasn't available through any of my normal download sites. The first thing I did this morning after the package dropped through the letterbox was to import the CD into iTunes (in Apple Lossless format). The CD will now be stored away and will only function as a backup. As to the accompanying booklet, this was available to download as a PDF from the Signum site, so I'm not deprived in that respect.

Other instances when I would tend towards actual CDs would include recordings of vocal music for which the download option did not include the booklet, since I insist on having the words for vocal works. These days, though, my CD purchases tend to be limited to situations like this Mackerras recording — if it sounds really interesting and isn't available as a download of at least CD quality, then I'll buy the physical product.

In a roundabout way, I guess I'm saying that CDs remain a viable option even for inveterate download advocates such as myself. I doubt that they will die any time soon.

[Ferretfancy]

I'm more or less reconciled to the fact that as you get older you become invisible, but walking my high street now is a real hassle. People simply walk into you while gossiping on their mobiles, half of them apparently talking to themselves, the other half pushing gigantic baby buggies, often stopping suddenly to make a new call. People are simply beginning to forget that there is a real world. It's a bit like the early Michael Frayn novel, I can't remember its title, in which the population live in sealed pods filled with electronic games.
If I want to read On The Origin of Species or Plato's Symposium, or even PD James ( God forbid ! ) do I really want a text sandwiched between bits of plastic ? No thanks !

[Mahlerei]

Well, Ferret, when the peepers fail you may be grateful for the 'text sandwiched between pieces of plastic'. I know I am.

I do sympathise re the mobile phones; I'm often caught off-guard when I think someone's talking to me when in fact they're on a phone.

[johnb]

As all electronic devices eventually fail I have two silly questions - what is the expected life of a Kindle and what then happens to the 'books' you have bought and are stored on the gadget?