Continuing with CDs?

CDs are so cheap right now, a great deal most of the time. I found two of the Galaxie 500 remasters with bonus tracks for $2 each the other day.

Then again, like mark e, I have the room for all this stuff

When someone says the vinyl resurgence is "awful" I feel all they're really saying is that they can't imagine why they would ever participate. Just my theory, since I can't think of what would annoy someone otherwise, unless it's an environmental concern or something.

Well, the pricing of vinyl is LOL outrageous for one thing. And the sound quality of vinyl manufactured during the "resurgence" is questionable. Anecdotally there are a lot of skips and jumps on brand-new records. The covers, inserts etc are of high quality but then again the prices are fucking stupid.

And of course the music is largely available for free or very little so then the question of how much is fueled by conspicuous consumption/personal branding/lifestyle and all that.

i buy a little bit of new vinyl these days, but i always find it hard to justify sometimes paying twice the $$$ as the CD version. i got into vinyl when i was a kid because it was cheap.

Yeah screw these prices, I feel like 5 years ago or so you could still buy brand new 2xLPs by high profile indie bands (whatever that means) at decent prices (around $15) now everything is $25 and it's probably sourced from the CD anyway.

The local HMV here is hilarious. The main part of the store is filled with Sons of Anarchy dogbowls, Reservoir Dogs blankets and the like, then the back of the store is CDs and DVDs either priced really high or marked down to next-to-nothing. Then there's a single rack of vinyl where you can get 180gram copies of things like the Stones "Some Girls" or the latest Arcade Fire for $45+, bundled with a special frame to put it in for an extra $20.

The pricing of vinyl is pretty much the same as inflation, really.

LPs sold For £5 in 1980 or thereabouts, £10 in 1995, between £17 and £25 nowadays.

compare that to the cost of.a pint of milk. Or beer, maybe...

And of course the music is largely available for free or very little so then the question of how much is fueled by conspicuous consumption/personal branding/lifestyle and all that.

― everything,

so because you can get music free or stream from spotify you shouldnt reward the artist by buying it on the format you like? Some people do buy music on a particular format because that is how they like it.

everyone should listen to music in the way that they enjoy it the most. i listen to vinyl, digital, CDs, etc.

OK that's true there are plenty of questionable pressings. It's up to the collector to be savvy.

while on a utilitarian level spotify is more than enough music to last me til the end of time, there are still gaps and the economy of streaming is still extremely shaky and dubious. I never did the CD-for-MP3 purge because I didn't like the idea of potential of losing my stuff when a server i own craps out or becomes outmoded - I'm not going to do the the CD-for-streaming purge because this time I don't even OWN the server, or decide what stays on it. So I keep albums I know I like, though mostly cheap used copies. If I ever go up a tax bracket i might start buying nice clean new vinyl for a better stereo system, but it's not really cost-effective.

there's definitely a sense that my cd collection is going to be an antiquated relic even sooner than my lp collection - at the moment i rarely if ever play one. but i got room for it, it's cheap to add to, so why toss it

i like buying both and will do so. if i have an artists albums on CD i'll keep buying cds and same with lps. I also find download coads with lps very handy and I subscribe to spotify premium. Horses for courses imo and see no point in limiting myself to streaming only (esp as albums can disappear anytime) plus I like the fact the artists gets my money, esp when i order direct from them.

used cds are a crazy good deal rn

one time i was a little buzzed at amoeba and was like "i already own every berry-era REM CD but maybe I should buy them all again for under 30 bucks just cuz i can"

yeah, ive been hoovering up cheap ones on discogs lately to complete gaps in collections
xp

I've been enjoying how cheap some of the CD packaging has become. I picked up 12 Horace Silver albums on 6 CDs for $20; also got 15 Donald Byrd albums on 8 CDs for $25.

funnily enough that included a couple of galaxie 500 remasters

thats a great score nicky

I wish cd's were as cheap here in the UK

Here's the Horace Silver on UKebay:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/HORACE-SILVER-12-CLASSIC-ALBUMS-1953-1962-NEW-CD-/351371586390?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_15&hash=item51cf60eb56

I think I'm ok with keeping up what I started with CDs as long as I'm savvier about it now, rather than buying £15 for a new album in 1998 or whatever

I personally need to keep it up, I don't trust my listening attitudes and habits without physical product.

not bad but shipping could be a killer

sorry about that. I posted the wrong one. This one ships from UK

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Horace-Silver-12-Classic-Albums-1953-1962-NEW-CD-BOX-SET/351338959459?_trksid=p2047675.c100005.m1851&_trkparms=aid%3D222007%26algo%3DSIC.MBE%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D20140122125356%26meid%3D26144e5c1ef14acab5bb119acd4cb34f%26pid%3D100005%26rk%3D1%26rkt%3D6%26sd%3D351371586390&rt=nc

ok that is a good deal

Since artwork is rarely mentioned, do most downloads include all the sleeve art? For certain genres the art is a big appeal.

I still haven't got an mp3 player so I've never bought many digital downloads. I'm scared of all this stuff about "loss" files, don't understand it.
I've got a kindle and use it constantly but never read books on it (also worried about drm shit), so I'm doubting I'll buy mp3s much unless I have no other choice or it's way way cheaper.

Do albums disappear from a server often?

I've been piling up boxes like the Horace Silver one mentioned upthread (have that, and another one like it gathering 12 Bill Evans albums on 6 CDs) and the 5CD "Original Album Series"/"Original Album Classics" sets (5 albums for like $20), and even the slightly more deluxe sets like the one with all six Van Halen albums (there are only six), the first 10 ZZ Top albums, etc., etc. This is a fucking golden age for budget CD reissues, especially if you're into 70s rock like I am. And I still buy new albums on CD from time to time. Going to Target on Friday, planning to pick up the new Dwight Yoakam (the Target version has 3 bonus tracks).

Will you bother trying now to sell off your existing CDs?
Will you leave them as a record of 80s/90s to early 00s buying?
Will you continuing buying CDs selectively alongside downloading, for reasons of completing certain artists or genres?

1) No.
2) I keep them and play them often.
3) I buy CDs new and used all the time.

the vinyl resurgence is so awesome: cds cost like 50c now.

I don't think the vinyl resurgence and the drop in used CD prices are related

"resurgence" should be in scare-quotes anyway, we're talking about a tiny fraction of the music sales market (still)

No, CD price drop is correlated to the rise of digital.

Vinyl resurgence is compensation for the need for a tangible/own-able product after digital dominated the convenience side.

^^^

CDs sound bad and suck to carry around but I've no intention of uploading my entire collection to hard drive when those fuckers crash all the time (otoh I'm less attached to things these days, the art of losing isn't hard to master and all that; if I lose music it's no big deal). Still buy new ones too. Still burn CD-Rs with that season's killer singles and album tracks.

the college radio station I advise still receives 95 percent of its material on CD too, I suppose because there's no way upload watermarked copies to Megaseg.

That aspect of the vinyl market that is comprised of $45 prestige box editions of single-disc albums, etc., is totally gross conspicuous-consumption noise as described upthread. The aspect that just keeps putting out "reasonably" priced editions of everything is pretty great, even though I also agree that there's less guarantee of a quality sound on a new record than there was 10-15 years ago, when if you were putting out a vinyl release you probably gave a shit.

What's annoying is that the price of a "basic" record has drifted up in that period quite a bit, though I can't really put a bead on how much of that is just inflation. I feel like in 2000/2001 when I first really started collecting, a straightforward single LP from Kill Rock Stars (say) would be like, $10-12 bucks. Inflation calculator says that should now be $13.25-$15.90, and if you go to their website, they do in fact sell tons of records right at $15, with download included, and some at $12 - though perhaps some of those are things that have literally been in stock the entire time. But I see a lot more stuff in stores in the like $18-23 range which just doesn't feel like what a record costs, even if I try to remember to include the inflation facts in my head.

The only circumstance in which I could imagine buying a CD at this point would be at a show if that's all they have. I never really had much affection for the format, and I bindered what was left of my collection years ago, risking scratches and stuff in order to no longer have a billion godawful jewel cases taking up space. CD really feels just about as disposable and forgettable as streaming, like even if I see a stack at a garage sale for cheap it just feels like, why bother; sure I can get thirty albums for a couple bucks but I could also just stream them if I cared. Whereas with a record I've never shaken the notion (however misbegotten) that I'm getting something I want, in addition to the music, for my money. God damn they take up space though.

I buy vinyl mostly, because I like it and CDs seem so disposable etc. It just looks better in the flat.

I like physical media because having it makes you play something and leave it alone till it finishes. You get on with something else and stop tinkering. If I play stuff on Spotify I'm always skipping to another album by track 6. Also, I can't be bothered to play the same albums on Spotify over and over. I'm always looking for something new. I like having new records or CDs next to the stereo, which makes you play them more and more. It's sort of lazy: it's next to the stereo, so you put it on, get on with doing what you're doing, and before you know it you've listened to a new album 20 times or something. I like the feeling of listening to the same thing 20 times. I get more out of that than listening to 20 albums once.

Probably the reason I buy physical stuff is the same reason people get gym memberships. You ought to be able to get fit just bobbing around, having sex, dancing, running for the bus etc. It doesn't happen enough though. You need discipline.

So I buy vinyl mostly and am happiest when it comes with a free CD of the album rather than a download. Then, I have to admit, I mostly just play the CD and the vinyl never gets played. I'm happy with that. But I buy CDs too, if an album has a shit cover or I don't expect to want to play it much beyond a month or two. Or if I'm just being stingy.

Cheap used CDs and the fact that my car doesn't have an aux port are the only things that keep me using CDs. I still have a ton of them though and won't get rid of them unless it becomes impossible to rip CDs onto a hard drive.

Will you bother trying now to sell off your existing CDs?
Will you leave them as a record of 80s/90s to early 00s buying?
Will you continuing buying CDs selectively alongside downloading, for reasons of completing certain artists or genres?

Well, I still buy CDs, mainly. I buy lps as tangible own things, but they are mostly second hand.

I've logged all the lps into Discogs, so I know where it all is now. Alphabetical order? Do me a favour.

Of course, I can now put the ones I don't play any more up for sale, and that helps me work towards a maximum cool collection, or something.

Funny, the comments about "The kids don't care about vinyl" as Alice (15) prefers to get lps rather than CDs nowadays. I guess if she went for CDs she'd have loads by now but she's selective about it. She's often talked about harvesting my collection, but never brings herself to take any. She's been a couple times to Oxfam Records, but her selections have been strange: Muddy Waters at Newport last time, and two Count Basie lps this time. I have no idea why.

Oh yeah, the question..

I should log the CDs into discogs and do the same way, hut there's tons of them and the majority wouldn't go for 50p.

Muddy Waters at Newport last time, and two Count Basie lps this time. I have no idea why.

because she has good taste?

She's working towards it, sure.

The muddy, they'd talked about it in school.

The Basie, she was working through the jazz section and decided he must be good as there were two lps there.

I will never, ever understand people's affection for vinyl, especially not people younger than me. I'm 43, so I was already buying music before CDs were introduced, and I fucking hated records as a kid. If they didn't get scratched enough to skip, they still sounded like ass, all crackly and getting a little worse every time you played them; if your turntable was shitty (like mine was), the speed wavered so the singer's voice slowed down and sped up...plus they took up so much space and my room was tiny already...a fucking terrible format. I preferred tapes to vinyl, for all of the aforementioned reasons plus portability (I was never without my walkman starting in about eighth grade), and when CDs came out I was all about that shit, and have never looked back. Now, I do 90 percent of my listening on my iPod, but I still buy and rip CDs, and every once in a while will actually throw something on the stereo and lay on the couch and listen to it.

I don't understand the cassette revival. Yeah, they're as portable as CDs but sound like shit plus they lack the artwork of vinyl releases if you're into that sort of thing. The worst format ever save for the 8-track and I have no idea why hipsters thought it would be a good idea to bring them back.

I don't understand the minidisc revival!

i don't understand "cd vs. digital". uh, cds _are_ digital?

Don't vinyls also require a lot of maintenance? They seem to warp in the heat easily.
There's a big thread about audio file maintenance/collecting, all this crap about lossy/lossless files I need to learn. So I feel comfortable with cds because I never scratch them and very rarely have problems playing them.

i don't understand "cd vs. digital". uh, cds _are_ digital?

― rushomancy, Wednesday, April 22, 2015 8:19 PM (24 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

The distinction is about physical not sound quality.

getting ready to move and I've put aside about a thousand CDs to try and sell, knowing that I'll probably have to leave them in the street and should have done this 13 years ago. (haven't estimated how many are going into storage yet.)

OK that's true there are plenty of questionable pressings. It's up to the collector to be savvy.

this is an insane attitude.