Continuing with CDs?

Definitely agree with that data entry feeling part. Really hate the idea of your job, phone, book reading, music listening and general internet stuff making you spend so much of the day looking at an electronic screen (in addition to screen based things like tv, film, videogames). Don't know why so many people feel comfortable with that amount.

Thanks Mike, will do.

very good point about the database temp. Then again that database work lets me have a curated set of my entire collection on a 4-ounce device.

I wonder if lack of storage space and the likelihood of needing to move house are some of the biggest factors or if just as many digital converts have lots of space in a big house they probably won't leave?

I think that's a good point. Physical media gave me anxiety until my partner and I bought a place and knew we wouldn't have to move again. I've certainly bought more CDs and records since then.

Written about vinyl vs CD an odious number of times. Here's one! http://sickmouthy.com/2013/12/31/on-vinyl-vs-cd-again/

Good article but the Hydrogen Audio FAQ link is broken there, I assume you meant this?

plus you have a lovely daughter to pass them on to now stevie

as does nick

EXACTLY

she bloody loves records, tbh. i think that's half the reason i love putting them on now, she gets v excited and wants to see them spinning around - picture disks and coloured vinyl at a premium. obvs she loves the noises they make too, has already been spotted dancing to madness and oranger and grace jones.

you should get here a toy fisher price one like I had as a toddler. Loved that thing (and the tv my aunt threw out at my grans that was mine)

Thought about that, but the modern day one plays mp3s like it was some kind of plastic serato gizmo. Might see if I can find one of the old school ones on eBay. She clearly would dearly love to be able to get her hands on the record as its spinning...

Thx scikmouthy for an inspiring read - I do feel your approach to formats is quite idealistic in that it is very focused on content, which is ofc cool but I also think it's cool to enjoy the material aspects of whatever formats you collect. Finally I find it a bit meaningless to try and convince anyone that their formats of choice are "wrong" or "inferior".

My stereo setup: ATC speakers, Nakamichi pre-amp, NAD power amp, NAD cd player, Technics 1200 MKII w/ ortophone concorde pickup & om20 stylus. Nothing fancy, but certainly a good enough system that I have a clear idea of what vinyl and cd sound like, and have also on multiple occasions listened to state of the art sound systems (digital and analogue) since I work part time in a hifi store. I realize that the sound of vinyl is in theory distorted, but my experience is that this distortion in many good setups sound more like "clarity" than "warmth" where cds often come off as very "direct" in sound. Love listening to tape to, but my tape recorder is not in good condition so it really just adds lots of warm/muddy distortion - can be nice too though.

I threw out my mp3 collection a while ago, now collect primarily vinyl but also some cd (such bargains atm!) and occasionally will grab tapes at shows/flea markets.

I made the choice to move my main stereo and albums upstairs when my son was about ready to be born because i didn't want to go ape-shit about him putting his sticky mitts on, well, anything he could reach. I had a couple Fisher price units that i bought new needles for but he destroyed them (the needles) within a month. Since, my main stereo has gone into disrepair, my son is ten-yrs-old, and while i'm still buying discs and wax, neither one of us get the pleasure of spinning albums.

...i really need to get back to the real shit.

nick's post makes me long for the inevitable day when all music exists only in the cloud and physical possessions are banned

lol @ the link to home ownership tho. of course. s0 tory

and what is "and physical possessions are banned" ?

if u own physical possessions or a house ur a tory

the alt: lyrics of "Imagine"

all ur cds is tory ammos

http://leftfootforward.org/images/2015/02/tory-boy.jpghttp://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/44103000/jpg/_44103121_amos1989_203.jpg

Great article Nick but I disagree with your database temp analogy. It takes me less than 30 seconds to properly tag a downloaded record and much less time to file it than it would take to do the same with physical media. Backups are automated. That said, I'm certainly one of the vast majority who still spends too much time online, and having so much music on a PC system likely contributes to that behaviour. Clearly the trick is to avoid staring at the screen after you've cued up some music.

i don't really go around tagging my mp3s all that much. i still arrange them into alphabetical/artist/album folders on my HD which is a tedious way to go about things but it works for me. At least, it did work for me until I let everything go to pot and now my music collection is p much just an overgrown mess of files and duplicates. The more I can get away from the computer, the better, and that's why despite everything I can't help but admire Nick's CD-only stance even if it's not for me.

what's this idea that music is "a hobby"?

hmm might explain a lot of ILM...

lol @ the link to home ownership tho. of course. s0 tory

that's s0 tory! smdh

I mean i explicitly pointed out that it was the fact that i wouldn't have to move this stuff ever again that made me comfortable to accumulate records again, but go ahead and leap to snap judgements.

I miss spending hours meticulously editing meta data. It fulfilled the same need that level grinding a RPG did for me. Sadly lost that when I switched to 100% streaming.

classic t0ry!

I don't stream, generally, but I often find myself at a party or gathering where the host asks me to choose some music on Spotify and it's just... uhh... it's like I'm staring into the void. I realise in these situations how much I rely on flicking through a CD rack or a bunch of records or a HD folder for inspiration.

I just subscribe them to my starred playlist and put that on random.

yeah that would only work if everyone likes late-period Scott Walker and Cecil Taylor jams.

luckily, everyone does

late-period autechre CDs continue to sound outstanding on my mediocre setup (~40 year-old Pioneer SX-450 receiver). Sony DVD players are very cheap nowadays, they also play mp3 cds. I've always wondered how their vinyls sound, but it seems unreasonably expensive at this point.

CDs were kinda invented to play autechre. and the like. any one of my kompakt CDs could be used as a reference disc in a fancy hi-fi store. no reason to own well-made modern electronic music on vinyl unless you are some kinda insane millionaire DJ and have $$$ to spend on 12 inches. (12 inches the way to go if you are gonna go that way.)

How did those 5 album cheap collections become something so many labels are doing? I'm really happy they're doing them because it's made getting into various bands a lot easier. So many bands I've wanted to get into for years but never started, but now I've bought the Mahavishnu Orchestra, Sisters Of Mercy and Incredible String Band collections; I want the New Model Army, Fields Of Nephilim, Rainbow, Faith No More and Steeleye Span collections. Maybe even Robin Trower and Blue Oyster Cult too.
I'll probably get the Jethro Tull one because it has 4 albums I don't have.

Only worry is that some of them will be poor album selections.

There's a surprising amount of thrash and death metal collections but maybe they're too much of a gamble if I don't know the bands. Not getting the King Diamond one because I need the bonus tracks.

Its because a lot of the original labels have been bought up by the bigger multinationals who want a cheap payback and can knock these sets out without having to involve anyone else, agreementwise.

Also, a lot of the individual cd albums won't sell on their own, but as part of a set they get legs.

I went to Amazon searching for a Rainbow albums box but didn't see one - if you've got a link, please share.

Never mind, found it - has 2 albums I'd want and 3 I wouldn't.

CDs were kinda invented to play autechre. and the like. any one of my kompakt CDs could be used as a reference disc in a fancy hi-fi store. no reason to own well-made modern electronic music on vinyl unless you are some kinda insane millionaire DJ and have $$$ to spend on 12 inches. (12 inches the way to go if you are gonna go that way.)

― scott seward, Friday, May 1, 2015 9:12 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

but it doesn't all make it to cd. like, the vast majority of it! a lot of it does make it to FLAC/AAC/ etc but i'm weird and can't bring myself to pay for a digital file.

i guess you're just talking about "home listening electronic" or whatever, though? i agree with you about that.

I miss spending hours meticulously editing meta data. It fulfilled the same need that level grinding a RPG did for me. Sadly lost that when I switched to 100% streaming.

― Jeff, mardi 28 avril 2015 10:01 (5 days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Ha ha, yes. Of course, just like with rpg level grinding, there was also that "ugh, what did I just waste the last 3 hours of my life doing" feeling. I don't really miss that too much.

Thinking of buying some space-saving sleeves like the Jazz Loft ones Mike and Nick mention upthread.

Nick, did you go with those in the end? How are you getting on with them?

Has anyone found a more conveniently UK-orderable alternative?

What did you do with the old jewel cases in the end? Feels bad to throw the lot in landfill but I don't think they recycle and I don't expect anyone would want to take them off my hands.

(Jewel cases are a bit rubbish, aren't they? On the increasingly rare occasions I pull a CD out to listen to there's invariably dust and even dead thunderbugs inside the case, having come in through the holes)

I've reduced my basic still-in-case collection down to one very nice handmade CD case that holds about 800 or so, thus this photo of me looking bemused:

https://www.instagram.com/p/BBLp7oVLasO/

Pretty much what's left are a slew of compilation series and then for solo artists they're non-jewel case packaging, highly rare, double disc reissues or CDRs for the most part. After some further adjusting I've got a couple of box sets on the top of the case that can't fit anywhere else -- Albert Ayler, This Mortal Coil box reissue, Dead Can Dance. Small enough box sets otherwise are in the case or if they're those tall/slim book style sets, I just grouped them directly in a bookshelf. Everything else is long since packed away into CaseLogic stuff that's tucked away into a closet, and the entirety was ripped/backed up several times over now.

as has been noted elsewhere,
cds are now cheaper than officially bought mp3s
picked up goldie/timeless, soulsides greatest bumps (2 cd), and a crystal method cd for £1.50 the other day - total price, not each.
so, i buy the cd, rip into the archive, and store the cd away.
outcome : best of both worlds.
if my NAS drive dies, then yes, it will be horrible, but i still have the hard copy to crack on with.

^^^ gets it

also: off site backup

Amazon Marketplace is like my guilty pleasure.

I continuously have a >1 £1 CD awaiting..

zoverstocks is the best thing ever.

I sold about 500 CDs. I got roughly $350 for them at Amoeba; and these wren't the bad stuff, this was basically all the good stuff I hadn't sold off (except for some really rare things that I did sell on discogs for a lot more money). they'd beenin my garage in shelves like Ned's above for 4 years, only a few ever coming out for car play or something. I don't miss them. If I had space in my house I might have kept them but why; I needed $350 more.