Buying CDs. Why?

[visualnickmos]

I couldn't have put it better myself!

Bonjour MD! Is it grey and miserable in Arles, too? I feel a Vaughan Williams morning this morning.

[muzzer]

I don't think CDs age very well, especially in jewel boxes. I have loads I don't really want but I'll never get rid. There is of course something about physical media and the nature of possession which the 'internet' in all its emanations can't capture. The key point is that the govt and the service providers will develop a situation where no-one actually owns anything, it's all rented......with all that that entails. And that calls for a JG Ballard style dystopian novel if ever anything did..

[MickyD]

Bonjour MD! Is it grey and miserable in Arles, too? I feel a Vaughan Williams morning this morning.

Bonjour, VN! Yes, it is grey and miserable here, but at least not raining...for the last two days it has not stopped! For the last few weeks it has been glorious, crisp and bright sunny days. Now it feels more like the UK, so I think I might join you in the Vaughan Williams.

[cloughie]

I'm curious why people still listen to violins when the synthesiser has been around for many years !

Following this thought I wonder why, who when so often now in amateur choirs, accompanists are very often using keyboards which are capable of a wonderful variety of sounds rather than a conventional piano why these sounds are not used.

[cloughie]

lolsaplenty.

I liked the one they sold at the vatican.
pope on a rope

Rings a bell with Quasimodo.

[cloughie]

well some people want the moon on a stick, so a/the ring isn't such a big ask.
Odd concept though , as memory sticks always go missing.
always.

Into the black hole in Valhalla.

[cloughie]

Buying CDs. Why?

'Cos it's fun. Like car-booting and finding unexpected gems, and the whole thing about rifling through racks of CDs - like old books. A million more times more fun than pressing buttons to find this bit-rate, this sonic equaliser, 10Mhz amplificators and its merits compared to double bit-rate sonic equalization units and all that crap. I just want to find a nice CD and get it home and hear the wonderful sounds contained therein, waiting to fill my living space with splendour, sadness, sunshine, winter, mystery, victory, tenderness, etc, etc or just damn good music.

[Nick Armstrong]

I would buy fewer CDs if I could get this problem resolved:

http://www.for3.org/forums/showthread.php?10137-How-to-get-downloaded-music-wirelessly-from-my-Macs-to-the-old-Naim-Hifi

I do value very highly the ability to buy individual tracks by downloading - increasingly, I don't want the whole CD content.

[teamsaint]

I don't think CDs age very well, especially in jewel boxes. I have loads I don't really want but I'll never get rid. There is of course something about physical media and the nature of possession which the 'internet' in all its emanations can't capture. The key point is that the govt and the service providers will develop a situation where no-one actually owns anything, it's all rented......with all that that entails. And that calls for a JG Ballard style dystopian novel if ever anything did..

this is indeed something that we should be very wary of.
Also,Anything that can be turned off at the click of a switch, (digital libraries for example), need careful monitoring.
The BBC's fascination with Digital Rights management is a warning.
Reliance on benign operation of the internet by governments is dangerous too.

http://www.for3.org/forums/showthread.php?3770-BBC-Digital-rights-Management&highlight=digital+rights+management

[LaurieWatt]

Just read pastoral's post. My points are similar.

I have many CDs already (a wall full) and like adding to them (+ a load of my daughter's CDs which she transferred onto her iTunes device before leaving home.)

I quite like being able to see, to pick up and handle what I own.

I sometimes buy them as presents for people, possibly wrapped in pretty paper and a ribbon tied in bow.

I have got used to the concept of an album (LP/CD) as an entity of approximately one hour's music (with a picture on the front).

I have downloaded quite a few things but mostly only if
a) they are a much cheaper than CD
b) they are not available as CD
c) I want specific tracks, not the whole album
… but I have found that the tagging and labelling in terms of artist, composer, orchestra, soloists, genre, file name, track title etc are inconsistently, confusingly and annoyingly presented. This applies especially to classical music.

I have not come to terms with dividing stuff into files and folders.

I don't have to constantly worry about backing up.

I will admit that if I was just starting to collect I might well move over to download. I assume that CDs will eventually be phased out.

A fascinating thread, however, no one has mentioned the "have your cake and eat it option" of storing ones collection of CD's, as well as keeping them, on which point I agree completely with Gurnemanz, Pastoral et al. Although I would class myself as a technological dinosaur, I do have an iPod and to fill that I have to load the CD's onto my laptop (backed up on a storage device). Ok, at the moment for the purpose of the iPod it is only at 256kbps but I crave the day when I can fully connect to my hifi a hard disk storage device onto which I can store all my CD's and be able to search and play EASILY at full CD quality. Then I can release the space and put my CD's into storage against the day I may need to get them out and look at them or whatever.

[Nick Armstrong]

A fascinating thread, however, no one has mentioned the "have your cake and eat it option" of storing ones collection of CD's, as well as keeping them, on which point I agree completely with Gurnemanz, Pastoral et al. Although I would class myself as a technological dinosaur, I do have an iPod and to fill that I have to load the CD's onto my laptop (backed up on a storage device). Ok, at the moment for the purpose of the iPod it is only at 256kbps but I crave the day when I can fully connect to my hifi a hard disk storage device onto which I can store all my CD's and be able to search and play EASILY at full CD quality. Then I can release the space and put my CD's into storage against the day I may need to get them out and look at them or whatever.

Second that!

[EdgeleyRob]

I find shelves full of cds have a certain beauty.

[cloughie]

I find shelves full of cds have a certain beauty.

[Phileas]

I crave the day when I can fully connect to my hifi a hard disk storage device onto which I can store all my CD's and be able to search and play EASILY at full CD quality....

You can do this today.

Just one example (which I don't use myself):
iTunes on a PC/Mac with an AppleTV/Airport Express connected to the hifi, controlled using an iPhone/iPad.

The only slight problem with this particular method is the lack of a 'work' tag in iTunes, but I think there's a 'group' tag which could be substituted.

[Beef Oven!]

I find shelves full of cds have a certain beauty.

I find shelves full of CDs.