Continuing with CDs?

CDs provide CD-quality sound. Aren’t downloads usually MP3?

― dad genes (morrisp), Monday, February 10, 2020 11:55 AM (one minute ago) bookmarkflaglink

I guess I'm not picky enough to care about the discrepancy myself. But yeah I was going to mention they are provided FLAC a lot these days fwiw

providing*

I always liked CDs more than vinyl... my record collection is mostly from the period when vinyl was the cheaper unsexy option. Now CDs seem to have that role in the marketplace, and I love it. Just got the last two Massive Attack albums on CD for $4 each.

I don't have an actual CD player though. Rip them and add them to my music server/phone. Also: my car has a CD player, so if I'm out shopping and get a CD, I can listen to it right away!

I go thrifting pretty often and let the cases pile up, then every two months or so I'll spend a few hours slotting the discs (and the cooler inserts) into the big ol' alphabetized wallets I store 'em in. It's a bit of a pain in the ass but it's way preferable to trying to store + organize thousands of jewel cases.

many horror stories re: binders

The Death of the CD Binder

Is it still practical for you to use them though? Vinyl isn't practical but it provides a more collectible novelty, and digital is more versatile/cheaper. CDs don't provide much in either category especially with download cards often compensating for the shortcomings of a new vinyl purchase.

Yeah, it is very practical for me. My main set-up at home, where I do 90% of my listening, has a CD player - otherwise I rip them. Smaller artwork aside, CDs give me that collectible novelty feeling at a much lower price and smaller footprint for storage.

most of the wallet/binder horror stories involve theft, which I am really not concerned about

and scratching

I like my giant wall of jewel cases!

Now that vinyl is either dead or dying, the CD rush is gonna be on...

I just do not have room for a giant wall of anything.

oh yeah, where have people been discussing the great lacquer inferno?

https://forums.stevehoffman.tv/threads/vinyl-records-now-in-crisis-apollo-transco-mastering-lacquer-plant-is-a-total-loss.928652/

good discussion here

New vinyl prices gonna jump from $27 to....?

Now that vinyl is either dead or dying, the CD rush is gonna be on...

― but also fuck you (unperson), Monday, February 10, 2020 12:38 PM (thirty-three minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

"Most new consumers of vinyl are most likely to gravitate to streaming services, abandoning vinyl in the coming year if there is a perceived slowdown in the supply."

Weird to frame vinyl purchase incentive as if it were a necessity for consumption. Obviously it's a novelty for collectors. Yes lack of supply might turn masses off the hobby but it's not like they'd be switching strictly in order to be able to consume those releases. Anyway, just a nitpick.

my impression is that quite a few new vinyl pressing plants have opened in recent years, many of which don't use lacquer blanks

yes but there are numerous problems with DMM as per that article, it also sucks for low frequencies (i.e. all dance music, etc.)

A year or two of no new vinyl pressings (and a deluge of existing albums repressed on colored vinyl) seems like a pretty big threat to the vinyl market.

Not exactly the right thread but there are SO MANY films and TV shows unavailable on streaming services which are also not easily available in good quality in the “usual places” that I have taken to actually stumping up for the DVD version. And what I’ve found is that Amazon dominates search rankings to such an extent - either directly, or secondarily via affiliate links in high-ranking review pages and aggregator sites - that simply finding a way to watch Larry Sanders without paying Jeff Bezos for the privilege takes what almost amounts to insider knowledge. It can’t really be searched for. I have to go to specific retailers’ sites individually and carry out separate searches etc. Doing without Amazon is... like the old Internet and I kind of love it

^^^

DeepDiscount.com (formerly DeepDiscountDVD.com) is your friend.

Although, honestly, it's getting even more frustrating to get physical media in general. We live in a really dumb time for physical music distribution. There were two albums I was looking forward to that came out on Friday, the new Elkhorn and the Makaya McCraven Gil Scott-Heron re-imagining thing.

For the Elkhorn, it was my own fault. I completely blanked on the Beyond Beyond is Beyond pre-order, which I normally do. But I saw it was on Amazon so I pre-ordered it from them on Thursday. Friday comes and an email comes that my copy will be arriving March 26th. So, y'know, only a 2-month wait.

For the McCraven/Scott-Heron thing, I stopped by first thing this morning to, hopefully, pick up a copy (unfortunately I was dealing with a sick kid all weekend and couldn't make it until today). Reckless, here in Chicago, is already completely sold out of all formats at all three branches with no idea when they will see more. Amazon doesn't have any, or at least if they do, from third-party sellers only with 8-12 week wait times. Looks like it's still available direct from XL, so I'll go that route, but still kinda frustrating that a brand new, buzzed about record is already hard to find. Admittedly, it's probably that very buzz that caused it to sell out quickly, but this is hardly the sole example of this lately.

I certainly don't blame Reckless here, I know they are dealing with a nightmare of a distribution system due to that Direct Shot debacle, but it's increasingly feeling like you gotta show up at the brick and mortar stores within an hour or two of opening on Fridays to have a shot at new releases. I know it's completely out of the shops hands at this point, but it sucks always hearing, "yeah, we sold out of the four copies we got and we have absolutely no clue when, or if, we might see more". I want to support local shops like this, but I'm walking out of the store empty-handed more and more often these days.

Here's another piece of the puzzle: https://www.hypebot.com/hypebot/2019/11/can-music-stores-indie-labels-survive-the-big-distribution-debacle.html

I know they are dealing with a nightmare of a distribution system due to that Direct Shot debacle

oops, sorry.

For my own personal anecdote -- I've ordered CDs from a major label a few times over the past year or so (b/c for an artist I love, I won't settle for digital if a CD is available), and had to deal with absurdly long wait times.... months & months.

(Though the same thing happened with a 7", so the fulfillment issue must affect all physical product, not solely CDs.)

it's definitely a brutal 1-2 punch w/r/t simultaneous distro & supply issues

j/v/c, there are a bunch of sellers on discogs selling the gil scott-heron thing in the us. cheapest is $13 + shipping for the cd:

https://www.discogs.com/sell/list?sort=price%2Casc&master_id=1679121&ev=mb

ebay is pretty good for finding distributors of new releases. I came across importcds and Rarewaves that way, just looking at the seller account name. Two examples that have their own sites.

New Gil Scott is there. That's a really nice album!

and yeah Discogs, especially in the US. I'd be all about it if I could get "media mail" shipping rates. For the rest of us, shops in Germany can typically ship pretty cheap.

Thanks for the tips, I guess I never really considered discogs for CDs. Always kinda figured that was more of a vinyl leaning marketplace.

it's a bit of everything. I'd be selling a lot more on it if I could ship anything anywhere with tracking for less than $15 Canadian. This means most of my inventory is more valuable things, which is typically vinyl.

Best view for you would be go to the master page of an album, press Shop, then filter by medium on the listings.

I mostly buy rare or out of print CDs on Discogs.

For new/current stuff, ImportCDs.com offers cheaper prices than their Discogs or eBay pages, for the same items. I buy from them all the time.

On Ebay, ImportCDs doesn't charge for US shipping, where they do on their website. Sometimes they will offer additional discounts on Ebay that brings prices below those on their website, shipping included, but often the difference is negligible. DeepDiscount and ImportCDs I believe are also the same company, which explains why they tend to have the same things in stock.

i think they've bought Pop Market as well. Yeesh..

They also have Collector's Choice, and iirc they also handle pressing & distro for Warner Archive.

all of these are just ways for majors to undercut their own distributors

so lame

I'm down to the last 250, with about 60-70 that I'm going to keep permanently until the media dies. Of these, I've steadily been selling them on Discogs. Doing pretty well at it too, but the market for marginal unreissued DIY psychedelia of the 80s-90s is pretty strong.

I took three shopping bags of CDs to my local library. They were thankful for the donation and I think I improved their holdings!

DeepDiscount and ImportCDs I believe are also the same company, which explains why they tend to have the same things in stock.

― eatandoph (Neue Jesse Schule), Tuesday, February 11, 2020 2:50 PM (three hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

i think they've bought Pop Market as well. Yeesh..

― maffew12, Tuesday, February 11, 2020 4:59 PM (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglink

They also have Collector's Choice, and iirc they also handle pressing & distro for Warner Archive.

― a bevy of supermodels, musicians and Lena Dunham (C. Grisso/McCain), Tuesday, February 11, 2020 5:20 PM (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglink

what about chalkys, rarewaves, and moviemars? Are these basically just fronts for major labels to eliminate the record store middle man?

yes afaik

Update on Apollo Masters -- total loss, click through for video:

Was out at Apollo Masters today to see the damage. Roof’s gone, building’s basically a shell. Total loss. Whole block is closed off, and the site will require remediation because of chemical explosions. pic.twitter.com/P3jV1ssb4L

— Randall 🕳 Roberts (@LilEdit) February 12, 2020

Sound of the Universe has Scott-Heron/McCraven, CD and LP, w audio samples here:
https://soundsoftheuniverse.com/product/were-new-again-a-reimagining-by-makaya-mccraven

Forgive the spam but if anyone feels like continuing with these CDs, feel free to buy them:

https://www.discogs.com/seller/akmonday/profile

mostly post-rock, post-punk, indie shiz.

https://variety.com/2020/music/news/cd-baby-retail-store-closing-1203506690/

they had a retail store?? Wow. Where was it? Cuz that article and their own website do not say. Maybe the issue was that no one knew where it was.

oh its online retail store. "Retail store" still makes me think of a place. Nevermind.

cd baby should have pivoted to where bandcamp is; probably should have changed their name too.

mp3baby

could've changed to hiddenencryptedfilebaby and gone up against spotify

streambabystream

should just be called "baby".