BaL 25.06.22 - Rachmaninov: Symphony no 2

[ucanseetheend]

Well, for that matter they are all on YouTube for free (uploaded by the publisher). But I'm not sure what a preference for streaming does to the whole concept of BaL. 'Building a Playlist', perhaps?

Sound quality on youtube is to put it politely "variable" Whilst the stream players have improved and can use a sound equalizer

[ucanseetheend]

A library can be all on a hard drive very small and even what's known as the "cloud " on the internet as your own files for extra back up. Got rid of hundreds of CDs and LPs years ago . Im afraid the romanticism of hard copy days have gone for me .And yes a "Library" is not defined by paper or CDs or LPs

[Retune]

Incidentally, the Jansons symphonies are also included in the basic Amazon Prime subscription, for those who prefer to fund a different megacorporation (and the pitiful cut the artists will presumably receive from the streaming revenue).

[Master Jacques]

A library can be all on a hard drive very small and even what's known as the "cloud " on the internet as your own files for extra back up. Got rid of hundreds of CDs and LPs years ago . Im afraid the romanticism of hard copy days have gone for me .And yes a "Library" is not defined by paper or CDs or LPs

For some of us, treasuring those CDs and LPs is not a question of "romanticism", so much as "ritual" and ... dare I say? ... "respect". The pleasure of listening is much enhanced by choosing that jewel case, admiring that nicely-designed cover, reverently placing that CD into the tray, sitting down with Michael Kennedy's (or whoever's) notes, and sitting back to enjoy the ride.

You don't get most of that with Spotify, now do you? A library isn't defined by paper or hard copy, for sure, but it is defined by attractive ambience and quality of information and presentation.

[Retune]

A library can be all on a hard drive very small and even what's known as the "cloud " on the internet as your own files for extra back up. Got rid of hundreds of CDs and LPs years ago . Im afraid the romanticism of hard copy days have gone for me .And yes a "Library" is not defined by paper or CDs or LPs

I was thinking more of the distinction between subscribing to a streaming service and purchasing music, whether it's on physical media or downloaded. I guess like many here I still buy music, and if it's something I've found on a catalogue survey like BaL, that will usually mean a CD if there is one, though it will end up being ripped (which is often no more expensive than the download, and sometimes cheaper). I suppose I'm curious how many BaL listeners are streaming subscribers who simply add a selection they like to a playlist and don't bother with personal libraries of music they 'own'. Are those of us who do just dinosaurs? Perhaps!

[pastoralguy]

For some of us, treasuring those CDs and LPs is not a question of "romanticism", so much as "ritual" and ... dare I say? ... "respect". The pleasure of listening is much enhanced by choosing that jewel case, admiring that nicely-designed cover, reverently placing that CD into the tray, sitting down with Michael Kennedy's (or whoever's) notes, and sitting back to enjoy the ride.

You don't get most of that with Spotify, now do you? A library isn't defined by paper or hard copy, for sure, but it is defined by attractive ambience and quality of information and presentation.

Absolutely! I still get a thrill from receiving a cd in the post or picking one up in a charity shop. (Alas, it’s a LONG time since I bought a new release in a ‘proper’ shop!) That’s just the way I consume music. Reminds me of my early youth taking my hard won geld to Rae Macintosh in South Queensferry Street in Edinburgh to peruse the huge stock and whittling my choices down to one Lp! Happy days.

[Goon525]

Streaming works perfectly for me, providing you use a superior service such as Qobuz. That way, you usually get higher resolution than CD, typically 96/24 with recent releases, and you get access to the notes via your iPad or whatever. So nothing to stop you enjoying Michael Kennedy that way. And you can be listening to the ‘winner’ or whichever other version you liked in BaL within seconds of it finishing. Don’t see the attraction of a round bit of polycarbonate any more.

[Petrushka]

Absolutely! I still get a thrill from receiving a cd in the post or picking one up in a charity shop. (Alas, it’s a LONG time since I bought a new release in a ‘proper’ shop!) That’s just the way I consume music. Reminds me of my early youth taking my hard won geld to Rae Macintosh in South Queensferry Street in Edinburgh to peruse the huge stock and whittling my choices down to one Lp! Happy days.

This was much like me in the mid 1970s. I'd hop on a train to Derby (which had 2 or 3 excellent record shops) one Saturday afternoon once a month and buy those new releases I'd read about in Gramophone. Happy days indeed!

[ucanseetheend]

Streaming works perfectly for me, providing you use a superior service such as Qobuz. That way, you usually get higher resolution than CD, typically 96/24 with recent releases, and you get access to the notes via your iPad or whatever. So nothing to stop you enjoying Michael Kennedy that way. And you can be listening to the ‘winner’ or whichever other version you liked in BaL within seconds of it finishing. Don’t see the attraction of a round bit of polycarbonate any more.

Absolutely! No issues with deterioration of the product.Stored in hard disk format and backed up as much as you want even in the 'cloud ' on a service provider.. for free !

[Ein Heldenleben]

Absolutely! No issues with deterioration of the product.Stored in hard disk format and backed up as much as you want even in the 'cloud ' on a service provider.. for free !

The only issue with streaming services are their continued financial viability. I would say the only one that is unassailable is Amazon. If Amazon goes bust we’ll have a lot more to worry about than accessing music tracks .They , Google and Apple are the only cloud providers I would use long term.
On the hard drive front having lost £2,000 plus of rushes on a duff Western Digital passport that failed 2 weeks after purchase (luckily backed up on LaCie hard drive ) even those have drawbacks. I’m told SSD drives are less liable to accidental damage but in essence the digits are stored in an erasable way. I reckon a well produced CD will last longer. One CD becoming unplayable is much less of a drama than an unplayable hard drive.
Motto - if you want to keep it - store it on at least 2 hard drives ..

[gurnemanz]

Streaming works perfectly for me, providing you use a superior service such as Qobuz. That way, you usually get higher resolution than CD, typically 96/24 with recent releases, and you get access to the notes via your iPad or whatever. So nothing to stop you enjoying Michael Kennedy that way. And you can be listening to the ‘winner’ or whichever other version you liked in BaL within seconds of it finishing. Don’t see the attraction of a round bit of polycarbonate any more.

I have about 6000 CDs and have decided the house is full and I now almost always acquire new recordings by download. After experimenting with different quality of download I found that my ears could discern no difference between the same recording via CD or MP3 at 320 kbps. Maybe this is partly down to natural loss of frequency perception due to old age (I'm 73 today!). The sounds lost as a result of compression are probably sounds I wouldn't hear anyway. I now only download mp3, which has the advantage of being cheaper (even free) and taking up less space in storage.

One downside of downloads is that the metadata can be inconsistent, inadequate or even error-strewn and I like to edit it to my own preferences and for MP3 I find I can do this easily with the excellent program Mp3tag. To keep track of everything, these details are added to the same database as my CDs. I use this daily and could not live without it.

Listening to recorded music is my main hobby and delight, especially in my latter years with more time available to do so, and I have a decent audio system but have never been obsessed with super hifi.

[Nick Armstrong]

Streaming works perfectly for me, providing you use a superior service such as Qobuz. That way, you usually get higher resolution than CD, typically 96/24 with recent releases, and you get access to the notes via your iPad or whatever. So nothing to stop you enjoying Michael Kennedy that way. And you can be listening to the ‘winner’ or whichever other version you liked in BaL within seconds of it finishing. Don’t see the attraction of a round bit of polycarbonate any more.

This goes for me too (I’d only add the ease of listening to selected recordings while motoring).

Back on topic, I agree with this:

Bucking the trend, I enjoyed the review and and Mr Seckerson's insights and comments about the performances

Hearing some of the leaden, mannered or rushed extracts alongside those that ‘made it’ to the last movement reminded me why, alongside the Previn, the Jansons has long been a favourite of mine - together with the superlatively played & recorded Ashkenazy / Concertgebouw (whose omission from even a passing mention was puzzling…)

[muzzer]

Hearing some of the leaden, mannered or rushed extracts alongside those that ‘made it’ to the last movement reminded me why, alongside the Previn, the Jansons has long been a favourite of mine - together with the superlatively played & recorded Ashkenazy / Concertgebouw (whose omission from even a passing mention was puzzling…)[/QUOTE]

[Nick Armstrong]

Hearing some of the leaden, mannered or rushed extracts alongside those that ‘made it’ to the last movement reminded me why, alongside the Previn, the Jansons has long been a favourite of mine - together with the superlatively played & recorded Ashkenazy / Concertgebouw (whose omission from even a passing mention was puzzling…)

[/QUOTE]

[muzzer]

The moment has passed ;) But iirc something about the Ashkenazy being my first classical box set and still sounding fine, fair wear and tear excepted.