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Original message:106 days 22 hours 23 minutes ago
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Member: JTC
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Im curious to know...

When purchasing music do you typically download MP3's or do you purchase the physical CD?

If you normally purchase MP3's do you have a particular place to buy from (Itunes for example)?
My music recommendations:
My gear recommendations:
JTC Web Page
Album - Dreaming of a New Cloud
Free MP3 - Dreaming of a New Cloud
Recent Recording-Blind.mp3
Reply:106 days 21 hours 49 minutes ago
Member: G_Barber
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MP3's. Haven't bought anything new in quite a while, but I used to get stuff from Walmart.com of all places.
My music recommendations:
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Reply:106 days 21 hours 6 minutes ago
Member: Xarkzila
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1961
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CD's. MP3 sound quality is a HUGE disappointment when you're used to listening in a controlled environment.

I'd watch out for ITunes. My kid hit it last fall. The site installed a Trojan on our computer that we can't get rid of. RIAA bastards... You can't get this crap from a CD. Nor will you ever be harassed about "sharing." The other nice thing about a CD is that many artists have put together their release in a meaningful manner. One song leading into or supporting the next. I'd rather have the artists complete idea than to rape his CD and take only what I want from it. Besides, I find many cuts I probably wouldn't have purchased otherwise.
My gear recommendations:
  
"The music industry is a cruel and shallow money trench. A long plastic hallway where theives and pimps run free and good men die like dogs. There's also a negative side..."
http://www.cleargravy.com
Reply:106 days 19 hours 34 minutes ago
Member: JTC
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The last physical CD I purchased was the latest Kid Rock CD a few month's ago. However, I've bought allot of MP3's. Mostly from Itunes but I prefer getting actual MP3's that are DRM free and I specifically hate anything with DRM or in other format's like M4P or WMA.

My biggest complaint about buying MP3's is the popular music players. My wife has an IPOD and I have a Zune. We have to run separate software in order to load music on each of our machines and the software sucks for both (itunes and zune player). I really wish that these things would be manufactured so that you just plug it into the computer and drag and drop your files to add them. All this conversion of formats and protection from transferring to multiple machines make me crazy.

Back to point... Overall I prefer to buy MP3's over physical CD's except for my truly favorite artists. I guess there is some type of souveniere value added to having the physical property to put on the shelf when it comes to being a dedicated fan.
My music recommendations:
My gear recommendations:
  
JTC Web Page
Album - Dreaming of a New Cloud
Free MP3 - Dreaming of a New Cloud
Recent Recording-Blind.mp3
Reply:106 days 19 hours 27 minutes ago
Member: frumsapap
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863
WebCred
I buy CDs, and then I usually burn them to another disk in 24 bit quality. CDs are usually 16 bit. I make mixes a lot of the time and they sound twice as good as the original album.
My music recommendations:
Reply:106 days 19 hours 15 minutes ago
Member: Xarkzila
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1961
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Convert to 24 bit all you want, you don't actually get 24 bit. If the original sound is 16 bit, that's all you have to work with. It's kind of like "upconverting" DVD's. It's not really HD as there is a ton of missing information that simply has to be faked. There are 8 bits missing, so when you "upconvert" whatever software you use to accomplish the task has to simply insert placeholders instead of actual audio information. You may have a 24 bit file, but once the original tracks were converted DOWN to 16 bit, all that additional information was lost and there is no software out there that can recover it. (We keep everything in the studio at 24 bit because once we make the conversion to CD format, there is no going back.)

And how can you "remix" two tracks? Working in a studio I know for a fact that you can't change anything except EQ and compression on commercially purchased music and seeing as most music is already overcompressed, that leaves only EQ to make something "sound better." (Yeah, you can add effects, but why?) We covert vinyl to CD and there is no "remixing" involved what-so-ever. You have a left and a right and nothing else to work with. IF you actually, "remix" then you've changed the balance, (as that's your only option,) and that would improve nothing at all.

Seems like an awful lot of work to change a basic format, while gaining nothing in the effort.
My gear recommendations:
  
"The music industry is a cruel and shallow money trench. A long plastic hallway where theives and pimps run free and good men die like dogs. There's also a negative side..."
http://www.cleargravy.com
Reply:106 days 18 hours 44 minutes ago
Member: Kenski
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66
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I'd say it depends on your listening platform. I used to be a major audiophile and had really high end stereo equipment etc. These days I'm so rarely able to listen at home that 99% of my listening is done on an iPod. I also have no space for CDs so I keep them in sleeve cases, which is less than ideal for keeping them pristene. Music is so much more 'available' now in mp3 format. The other weekend I tried going CD shopping and only found one of the albums I wanted, so I was left with either iTunes or ordering online.

Also, if you already know you just want one song then it's cheaper. The biggest downside (apart from reduced quality) of mp3s is that not all artists are available on all sites.

Personally, I miss the process of physically browsing in record (as in vinyl LP) shops, but those days are long gone.

Oh, and if you're a greeny then you could argue that the carbon footprint of an mp3 is much smaller :-)
The Fillmore Five Project (fillmorefive.blogspot.com)
Reply:106 days 17 hours 42 minutes ago
Member: frumsapap
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863
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No I don't remix anything. I am only making mixes of different tunes for a cd. So if I want a blues mix, I will put say, Stevie Ray Vaughn on track 1, and say Robert Randolf on track 2, etc... Now I don't know about the 24 bit and 16 bit, but I burned a cd with Tool and 311 and a few other bands, and the copy "sounded" better than the original. I heard a difference in the drums and the sound of the guitars and vocals seemed to be cleaner somehow. I use Nero and it's on a crappy-ass computer. I am a major music collector. I buy at least 2-3 CDs a month and I listen, religiously to all kinds of music. I am no recording genius, but I could hear a difference.
My music recommendations:
Reply:106 days 16 hours 45 minutes ago
Member: Xarkzila
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1961
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OK... I understand what you're doing here. Still... I'd be concerned if my copies "sounded better" than the original. The only conclusion to make is that the software you're using to make the copies is actually changing something in either EQ or compression. My guess would be compression as it seems to be the current "taste" to push everything up front and destroy the dynamic. The things you mention as "sounding better" would be affected by more compression and result would be that they "sound better" when in reality you're actually losing much of the dynamic that makes the music what it is in the first place.

Not necessarily bad, if that's what you enjoy. It's why we have tone controls, loudness switches and balance pots on our playback equipment. From a studio stand point, this is wrong, but from the listener's ears, what makes you happy is what you should be listening to.

Thanks for the clarification.
My gear recommendations:
  
"The music industry is a cruel and shallow money trench. A long plastic hallway where theives and pimps run free and good men die like dogs. There's also a negative side..."
http://www.cleargravy.com
Reply:106 days 17 hours 35 minutes ago
Member: paul_s
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9
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I still like and buy CDs. Mainly because a CD more than likely won't ever crash like a hard drive or MP3 player. If my computer's hard drive goes haywire, I still have my CD on the shelf and I don't have to go through reloading any lost files.

That, and I just don't like all the proprietary and DRM crap. I hate that all the record companies have presumed me guilty.
My music recommendations:
My gear recommendations:
  
Reply:106 days 17 hours 4 minutes ago
Member: Chester Field
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147
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CD's for me. With a CD in hand, you can make MP3's all day long, in any bit rate you want.
I miss flipping through vinyl myself, artwork, and liner notes big enough to actually see.
Reply:106 days 17 hours 2 minutes ago
Member: JTC
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788
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Regarding lost files vers cd's. I still have every MP3 I've ripped from any cd I've owned. Most of the CD's I've purchased either no longer play or have been lost over time. I think MP3 is a better way of ensuring you keep the music you've purchased as long as you are smart about backing up what you got and keeping multiple copies of it. I keep my master collecton on a USB hard disk and a good working library on my computer. My son's computer is a hand me down that still holds most of my collection. Plus I've backed up to DVD disks several times.

Just something to think about...
My music recommendations:
My gear recommendations:
  
JTC Web Page
Album - Dreaming of a New Cloud
Free MP3 - Dreaming of a New Cloud
Recent Recording-Blind.mp3
Reply:106 days 16 hours 41 minutes ago
Member: Xarkzila
    + 1  
1961
WebCred
Hmmm.... I have every CD I've ever bought and every single one of them plays perfectly. Well, every one I've never lent to anyone else! I don't have to back up a thing. And it doesn't matter what bit rate I choose for an MP3, they all lose something in the translation. (Remember these are MY ears talking here. I tend to hear things most people don't, which is why I opened a studio.)

It all comes down to personal preference, but as far as MP3's lasting longer than CD's? I'd have to say it's going to depend heavily on how well you take care of your CD's.
My gear recommendations:
  
"The music industry is a cruel and shallow money trench. A long plastic hallway where theives and pimps run free and good men die like dogs. There's also a negative side..."
http://www.cleargravy.com
Reply:106 days 16 hours 13 minutes ago
Member: frumsapap
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863
WebCred
I definitely agree with the cds versus mp3s. I usually keep most of my cds in their original cases. As far as the listener is concerned, that is one of the things I think the recording aspect loses, the car radio litener, or the guy/girl who has just the normal average everyday cd player or mp3 player. I do however know that recording is extremely different than what ends up being the final result of the product for the listening public. I think about it as like the movie directors who give their opinions on special scenes that they did not want edited on the "special features." Sometimes I agree that the scene would have been great in the movie, but ohten times I sit there and scratch my head as to why they even thought it would be remotely cool. I think of it like this; I was playing guitar with a guy for a while who had a Digitech or DOD effects processor that had drum beats built in and recording slide card insert. It was not that great, but when we put it in the car to listen to for a drive, because that is the way we could tell whether or not we got it recorded right or not, a lot of times we would scratch and start over. But when we went to the mixing board in the computer, a lot of the times the final cut of the cd would sound great out of the computer monitors, and then we'd put it through the Mixing board into the PA, and it would sound like crap, or it would be right on. At any rate this is just my experience so far.
My music recommendations: