Continuing with CDs?

I use dBpowerAmp and like it very much

Can these tools check if the library entry points to an actual file, and get rid if it doesn't? Cos I don't wish to be reminded of that cracked Chain Reaction comp and how I ripped it in 2004 but all those files are gone (and many others).

I'd like a tool that looked at all the dupes, and just kept the one with a valid source file / highest bitrate, erasing anything on disc it's deleting from the library. I figure "Track 1", "Track 2", etc nonsense is on me to sort out.

Right, that's the sort of thing that Beatunes can do. For dupes it lets you choose highest bitrate, most recently added, keep both, whatever, on a per-dupe basis.

I play CDs almost every day. I have a specific set of conditions for a CD player: not a changer, loading discs reasonably quickly (under 15 seconds), option to display CD-text where applicable, and easy track access. Other things like SACD and HDCD at this point are side benefits; I've never seen a DVD or blu-ray player that had the kind of display capabilities I wanted for CDs.

Sony in the '00s checked most of these boxes, but it's hard to find a player that's not a changer (and thus doesn't take forever to load discs). Currently I have an MXD-D400 with CD and minidisc recorder, bought refurbished. As I only have one minidisc, that element is sort of moot if nice to have. It's getting a little finicky: sometimes I need to give the tray an extra push in insertion so that the hub will pick up the CD. So I'm not sure how long the thing will keep working. But hey, it can display CD-text and track times simultaneously, and it has one of those neat little knobs for immediate track access!

I do have too many CDs (pretty much out of shelf space) but have a hard time just giving away discs that I might play, some time. Need to work on this, way overdue for a purge.

xp I started ripping everything in 2011 and I don't think I ever had a single problem other than a handful of bad discs, now I feel lucky!

completely avoiding iTunes and using FLAC probably helped

Ok, will definitely look into beaTunes.

Though pretty much 75% of my listening these days is streaming, and the rest is physical media. beaTunes sounds like it might make the HDD library worth plugging in more often.

I got tired of curating downloaded mp3s in the way Michael Jones describes and basically deleted all of them... my digital collection is now entirely either ripped from CD or from online purchases.

my digital collection is basically stuff I haven’t gotten around to buying yet + stuff I probably never will get to buy

When I started ripping my collection 20 years ago, space as scarce and I used 128kps. I really need to go back and re-rip some of those CDs...

Yeah that's a half-long term project of mine. I've reripped all my box sets and things, plus some key artists.

i finished my re-ripping a few weeks ago.
took years.
for all the FLAC vs 320 discussions, i care not.
there is no way i am doing it all again.

I generally only listen to my ripped CDs out and about. Among the traffic etc, I don't think fidelity is *that* important. But still...

beaTunes looks like it will work for me. I really want to find a new home for my music now that I'm not using Apple products anymore. I've got a few dozen Itunes playlists that I don't want to lose, though. Anyone know if beaTunes will transfer those over? And do they have a star rating system option like Itunes (I really love that).

Actually, I plan on using my 500 GB android phone as my media player when my Ipod Classic dies, and I'm not sure if this will work for that. I'll keep looking.

When you do move over to Android, strongly recommend GoneMAD player--works excellently with large libraries.

guess y’all are... not... continuing with cds

I am continuing my quixotic commitment to CDs, even though I almost always listen to my digital library copy. I just can't quite give up the physical copy.

I still am. I don't have a real reason not to - I've got the space, I don't need the pennies I'd get from donating them to a charity that will probably have a hard time selling them, I can play them on my stereo, I like choosing the mastering I'm listening to rather than whatever's been uploaded to TIDAL or Spotify, and it's especially great with box sets that aren't really collected on streaming services.

Anyone have any suggestions for CD shelves when you get up around the 2k mark? There's basically, as far as I can tell, about 2-3 options online.

After investing a bunch of time and effort and money and emotional pain into getting my vinyl setup up to a decent standard, I feel sweet relief every time I put a CD on. Hey! It sounds good! I don't have to fuck around!

a friend just hooked me up with a Technics dual cassette deck and I'm kinda excited to check out f. hazel's mix tapes 1988-2005

CD purchases have slowed considerably as I've been more focused on contemporary music (and during Covid, Bandcamp). Most releases I buy have no physical release, or are only released on vinyl. Was probanly under 200 CDs bought in 2020, having averaged probably 400+ from 2000s-2010s. I'll still buy reissues and archival releases on CD, when possible.

only place round here to buy cds are charity shops.
hence my cd purchases have been rather few and far between recently.

i buy a lot of cd box sets these days just for the book/liners tbh, the discs seem like a bonus

Still buying cds. Own 3K or more. I like holding a product vs leafing through file folders. Did buy a ton on Bandcamp last year, but like to burn those to disc, too.

Re: cd shelves, I love these IKEA shelves. Discontinued, but a few years ago, was able to use Craigslist to pick up a handful more.

Yeah, Craigslist can be good for CD shelves for next to nothing. But for large collections, building your own can be the most efficient use of space (I even made a door, once wall space was gone). 1" x 6" boards work perfectly for CDs.

yeah, I might end up having to get some custom-built... about to get a wall unit that holds 2088 CDs, which should hold me for the next year or so. Even that will require some customization, since apparently the 1/4" shelves in it are very flimsy. I'm going to reinforce them with some 3/8" dowel rods. My current one holds ~1,500 and despite being made of pressed furniture sweepings and glue is very solid, it has 3/4" shelves that aren't flimsy at all!

As an inveterate and intentional small-apartment dweller, having 9,000+ CDs on display on shelves is a fantasy that will never come true. So I guess I should really be one of the people liquidating their collections--I have everything digitally (though earliest years of digitization leave something to be desired, quality-wise), and the CDs all end up in bankers boxes under the bed and in the basement...

But I just can't let them go. And nobody would want them, I'm told.

But I just can't let them go. And nobody would want them, I'm told.

welcome to my world.

I've seen apartments with an entire wall of floor-to-ceiling vinyl (management made him move to a ground floor apartment when they saw it for the first time), no reason you couldn't build a custom shelf that would hold about 8,000 CDs along one long wall

There are a variety of releases and box sets on Ace and Cherry Red out of the UK I regularly get without fail (neither label offers a Bandcamp option and so I'd prefer to have the physical version), but it's a small amount overall. There are a couple of bands where I'm looking to get as complete runs on CD as I can, or if I already did to get better versions of same -- ended up with pretty much the entire Coil discography on CD (as official as it will get, I guess) and given some of the older issues of Spacemen 3 on CD I'm upgrading bit by bit there. For things like the Cure/Depeche/Siouxsie/Pet Shop Boys reissue series I got everything, and obviously in the case of the former I'm still waiting on a couple more there, along with the putative Machina box by the Smashing Pumpkins. But a lot of what I was especially interested of a time -- limited edition CDRs -- has essentially disappeared as the historical moment has passed and such efforts shift to Bandcamp or other digital options. It's all careful maintenance for me at this point and I still only have the one CD rack remaining, which is where I want it to be, though some box set spillover is kept elsewhere.

along with the putative Machina box by the Smashing Pumpkins

Fingers crossed, sooner rather than later. Of course I would be willing to run with the completely unsubstantiated rumor that this is Ned's subtle way of announcing Billy drafted him to write the liner notes.

Ha, no. And as it stands if he ever somehow reached out my response would be "Yeah how about you completely disavow Alex Jones down to the molecule and then I'll think about it."

<3

Fair!

Well, speak of the devil.

https://www.nme.com/news/music/the-smashing-pumpkins-machina-ii-rework-is-finished-and-will-have-at-least-80-songs-says-billy-corgan-2867160

this is not the first time this has happened.
i swear its like beetlejuice/candyman with ILM and him.

I've seen apartments with an entire wall of floor-to-ceiling vinyl (management made him move to a ground floor apartment when they saw it for the first time), no reason you couldn't build a custom shelf that would hold about 8,000 CDs along one long wall

― fbclid=fhAZ3l (f. hazel), Thursday, January 28, 2021 6:03 PM (two hours ago)

I'd love to do that, if I had a free wall, or especially if I had a corridor... But the other main reason besides space constraints I don't think I'd ever do that is my wife doesn't find wall-o'-CDs nearly as exciting a decor idea as I do ; )

the main reason I want a single shelf that holds all of them is that it looks so much nicer than having everything else in the house filled to the brim with CDs!

agreed, I have mine all in a central location but spread over 4 differently-sized shelves and 8 of those small wooden holders.

I don't think I'd ever do that is my wife doesn't find wall-o'-CDs nearly as exciting a decor idea as I do ; )

hence why i never let my wife go into the attic here.
was my secret stash.

I just want to consolidate everything again. I need to purge and reorganize in a big way. One might think the pandemic would have been a good time to embark on this but, uh, we all know how well good intentions work.

I ordered new shelving so I could stop quarantining amongst piles of books and other stuff, and then the company was like "thanks for your order! it will ship in... twelve weeks"

I've cleared 2000 easy, but it's unlikely I'll ever get past 3000 albums, let alone CD's. I'm at a point where I'm selling off closer and closer to the same level I'm buying, which is probably good. I don't want to sit on albums that I'll barely enjoy and rarely hear, so I try to sell those off to someone who'll probably make better use of them.

yeah it's much easier to cut stuff loose and have fun curating a collection when you know 99% of it will be easy to hear online if the mood strikes you, in the 90s it was bit different as without the CD in hand chances are you had no way to listen to it again.

A friend of mine had a super cool system, it looked like an old wooden library card catalog like below, but more horizontal than vertical. He discarded all the jewel boxes and had the discs and art in sleeves. I may go this route at some point.

https://cdn11.bigcommerce.com/s-ofrvbbu9ve/images/stencil/1280x1280/products/591/2023/cd456b__66228.1532050898.jpg?c=2?imbypass=on

yeah it's much easier to cut stuff loose and have fun curating a collection when you know 99% of it will be easy to hear online if the mood strikes you, in the 90s it was bit different as without the CD in hand chances are you had no way to listen to it again.

Exactly. Robert Christgau in his old CG columns often mention his "reference" shelves, which makes sense if you're a music writer/critic in the '80s and you need stuff you don't necessarily like, but nowadays, it doesn't make sense to take up valuable space that way.

I mean, I still collect CDs because I still have this reservation about throwing my lot entirely in with streaming services and relying on everything to be "easy to hear online" forever. Music is not TV/film to be sure, but I think we're already starting to see the drawbacks and disadvantages over there:

- Obviously a big one is the endless churn of shows/films between various streaming services, meaning we're likely stuck in this ceaseless cycle of chasing content across services as contracts get modified, catalogs get purchased and streaming services shut down. It seems (knock wood) that things have settling down on the music streaming sites, but after watching the Neil Young and Taylor Swift catalogs come and go, it isn't hard to see a similar future for music (particularly if artist specific services like Young's Archives prove at all successful over time)
- Edited content. We've already seen movies and films getting edited to fit our new paradigm, mostly for the good in removing straight up racists material (but again, that triggers a broader discussion about what is kept for a historical record) but also minor things like the guns edited out of E.T. We saw Kanye tweaking (iirc) Life of Pablo several times once that started to get streamed, so the first uploaded version is gone, minus some folks that maybe saved a local version early. It also isn't hard to imagine some artist some day wanting to George Lucas old bits of their catalog and, for better or worse, those becoming the only versions on streaming sites.

I've never considered myself a "film collector", so I've largely made peace with streaming movies and gave up on clogging my shelves with DVDs and BluRays, minus 3 or 4 a year that I want to keep around, or things like my Herzog box. I'm just not there with music yet and I'm not ready to place my faith in a bunch of corporations in keeping the music important to me easily available.

tl;dr - There's just little about the current streaming paradigm that makes me feel comfortable that all the music I care about is going to be easily available online five years from now, much less twenty.

I would love it if someone would buy me this would be so great to be able to digitize everything but not have to deal w/a laptop

https://www.bluesound.com/products/vault/

nice though those things look, i can think of about a dozen cds on my collection where an automated process just wouldn't work. looking at you, Klaus Schulze.