CDs Anonymous

[Beef Oven]

Cloughie

Yes, thankyou, had a very polite email back in a couple of hours, with promise of refund...and I am 3 movements or Bruckner 3 up !! Very good service from Amazon.

Dave2002. Thanks for the advice...I shall deffo look into these, and see if something suits.Need better laptop speakers to get anything out of this though. Cheers.

Teamsaint - laptop speakers. I got a pair of logitech for £50 a few years ago in Costco. Two of my friends heard them and immediatly went out and bought a pair. You might want to look at logitech if you want good speakers that don't break the bank

[Dave2002]

Teamsaint - laptop speakers. I got a pair of logitech for £50 a few years ago in Costco. Two of my friends heard them and immediatly went out and bought a pair. You might want to look at logitech if you want good speakers that don't break the bank

Beef Oven - you may be right. I have some Logitech kit, and it's reasonable.

Places like Richer Sounds sometimes (often?) have better deals on speakers, but then that will probably cause other problems, as it seems likely that most computers/laptops won't drive regular speakers without amplification or other assistance. At present there are these - http://www.richersounds.com/product/...0/whar-9.0-blk for under £40 - they have others from time to time. I'm not particularly recommending these, just pointing them out. I got 4 x Q Acoustics speakers for £80 a few years ago, and they're really good.

However, as I mentioned, driving them could be hard without amplification. There are some T amps available which should do the job, but the cheapest good one is around £50 - look for Amptastic. Then usually keen enthusiasts find that they can't get good results with the PC sound card, so either replace/augment the sound card, or else use a DAC and take the feed off either USB or SPDIF depending on model and the outputs of your computer. Currently even the cheapest reasonable DAC is likely to be £100 or more.

Add all this up, and suddenly the Logitech speakers are beginning to seem like a good deal. Not strictly comparable I suspect, but maybe adequate for the job.

Another Logitech solution might be to use either the Logitech Radio (just over £115) or Logitech Squeezebox Boom (currently quite expensive, nearly £300 - but I got one for a lot less), and simply use the LAN or ethernet connection to extract the sound. The Boom has reasonable sound, though not in the same league as even moderately decent separate loudspeakers.

Logitech sometimes have their kit cheap, either on offer, or as "damaged box" units, which are, I gather, as near perfect as makes no matter.

Headphones can give much better results than any of these - but you have to be able to cope with wearing them. One other approach - try buying kit on line via eBay - there is sometimes some quite good second hand stuff.

Sticking with computer speakers, and typing something like "computer speakers" into Amazon or Google, should find a range of quite cheap ones, including this from Logitech - http://www.amazon.co.uk/Logitech-980...615827&sr=1-10 - which I'm again neutral to regarding recommendation, though I once had something a bit similar which for a computer sound system had quite impressive bass - though perhaps more suited to gaming than classical music.

Should try to get back on topic - I've not bought any CDs today either! Should I award myself a star?

[Curalach]

Should try to get back on topic - I've not bought any CDs today either! Should I award myself a star?

I'm afraid I fell off the wagon today in the direction of the Nielsen box. No star for me!

[Pianorak]

I'm afraid I fell off the wagon today. . .

in the direction of Andreas Staier: Beethoven's Diabelli Variations. Crafty Amazon then tempted me with Vol III of the Haydn piano sonatas played by M-A Hamelin. And as I have got vols. I and II . . .

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

I think this thread offers no help at all for the many sufferers. It appears only to be making their afflictions worse.

[AmpH]

Crafty Amazon then tempted me with Vol III of the Haydn piano sonatas played by M-A Hamelin. And as I have got vols. I and II . . .

Me too

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Me too

I have bought no CDs for two weeks.

[AmpH]

I have bought no CDs for two weeks.

An unfeasibly long period of abstention !

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

I'm feeling extremely smug. But Toscanini is still out there trying to tempt me...

[vinteuil]

Amazon then tempted me with Vol III of the Haydn piano sonatas played by M-A Hamelin. And as I have got vols. I and II . . .

... thanks for the hint!

Actually - continuing a series - completing a series - that one has started - surely we're allowed leniency for that?

And the Hamelin Haydn is £9 for a twofer.
Now, to pop up to Oxford Street to look at HMV costs, I don't know - £5? - so as this Hamelin is postage free - I've saved £5 - or, looking it another way, if it had been sold as two CDs separately - and I had had to go to Oxford Street twice - travel cost £10. So getting this for £9 - I'm actually in credit to the tune of £1...

Mme V has heard this argument before (many times, many many times.... ) - she is not impressed....

[Beef Oven]

I have bought no CDs for two weeks.

In 2004 I went 5 months nearly. I thought I was cured. I had a relapse and have spent about £300 per month on books CDs & DVDs since then. I am going to give up next month.

[EdgeleyRob]

Giving up buying cds or giving up smoking cigarettes, which is harder?
I've tried both,smoking was a doddle.
Nice little Rachmaninov box arrived today.

[teamsaint]

from my occasional jaunts up to London, I am amazed that anybody can even afford groceries, let alone essentials like CD's.

The shops up there seem to use the price formula "..........then double it, and add the number you first thought of ".

[Pianorak]

. . . Mme V has heard this argument before (many times, many many times.... ) - she is not impressed....

I am most impressed by that argument - and feeling a lot less guilty now. Thanks vinteuil.

[Roehre]

Is there anyone out there whose affliction has become so severe that they have reached 5 figures?

My CD as well as LP as well as Cassette tape collections all reach easily the four figures (around 5000, 5000 and 1750 respectively). But according to my computer (of which the recorded music database is fully up-to-date) there are 47262 pieces of music in my collection...... (of which approximately 36000 are represented only once).