Continuing with CDs?

If you burned mp3s as *audio CDs*, ripped them (which is what "skip" wrote) and re-encoded to mp3 you would be talking about a further stage of sound degradation.

yeah the confusion here is that someone assumed Ned burned the MP3s to CD as redbook CD/WAV files, then re-encoded them to MP3, but what he actually did was burn the MP3s as data to a data disc, then ripped them back into his computer at a later date.

That's not really "ripping" which might be where the confusion is. He just copied the mp3 files off the disc back to his computer.

ha, good point

And I didn't have to say anything! Further, that is.

When I moved into my current (small) flat, I had space for a bookcase to the right of the sofa bed, and for some storage in my bedroom. (My speakers sit on Ikea Traby cubes full of vinyl). The bookcase contains A-C of my CDs, and the slightly terrifying storage behemoth in the bedroom D-Z + comps + CD-Rs and all my DVDs. I would like, one day, to condense all the CDs into that bookcase. I guess this means shedding 70%+ of them. Rather than the "I never listen to this any more" purge of a couple of years ago (when I put 200-300 CDs on Music Magpie), I guess this would more take the form of "I'm fine with streaming/ripping this" vs "I can't imagine being without a physical copy of this". Not that there isn't another layer of "I never listen to this any more" in those racks.

So I bought a refurb'ed NAD CD player

Which model did you go for, out of curiosity? I have a NAD C541i.

I still buy CDs, and listen to them about half the time (the other half is spent streaming new shit). But I'm really starting to get annoyed by the different-sized CD cases that companies use. Fucking Sub Pop is the worst. I really loved the Kristin Kontrol album that came out this year and wanted to own it on CD, forgetting that it was a Sub Pop CD (I never pay attention to labels). Like all other Sub Pop CDs the CD case is massive, and doesn't fit in my cd rack slots. Sub Pop isn't the only one doing this (Skeleton Tree, another 2016 album I bought on CD, comes in the same sized package), and I'm starting to acquire stacks of these CDs that I can't store in my CD racks.

Even worse is some of the CDs I purchased aren't thick enough to have a spine ao you can make out what album it is without taking it out. I'll stop bitching now :)

I'm with you on all of the above. But I like jewel cases so I'm a true relic of another age. I guess I just don't really require "artistic" packaging, would much rather be able to have some consistency for storage and display purposes. Hate the flimsy not-even-digipacks the most (Skeleton Tree is a good example).

Anything other than a standard box sucks. You don't get CDs for packaging. Or at least not nowadays. Just for convenience and sound quality.

If it's from the peak CD years and it's the kind of music that's recorded, mastered and possibly even written with CD as it's intended medium, then it's the best sound quality you can get. This is how I prefer to listen to Stereolab or Air or something like that.

With vinyl and cassette too - if it's music made for vinyl, from the peak vinyl years, and maybe a genre that fetishised the medium to begin with, it's often the best: garage rock, punk, 80s-era indie, easy listening, classical etc.

Early to mid-80s music that's highly polished sounds best on cassette: Duck Rock, Peter Gabriel, Punch The Clock-era Costello, Mike Oldfield/Jean-Michel Jarre in the 80s - I have a bunch of cassettes of this kind of stuff that I keep, still listen to and they don't seem to have deteriorated at all.

Modern CDs and vinyl: often badly made and not worth it (old ones were badly made too but most of the old ones are cheap).

I agree with you, Wimmels, about jewel cases. The fact that they'd probably inevitably break or crack is a risk I'm willing to take to have uniform sizes, lol.

I take the CDs out of unweildy storage like box sets and put in jewel cases so they fit on the racks and have a nice display for all the oversized packaging.

I prefer digipaks since they have a nice feel, very easy access to disc and won't break:

https://www.duplication.ca/shop/images/D/digipak-verdun.jpg

only downside I can think of is that they don't stack too well

most annoying are the ones with side inserted discs, I have no idea why you'd make em like that, also the double gatefold ones - why?? why???

new cds are pretty cheap too, not uncommon to find last years top releases for ~6 euros on discogs fx https://www.discogs.com/Angel-Olsen-Burn-Your-Fire-For-No-Witness/release/5374632

Sure I've raved about these before, they are polythene gatefold CD sleeves that take up a fraction of the space on shelves. If you get a CD in a jewel case, just throw the case away and put the disc, booklet and tray card in one of these:

http://www.spacesavingsleeves.com/

And yes, you can still see the spine of the tray card on the shelf.

I look at the digipak pictured above and I picture that glued-on tray cracking (which it inevitably will) or the teeth breaking (which is almost certainly will) and there being no way to fix it, so the case is effectively broken. Receive a CD with a cracked jewel case? Go get a CD out of the dollar bin and replace it if you want. The universality of the jewel case is its best attribute.

I must say, I'm finicky and all, but I don't replace cracked cases. It's just a thing that happens. I will replace trays with cracked teeth, especially if they fail to hold the CD in place, but even that can feel like an unnecessary chore. I used to store the CDs that came in cardboard sleeves in their own jewel cases but this too became too much of a hassle.

I still buy CDs every week, btw, and will continue to do so. It's become my preferred format, all things considered, for reasons I probably mentioned upthread someplace.

I might go for those space saving sleeves. I'd probably get a lot of pleasure from repackaging all my cds.

Anagram- do you bother with the paper sleeves for additional protection? I might get them, because paranoia.

I don't get how those sleeves can save 75& on space and still be wide enough to display the spine from the tray card

I would consider those sleeves, but honestly close to half my collection is digipaks, so it wouldn't really do that much good...

Those look like a lot of work and I'd probably worry about CDs getting scratched in those things.

I've already resigned myself to the fact that my CD collection is just going to be a major problem for whoever has to deal with my personal affects after my death. I may pin a note on them that says "Sorry, I was mentally ill LOL"

According to Discogs I own 5,361 CDs. But those dont include digipacks or any other irregular cases that can't be stacked (for practical reasons I won't go into now). So I'd say the number is probably closer to 7,000. This is the result of a) working in record stores for twenty years, b) writing music reviews for almost the same amount of time, c) knowing a lot of bands, and d) having an addiction to budget-priced used CDs in dollar bins and such. Thing is, I get rid of (read: sell, give away, lose) CDs all the time; I'm not one of those crazies who holds onto every CD I've ever bought. But when twenty leave, thirty come back. I'm old enough now to have realized that there is no way I will ever hear some of these again, and these will be of little value to anyone else, especially in the (I hope very distant) future.

having an addiction to budget-priced used CDs in dollar bins and such

I have developed this problem as well, the Value Village not far from me has a killer selection that's constantly restocked.

I think part of it is remembering when these very same CDs cost $18.99 and you had to make big decisions about which one to buy that week (or that month). Now those CDs can be had for less than a buck.

As I explained to my bewildered and long-suffering wife, CDs will never look like 'junk' to me. Most people nowadays pass a stack of CDs at the Goodwill and keep moving on, as if they were VHS tapes or holiday trinkets. A lot of people wouldn't take them for free.

xps:

Robert/Wimmels: no I don't bother with those and I've never had a problem with CDs getting scratched in them. They're made of soft polythene.

Lee626: they're kind of wide at the spine and narrow everywhere else, if you see what I mean. This vid should give you an idea:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=40hd2-IXpdI

CDs are the new LPs w/r/t thrift store finds, lotta good stuff in there if you look (meanwhile the beat up vinyl is marked up to like $6 for a trashed Elton John LP)

think i probably bought less CDs this year than ever before in my music-buying lifetime ... but I still bought a few! need to find one of these thrift stores with decent CDs -- the ones near me still seem to have the same Kenny G albums they had in 1996.

I found the Fleetwooed Mac 2CD Tusk remaster/reissue and a Meredith Monk CD (both brand new) for $2 each the last time I looked

yeah, that is the kind of thing i want!

My local Goodwill is fully stocked with Ray Conniff LPs, but I found an Angus MacLise CD there recently.

for the archival things Numero or Dust To Digital do, CDs seem totally preferable, both in terms of affordability and easy access.

past few months ive probably bought about 40 cds

i agree there are way better CD finds in record stores now than vinyl

I'm not one of those crazies who holds onto every CD I've ever bought.
― Wimmels, Friday, December 16, 2016 9:13 AM (five days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Hello! Nice to meet you. I'm sure I've lost a few here and there the past 25 years or so, but I've never knowingly gotten rid of any CDs, and I've yet to sell any that regretted buying. I always thought I'd magically come across loads of free time so I can digitize and get rid of tons of never-listened-to CDs, but alas. I have a lot of CDs where I'll enjoy a song or two, but that's not enough incentive to pull it out of the box it's hidden in to play them.

I probably have about 5k CDs, about 1k of which I'd like to digitize at least some part of the album, and then sell/donate/toss them.

I do buy less CDs now than a few years ago. Of the new releases, I basically just buy CDs of my top 25 or so albums in any given year.

I just bought cds for the first time in years. I had a few gift certificates to a record store saved up, wanted to dig for some sample material and don't have a good way to digitize vinyl, so I got some shiny reissues of African flute music, drum groups, and Japanese solo koto recordings. Definitely got a hit of nostalgia to buy cds sight unheard and open that shrinkwrap.

Just had a guy come to my house last night and pay me $600 (sorely needed) for two plastic milk crates' worth of CDs, the bulk of which were promos received over the last six months. I've been selling to him since 2008 or so, and I used to have him come by every two months; now he comes twice a year.

I'm pretty into used CDs, with vinyl being so overpriced I always find cool things for $1 at thrift stores now

CDs are the new LPs w/r/t thrift store finds, lotta good stuff in there if you look (meanwhile the beat up vinyl is marked up to like $6 for a trashed Elton John LP)
― sleeve,

oi oi oi : shut up.
when my little town realises this i am f*cked.

i am a little pissed though, grabbed a CD of gillian welch's the revelator on CD at the thrift store and threw in on and was like wth this acoustic guitar part sounds really weird and alt rock for her, then i was like god her voice sounds terrible, some fuckface put a copy of pisces iscariot by smashing pumpkins in the gillian welch case >:(

lolz

trolled by the thrift store

classic scam

I continue with all the various media

still maddened by artists who release their albums as download and on cassette, but not CD. FUCK CASSETTES! Whose favourite fucking format is the cassette? More useless than the alternatives in terms of size, aesthetics, sound quality, durability and in finding a way to play the fuckers.

But cheaper and easier to produce, good for diy/non-label artists

no way are cassettes cheaper to produce than cds...

right??

or easier for that matter

you can duplicate cassettes at home though with the right deck. pressing cds is not so easy unless you're doing cdrs