Do you still buy CDs / have you gotten rid of them?
04-17-17, 07:34 PM
#51
DVD Talk Godfather
Join Date: Oct 2003
Location: Home of 2013 NFL champion Seahawks
Posts: 52,676
Received 1,023 Likes
on
844 Posts
Re: Do you still buy CDs / have you gotten rid of them?
I've been trying to move a lot of my CDs onto my computer and into iTunes, and I've got all that I've done so far backed up on a jump drive.
My quandary is that some albums, like Pink Floyd's The Wall, for instance, seque all or certain songs together. When they're broken up into individual tracks, they start and end weirdly, and if I'm listening to the entire album sequentially, there are annoying pauses between the tracks that disrupt the intended flow of the music.
Does this not bother those of you who are going all digital, or have you found some miracle work-around so that this doesn't occur?
My quandary is that some albums, like Pink Floyd's The Wall, for instance, seque all or certain songs together. When they're broken up into individual tracks, they start and end weirdly, and if I'm listening to the entire album sequentially, there are annoying pauses between the tracks that disrupt the intended flow of the music.
Does this not bother those of you who are going all digital, or have you found some miracle work-around so that this doesn't occur?
I used to like that feature from Amazon. I bought a few physical CDs from Amazon that had that feature so I use to stream those albums. Then i started noticing some songs didn't sound like I remembered, so i pulled out the actual CDs, played them on my cheap portable Disc player and there was a world of difference in quality (at least to my ears) the mp3 sounded all muffled compared to the actual CDs. Haven't used that feature ever since
04-17-17, 09:11 PM
#52
DVD Talk Godfather
Re: Do you still buy CDs / have you gotten rid of them?
I've been trying to move a lot of my CDs onto my computer and into iTunes, and I've got all that I've done so far backed up on a jump drive.
My quandary is that some albums, like Pink Floyd's The Wall, for instance, seque all or certain songs together. When they're broken up into individual tracks, they start and end weirdly, and if I'm listening to the entire album sequentially, there are annoying pauses between the tracks that disrupt the intended flow of the music.
Does this not bother those of you who are going all digital, or have you found some miracle work-around so that this doesn't occur?
My quandary is that some albums, like Pink Floyd's The Wall, for instance, seque all or certain songs together. When they're broken up into individual tracks, they start and end weirdly, and if I'm listening to the entire album sequentially, there are annoying pauses between the tracks that disrupt the intended flow of the music.
Does this not bother those of you who are going all digital, or have you found some miracle work-around so that this doesn't occur?
That's one of the reasons why I keep the cd in the car for a few months to get some solid listening in before switching to digital.
04-18-17, 10:13 AM
#53
DVD Talk Godfather
Re: Do you still buy CDs / have you gotten rid of them?
When they're broken up into individual tracks, they start and end weirdly, and if I'm listening to the entire album sequentially, there are annoying pauses between the tracks that disrupt the intended flow of the music.
Does this not bother those of you who are going all digital, or have you found some miracle work-around so that this doesn't occur?
Does this not bother those of you who are going all digital, or have you found some miracle work-around so that this doesn't occur?
04-18-17, 11:28 AM
#54
DVD Talk Hall of Fame
Re: Do you still buy CDs / have you gotten rid of them?
I have way too many CDs in boxes in my garage. Mostly the 1st and 2nd albums my band put out.
04-18-17, 12:04 PM
#55
DVD Talk Limited Edition
Re: Do you still buy CDs / have you gotten rid of them?
I used to like that feature from Amazon. I bought a few physical CDs from Amazon that had that feature so I use to stream those albums. Then i started noticing some songs didn't sound like I remembered, so i pulled out the actual CDs, played them on my cheap portable Disc player and there was a world of difference in quality (at least to my ears) the mp3 sounded all muffled compared to the actual CDs. Haven't used that feature ever since
They don't use that format anymore though (even though their website help section says they do) I've seen some of the songs I've downloaded at almost 300 kbps - this is in turn is the "256 kbps constant rate" - hence the odd bit rate sizes you will see for your songs - I do not have a problem with this format - songs sound great.
Also, if you want to upload your music to Amazon (believe they cap you at 250 free songs to upload then you need to pay to upload more) they will keep whatever format you use when you upload - even FLAC.
04-18-17, 01:00 PM
#57
DVD Talk Legend
Re: Do you still buy CDs / have you gotten rid of them?
You can link tracks in iTunes when importing from CD. If you buy the digital edition of, say, Dark Side of the Moon, you're not going to be able to permanently link tracks that should be one to begin with.
04-18-17, 01:03 PM
#58
DVD Talk Legend
Re: Do you still buy CDs / have you gotten rid of them?
Just bought about 10 CDs from the thrift store yesterday for $1 a piece. I'm planning on flipping 2 of them, but the rest are for me. My prefers to have everything digital, and I have a ton of stuff on my phone, but I still like being able to put in a CD in my car, and just listen to an album. A few years ago, she convinced me to downsize my collection, and we got rid of some chaff (Joshua Kadison...why?) but there were a few titles I regret getting rid of.
04-18-17, 08:42 PM
#59
DVD Talk Platinum Edition
Join Date: Mar 2004
Location: Formerly known as "Jeffy Pop"/Denver
Posts: 3,038
Likes: 0
Received 2 Likes
on
2 Posts
Re: Do you still buy CDs / have you gotten rid of them?
So, for example, you can tag the first five songs of Dark Side of the Moon as "Dark Side of the Moon - Side One." I find this really helpful, as I like to use the shuffle mode a lot and songs will play in the appropriate order without any awkward breaks or gaps.
04-21-17, 10:38 AM
#60
Re: Do you still buy CDs / have you gotten rid of them?
Recent yearly tally of CDs purchased:
2013: 27
2014: 38
2015: 14
2016: 8
2017: so far only 2
I retired in Sept. 2015, so I started buying less. Most of them are J-pop, so the music is not easy to access any other way. I went through a period where I was discovering Japanese singers on a regular basis and buying up cheap CDs to sample them at Book Off and now I've got boxes filled with them and most of them I probably won't listen to again, so I may have to cart them back to Book Off and get pennies on the dollars I spent on them. As it stands, I only follow a few groups and singers these days (all J-pop) and the trend among these acts is fewer and fewer CD albums and I don't feel like buying all their singles anymore.
When I buy CDs I usually transfer them to iTunes and listen to them that way, but since the titles are all in Japanese, I don't always know which albums are which. The iTunes account is only on my desktop which is in the living room. I really need another portable CD player so I can listen to them when working in the bedroom. Do they even make those anymore?
2013: 27
2014: 38
2015: 14
2016: 8
2017: so far only 2
I retired in Sept. 2015, so I started buying less. Most of them are J-pop, so the music is not easy to access any other way. I went through a period where I was discovering Japanese singers on a regular basis and buying up cheap CDs to sample them at Book Off and now I've got boxes filled with them and most of them I probably won't listen to again, so I may have to cart them back to Book Off and get pennies on the dollars I spent on them. As it stands, I only follow a few groups and singers these days (all J-pop) and the trend among these acts is fewer and fewer CD albums and I don't feel like buying all their singles anymore.
When I buy CDs I usually transfer them to iTunes and listen to them that way, but since the titles are all in Japanese, I don't always know which albums are which. The iTunes account is only on my desktop which is in the living room. I really need another portable CD player so I can listen to them when working in the bedroom. Do they even make those anymore?
04-21-17, 10:08 PM
#61
DVD Talk Ultimate Edition
Re: Do you still buy CDs / have you gotten rid of them?
Most of them are J-pop, so the music is not easy to access any other way. I went through a period where I was discovering Japanese singers on a regular basis and buying up cheap CDs to sample them at Book Off and now I've got boxes filled with them and most of them I probably won't listen to again, so I may have to cart them back to Book Off and get pennies on the dollars I spent on them. As it stands, I only follow a few groups and singers these days (all J-pop) and the trend among these acts is fewer and fewer CD albums and I don't feel like buying all their singles anymore.
04-22-17, 04:30 AM
#62
Re: Do you still buy CDs / have you gotten rid of them?
Not to hijack the thread or anything, but what groups do you listen to these days, Ash? I'm a fan of Japanese music too, but I tend more toward the J-Indie artists like Fantastic Plastic Machine, Rip Slyme, Cornelius, Love Psychedelico, and, of course, Pizzicato Five. As far as pure J-Pop goes, I guess that Perfume and Utada Hikaru are the only artists that I listen to on a consistent basis.
I have friends who are big fans of Perfume and go to their concerts when they come to NYC. One of them is leading his band in a live performance of Perfume tunes two weeks from now. The closest I've gotten was watching the Perfume documentary, WE ARE PERFUME: WORLD TOUR 3RD DOCUMENT, on the plane to Japan last year. I liked the film and I liked the three members but I'm just not a big fan of that particular style of music. Momoiro Clover came to NYC last year and I went to that concert, but I don't actually follow them. As for Hikaru Utada, I like her and I have some of her CDs, but I don't follow her closely.
Apologies to the rest of you, we now return you to the "Do you still buy CDs" discussion already in progress.
Last edited by Ash Ketchum; 04-22-17 at 07:59 PM.
04-22-17, 08:08 PM
#63
DVD Talk Hall of Fame
Re: Do you still buy CDs / have you gotten rid of them?
When I buy CDs I usually transfer them to iTunes and listen to them that way, but since the titles are all in Japanese, I don't always know which albums are which. The iTunes account is only on my desktop which is in the living room. I really need another portable CD player so I can listen to them when working in the bedroom. Do they even make those anymore?
Because my iPad is doing triple duty as far as being a comic book archive and a vid display for watching mp4 rips of old TV shows, I don't have the space to fully max out music as much as I'd like, but I can still fit about 15-20 albums (in ALAC) along with about 10 hours of TV content with the space left (it's a 64gb iPad 2).
My dream right now is to get a higher capacity iPad- either a 126gb or 256gb- and just have that dedicated to audio and video content. With 60+gb allocated solely to music, I'd be set for weeks/months at a time.
04-23-17, 09:00 AM
#64
Moderator
Re: Do you still buy CDs / have you gotten rid of them?
I've been trying to move a lot of my CDs onto my computer and into iTunes, and I've got all that I've done so far backed up on a jump drive.
My quandary is that some albums, like Pink Floyd's The Wall, for instance, segue all or certain songs together. When they're broken up into individual tracks, they start and end weirdly, and if I'm listening to the entire album sequentially, there are annoying pauses between the tracks that disrupt the intended flow of the music.
Does this not bother those of you who are going all digital, or have you found some miracle work-around so that this doesn't occur?
My quandary is that some albums, like Pink Floyd's The Wall, for instance, segue all or certain songs together. When they're broken up into individual tracks, they start and end weirdly, and if I'm listening to the entire album sequentially, there are annoying pauses between the tracks that disrupt the intended flow of the music.
Does this not bother those of you who are going all digital, or have you found some miracle work-around so that this doesn't occur?
04-23-17, 09:10 AM
#65
Moderator
Re: Do you still buy CDs / have you gotten rid of them?
I still buy CDs.
Storage is a pain but the albums I buy tend to be albums that work best as a whole rather than a collection of songs, and more often than not, it's WAY cheaper than buying digitally, iTunes or whatever, and that's to say nothing of sound quality. I still have a CD player in my car (along with a USB port) so I can play whatever I want too.
I get why people don't want the physical items and would just rather stream everything through their devices, and it is tempting, but that shit just devalues the music to me, and I prefer CDs and vinyl, because I actually like my music and prefer it presented to me in the best manner possible, even if storing it might be a pain.
Storage is a pain but the albums I buy tend to be albums that work best as a whole rather than a collection of songs, and more often than not, it's WAY cheaper than buying digitally, iTunes or whatever, and that's to say nothing of sound quality. I still have a CD player in my car (along with a USB port) so I can play whatever I want too.
I get why people don't want the physical items and would just rather stream everything through their devices, and it is tempting, but that shit just devalues the music to me, and I prefer CDs and vinyl, because I actually like my music and prefer it presented to me in the best manner possible, even if storing it might be a pain.
05-20-17, 09:27 PM
#67
DVD Talk Reviewer & TOAT Winner
Re: Do you still buy CDs / have you gotten rid of them?
I'm a bit surprised jewel cases are still around- though I don't ever change the packaging my media comes in, I've always hated jewel cases since they BREAK so damn easily! You could drop one on a soft carpet and it'll likely break! (My oldest CD, Madonna's Like a Virgin bought in 1985, had its jewel case broken during its first year though I was able to glue that one back together and it's held since then.) The record labels were even trying to get rid of them as soon as 1985 since they cost a bit to make; Warner put out Prince's Around the World in a Day and Motley Crue's Theater of Pain in cardboard sleeves resembling small LP covers, with a longer folding cardboard piece around them to match the longboxes they were using for jewel cases. (I've kept all my longboxes too! 
) Jewel cases made CDs seem more special when they were brand-new, but right now I wouldn't mind if they went to LP-style sleeves (the size of a CD, of course.)
) Jewel cases made CDs seem more special when they were brand-new, but right now I wouldn't mind if they went to LP-style sleeves (the size of a CD, of course.)
05-20-17, 10:50 PM
#68
DVD Talk Hero
Re: Do you still buy CDs / have you gotten rid of them?
I'm a bit surprised jewel cases are still around- though I don't ever change the packaging my media comes in, I've always hated jewel cases since they BREAK so damn easily! You could drop one on a soft carpet and it'll likely break! (My oldest CD, Madonna's Like a Virgin bought in 1985, had its jewel case broken during its first year though I was able to glue that one back together and it's held since then.) The record labels were even trying to get rid of them as soon as 1985 since they cost a bit to make; Warner put out Prince's Around the World in a Day and Motley Crue's Theater of Pain in cardboard sleeves resembling small LP covers, with a longer folding cardboard piece around them to match the longboxes they were using for jewel cases. (I've kept all my longboxes too! ) Jewel cases made CDs seem more special when they were brand-new, but right now I wouldn't mind if they went to LP-style sleeves (the size of a CD, of course.)
) Jewel cases made CDs seem more special when they were brand-new, but right now I wouldn't mind if they went to LP-style sleeves (the size of a CD, of course.)
05-21-17, 12:23 AM
#69
DVD Talk Hero
Re: Do you still buy CDs / have you gotten rid of them?
Most major labels have dropped jewel cases for new releases. Virtually every new Pop/Rock album on CD comes in a digipak or mini-LP sleeve these days.
The only exception seems to be legacy acts, which tend to have much older fans.
The only exception seems to be legacy acts, which tend to have much older fans.
05-21-17, 12:42 AM
#70
DVD Talk Legend
Re: Do you still buy CDs / have you gotten rid of them?
I still won't pay for downloads. I've had 4 different computers crap out on me over the last 15 years. I like having my physical CD's there to either listen to or to rip to MP3's. I can do the digital thing or play a physical disc depending on what kind of player I have available to me.
I've bought 8 CD's so far this year, and I'm planning on buying several more. A replicated CD is the perfect long term storage media.
I've bought 8 CD's so far this year, and I'm planning on buying several more. A replicated CD is the perfect long term storage media.
05-21-17, 02:29 PM
#71
DVD Talk Hero
Re: Do you still buy CDs / have you gotten rid of them?
Agreed that CDs will last longer than most anyone reading this forum. I worry more about the availability of optical drives that can play them in 10-15 years.
05-21-17, 02:58 PM
#72
DVD Talk Legend
Join Date: Dec 2000
Location: Cape Ann, Massachusetts
Posts: 10,928
Likes: 0
Received 2 Likes
on
2 Posts
Re: Do you still buy CDs / have you gotten rid of them?
I never really made the transition to digital. I guess I just never saw the need--I have a CD player at home, in the car and at work, and that's where I am about 95% of the time I want to listen to music. And they sound great. I don't have anything against digital (I'm not really enough of an audiophile to notice major differences in quality), but it just seemed like a lot of work to make the transition, and I couldn't see a big benefit given the way I listen to music.
I've probably only bought 25 albums in the digital format, and most of those I've burned to CDs.
I've probably only bought 25 albums in the digital format, and most of those I've burned to CDs.
05-21-17, 04:45 PM
#73
DVD Talk Ultimate Edition
Re: Do you still buy CDs / have you gotten rid of them?
These days a generic bog standard internal cd/dvd computer drive is around $20 a pop or less. How much profit is there in such a $20 drive?
05-22-17, 08:56 AM
#74
DVD Talk Legend
Re: Do you still buy CDs / have you gotten rid of them?
I still buy CD's when I like the album enough to warrant a purchase. Admittedly it happens far less often than it used to given my taste in music.
And the vast majority new releases still come in jewel cases. I was checking them out at two different B&M's this weekend. And unlike 10 years ago, I walked out of both stores without buying a single title. Personally I too like well done jewel cases better than digipaks. SO many digipaks don't come with booklets and they are produced so cheaply they wear very, very quickly.
And the vast majority new releases still come in jewel cases. I was checking them out at two different B&M's this weekend. And unlike 10 years ago, I walked out of both stores without buying a single title. Personally I too like well done jewel cases better than digipaks. SO many digipaks don't come with booklets and they are produced so cheaply they wear very, very quickly.
05-22-17, 09:10 AM
#75
DVD Talk Hero
Re: Do you still buy CDs / have you gotten rid of them?
Spotify has properly replaced my interest in owning CD's. I started using Amazon's player, but was disappointed by the selection. But Spotify seems to have everything.