(There's no "upsell" involved, fwiw... Amazon Music Unlimited includes both HD & UHD)
― Not Dork Yet (alternate toke) (morrisp), Thursday, 24 February 2022 21:42 (two years ago) link
Cassettes were the best-selling format in the '80s and in some ways were a privileged one (they had extended versions and extra tracks before CDs did).
― eatandoph (Neue Jesse Schule), Thursday, February 24, 2022 1:52 PM (four hours ago)
fair enough! maybe I'd say instead, the most widely consumed format for audiophilic consumption :) since I'm guessing a large part of the popularity of cassettes was driven by introduction of the walkman / it being the first truly portable format...
― 龜, Thursday, 24 February 2022 23:08 (two years ago) link
I just sniped a Dr. John CD, first time I’ve done that in ages. Got it for $1.05, so shipping was triple.
― Three Rings for the Elven Bishop (Dan Peterson), Friday, 25 February 2022 05:35 (two years ago) link
xxxp to myself – now listening to a brand-new (just released) r&b track that's only "HD" quality, and it sounds similarly not-great to the older HD ones. So there may be something more to it than newness/source.
― Not Dork Yet (alternate toke) (morrisp), Friday, 25 February 2022 21:40 (two years ago) link
without full disclosure of the technical specs used for the streaming audio, it's all just speculation. maybe they rip the originals at a higher bitrate for the UHD, who knows.
that being said, a separate thread for streaming audio quality actually seems like a good idea? I would follow even tho my interest is minimal.
― bad milk blood robot (sleeve), Friday, 25 February 2022 21:58 (two years ago) link
Yeah - there was a little of that in the Continuing with Spotify thread (ppl wondering why Qobuz sounds “better” than others, etc.)
― Not Dork Yet (alternate toke) (morrisp), Friday, 25 February 2022 22:33 (two years ago) link
Qobuz is one of the streaming services that used to (probably still does?) sell watermarked Universal tracks
rest assured, the watermarks are audible (trivially ABX-able) because they're placed well within the most sensitive frequencies to prevent removal without totally ruining the music, of course
https://hydrogenaud.io/index.php?topic=89818.0https://hydrogenaud.io/index.php?topic=111198.msg917267#msg917267https://hydrogenaud.io/index.php?topic=117462.0
― chihuahuau, Friday, 25 February 2022 23:02 (two years ago) link
thank you for that, yes ilx poster Jon Not Jon has posted extensively about those UMS watermarks, I forget exactly where
― bad milk blood robot (sleeve), Friday, 25 February 2022 23:11 (two years ago) link
Yeah I’m still pissed about that but haven’t posted about it for awhile. As far as I could determine, there was nowhere in the digital marketplace one could buy non-watermarked UMG files - I even bought lossless files from UMGs own web store which were audibly affected. Also I have not checked in a couple of years but there never seemed to be any re-uploading/replacement of the defaced UMG material after they stopped the practice in (?2014?)… new things released to digital no longer had the issue but the vast body of UMG stuff already released just stayed that way. At least as of a couple years ago.
― covidsbundlertanze op. 6 (Jon not Jon), Saturday, 26 February 2022 21:58 (two years ago) link
This may be more a question for "Not continuing with CDs" – but why is it that when streaming from Amazon Music through my new Sonos speaker, "Ultra HD" (24-bit) FLAC sounds so much better than "HD" (16-bit)? In other words, 16-bit may be "CD-quality," but those tracks definitely do not sound as good as CDs to my ears (granted, I have not hooked up an actual CD player to the speaker, to see how CDs sound when played through it).
Different mastering and possibly mixing techniques. If the audience is expected to play the music on better equipment, then they can master it with a wider frequency profile, use more or less compression, and so on. People who consume "HD" audio can be expected to be upscale consumers, not playing the music on shitty earbuds. This means that they don't have to shovel important content into the earbud-friendly frequency range for a 16/44.1 master, and it's gonna sound better on a good stereo.
― Sassy Boutonnière (ledriver), Sunday, 27 February 2022 20:01 (two years ago) link
Such techniques apply just as much to 16/44.1 audio as they do to 24/96 or whatever, so it's not an intrinsic quality of the format.
― Sassy Boutonnière (ledriver), Sunday, 27 February 2022 20:03 (two years ago) link
If you want a valid comparison, use an audio editor to convert HD audio to CD-quality digital audio and compare. If you have a friend who can administer an ABX test, do that too.
― Sassy Boutonnière (ledriver), Sunday, 27 February 2022 20:06 (two years ago) link
It's also possible that the Sonos applies its own EQ curve to HD audio, so I cannot account for that possibility.
― Sassy Boutonnière (ledriver), Sunday, 27 February 2022 20:09 (two years ago) link
Finally reconnected my (secondhand) higher end DAC into the hifi signal chain, listening to some of Autechre’s NTS Sessions and it sounds so good I am just grinning to myself like an idiot
― assert (matttkkkk), Sunday, 13 March 2022 05:46 (two years ago) link
Not sure if this is the best place to post this but I'm having trouble burning FLACs downloaded from Bandcamp to CD (using K3b on Linux). The burn process completes fine and the CD will play but the tracks are silent!
I've just made a comp with a mix of Bandcamp files plus files procured elsewehere and the latter play fine. Very weird. If anyone has any ideas, appreciated. As far as I know they're not high res files.
― millmeister, Tuesday, 22 March 2022 14:34 (two years ago) link
Not sure if this is essential, but I always convert FLACs to WAVs prior to burning them to CD.
― joni mitchell jarre (anagram), Tuesday, 22 March 2022 14:40 (two years ago) link
Good suggestion thanks. I'll give it a try.
― millmeister, Tuesday, 22 March 2022 14:45 (two years ago) link
...and then burn it as an audio CD, not a data CD.
― joni mitchell jarre (anagram), Tuesday, 22 March 2022 14:45 (two years ago) link
Would imagine the burning software does that routinely anyway but there could be something a little "off" about the FLAC headers which means they don't get unpacked properly.
Here's an old forum thread about the same problem:https://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?t=225063
Unpacking to WAV first might be the way to go, as annoying as that extra step is.
xxp
― Michael Jones, Tuesday, 22 March 2022 14:51 (two years ago) link
Yeah, I’ve had problems with burns having glitchy spots when I burn them without converting to WAV first.
― spastic heritage, Tuesday, 22 March 2022 16:18 (two years ago) link
I always convert first, otherwise it's just putting more work on the computer during the burning process (converting on the fly) that increases the likelihood of burning any errors.
― birdistheword, Tuesday, 22 March 2022 17:32 (two years ago) link
Thanks all, that worked. Never occurred to me to convert a lossless file. Convoluted but worth it.Michael J - thanks for the link. Glad to hear I'm not the only one.
― millmeister, Tuesday, 22 March 2022 17:44 (two years ago) link
Bandcamp's great for allowing multiple downloads. I've replaced .flac downloads with .wav, and pulled .mp3s for the car, off the same purchases.
― the body of a spider... (scampering alpaca), Tuesday, 22 March 2022 18:52 (two years ago) link
CD news - based on Discogs trends:
https://blog.discogs.com/en/cd-trend-popularity-sales-2022/
― the pinefox, Tuesday, 19 July 2022 10:20 (one year ago) link
Lol so literally just an ad for Marantz
― zacata, Tuesday, 19 July 2022 13:43 (one year ago) link
Listening to Siamese Dream in the car today, I realized that I’ve been throwing this particular CD around for 29 years – in and out of dorm rooms, apartments, boxes, bags, CD racks, hot cars – and I can still just slap it in a player, it sounds as good as ever, it’s as “compact” as ever, perfect-y sound forever (or long enough). Good format!
― “Lawman,” Slick (Grunt) (morrisp), Wednesday, 20 July 2022 22:30 (one year ago) link
I imagine the popularity of Discogs has increased in that period... really meaningless without vinyl stats to compare with?
― maf you one two (maffew12), Wednesday, 20 July 2022 22:49 (one year ago) link
yaaa literally an ad, only stated at the bottom. Laaame
― maf you one two (maffew12), Wednesday, 20 July 2022 22:51 (one year ago) link
Siamese Dream is definitely an outstanding sounding CD
― brimstead, Wednesday, 20 July 2022 23:21 (one year ago) link
It sounds so good! I was wondering if I should check out the 2011 remaster at some point, but it's hard to imagine it sounding better enough to be worth it...
― “Lawman,” Slick (Grunt) (morrisp), Wednesday, 20 July 2022 23:32 (one year ago) link
Nah, I'd stick with the original CD. The 2011 remaster squeezes the dynamics a bit. Not terribly so, but it doesn't improve things either.
― birdistheword, Thursday, 21 July 2022 00:11 (one year ago) link
can anyone recommend a place to buy digital major label catalogue albums that isn't amazon.com?
― ミ💙🅟 🅛 🅤 🅡 🅜 🅑💙彡 (Austin), Sunday, 7 August 2022 16:29 (one year ago) link
so i wanted to hear shadows and light and it's basically the same price for a used cd+postage as it is on itunes/amazon/etc. i'm not complaining, it's just ... big sigh, i don't want the cd but i want to be able to hear the album as i please and not give my money to itunes/amazon.
― ミ💙🅟 🅛 🅤 🅡 🅜 🅑💙彡 (Austin), Sunday, 7 August 2022 16:43 (one year ago) link
Qobuz lets you buy downloads too. You can check first if an albumIs for sale there.
― Are U down with the BVM (Boring, Maryland), Sunday, 7 August 2022 16:50 (one year ago) link
Poster ufo steered me toward a place called 7digital in another thread - in the context of major-label releases that aren’t on CD (“7digital is where you want to go to buy mp3s from artists that aren't on bandcamp”).
― Disarm u with a SMiLE (morrisp), Sunday, 7 August 2022 17:13 (one year ago) link
i think the best way to do it is by going to joni's site. you can click on the amazon link from there in order to make here a little commission in addition to whatever else.
better still, you could get the files on slsk and put the money you save towards a t-shirt on her web store
― budo jeru, Sunday, 7 August 2022 17:16 (one year ago) link
make her*
― budo jeru, Sunday, 7 August 2022 17:17 (one year ago) link
i've had success with qobuz. they don't sell mp3s, though, if that's what you're looking for. https://www.qobuz.com/us-en/album/shadows-and-light-joni-mitchell/0603497922789
― Thus Sang Freud, Sunday, 7 August 2022 17:59 (one year ago) link
Try Dearborn music.net. I'm not sure how it works but in addition to a good stock of physical releases they seemingly offer mp3 downloads of everything.the digital content comes via something called Broadtime Tuneportals. Dearborn Music is a legit business so I assume these downloads are also legit. Btw they also seem to have a cheap DVD of shadows and light. Caveat their search is not the best.
― bryan, Sunday, 7 August 2022 18:40 (one year ago) link
thanks all — got it sorted!
― ミ💙🅟 🅛 🅤 🅡 🅜 🅑💙彡 (Austin), Sunday, 7 August 2022 19:38 (one year ago) link
how did you like shadows and light? used to own the album, remember it as uneven but with some highlights
― corrs unplugged, Monday, 8 August 2022 10:22 (one year ago) link
oh, i've always loved it - just never had a proper copy. hejira and mingus have always been my favorite joni so i've just been youtubeing it the past year or so. it's `fusion joni`, but i don't mind the solos - always a pleasure to hear pat metheny and jaco, in any case! and plus, it has an ace meditation on "amelia."
― ミ💙🅟 🅛 🅤 🅡 🅜 🅑💙彡 (Austin), Monday, 8 August 2022 13:25 (one year ago) link
nice, I'll revisit it
listening to the Amelia now, incredible
― corrs unplugged, Tuesday, 9 August 2022 07:40 (one year ago) link
15 reasons why I STILL BUY CDs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nfbzH6gCXp4
― millmeister, Tuesday, 13 September 2022 07:35 (one year ago) link
Video was way too long. I only made it to reason number one...
But yeah I still buy CDs. Partially giving up on vinyl. Prices have got ridiculous and I'm running out of space. I still have room for about 150 more CDs though.
Spotify sucks but I'm begrudgingly sticking with it to check out new music (and buy what I love) plus listen to songs I love but don't own.
I really hope the much vaunted CD revival doesn't happen. I love picking up gems for peanuts. Long may that continue...
― The Ghost Club, Tuesday, 13 September 2022 07:51 (one year ago) link
I recently replaced all my jewel cases with sleeves (https://spacesavingsleeves.com/) and reduced my rack space by about 50%. Now I don't feel the pressure to sell stuff every year to make space for incoming CDs.
― Gerald McBoing-Boing, Tuesday, 13 September 2022 14:01 (one year ago) link
I wish those plastic sleeves had been around 25 years ago bc I went straight from jewel cases to binders, in the process discarding all the back cover inserts from my collection. With the sleeves it's easy to keep those.
― Josefa, Tuesday, 13 September 2022 14:10 (one year ago) link
I want to get those, but most of my shelves are set up in a way that I have the CDs stacked horizontally, rather than vertically (I know, I know, it is what it is until I can replace all the shelves too). I'm not sure those would work well stacked horizontally, but maybe I'm wrong.
― a superficial sheeb of intelligence (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Tuesday, 13 September 2022 14:11 (one year ago) link
No, they'd all fall off the racks as they're pretty slippery. My only complaint is it's harder to see the spine when you cram a ton of them together (and even when you don't as they fold inconsistently).
― Gerald McBoing-Boing, Tuesday, 13 September 2022 14:17 (one year ago) link
Yeah, that's what I figured, and why I've held off until I can upgrade my shelves. But good CD specific shelves are harder to find.
― a superficial sheeb of intelligence (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Tuesday, 13 September 2022 14:23 (one year ago) link