rw2516

I'll answer the OP'S question with a question.

Can anybody recommend a superior quality protective mylar sleeve to put my digipaks in?

Also looking for mini-LP size.

Maxflier

I still buy CD's.
I have so many MP3's that I imported into Itunes back in the day that cut off before the song is even over now, Itunes coverart disappearing on me all the time... Yeah, fuck digital music.

Coral

Here's a nice little article on the subject from yesterday. Nothing we don't already know, but still an interesting read:

How the compact disc lost its shine

UAIOE

They needed to be fucked over at least 4 times. $15 for a CD was stupid back then, and even stupider looking back at it now.

hanshotfirst1138

I think at this point, if they priced them at ten cents people wouldn't buy them.

slop101

This is true, and it makes me sad.

I, personally, have more shelf-space for music than I do digital space. Also, it's a lot easier for me to pop a CD into my car's stereo, than it is to download a song onto a device, and plug it into my car to listen to. Not to mention, the CD sounds a billion times better. But I seem to be the only one who cares.

B5Erik

No, I'm with you.

The whole digital music thing is so opposite of how most people grew up listening to music before the turn of the century that it's ridiculous.

I still read album credits, scan through the lyrics, check out the pictures, etc, in the booklet that comes with the CD. You can't do that with digital music.

I have had such bad luck with computers - I've lost thousands of audio files that I've ripped from CD when my computers have taken a permanent dump. If I had actually paid for downloads rather than CD's it would have been a huge mess for me trying to rebuild that collection.

But since I've got the actual CD's all I have to do is pop them in the CD/DVD drive on my computer and 60 seconds later the entire album is on my computer again! And I can play my CD's in the car, which I can't do with filed on my computer (not without burning them to disc, or copying them to a flash drive).

I'm going to buy CD's as long as I can. As long as they're available I'm a buyer.

mndtrp

Backup the hard drive, and you won't have to even spend 60 seconds reripping, per disc. You also won't have lost all of the downloaded tracks. Seems pretty simple.

As far as the car, I burn a DVD's worth of songs to listen to, and use the ipod if I remember to bring it. Listening experience isn't all that great in the car in the first place, so it's not a big deal if the mp3 loses some due to compression. At home, I listen to FLAC rips. If I bought from Bandcamp, I get the FLAC files.

First thing I do when I buy a cd is slap it onto my computer. I flip through the booklet once, put the disc into a box and never look at it again.

slop101

I eliminate 3 or 4 of your steps by just slapping the CD into my car.

Back up my HD, burn CD, rip into PC, transfer to phone, sync into player, etc etc... Who's got the time for all that shit?

davidh777

Yes, digital music is different, but that's not always a bad thing. Portability and convenience are amazing.

I'm also a fan of booklets, but some albums have digital booklets that attempt to replicate the experience. Plus, much of that stuff is now available online, while before the booklet might be the only place you could find it.

Depends on where you've bought it from. Some sites have easy re-downloads.

Pretty sure there's some duplication on your list of tasks.

Rex Fenestrarum

I don't. I have 29,812 tracks in iTunes at the moment. Of course, album length varies, but if you figure 10 tracks per album, that's almost 3,000 CDs. I don't have room for all that useless plastic, especially when it's time to move. I toted several hundred CDs through multiple moves, and I say good riddance to them. Meanwhile, the hard drive space needed to store all that music cost me around $8, if my math is correct.

Well, for one CD, sure. But who listens to one CD? I grew up in the 80s, the era of the mix tape. I'd take all my vinyl and make a 90 minute cassette of the tunes I wanted to hear. iPods and phones are just like that, only with massive capacities. If you wanna turn all 600+ tracks of my "Spring 2015" playlist to 60 CDs, knock yourself out.

Says you. Most people can't tell the difference between a 320kbps mp3, a FLAC and a WAV file. Fewer still could tell the difference in a car. And perhaps you can now, but call us when you hit your 40s and tell us if you still can.

Pretty much. My 7G Nano can hold hundreds, maybe thousands of songs at 320kbps. I don't want to go backwards to an age where I have to burn mix CDs or (even worse) have to lug a binder of 200 CDs around and have to change discs after every song to hear what I want. Hell, as it is, my GF and I both have CD players in our cars that have never been used. All I want in my next car stereo is Bluetooth or an AUX jack. No disc player. No AM\FM. Just some way to connect a 21st century device to the damn car.

B5Erik

CD's in a small case with the pages are pretty portable, too.

But if I just want to sit on the couch or sit on my bed I can read the booklet while easily holding it in my hands. I don't have to be chained to the chair at my computer to read the booklet, I can do it where I'm comfortable! (And, yeah, maybe some of that info is available online, so it could be accessed with a tablet - but I don't own a tablet, and there is a huge percentage of the population that doesn't.)

B5Erik

Today I wanted to buy CD's. The new Soto and Armored Saint releases are must have's for me - but no one has them in stock so I can't buy them!

There are a few other titles I want to buy, but no one has them locally, either.

So it's not a situation where no one wants to buy CD's, and it's not a situation where stores can't sell them, it's just that they don't stock much anymore. Yes, sales are way down, but they're even further down because no one stocks a reasonable amount of titles anymore, so they lose those impulse buys.

rw2516

Does anybody else just sit and listen to music? I've got a spare bedroom set up as a music room with separate sound system from the theater system. I'll completely skip tv for a few hours or entire night. Just sit, not doing any other thing, just listen, to cds.

slop101

Yeah, I do, not as often as I used to, but yeah, couple times a month. I still have an old tube amplifier from the '70s along with big ol' speakers from the same era that have since been refurbished. And I have components like a turntable and an CD player from the '90 (the kind of component you can't buy any more) that still works flawlessly all plugged into it. Not quite a McIntosh set up, but sill sounds really good - and yes, I can tell the difference between a CD and an MP3... (especially if it's acoustic music)

And of course I listen to albums that I enjoy all the way through, played in sequence, as I've never been drawn to acts that can only churn out a couple good songs per album, leaving the rest as filler.

davidh777

C'mon, you aren't really comparing the portability of a single CD in a CD player to a digital device, are you?

B5Erik

I come from the Vinyl era. Compared to that CD's are ultra portable. They work really well for me in the car. Easy to store, very little room taken up.

No, they aren't as portable as a digital device, but I still enjoy burning CD's for the car...

Trevor

I used to do that back in my elementary to high school days, but I don't think I've listened to music outside of my car or a concert in 30 years.

Josh-da-man

Where were you looking for them? The big chain places (BB, Target, etc) or indie record stores?

mndtrp

Oh, come on now, let's not blow things out of proportion. It takes 3 minutes to rip into the computer, another 30 seconds to sync to my ipod. The album is now available to me everywhere I go, along with almost every other piece of music I own.

slop101

It's never that simple/stratigh-forward when I rip stuff into my ipod - there's always something with song order or something else that I have to tweak before and after I rip. Also, my car's pretty much the only place I can use my ipod (no speakers on my work PC), so it's almost like a useless process when I can just grab a CD.

starseed1981

I'm down to about 1 - 2 a year. And generally with those I'll buy direct from the artist to get freebies and whatnot. I just can't justify the expense with things like Spotify around.

BobO'Link

Yes, I still purchase CDs and will as long as the medium is available. I only "purchase" digital when it's free.

I purchased a couple last month and have a couple on order. While I'm down from the 10-25 per month of several years back I still make the occasional purchase, usually about 1 per month. That's mainly because I own almost everything I truly want and pick up new stuff when I "discover" just *who* made that recording I enjoyed years ago, stumble across a song I like that's been "rare" or hard to find, or hear the very rare new recording I like enough to own. There are still a dozen or so albums I'd like to purchase on CD but they've just not been released for one reason or another.

I have no desire to rip copies of everything to the computer. I listen on my stereo or in the car - neither of which will play MP3 files. I *do* have a portable MP3 player for when I walk but getting tracks on it is a bit of a pain. More often than not I just take a portable CD player.

Here are the facts about ripping a CD:

Under US copyright law, if you convert (rip) an original CD that you own to digital files, then this qualifies as 'Fair Use'. As long as you use it for your own personal use and don't distribute the copyrighted material to others, then you will not be breaking the law.

Points to consider:

Only rip original CDs that you legitimately own - borrowing an original CD off someone doesn't count.

You can transfer digital music files to your own personal MP3 player providing those files have been ripped directly from a CD that you legitimately own.

Only copy original CDs that you legitimately own; you can burn ONE copy only for your own personal use.

Borrowing an original CD off someone to make a copy for yourself or others is illegal. That includes your local Library.

Copying digital music files from someone else’s MP3 player or computer, even if they own the original CD, is illegal.

If you sell or give away the CD you're legally obligated to delete the digital copy. If the original becomes damaged you have to keep it to prove ownership, even if it's totally unplayable. If you throw it out you are to delete/destroy the copy.

Josh-da-man

And todays's word is unenforceable.

BobO'Link

Exactly.