Continuing with CDs?

Is the fact that you have the artist/title/metadata/library management set up the way you want to part of it?
I was thinking an interesting project would be to create a simulated ripper that just downloads a flac and reencodes/retitles it the way you would if you'd inserted a CD in the ripper program you are used to.

I "simulated rip" every record I buy without a download code... hell, even some that do. Thanks soulseek. #onethread

If anybody who still loves CDs would be interested--the glads-mastetrd 2CD set I'm quixotically putting out in is up for pre-order, shipping early April:

https://ianmanire.bandcamp.com/album/improvisations

https://f4.bcbits.com/img/0031708315_71.jpg

https://f4.bcbits.com/img/0031708317_71.jpg

(Just home-made mock-ups for now, but you know I had to do graphical knock-out screen printing on the discs to let that glorious silver shine through haha)

"glass-mastered," that is. Yeesh...

speaking of cds ..
last week, the black dog announced a new album release on vinyl and cd.
today they have said that the cd will probably sell out before the release date, whereas normally its the vinyl edition that sells out first.
admittedly, there are 'only' 500 copies of the cd version, but still.

Would be interesting to know the ratio of LPs pressed to CDs pressed for a given release nowadays. I wonder if, for some releases, the CD versions will become the rarities of the future.

Vinyl just surpassed CDs in terms of units shipped this past year, for the first time in 30 years. (It had already passed CDs in dollar value a couple years ago.)

Ah, thought the thread revive might be about this (from The Guardian):

Alcopops and non-chart CDs ejected from UK ‘inflation basket’

Two ubiquitous consumer items of the 1990s – alcopops and CDs – will no longer count towards the monthly update of Britain’s cost of living after the latest shake-up of the shopping basket used to measure price changes.

In a sign it is no longer fashionable to order a fruit drink laced with booze in a pub and that the age of the compact disc is over, the Office for National Statistics said both products had fallen foul of its annual audit of the UK’s spending habits.

Non-chart CDs and alcopops – along with digital compact cameras – were the most high-profile casualties of the latest rejigging of the ONS inflation basket, which contains everything from cucumbers and TV licences to compost and tissues, and is used to measure the annual inflation rate.

FWIW, germane to this conversation though admittedly anecdotal, I'm currently trying to locate an out of print CD for a friend that was released in 2016 by a pretty big indie specializing in reissues, and not finding even used copies for less than $60. The vinyl version is still available everywhere, including Amazon. Clearly there is still demand for CDs, even if that demand has grown more niche.

Most indie reissue label CDs are limited editions, even if they aren't necessarily branded as such.

Right, but so are their vinyl equivalents, many of which seem to remain in print forever

What is the CD?

XP Yes, but they're more likely to press more vinyl editions to begin with, and do represses on those if they sellout.

I wish they'd go back to jewel cases for CDs, I loathe the modern cardboard sleeve foldover ones. So cheap. Digipaks are all right I suppose.

I prefer digipaks mostly for storage reasons, take up less space. Definitely not a fan of the cardboard sleeve ones.

I put all my CDs in binders and throw out the cases, so its all the same to me.

What is the CD?

― djh, Monday, March 13, 2023 5:30 PM (thirty-eight minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

A comp of Sun Ra singles released a few years ago on Strut

I put all my CDs in binders and throw out the cases, so its all the same to me.

This is how unhip I am: every now and then, especially through the '10s, I've bought boxes of unassembled jewel cases from a wholesaler for repair purposes. I've not bought pawn shop CDs by the dozen so much recently so a few dozen remaining empty cases will themselves be taking up space for a wee while.

hahaha, when I find a CD I want at Half-Price books and it has a thrashed jewel case I usually scan their dollar CD section until I find a pristine matching jewel case to swap it into

x-posts - Had a quick check if it was the same situation here (UK) with the Sun Ra comp and it seems to be. It looks like there's a copy at this Portuguese site:

https://newsounddimensions.com/products/sun-ra-singles-1952-1991-3-cd-cd?variant=39823311864002

(Assuming the correct CD)

€34.50 with shipping - not bad! Thank you! Definitely the least expensive I've seen for a new copy. Into my cart it goes. Thanks again!

aww rats

Dear Paul,
thank you for your order
unfortunately we had a problem with our stock. We have the vinyl versions not the cd.
we are really sorry if this caused you any inconvenience
Refund sent
Best regards

If you don't mind buying from Amazon, it's on amazon.co.uk for £28.

Ordered! Thank you. $40 with shipping is the best deal I've (well, actually, you've) found. I appreciate it.

What can be somewhat frustrating is when a band does really low number pressings of both LPs and CDs, but then keeps pressing different colors of the LP after each batch sells out but never re-ups the CD pressings when those sell out in a similar timeframe.

Similarly: I checked Outro Tempo: Electronic and Contemporary Music from Brazil out from the library, was enchanted, and then learned that the CD (which has more tracks) is OOP while the vinyl has been re-pressed.

A few extra tracks on the CD as well, if I'm remembering correctly. That comp is great

What can be somewhat frustrating is when a band does really low number pressings of both LPs and CDs, but then keeps pressing different colors of the LP after each batch sells out but never re-ups the CD pressings when those sell out in a similar timeframe.

― Maxmillion D. Boosted (jon /via/ chi 2.0),

not just bands.
record labels.
hello finders keepers.

oh totally

x-post. Ah, sorry, Paul. Glad you found an alternative.

No worries! I appreciate the head's up all the same.

https://i.imgur.com/hbLamhk.jpg

my little teac won't play a disc until it's been warmed up for half an hour...

Was in my hometown yesterday visiting family, and the record store I used to buy CDs from in the early 2000s, and which closed shop for a good while, is back from the dead. IDK how the guy does it in such a small town. I've never seen more than one other person in that shop at a time. I have a CD player in my car, so I copped used copies of Aquemini and Siamese Dream and thanked the dude for keeping the place alive.

Also I'm legit considering getting a discman so I can listen to ambient music when I go to sleep, without relying on my phone for it

This guy gets it!

https://i.imgur.com/tZMpsyQ.jpg

I found my old discman, replaced the batteries and used it to play some foreign language audio that only existed on CD.

If I bought a sealed CD on eBay (from 1989), and everything about the packaging and disc looks normal except it says “Manufactured by Columbia House under license” at the very bottom of the back cover – it should still sound as good as a “regular” CD, right(?) The actual label is Elektra, FWIW…

My understanding is that it should sound the same. I don’t believe record club CDs suffered from any mastering or significant manufacturing differences as record club LPs did.

I have such a nice cd player (Rotel RCD971) that I saved for in the early 2000s and bought used, it kind of kills me to see it sitting idle while I pump my library off a computer through a DAC.

xp Thanks!

Moved across the country in March — spent today unpacking my CDs and loading them into Ikea KALLAX shelves which I spent this past weekend building. It took about 10 hours, with breaks for meals, to load a couple of thousand individual (more or less) standard-sized CDs into the shelves.

- Alphabetical by artist's last name or first word of band name not including articles;
- Compilations inserted alphabetically by first word of title;
- For classical, alphabetical by last name of composer;
- No genre separation; this is my home, not a record store

I was able to blast through it because it was a holiday. Now I have to organize the box sets, which will probably take the rest of the week because I have to work during the day and can only spend a couple of hours a night on the project. But eyeballing it, I think I'm going to have enough shelf space left over that I can put music-related books in at the end, which I think will look kind of cool.

That's *exactly* how I organise them. Except that I've ended up with a substantial section where I've separated out classical discs with more than one composer (typically the same performers/sessions throughout, such that it's not a compilation) where I don't trust myself to remember which of the several composers I might otherwise have filed it under lol.

Same here, though for compilations, I've had to re-think that since I've added quite a few homemade discs. Those discs are now more or less in chronological order, which works out pretty well.

Much the same for me. Though I group compilations by genre. I’ve got a lot of DJ mixes and group them by club, number(Fabric/Live) if applicable then who mixed them.

I'm still genre. Not because my home is a record store but the way my brain/moods work: I'll know roughly what sort of mood I'm in and will choose accordingly. Not suggesting this is a foolproof method but it's worked so far.

my comps are files under "Various" i.e. 'V", and just done alphabetically within that

"filed"

^^^

how do you arrange CDs in Kallax shelves? I see a German company sells cross-shaped inserts so you can maximize vertical space.