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Listen here: you can’t rely on music streaming. Maybe it’s time to dig out your old CDs

While a physical album may be "Real", in NO WAY is it "Alive"
Merriam Webster - Definition of alive
  • 1 : having life : not dead or inanimate.
  • 2 a: still in existence, force, or operation
    b: still active in competition with a chance of victory
  • 3 : knowing or realizing the existence of something : sensitive alive to the danger.
  • 4 : marked by alertness, energy, or briskness his face came alive at the mention of food.
NH-MAN said:
Actually, everything is made from atoms and atoms do in fact vibrate, everything on earth has its own frequency, so it is in a way, alive. :)
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PS. A tuning fork or guitar string may vibrate - that doesn't make it "alive."

hjames said:
Most album covers are a LONG way from "priceless art" -
and its not a "real living thing"
Its just a stamped piece of cardboard and a stamped piece of plastic - that's it.
The MUSIC is the thing we enjoy.
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Not the printed cardboard or the plastic disc (vinyl or CD).
Just like its the MUSIC most of us are here for, not just the gear itself ...
 
I enjoy the artwork that does not have to be priceless. What appeals to some does not have to appeal to all. I enjoy the atom explanation.
 
hjames said:
Not the printed cardboard or the plastic disc (vinyl or CD). Just like its the MUSIC most of us are here for, not just the gear itself ...
Click to expand...
I'm here for the gear alone. :biggrin:
Regarding LP or CD artwork, I get enjoyment from well made artistic covers and have purchased CDs/LPs based upon the cover alone so I could frame/display it.
 
Im here because some threads are very entertaining,i mean non-political discussions,freedom of speech open discussions,poking fun at older types. Deffinately worth the price.
 
hjames said:
While a physical album may be "Real", in NO WAY is it "Alive"
Merriam Webster - Definition of alive
  • 1 : having life : not dead or inanimate.
  • 2 a: still in existence, force, or operation
    b: still active in competition with a chance of victory
  • 3 : knowing or realizing the existence of something : sensitive alive to the danger.
  • 4 : marked by alertness, energy, or briskness his face came alive at the mention of food.
Click to expand...

I get what you're saying. However, while what you're stating is correct in a literal sense, I have heard any number of times over the years, different people saying something like "oh, that music is so alive, I'm really feeling it" or even some other sense related adjective. This is being said in a figurative sense, not a literal sense. Music is not really alive, it's only the vibration of air particles in an actual sense, not a living thing. Yet it can seem alive because it can be quite powerful to the hearing sense. The same thing is true of art. It's just an arrangement of a bunch of molecules and atoms - not living. Yet it also can seem alive to the sight and make people feel things in a powerful way. By extension, art graces the cover and insides of a music album so often, so it too should also be able to seem alive in a figurative sense and thereby stimulate your eyes.
 
SterlingOne said:
I mostly stream Apple Music these days from iPhone, Laptop, or iMac via WiFi or usb to my audio system. I listen all day and night. Most lifelike sound from streaming is via iMac usb to Parasound P6’s DAC. I’m convinced I can discern tape edits on 1960’s DooWop songs. At any rate, greatest listening pleasure comes from well mastered 5.1 SACDs played from my OPPO-205.
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I agree on those SACD multi-channels.
 
Well as a long time music fan I have hundreds of cassettes, 600+ very few of which are pre-recorded. A couple of hundred LPs from last century, thousands of cds, my primary listening source and have recently dipped my toe into the wild world of streaming. First I started streaming my downloaded cds from my computer to an Apple TV connected to my pre-amp via a Toslink cable. Pretty good with the occasional dropout, mostly due to my less than stellar wifi. Convenient and beat heading down to the basement every time I wanted to hear something not located in the living room where the main rig resides.

Inspired by this thread I signed up for the 3 month free trial of Amazon Music Unlimited, having received a Firestick as a gift for Christmas. The Firestick is jacked into the rear HDMI input on the back of my OPPO 103. So I am now listening to a Richard Thompson live album, Rock City Nottingham 1986, that I did not own, (shocking I know!) the quality of the recording is very good and running the audio through my pre-amp and it’s built in DAC is impressive.
So there appears to be plenty of new music for me to discover and if I find myself using the streaming app on a regular basis, it will be well worth the $8 monthly tariff. Maybe you can teach an old dog new tricks.
 
Sure - but try and keep up. The debate started with a click-bait article in The Guardian that streaming music could go away ...
as a wedge between vinyl and streaming sources - and while album art is interesting in itself,
it's THE MUSIC that we are all here for, however we get it. THAT is the art.
The stamped piece of cardboard or the stamped vinyl isn't it - that just the MEDIUM that gets it to you.

And with that, I leave this argument with you - beat that horse all you like -
I'm going to listen to some nice chamber music from a FLAC download (!!!!!!)


intro6 said:
I get what you're saying. However, while what you're stating is correct in a literal sense, I have heard any number of times over the years, different people saying something like "oh, that music is so alive, I'm really feeling it" or even some other sense related adjective. This is being said in a figurative sense, not a literal sense. Music is not really alive, it's only the vibration of air particles in an actual sense, not a living thing. Yet it can seem alive because it can be quite powerful to the hearing sense. The same thing is true of art. It's just an arrangement of a bunch of molecules and atoms - not living. Yet it also can seem alive to the sight and make people feel things in a powerful way. By extension, art graces the cover and insides of a music album so often, so it too should also be able to seem alive in a figurative sense and thereby stimulate your eyes.
Click to expand...
 
In addition to real vs data-stream, it's also worth noting album vs song. Al Yankovic commented his parody songs must get out while the original is relevant. He struggled to do album length releases, but that's what his contract was. He now does singles, digitally. I understand that is good for him and I agree with it.

One of the reasons I enjoy albums is, when buying used, if it's a new band for me to own their stuff, I'd like to have one song I know and like on it, and maybe the new ones I am exposed to I will like as well. However, you often pay the same price for an absolute banger of an album, where 7 of the ten songs are the bomb and the other 3 are pretty good, too, as you pay for an album with one song you like. This is more prominent when it's new and the industry is setting the price. For used, a lesser album is priced lower because people know it sucks. This was one of the main objections to high CD prices where you had to buy it before you listened to it, and people felt cheated because there were two good songs and the rest was junk. People wanted a way to listen first, hence mp3s were born, and then people just kept them. Another objection was a feeling was that the price was completely arbitrary due to the nature of mass produced media rarely being based on anything comprehensible by the average man.

I contemplated my record cabinet last night and realized that I have about room for 60 more, yet I think I have more than that in the "to be listened to" boxes. So, it's nice to be exposed to new songs, but sometimes you only want what you want. You may only want one song from a one hit wonder, or you may only want a Best Of album from a band with a long career, but only ten good songs.
 
CTI used to sell poster sized reproductions of some of their album covers. Many of those covers are IMHO art.
 
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