*do* you still actually buy CD's?
Tue, Feb 12 2013, 9:28AM
#2
RE: *do* you still actually buy CD's?
When I said "Can you buy cheaper online?" I was referring to the cost of purchasing downloads as against the bargains currently available in High Street stores. I have purchased many CDs online. Its cheap, convenient & offers a far greater range than I can find down the street. (I live in the country.) I feel a little guilty every time I do it though as it seems I'm a party to the local store's demise.
Tue, Mar 26 2013, 9:41PM
#3
RE: *do* you still actually buy CD's?
Having made a good number of lossless downloads from the excellent Chandos site and some lossless flac downloads from the Universal site I have always avoided compressed downloads.
Recently however I made a 320kbps MP3 download from the former site as the item which interested me was available only in that format. The recording in question was Mozart & Beethoven sonatas 17 & 31 by Jill Crossland. If I like a downloaded recording I burn a CD as firstly this enables me to see which of my systems best suits the recording & secondly I prefer to put a disc in a CD player rather than go to my computer to listen to music, which no doubt makes me rather old fashioned.
The sound was quite acceptable on my brightest system and I rather enjoyed the somewhat wayward Beethoven: it will not sit unplayed in the future. Was I therefore wrong in avoiding MP3s? I decided to make a purchase from the Naxos Classics Online site which is mostly only MP3s. I discovered there was one of Brendel's Vox Schubert items I didn't have so purchased the Vox Box despite duplicating most of the items and transferred to CD.
I was then able to do a direct A/B comparison & chose the first of the 3 pieces D946. Compared to LP the CD download gave the piano a harder sound, rather airless and, yes, to put it bluntly, it sounded compressed. The LP had a warmer, richer more spacious sound and to my ears was far preferable. I also have the recording on a Vox CD (from a different compilation) and that sounds pretty much the same as the LP. Verdict; MP3 download pretty poor: LP or CD far preferable.
If therefore downloading is to be the future those offering the service will have to offer lossless for this listener. It seems bonkers to offer such a good catalogue as Classics Online but put it out only in 320kbps.
Wed, Mar 27 2013, 3:05AM
#4
RE: *do* you still actually buy CD's?
Wouldn't the relevant test be CD to mp3 burn, not LP to burn?
Wed, Mar 27 2013, 1:48PM
#5
RE: *do* you still actually buy CD's?
I assumed 33lp meant he was listening to the lp itself.
I don't know about this particular recording, but some Vox CDs were remastered in the mid 90s so there may be two different transfers floating around.
In any case as I mentioned earlier, very high bit rate mp3s like 320kbps may be compressed in terms the of storage space required but they will not be compressed in terms of the dynamic range or the audible frequency range of the actual audio. On the otherhand this recording is I assume from the 1950s? If so it will be far more limited by the recording technology of that era than by the mp3 format itself.
Ted
Thu, Mar 28 2013, 1:47PM
#6
RE: *do* you still actually buy CD's?
It does seem one can perhaps accommodate different sound quality. Whilst I thought the MP3 CD not so good in comparison to 100% analogue sound directly in A/B comparison, on its own the former is not unacceptable. It was only when compared directly I realized the sound of the recording from the MP3 CD was not so good as it could be from another source. To answer Dmitri's comment, I reached the same conclusion when I played the Vox CD after the MP3 CD.
It probably dates from the early 1960s but I cannot accept Ted's hypothesis that a 100% early stereo analogue recording will be limited more by that technology than the constrictions of 320kbps digital sound.
I repeated the experiment on another occasion playing the MP3 CD of the Impromtus Op90, and yes it sounded Ok, perhaps I was mistaken. I then put on the LP but again the difference was very significant, the LP was far superior in bringing the music to life.
How on earth has MP3 become so popular with sound so grossly inferior to LP or CD? One can only assume its adherents have never heard anything else.
Thu, Mar 28 2013, 2:16PM
#7
RE: *do* you still actually buy CD's?
> One can only assume its adherents have never heard anything else.
You are partially correct there 33lp, the other reason is that the younger generation just do not buy CDs. They download off the internet and play it on a lo-fi iPod. I would suggest this is the main reason for the demise of HMV. They are specifically marketing their produce at a generation who are just not interested.
The other thing to point out is that the (resurgent?) humble LP isn't immune from this March of the MP3s, with various vinyl preamps sprouting USB connections!
As a computer programmer myself, the last thing I want to do when I get home is run another computer program. So I stick to round disks with a hole in the middle! Hence the answer is YES!!
Thu, Mar 28 2013, 11:41PM
#8
RE: *do* you still actually buy CD's?
Referring to 33lp's contribution above, when you convert a WAV file into mp3 the system offers you nothing higher than 128 kbps for mono but several stages up to 320 kbps for stereo. Does this mean that 320 kbps referring to stereo is probably no more than 2x 160 kbps per channel? All applying to 44.1 Khz.
Fri, Mar 29 2013, 10:30AM
#9
RE: *do* you still actually buy CD's?
Does this mean that 320 kbps referring to stereo is probably no more than 2x 160 kbps per channel?
Yes that is correct.
Ted
Fri, Mar 29 2013, 8:35PM
#10
RE: *do* you still actually buy CD's?
Resolution is simple as far as I understand it. I apply the same principle to vinyl in the sense that mono recordings sound denser and richer to me with a mono cartridge than do stereo recordings with a stereo cartridge. The resolution possibilities available on CD or SACD make two channel listening enriching and pleasurable. I have a glorious sounding stereo and as it turns out, my digital source is better sounding than my vinyl source, so I am now focusing my attention towards 192 kHz frequency playback but so far have found little in this format to choose from.
I listen to the BBC Radio 3 via iTunes at 320 kbps and I notice a better sonic quality than I would from streaming audio at 192 kbps however it falls short of what I experience when compared to 1411 kbps.
Some engineers are very crafty when it comes to compression and so sometimes frequencies outside of the middle registers in an MP3 file may seem less compromised than with other MP3 files but it has been my experience that if one were to compare side by side the same recording, one in an MP3 file and the other in an AIFF or WAV file, that the noticeable differences would be significant.
Aside from this, I have found that there is a larger catalogue of real CD releases that I am interested in purchasing which are not offered as downloads. For example, the recent Sandrine Piau releases on Harmonia Mundi, one of which I currently have on order. It just seems to me that a lot of folk are looking for short cuts and I suppose that's just human nature. Stereo playback is a short cut form of the live performance experience. A recording of Beethoven's fifth still ain't Beethoven's fifth but I like being in my warm flat while listening to groups from Vienna, Paris, etc... And like so many others on this forum, I too appreciate the physical form of a CD, a DVD or a book.
Thanks.
Sun, Mar 31 2013, 10:05AM
#11
RE: *do* you still actually buy CD's?
My answer to the OP is no.
I haven't bought a CD (or a download) since subscribing to Spotify in July 2011.
At the moment, Spotify (premium) satisfies all my needs for music discovery and sound quality. I can't comment on how quickly new releases appear on Spotify because I don't generally look for them. (I only skim Gramophone once a month when I visit my parents' house for Sunday lunch.)
Spotify Premium uses 320kbps Vorbis, which I understand is one of the more advanced codecs. I'm pretty sure I'd find 160kbps acceptable also. (My "gear" is pretty revealing.) I used to fret slightly about these things but I'm largely cured of that now (although, given the choice, I would still prefer lossless.)
Wed, Apr 3 2013, 3:49PM
#12
RE: *do* you still actually buy CD's?
Spotify is awesome! (listened yesterday to Fux oratorio John the Baptist:-)
But there is a small downside. In the section historic audio many of the "hall of shame" labels are active again:
http://www.musicandarts.com/shame.html
Or put amaturistic transfers on Spotify:
Orchestre symphonique de Hambourg – Les préludes
Hope that some beter transfers make it on Spotify...
Rolf
Fri, May 10 2013, 12:21PM
#13
RE: *do* you still actually buy CD's?
This is one of the good articles you can find in the net explaining everything in detail regarding the topic. I thank youfor taking your time sharing your thoughts and ideas to a lot of readers out there. CONTINUOUS INK SUPPLY
Fri, May 10 2013, 12:22PM
#14
RE: *do* you still actually buy CD's?
The Post Is Written in a very good manner "and it" entail Many Useful information for me. I Appreciated What You Have Done here. I am Always searching for informative information like this. CONTINUOUS INK SUPPLY
- « first
- ‹ previous
- 1
- 2
- 3
Bill, as an Australian you must be aware that buying online is almost always far less expensive than buying locally. I'd like to buy locally, but if Fish Records is going to charge me $35 for a £6 CD - well, which option would you choose? (The local monopolies also prevent us buying MP3s from Amazon.)
But speaking of Martinu, what a coincidence - I just ordered Jarvi's Martinu set from Amazon UK! (Mostly) new stuff for me.
'Art doesn't need philosophers. It just needs to communicate from soul to soul.' Alejandro Jodorowsky