Am I the only person who doesn't like...
Discussion
...downloading music?
All my mates reckon I'm old-fashioned and backwards-looking, but I just don't find anything enticing about just downloading a list from tinternet. I have an MP3 facility and a CD burner on my computer, I just prefer liner notes, the fact that the tunes are all there and in the order the band wanted them, and interesting (and well-printed) cover art. I also find the quality of MP3s is variable and you don't always know where to get them or you don't necessarily get the whole thing, not that you'd know if it was an album track.
The main thing about CDs, though, is that I just like to browse through them. I like walking into a shop and being 'surprised' by some band I'd forgotten about, that simply wouldn't occur to me if I was sitting on my arse in my bedroom dawdling around on the computer.
Also, I don't really like downloading all my CDs for the hell of it, I'd rather stick them on Minidisc.
Am I the only one???
All my mates reckon I'm old-fashioned and backwards-looking, but I just don't find anything enticing about just downloading a list from tinternet. I have an MP3 facility and a CD burner on my computer, I just prefer liner notes, the fact that the tunes are all there and in the order the band wanted them, and interesting (and well-printed) cover art. I also find the quality of MP3s is variable and you don't always know where to get them or you don't necessarily get the whole thing, not that you'd know if it was an album track.
The main thing about CDs, though, is that I just like to browse through them. I like walking into a shop and being 'surprised' by some band I'd forgotten about, that simply wouldn't occur to me if I was sitting on my arse in my bedroom dawdling around on the computer.
Also, I don't really like downloading all my CDs for the hell of it, I'd rather stick them on Minidisc.
Am I the only one???
v8thunder said:
...downloading music?
The main thing about CDs, though, is that I just like to browse through them. I like walking into a shop and being 'surprised' by some band I'd forgotten about, that simply wouldn't occur to me if I was sitting on my arse in my bedroom dawdling around on the computer.
I have just finished uploading 750 cd's to my Sony Network Walkman (WTF!) and it is fantastic to have it set on shuffle where it will play random tracks for 32 days........
Its like having your very own radio station that only plays music you own - it is a great way to appreciate the music you own and had not listened to recently.
You can hear one track from an artist and then inquisitively (sp?) put the whole album on........ I "re-discovered" the Travelling Wilburys yesterday
Y'see, for me certain CDs - whole CDs - have certain 'moods' that I like to set out. I also have a CD system that subtly glows blue and looks pretty nice in the room - most computers are dog-ugly. I don't like random mixed-up tunes that surprise me and I don't like to faff around with computer settings every time I want to listen to anything.
Basically I'm a bit like Will Smith's character in I, Robot
Basically I'm a bit like Will Smith's character in I, Robot
The other day I bought a CD from Amazon, then downloaded it, then discovered it was shite so cancelled it 
If it's a good CD I'll generally buy it even if I do download it. There's been quite a few times I've downloaded an album, really liked that artist and bought a few of their albums as a result. Would never have considered them otherwise.
If it's a good CD I'll generally buy it even if I do download it. There's been quite a few times I've downloaded an album, really liked that artist and bought a few of their albums as a result. Would never have considered them otherwise.
shnozz said:
the remaining good radio stations play very little music
I actually find the pirate radio stations around W London much better than the commercial/Radio 1 crappy stations - they don't play just garage (which I hate) but all sorts of good dance music..
>> Edited by john_p on Monday 6th December 20:17
john_p said:
the remaining good radio stations play very little music
I actually find the pirate radio stations around W London much better than the commercial/Radio 1 crappy stations - they don't play just garage (which I hate) but all sorts of good dance music..
>> Edited by john_p on Monday 6th December 20:17
When I'm home I like Century 105, simply because their DJs are pretty much given free rein over what's played and their playlist goes back to the '70s.
And they don't have phone-ins, thank God...
john_p said:
shnozz said:
the remaining good radio stations play very little music
I actually find the pirate radio stations around W London much better than the commercial/Radio 1 crappy stations - they don't play just garage (which I hate) but all sorts of good dance music..
>> Edited by john_p on Monday 6th December 20:17
Oi - I used to play Garage on a West London pirate station!
Although I do hate it too now. 'Tis rubbish.
As for downloading music, I don't really have a problem with the "try before you buy" approach; downloading a few tracks for free via p2p, and then buying the actual album as a complete product. However, I am one of those people who has to have the real thing and can't be satisfied with having the same tracks on a bland-looking CDR in a white case, with the artists and album title scribbled on the front with felt tip pen.
To me an album is not just about the music, although obviously the music is 90% of the product, but it is also about being able to hold it in your hand, admire the cover art and think to yourself, "Yeah, this is a
ing good CD." Sound quality is also an issue - To the untrained ear there is very little noticable difference between a compressed MP3 version of a song and the full stereo CD version, but to other people the difference is huge. Personally I find MP3s very "flat" sounding and lacking warmth.
I have never downloaded an entire album for free or otherwise, and I do think that downloading entire albums via p2p networks is morally wrong. Afterall, if artists started losing significant amounts of money on their albums thanks to p2p, they'd just stop making music and there wouldn't be anything to download anyway!
You might think this is a bit rich coming from somebody who was a pirate radio DJ, but all we wanted to do back in the day was play music we liked and let others hear it - We still bought the records ourselves. Unlike the DTI who couldn't stand us, the record labels loved us as we gave free exposure to their releases which aspiring DJs then went out and purchased.
>> Edited by DanBoy on Monday 6th December 20:36
v8thunder said:Kids that are six years old now will look at you like you look to someone who persists on listening only to music from a Wurlitzer jukebox
It's funny - My friends are still quite impressed by the fact that my CDs go wall-to-wall though.
No, sorry, I just think there's something a bit soulless and unsatisfying about your music collection being a list on a computer!
In three years time, these kids will see CDs like we see 5¼" diskettes or punch cards. Technology develops faster than habits can adapt. You'll learn the advantages of large capacity memory music collections as soon as you go for a three week travel in your car with space for no more than six CDs
You can carry the contents of 800 CDs in lossless quality (like the FLAC format) on a 3.5" hdd (probably 1200 CDs this time next year). You don't have to download music from the internet, when you collect your songs on an external harddrive. Visit your mates and swap entire albums in best quality (not that I condone such stuff). Large music collections are best handled by databases anyway. What's the use of a CD you don't know you own/you don't know where it is anyway?
Bodo said:
It's funny - My friends are still quite impressed by the fact that my CDs go wall-to-wall though.
No, sorry, I just think there's something a bit soulless and unsatisfying about your music collection being a list on a computer!
Kids that are six years old now will look at you like you look to someone who persists on listening only to music from a Wurlitzer jukebox
Technology develops faster than habits can adapt. You'll learn the advantages of large capacity memory music collections as soon as you go for a three week travel in your car with space for no more than six CDs
You don't have to download music from the internet, when you collect your songs on an external harddrive. Visit your mates and swap entire albums in best quality (not that I condone such stuff). Large music collections are best handled by databases anyway. What's the use of a CD you don't know you own/you don't know where it is anyway?
Erm, I don't think I care, I just wondered whether I was on my own so far as buying music goes.
Plus, I like record shops and talking to people 'in the know' behind the counter. Can't to that on the internet.
Bodo said:
It's funny - My friends are still quite impressed by the fact that my CDs go wall-to-wall though.
No, sorry, I just think there's something a bit soulless and unsatisfying about your music collection being a list on a computer!
Kids that are six years old now will look at you like you look to someone who persists on listening only to music from a Wurlitzer jukebox
Technology develops faster than habits can adapt. You'll learn the advantages of large capacity memory music collections as soon as you go for a three week travel in your car with space for no more than six CDs
You don't have to download music from the internet, when you collect your songs on an external harddrive. Visit your mates and swap entire albums in best quality (not that I condone such stuff). Large music collections are best handled by databases anyway. What's the use of a CD you don't know you own/you don't know where it is anyway?
Exactly what I was going to say, but more diplomatic - I was just going to call you a luddite
v8thunder said:
Erm, I don't think I care, I just wondered whether I was on my own so far as buying music goes.
Plus, I like record shops and talking to people 'in the know' behind the counter. Can't to that on the internet.
I don't mean that you should feel like a grumpy old man
It's just that new technologies may offer new advantages beside having to get used to them first. As for buying music, I would never spend £0.99 or €0.99 per song for DRM'ed (read=restricted control) download songs. CDs have better value imho, although I buy them online since I always know what I want before. Sometimes, certain CDs aren't available through the retail market unfortunately, so I have to use alternative ways to get the music. Once I've bought CDs, I legally rip them to my harddrive, and listen from there. I still discover music, I haven't heard for a long time, thanks to functions like random play or genre/release year filtering.
>> spelling
>> Edited by Bodo on Monday 6th December 21:09
I'm not a huge fan of downloading music. However, if something is quite comerical then I will download their album because the chances are I'll only like a couple of tracks. I do own over 150 CDs though so I make sure I pay for what I really like. MP3s definately sound much worse than CDs. I also think vinyl sounds better than CDs though, and am slowly building a fun collection there. Only disadvantage of that is making a CD copy of one takes ages. Just end up popping the on a minidisc instead.
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