RunOutGroove
Addicted Member
Is that a paraphrasing of a Blue Oyster Cult song?
Revival of the CD…
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Late Boomer
Super Member
They totally are.
Come to think of it, whenever you go to YouTube, Netflix or any other video streaming website, they show you a thumbnail and even a short preview when you mouse over. In fact, Netflix shows different thumbnails of the same movie to different people, catering to their tastes (whether they want to watch a movie about older women having an affair with younger guys, or whether they want to watch fast aerial dogfight). Twenty years ago videotape rental places also had tapes with enticing covers, and this is how many of crappy shot-on-video horror movies have been rented by unsuspecting customers. So, an image, even a still image tells a lot about a movie.
Music, on the other hand, has no visual component (unless it is an expensive stage show or a music video), so it does not matter how the packaging looks like. I mean, it is nice to have an iconic album cover I guess. Like this picture: it is cool. I've read the wikipedia article to find out about its origins. Did it change my appreciation of the music? No. In fact, the first time I listened to this album was off a cassette, and not a pre-recorded one, but dubbed from another cassette, which was dubbed from an LP. Crappy quality, great music.
RunOutGroove
Addicted Member
They totally are.
Come to think of it, whenever you go to YouTube, Netflix or any other video streaming website, they show you a thumbnail and even a short preview when you mouse over. In fact, Netflix shows different thumbnails of the same movie to different people, catering to their tastes (whether they want to watch a movie about older women having an affair with younger guys, or whether they want to watch fast aerial dogfight). Twenty years ago videotape rental places also had tapes with enticing covers, and this is how many of crappy shot-on-video horror movies have been rented by unsuspecting customers. So, an image, even a still image tells a lot about a movie.
Music, on the other hand, has no visual component (unless it is an expensive stage show or a music video), so it does not matter how the packaging looks like. I mean, it is nice to have an iconic album cover I guess. Like this picture: it is cool. I've read the wikipedia article to find out about its origins. Did it change my appreciation of the music? No. In fact, the first time I listened to this album was off a cassette, and not a pre-recorded one, but dubbed from another cassette, which was dubbed from an LP. Crappy quality, great music.
Well... I'd say that the covers on videotapes and now DVDs might be useful to someone if they aren't already familiar with the film in question. They offer a visual preview of a medium that is partly visual. Album covers on the other hand are showing us a visual of something that isn't visual at all so they aren't really giving us an idea of what the contents of the thing might be like, though In stylistic terms there's often a connection between the cover and the music even it's an admittedly a far less obvious one. Still, for a lot of us the packaging, though it obviously isn't part of the music, is part of the whole experience of an album. For me it's a pretty important part of it as I became a graphic designer largely due to being inspired by album graphics. I'm kind of fascinated still by the connection between the music and the graphics. I have fond memories of buying some of my favorite albums largely due to their album covers... I get it though, for some people, music is just music and the packaging that it comes with doesn't have any particular meaning. I'm actually more that way when it comes to live music as I don't think that the whole idea of "putting on a show" (having a strong visual component) is all that important as long as the music that's being played sounds great....
drmar120
Member
100% CD here since the mid-80s and my first player (Magnavox). I have no nostalgia for vinyl. I dislike the noisiness it inevitably accrues, the constant flipping of sides, the fussiness and fragility of phono cartridges, the pain in the ass-ery of setting up a turntable and arm, the weight and bulk of all that vinyl eating up living space, etc. I've never found their sound quality to be especially magical, as many seem to. I ended up with thousands of them simply because they were the only option. I have some LPs left, but mostly because I wrote the liner notes on them.
Like many others here, my problem is storage. I have run out of room for the nearly 2500 cds I own, plus 6 binders of roughly 600 cdrs. 95% of my listening is via the cd, with the balance streaming through either my computer via an Apple TV or Amazon’s prime ultra hd service. My turntables are gathering dust, as are my tapes.
Watching a shiny round silver disc being sucked in to the black hole of a soulless machine is much more romantic you're correct.
Mart Mccall
Well-Known Member
I'm also 100% CD here. I still have all my vinyl and have kept one turntable, although it's not hooked up. Don't do any streaming, but I do use Youtube to check out recommendations, if I like I'll buy the CD, if there is one.
I like the big artwork with vinyl but it no longer holds the fascination for me that it did when I was in my teens and twenties. I can live without it.
I don't like streaming services since you have no control over which mastering is available. With CD I can pick the version I want (the original release if available). Also don't want to be faffing about with a computer and wi-fi and so on when I just want some music on. Since I've never had the added convenience of streaming I don't miss it.
Mostly buy second-hand CDs now, just trying to fill a few gaps in my collection. Most of my vinyl collection I've duplicated on CD - still short of some Creedence albums though!
I like the big artwork with vinyl but it no longer holds the fascination for me that it did when I was in my teens and twenties. I can live without it.
I don't like streaming services since you have no control over which mastering is available. With CD I can pick the version I want (the original release if available). Also don't want to be faffing about with a computer and wi-fi and so on when I just want some music on. Since I've never had the added convenience of streaming I don't miss it.
Mostly buy second-hand CDs now, just trying to fill a few gaps in my collection. Most of my vinyl collection I've duplicated on CD - still short of some Creedence albums though!
Late Boomer
Super Member
Watching a black disk rotating on a soulless machine is much more romantic than listening to a live performance or playing an instrument yourself, eh?Watching a shiny round silver disc being sucked in to the black hole of a soulless machine is much more romantic you're correct.
All these mechanical things were invented simply because 100 years ago people did not know how to store sound any other way. Likewise, EVs were invented before ICE vehicles, and the only reason ICE took over was because it offered better range and fast refuel. Or moving pictures: the idea of digital - not even electronic - image storage and transmission was developed before film, but it took modern microchip tech to implement it properly. 20th century tech is crude, brute force, it is like steam engine compared to a fuel-injected ICE, it was a step that we can now put behind. LP was this step that we had to retreat to until we found how to store stuff digitally. LP is a steam engine tech.
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You made a big leap there. What I said you are welcome to take issue with, without question. But please don't think you can infer what you said from what I said. I own hundreds and hundreds of CD's, and have no less than 6 CD players in my collection of gear. I also stream with Tidal Hi-Fi, using an iPad or iPhone feeding my vintage systems. I also stream to a JBL Bluetooth speaker. So perhaps you consider me a Luddite because of my preference to vinyl over other digital playback. I'm ok with that as well. My psyche and my ears know what I like and what sounds most pleasing to me.
Late Boomer
Super Member
Luddites were breaking machines, you just have an affection for an ancient machine
That's ok, I have my cassette deck. Although after playing with it for half a year I don't play cassettes anymore, I returned back to streaming and files and occasional CDs. The cassette deck is a boring black box, and I cannot see hubs spinning, not very romantic.
drmar120
Member
A wise man once said: "My ears know what I like and what sounds most pleasing to me." My thoughts exactly. Listening to music, clear and clean, with none of the hassle I put up with for 20 years with vinyl, was like being liberated.Watching a shiny round silver disc being sucked in to the black hole of a soulless machine is much more romantic you're correct.
bergun
Well-Known Member
My first two CDs were Prince 1999 and Purple Rain that I bought back in 1986. My first CD Player was a cheesy black plastic from Fisher, but it served its purpose until I bought my first real CD Player in 1987, the Yamaha CD-2000.
I love CDs and basically any physical media since I enjoy knowing that “I” have that copy in my possession!! I have several thousand CDs to go with about a thousand of my vinyl LPs. I tend to hit our local record shops at least once a month and buy 4 or 5 used/traded in CDs, along with 4 or 5 used DVDs as well.
I do not ever see myself giving up on CDs and I will continue to buy and listen to them for the rest of my life…. Being almost 60, I still have plenty of good years ahead of me before heading up to the big Tower Records and J&R Music Land in the sky!!
I love CDs and basically any physical media since I enjoy knowing that “I” have that copy in my possession!! I have several thousand CDs to go with about a thousand of my vinyl LPs. I tend to hit our local record shops at least once a month and buy 4 or 5 used/traded in CDs, along with 4 or 5 used DVDs as well.
I do not ever see myself giving up on CDs and I will continue to buy and listen to them for the rest of my life…. Being almost 60, I still have plenty of good years ahead of me before heading up to the big Tower Records and J&R Music Land in the sky!!
I love both vinyl and CD. I find the arguments about which format is better just as futile as people going at each other's throat about whether a PS5 or an Xbox Series X is better. My motto:
"Why not both?"
Which is what I'm doing with both music media as well as game consoles.
I've definitely become a sucker for exotic vintage CD players too. I currently have a Luxman D-105U and a Meridian 508. Love them!
"Why not both?"
Which is what I'm doing with both music media as well as game consoles.
I've definitely become a sucker for exotic vintage CD players too. I currently have a Luxman D-105U and a Meridian 508. Love them!
Three what?Why not all three... I own about 12 CDs
Need to add a streaming service into the mix
Oh haha yeah I have Apple Music.Need to add a streaming service into the mix
I also have a Nintendo Switch so there's three in that department as well!
JMO... if you want to limit that knowledge to what the labels what you to hear. Of course there are a few exceptions.
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