What's your favorite physical media?

[teedoff087]

Personally, I keep all of my music on my computer and my portable minidisc player. I also keep LP's and regular CD's but only so I can copy them to other media. :biggrin:

[Todd The Kiwi]

hi man
records are my cup of tea
although i have copied them all into my pc
they sound much better when coming off the mat :skull:

[Roj]

I listed CD as my preference because it is the prevalent format of today. That being said, I have the following:

- 3000 pieces of vinyl
- a couple of hundred CDs
- five hundred CDs of mp3s
- 60 DVDs of lossless

A couple of observations on the various formats:

IMO, CD cannot match up to vinyl for the highs - the sampling rate is too low. CD is however quieter and more durable. DVD audio is supposed to cure that limitation but I personally haven't experienced that yet so I can't comment. I won't waste my time with SACD - that's just an overpriced con job (typical Sony) and completely ad hoc to boot (read the spec - their development and testing "methods" are a hoot). I have mp3s because they exposed me to a vast cross section of music and broadened my horizons. The lossless is for obvious quality reasons. Many of them are items:

1) I tried to purchase but couldn't because the damned stores were either too lazy to get them ("you have to wait three months until we accumulate enough orders from that supplier to make it worth our while") or

2) the thieves known as the record companies charged too much for them ("$26CDN for a CD? I have two words for you and they ain't happy Birthday") or

3) they were impossible to get on this side of the pond and again the charges were too high, especially when coupled with shipping and the value of the Euro or

4) I own them already on vinyl and I'll be damned if I line the pockets of the aforementioned unscrupulous, avaricious and parasitic pimps known as the record companies a second time.

There - I feel *much* better now... :)

[traveller]

Glad you got that off your chest, Roj. I agree with you about the ridiculous prices of CD's, although I still buy them as they are the most practical way to get "full" quality music. I'd happily go for vinyl, but for suitable playback I'd have to spend way more money than I can afford.

[Todd The Kiwi]

amen to that man
we pay about $33 for a cd down here
a new 12" single (vinyl) is $25
a dvd is $40 ish
thankfully we all have access to 'raza and the likes...
i can't remember the last cd i bought

[Roj]

amen to that man
we pay about $33 for a cd down here
a new 12" single (vinyl) is $25
a dvd is $40 ish
thankfully we all have access to 'raza and the likes...
i can't remember the last cd i bought
When I was still an active club DJ about a decade ago, I watched 12" prices rise from $3.99 to $25.99 in less than three years. As far as I'm concerned that entitles me to rip the record companies and the RIAA off for the rest of my natural life if I were so inclined.

I still buy CDs - but I wait until they go on sale. I refuse to pay full price for any music today. For example, CD Warehouse wanted $21.99 for the new Zero 7. I waited until it went on sale at Future Shop for $14.99 and bought it last weekend at that price.

The record companies and RIAA still haven't learned that if they want business, they have to lower their prices. They will either learn that lesson in the digital age or they will lose - it's that simple. Attempts at DRM are at best futile and at worst a waste of money better spent finding ways to please customers. Quite simply, there is no DRM method that exists or ever will exist that can withstand the versatility of someone who really wants to crack it - period. Furthermore, the Internet guarantees that the information gleaned by that cracker will be spread far and wide - no legislation can ever prevent that (I refer specifically to the DMCA in the US). Time is on the customer's side - not theirs.

[teedoff087]

Mostly, I only buy CD's to support my favorite artists. I think the best places to get them are at Tower or Best Buy. They're typically less than $12.

[J44xm]

MiniDiscs, man. There's nothing sweeter to me. Too bad they're not an ideal solution for me now. (Stupid copyright-infringement-prevention software! It makes it so awkward!)

[gsb521]

MiniDiscs, man. There's nothing sweeter to me. Too bad they're not an ideal solution for me now. (Stupid copyright-infringement-prevention software! It makes it so awkward!)

I have a minidisc player, and I used to run it with Sonicstage, not like there was any other option. 5 hours per disk is pretty good and on the minidisc end of it, everything is perfect. On the obnoxious Sony software part, though, its a terrible idea. I used SonicStage as my primary computer jukebox for a while for no other reason than because my music had to run through there and be saved on my hard drive. Once my music was there, I didn't want to waste time and memory putting it into mp3 all over again.

I was going to reformat my hard drive, and I knew that I didn't want to reload all of the songs to sonicstage. So I saved the files in their format to a cd (yes, its a small collection). After reformatting, sonicstage wouldn't accept the files. Even though there is not a single program besides for sonicstage that can encode or playback .omg files, it was selfish enough to demand that it was the one to encode. So now, my minidisc player can't be hooked up to the computer for editing (unless I spend about 10 hours running through the process again). Thanks a lot, Sony.

After sonicstage failed me, I actually found QCD and put my collection on the harddrive. It is so much cleaner and it uses no memory compared to sonicstage. Basically, QCD is the only good thing that minidiscs have got me.

[J44xm]

And the sad thing is that MiniDisc is an awesome format -- especially with the new Hi-MD format. But it seems that Sony might be making the move toward allowing MDs play non-proprietary formats, I believe. Just hope it's not too little too late. I still prefer MDs to CDs any day.

[gsb521]

And the sad thing is that MiniDisc is an awesome format -- especially with the new Hi-MD format. But it seems that Sony might be making the move toward allowing MDs play non-proprietary formats, I believe. Just hope it's not too little too late. I still prefer MDs to CDs any day.

It really is amazing. Small but unlimited. Sony is almost egotistical about their invention, and that is hurting them majorly. It might be a reason why minidisc didn't catch on in America.
I am also surprised that no other brands have been part of the race. Sharp used to make minidisc players, but that was before the days of connections to PC. Why have no other brands made either minidiscs or a totally separate but similar media?

[Hanzo]

I like the CD's, they are durable, resistant and above all cheap. I used to buy a lot of CD's and have over 600 which I have re-encoded into 256kbps MP3's to keep on my hard drive for easy access and have backed up into guess what? CD's

:silly:

I stopped purchasing music CD's because I would not think it is fair to pay 14.99 for a CD that only contains one or two tracks that are worth listening, I still purchase CD's from time to time from my favorite artists but not before making a careful research about such CD online. And even those I re-enconde to MP3's to listen on my laptop or MP3 compatible diskman.

I also like those miniCD's that are so popular right now here in my country. Yes, they hold less data and so on but they are so cute !

[gsb521]

CD prices are outrageous.
Personally, I think that if the music industry wants to prevent illegal copying, prices have to go back under 10 bucks. This is for the same reason that people steal activation codes for software. If prices are insane, and you want it, you are more prone to steal it.

I actually believe that there would be more profit in CD sales if they lowered prices. CDs with some data on them should not cost 300 times as much as CDs without data on them.

I happen to be a Metallica fan, and I am still pretty embarrassed about the fuss that they have made about Napster and music sharing. In Lars Ulrich's testimony, he mentions the poor guy who handles the microphone and says that you are stealing from him too. The bands clearly don't need the money, but there are so many middlemen that need it desperately. I almost felt bad. Then I realized that if Lars was so worried about the money that the mike guy was making, he should put the 15 bucks in his hand. Face it, the artists themselves don't need the money and never will.

While I don't download music illegally, I don't frown upon it. I have the new Napster for the rare song that I want from a cd. I never buy a CD unless I care about its entirety. I would rather put up with a lower quality, ad-filled program if I want to get one song.

I have a question for everyone out there: a CD on Napster costs 10 bucks. A CD in the store costs 15 or so. If artists care so much about the money, they are losing in this deal too. No money is going to pay the guys who put together the CD. Obviously, some of the money goes to Napster. If artists are willing to lower the cost to about 8 dollars a CD in proceeds to them, why are prices in the stores so much higher?

[teedoff087]

I've changed my decision on MiniDisc, as I've acquired an iriver H320. So the new order is...
1. MP3 player
2. Computer
3. MiniDisc

[Roj]

CD prices are outrageous.
...
I happen to be a Metallica fan, and I am still pretty embarrassed about the fuss that they have made about Napster and music sharing.
...
While I don't download music illegally
...
I have a question for everyone out there...why are prices in the stores so much higher?

Lars is a greedy hypocrite. What the roadies get paid is a pittance compared to what the band makes and when it comes right down to it, they guy who handles the microphone isn't paid by record sales (as you pointed out).

My concept on pricing (again):
$10CDN for a new CD release
$0.50CDN for a lossy cong online - no DRM
$15CDN for a new DVD release

I *do* download music and thankfully it's legal here in Canada.

Prices are higher because of needless overhead and padding for profit.

[o2xygen]

I store them on DVD's :silly:
I download many song's every dat that I don't have time to listen to them... I just check if they are right...
CD's just don't fit me... I want my collection to be tidy.. :calm: .

And i only buy CD's of my favorite artist just to support their work... :rolleyes:

[gsb521]

My concept on pricing (again):
$10CDN for a new CD release
$0.50CDN for a lossy cong online - no DRM
$15CDN for a new DVD release

I'm not so sure what Canadian dollars are these days in American currency, but I think that is equal to 7 or so dollars in America. (?)

These are very realistic prices and I think they might turn out to be more profitable to the people who produce the CDs.

[Roj]

I'm not so sure what Canadian dollars are these days in American currency, but I think that is equal to 7 or so dollars in America. (?)

These are very realistic prices and I think they might turn out to be more profitable to the people who produce the CDs.

One Canadian dollar is worth about 79 cents American.

[gsb521]

Ok, thanks.
So, by me, that comes out to half price (usually). If you want to get something that is more than a month old, it usually goes past 15 USD.

[Roj]

Ok, thanks.
So, by me, that comes out to half price (usually). If you want to get something that is more than a month old, it usually goes past 15 USD.

Basically yes - chop their prices by 50%. They can afford to do this too - their markup is obscene.

[auster]

:nervous: Before someone yells "Blasphemy!" I'd like to root for the case of tapes.I grew up on them and were my only source of music till about 2004<when I acquired my sweet audigy 7.1 symphony:devil:> while I do like music as mp3's I can't forget my cassettes(about 700~1000 never counted:biggrin:)just like people miss the vinyl sound.I miss the analog tape sound..How hard it was to find metal/cro2 tapes <much better in my opinion> I have my own self assembled tape deck connected to my pc...With live noise reduction from my soudcard , it is not that bad!
Plus CD's are incredibly expensive in India so Tapes still rule here:bandit:

[acushla]

I prefer CD's...and to be honest...I prefer DVD AUDIO. I would like to meet whoever it is who is making the choices as to what gets onto DVD AUDIO and what doesn't. I believe if you were to check his application form for the job you will discover that he lied about his qualifications. I just know many of you are shuddering (hi again Roj) at the word DVD AUDIO but the way I figure it is that everything is a trade off and I suppose I like that 'being on stage' with Carlos kinda feel'. I get enough live music at the Opera and Ballet. I know what good sound is. I just don't need it ALL the time. Sometimes I just want to have FUN and marvel at all the sounds going on all around me. Like at the movies. I like it. As concerns the music consumer, If I am any example at all then I think it would be fair to say that by charging what they do they orchestrate (no pun intended) their own demise. (Now I'm laughing! Whatever they [the larger players] claim to be losing in CD sales they are more than making up for in DVD Movie sales. This is one time that I feel fortunate to be 55. I have been through my (impulse) music buying days...this week this genre...next week another. I have all the Miles (Japanese SRCS Discs) I want as well as other artists who have contributed so much to the enrichment of my life. I find that I no longer need to find the 'next' Coltrane (although I am on the lookout for the 'next' Renee Fleming)! The result of all of these factors just means that I am very careful as to what I do purchase which has the strange effect of making buying music an 'event'...it is special...it is rare...I want it to mean something. Chances are I'm going to have it with me for the rest of my life. It might as well be a 'good' choice. I would like to make one final observation about the industry and the marketing behind it. It was no secret that last years fiscal success in the music business relied heavily on a handful of artists having mega sales. U2 were in that class, as was the 'reunion' album by Destiny's Child...and of course Eminen. Imagine my surprise when I entered HMV Records and found myself walking past major displays of his new album priced at $11.99. I was silently impressed. I thought this proved that here was a record company that had heard the message and figured that rather than sell what was sold before it was made at some premium price...they would charge a fair price and therefore earn more because a greater number of people would be inclined to purchase it. About a month later I'm in the same store and now there is a 'new' version of the 'new' album (I forgot to see if it was a 'Collectors Edition' or 'Limited Edition") with...wait for it...THREE...previously unreleased tracks not available on the first album! Price you ask? A mere $33.95. Genius thinking going on here folks. At the same time I'm thinking what idiot in his right mind is going to spend that much just for 3 extra tracks? That's precisely the moment when it occurred to me that I hoped I wasn't going to walk by a Miles Davis 'Special Edition' release of 'Dark Magus' with ONE extra track.

[auster]

I prefer CD's...and to be honest...I prefer DVD AUDIO.
Yeah I agree! DVD-A is divine:evolved: I've tried it too! But the players available for it are crappy! My creative player is very limited in options..while a full featured powerdvd platinum I tried got the channel mapping wrong . Somebody put support for DVD A in QCD .I've asked for that in feature requests, I think it is inevitable! So guys..please do something about it!:beer:

[Todd The Kiwi]

i have a pioneer tapedeck and a sharp turntable mutated into my machine here
a tape can be dropped without wincing, any 'disk' (vinyl or plastic with silver stuff)
causes me to make swooping hand motions ha ha ha

[jkrzok]

Word on the street (Minidisc.org, anyway) is that the 2005 generation of Sony MD units will support mp3 natively; that is, one will no longer need to convert your mp3s to ATRAC to put them on an MD.

It's about time. MD as a physical format is just right; I've put them through the laundry, run over them with my car, dropped, kicked and otherwise abused them with no ill effect. With 1 GB discs at a decent price point I'll be very happy. Even if the price doesn't go down, I can always reformat my existing discs to Hi-MD. MD units have high build quality, epic battery life, excellent sound quality and relatively cheap memory. I prefer removable media vs the HD units. MD units usually are powered by AA batteries and finding those is easier than trying to recharge an iPod on the road. I'm glad I waited to buy a HD unit.

[Roj]

Word on the street (Minidisc.org, anyway) is that the 2005 generation of Sony MD units will support mp3 natively; that is, one will no longer need to convert your mp3s to ATRAC to put them on an MD.

You mean they finally realized that ATRAC is going nowhere because it's garbage? Will wonders never cease... I mean, bad enough that ATRAC was junk as a lossy compression format but then they added insult to injury by forcing you to take your mp3s and lose MORE quality converting them to ATRAC.

Only Sony...

[Inthewoods]

A couple of observations on the various formats:

IMO, CD cannot match up to vinyl for the highs - the sampling rate is too low. CD is however quieter and more durable.

I agree completely. my collection consists of the following:

~1200 LPs
~250 45s
~50 78s
~300 cassettes
~75 reel-to-reel tapes
~350 cds
exactly 1 8-track (and nothin' to play it on):cross-eye

As to the comments about the RIAA, I couldn't agree more. They personify the old cliche "Biting the hand that feeds you", so I avoid feeding them if at all possible.

I also spend a lot of computer time transcribing the vinyl to CD for preservation.

[carbonize]

CD's offer the best quality but, for reasons others have stated, I don't buy them. I download any albums I want, usually at 320K MP3, and if I really like it or the artist I will go and buy the CD. I have owned a personal minidisc player/recorder since they first hit the scene many years ago. The quality of the music has never been perfect but as I listened to it whilst working in a factory or walking down the street it made no difference. As with when video came out and we had the VHS/betamax battle when MD came out we had the MD/DCC battle. DCC (Digital Compact Cassette) was Panasonics? answer to the need for smaller digital media. The DCC players/recorders could also handle standard cassettes as they were the same size. DCC had the better sound quality but, as with VHS Vs Betamax, the cheaper alternative won out. I believe that MD won the battle because for years Sony had been descretely placing minidiscs in movies set in the future. I also own a 512MB usb stick MP3 player but it's cheap so sound quality is not brilliant and I prefer the fact that with MD I can just change the MD when I feel like listening to something different. Having said that I can get a USB stick MP3 player that takes SD cards for £18. It has no built in memory but I can get a 1GB SD card on ebay for £40. This still is expensive compared to Sony's Hi-MD but MD still relies on Atrac and I don't really fancy converting all 4Gb of music I have on my PC to atrac and then uploading it to the Hi-MD.

[acushla]

I listed CD as my preference because it is the prevalent format of today. That being said, I have the following:

- 3000 pieces of vinyl
- a couple of hundred CDs
- five hundred CDs of mp3s
- 60 DVDs of lossless

A couple of observations on the various formats:

IMO, CD cannot match up to vinyl for the highs - the sampling rate is too low. CD is however quieter and more durable. DVD audio is supposed to cure that limitation but I personally haven't experienced that yet so I can't comment. I won't waste my time with SACD - that's just an overpriced con job :)

Check out how the DVD-AUDIO and SACD disc's are marketed here: Confused by the unfamiliar icons on the faceplate of your new DVD player or home theater in a box? In addition to DVD video and MP3/CD audio, many new systems have the ability to play new audio disc formats called Super Audio CD (SACD) and DVD-Audio. Thanks in part to larger storage capacity, both formats offer much higher resolution than standard audio CDs. Both support native 5.1-channel surround sound, and many discs also offer dedicated stereo mixes as well. The result is digital music that's finally on a par with the best-sounding LPs.


Yes...you read that right...digital music that's finally on a par with the best-sounding LPs!!!

[auster]

Yes...you read that right...digital music that's finally on a par with the best-sounding LPs!!!
While I do believe that DVD-A is better ,I still think some of it is overkill like the 192 khz sampling rate.....credit I think goes to 24 bit and surround recording.Just something similar to a bit less compressed ac3 would have done(DTS CD's were making some headway) but the powers that be have gone the whole hog. Seems this excessive bitrate-bandwidth solution might actually be a plot to kill the p2p / file transfer brigade:pirate:! Does the extra bandwidth really help in frequency extension? And not many people own supertweeters:rolleyes: