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Why are CDs the current hot topic?

Kids in my generation (peak cd) are getting real jobs with disposable income and many of us have hobbies instead of kids. We were exposed to all of our favorite music by the time we are 17 and about the time i was a senior in high school people were starting to bring mp3 players to school instead of discmen.

So it's another case of 40 year olds trying to relive their youth.

This patern will repeat itself til we delete ourselves. Nothing to see here...
 
I have a much easier time finding desirable CD's for a decent price than I do for vinyl around here. Goodwill has records for $2.00 each but it is rare that you find anything worth buying. If it's rock, they usually stick a $5.00 tag on it. CDs at Buy the Pound are abundant and cost 50 cents each. I've found MOFI, 24 bit, sealed and copies of rare rock and jazz albums that would cost me over $100.00 each for first press vinyl. With all the remastered CDs available now, the sound quality is much better. I also have limited storage space. I have one CD rack in my music room that has over 400 CDs in it and it is only 45 inches high and 30 inches wide. Weight is a consideration too as you get older.
 
aldena007 said:
I just renewed my SeriusX account. $52.00 for royalty fees! Most of the music I listen to on Serius is in my CD/vinyl collection. Kept the car subscriptions but dropped the streaming. My daughter [in her 30s] now wants to go legacy/analogue since I pointed this out. You can get CD's at real affordable prices now and it is easy to check them out as good by sight. Vinyl is another thing that can be a good buy. Good vinyl used/new is getting expensive though. Streaming is good for portable uses like the iPhone but not worth it for background or listening to quality hi-fi.
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If you want to listen in your car, you could rip all your CDs and set up a Room server.
 
Mart Mccall said:
I have some remasters on CD which I'm slowly replacing with the original CD release.

Example - Boz Scaggs 'Silk Degrees' - the 2007 remaster is so compressed it's hard to listen to. Replaced with the original CD release at a cost of £4. Much better.

No idea what versions of that album are offered on streaming services but if they are only offering the remaster then you're renting crap sound quality.

I Just wish I'd been a bit pickier about mastering when I started buying CDs. I think after loudspeakers and room it's the main determinator of sound quality.
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The problem was people that were early to buy when CD's first came out mistakenly sold, gave away their original CD's in many cases have value now because they fell for the remaster hype. It didn't dawn on many people that although it may be a better quality remaster (Some early CD's were terrible, bordering on needle drops) it was often to get you to buy the same damn title again. Admittedly all remasters are not the same, and many early redbook CD's are excellent while many remasters are superior.
 
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KentTeffeteller said:
And right now, inexpensive in terms of a good sounding physical format. Not totally obsoleted either, so still viable.
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But what I want is not inexpensive. Ralph Towner Solstice was $20, and I rarely buy new CD's. SHM Japan wasn't much more than the standard CD, which I have. Just wanted a cleaner CD version.

Where can I get cheap Brian Eno CD's I want?

If one is into more esoteric material it is not cheap.

Lastly what is cheap?
 
onwardjames said:
I guess I'm lucky in that the bulk of my 3k cd collection was obtained here, there and everywhere, and got a huge boost, first at the dawn of the mp3 era, where I had boxes given to me by friends. Then secondly, I discovered a local Half-Price Bookstore that must be end of the line.

I've never paid more than a buck for cds here, and most of the time, just .80 or even .50 when my card punch is filled.

I'm talking "Portrait In Jazz" by Bill Evans, sealed (the gold disc stuff that pops up when you open the case). Fifty damned cents!

Ask friends and family. My brother in law gave me a huge box of classic rock, all stuff I either already had, or in better shape, but still.
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I have had amazing LP finds at that price point, but rarely CD's. Digital media was always tough. The local thrift could put out amazing LP's when they still did, but unusual desirable equivalent CD's forget it.

These cheap bastards around here wouldn't give anything good to anybody.....and they have the money. They will donate it though......
 
I went to the local library system book sale where donated CDs are 50¢ each. Everything is half-priced by this weekend, too. Bought a Telarc disc of Jim Hall and Pat Metheny and was able to listen to it on the way home in my wife's 2007 BMW CD player. For me, having the liner notes in the brochure offers much more enjoyment when listening to any CD compared to streaming and Googling. Also picked up some Narada guitar CDs, Lyle Lovett, Diana Krall, and Martin Scorsese's "The Best of the Blues". All were 50¢. Don't know how you can go wrong. I'll go back to see what new ones they've put out by the time they hit 25¢. :thumbsup:
 
I would surmise that it is because streaming compromises the original sound of the recording. That plus the quality of LP's is so inconsistent. Even DGG Original Source LP's have production issues. Between a friend and I were are having to send back about 1/3 of the Lp's as defective in many ways. Warped, excessive spotty type sounds ranging from white noise to sounding like driving over P gravel to imperfect lead in grooves. One of mine had some ones finger prints on it but using my VPI record cleaner and Groove washers G3 fluid the record cleaned up perfectly. I will say the 180gram Original Source LP's have very quiet rumble free sound with very quiet grooves. Just as did my Sheffield Labs, Telarc, Reference Recordings and Mobile fidelity LP's from the 70's and early 80's. Some were from the late 60's too. So quiet distortion free LP's were available back then. DGG records were very quiet back in the 60's. If they just had the bass extension the new Original Source DGG LP's have now. That Steinberg record of Also Sprach Zarathustra is a real show stopper. Even my Telarc CD recordings can't compete as far as the organ goes. But the brass sounds are more realistic as are the strings on the Telarc CD. Thats why CD's, good ones, are so sought after now days.

Remember any format is a compromise, just as is the performance, the mics used, the sound of the performance space and the way way the engineer, producers and musicians mixed and mastered the recordings. So its up to up to pick and choose what you can tolerate.

If I had my choice and was rich I would live somewhere between Washing ton DC and and Boston. Boston mainly because of the BSO famous performance Hall, New York and what it has to offer and Washington DC as home to the Navy and marine service bands. Then also when World Symphonies, and Ballet companies visit the US they always perform some where in the area. Then there is Broadway and of course the Rockettes.
 
E2 said:
But what I want is not inexpensive. Ralph Towner Solstice was $20, and I rarely buy new CD's. SHM Japan wasn't much more than the standard CD, which I have. Just wanted a cleaner CD version.

Where can I get cheap Brian Eno CD's I want?

If one is into more esoteric material it is not cheap.

Lastly what is cheap?
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$20 is cheaper than finding any of the RCA David Bowie CD catalog (those fetch money) not to mention the EMI-Toshiba Japan first Abbey Road CD, or the West German WB Target CD of "Rumours" by Fleetwood Mac (the good sounding CD version.
 
KentTeffeteller said:
$20 is cheaper than finding any of the RCA David Bowie CD catalog (those fetch money) not to mention the EMI-Toshiba Japan first Abbey Road CD, or the West German WB Target CD of "Rumours" by Fleetwood Mac (the good sounding CD version.
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Or the two track Pink Floyd Wish You Were Here, The Wall MFSL, Dark Side Of The Moon MFSL, Blue Face Philips, Some Vertigo originals........Target CD's have lost a lot of value over the last 10 plus years. I had Love Over Gold once upon a time. Perfect Condition thrift find for $1. I sold it a year later as an auction and it sold for $130. Most are selling for $20 now.

My point was what I want just to listen to is not inexpensive. And at least here CD finds in thrifts were always weak compared to the record finds I could have. I doubt I ever found one Blue Note CD in a thrift. Ever. That's crazy for this area. People just don't cough up worthwhile digital media. Allman Brothers Live At The Fillmore East on a Standard Redbook CD? This is the kind of stuff that gets the dinosaurs excited. (I have multiple vinyl copies including WLP's)

Time to spin Kirill Kondrashin Scheherazade on a blue face Philips that was a $2 thrift find.
 
twiiii said:
I would surmise that it is because streaming compromises the original sound of the recording. That plus the quality of LP's is so inconsistent. Even DGG Original Source LP's have production issues. Between a friend and I were are having to send back about 1/3 of the Lp's as defective in many ways. Warped, excessive spotty type sounds ranging from white noise to sounding like driving over P gravel to imperfect lead in grooves. One of mine had some ones finger prints on it but using my VPI record cleaner and Groove washers G3 fluid the record cleaned up perfectly. I will say the 180gram Original Source LP's have very quiet rumble free sound with very quiet grooves. Just as did my Sheffield Labs, Telarc, Reference Recordings and Mobile fidelity LP's from the 70's and early 80's. Some were from the late 60's too. So quiet distortion free LP's were available back then. DGG records were very quiet back in the 60's. If they just had the bass extension the new Original Source DGG LP's have now. That Steinberg record of Also Sprach Zarathustra is a real show stopper. Even my Telarc CD recordings can't compete as far as the organ goes. But the brass sounds are more realistic as are the strings on the Telarc CD. Thats why CD's, good ones, are so sought after now days.

Remember any format is a compromise, just as is the performance, the mics used, the sound of the performance space and the way way the engineer, producers and musicians mixed and mastered the recordings. So its up to up to pick and choose what you can tolerate.

If I had my choice and was rich I would live somewhere between Washing ton DC and and Boston. Boston mainly because of the BSO famous performance Hall, New York and what it has to offer and Washington DC as home to the Navy and marine service bands. Then also when World Symphonies, and Ballet companies visit the US they always perform some where in the area. Then there is Broadway and of course the Rockettes.
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You don't have to be rich, but you will be poor......even here in Baltimore County north you would be poor.......:(
 
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