Music and how we listen to it..
Discussion
Just seen this article on BBC News website.
Most of us enjoy music through various means of listening.. I dipped in to vinyl briefly, but since 1986 have only bought CD's. I relate to one guy in the news item where the guy lets his son have his vinyl collection whilst he continues buying CD's, inasmuch as he says h can't read the lyrics on the much smaller CD inner sleeve...!
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-57780853
Most of us enjoy music through various means of listening.. I dipped in to vinyl briefly, but since 1986 have only bought CD's. I relate to one guy in the news item where the guy lets his son have his vinyl collection whilst he continues buying CD's, inasmuch as he says h can't read the lyrics on the much smaller CD inner sleeve...!
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-57780853
I bit the bullet a couple of years ago and got rid of loads of clutter. We did keep our CDs, but they are stowed.Most music is now streamed via Sonos and other providers. For me, it was a leap of faith to get rid of a lifetime of DVD and Blu-ray discs, apart from a select few. So I’ve placed my faith in the decent broadband we have, and the availability of media through the various services we subscribe to. No regrets yet. Our viewing and listening experience is the best it’s ever been.
Just over a year ago I gave streaming a go. Tidal, Deezer and Qobuz. For some reason I completely stopped listening to music on the hifi. Ditched those services, and started listening to CDs again, a lot.
I tried a NAS, again, stopped listening. I’m not going to even think about explaining why, I’ll just get on with it.
I tried a NAS, again, stopped listening. I’m not going to even think about explaining why, I’ll just get on with it.
2000 LPs, about 200 CDs, plus Tidal and Spotify accounts (my wife refuses to move off Spotify hence why we have both), no reason you can't use both.
Never understood people who complain about clicks and pops on their LPs, maybe they should learn how to keep them properly.
Streaming is super convenient and great quality, but there's something about putting a record on that still appeals
Never understood people who complain about clicks and pops on their LPs, maybe they should learn how to keep them properly.
Streaming is super convenient and great quality, but there's something about putting a record on that still appeals
It would take me a lifetime's work to assemble a small fraction of the recordings I might listen to with streaming services, and I'm too disorganised to even want to think about it.
I have my own FLAC library of ripped CDs (perhaps 300) then Spotify, Tidal, Qobuz and I use Roon to organise all of them except Spotify.
No complaints whatsoever.
I knew a guy in the 90's who had 10,000 or more LPs, masses of storage space assigned, and wrote a database on his PC cataloguing them which allowed him to produce an index printed by dot matrix and organised in a huge binder. You liked an orchestral composition and then wanted to hear a dozen interpretations of it by different conductors - his system allowed him to look it up and hunt down the records which were all numbered and labelled. I was absolutely blown away by his fastidious organisation.
For a few quid a month I have all that and more, a few orders of magnitude greater in scale, and don't need to use anything more than my phone to use it. Then you look at all the other genres served, the fact the wife and kids and do the same with their own musical tastes, the portability for out of home or in-car use, it just goes on and on.
I have my own FLAC library of ripped CDs (perhaps 300) then Spotify, Tidal, Qobuz and I use Roon to organise all of them except Spotify.
No complaints whatsoever.
I knew a guy in the 90's who had 10,000 or more LPs, masses of storage space assigned, and wrote a database on his PC cataloguing them which allowed him to produce an index printed by dot matrix and organised in a huge binder. You liked an orchestral composition and then wanted to hear a dozen interpretations of it by different conductors - his system allowed him to look it up and hunt down the records which were all numbered and labelled. I was absolutely blown away by his fastidious organisation.
For a few quid a month I have all that and more, a few orders of magnitude greater in scale, and don't need to use anything more than my phone to use it. Then you look at all the other genres served, the fact the wife and kids and do the same with their own musical tastes, the portability for out of home or in-car use, it just goes on and on.
The whole "any tune in the world" thing appeals about streaming. It can be a great tool for discovering new artists. It's good for background music too.
Where it falls down for me (and YMMV, so this isn't a criticism just a personal observation) is that with online stream and listening as a foreground activity I'm never relaxed. There's this constant nagging distraction that there's some other tracks to discover. I don't get that with physical media. I'll usually listen to an album in its entirety.
Where it falls down for me (and YMMV, so this isn't a criticism just a personal observation) is that with online stream and listening as a foreground activity I'm never relaxed. There's this constant nagging distraction that there's some other tracks to discover. I don't get that with physical media. I'll usually listen to an album in its entirety.
I love the versatility of Spotify, and the subscription is definitely worth it for me, but I'd never give up my vinyl and CDs. The latter are ripped to FLAC, and I keep meaning to make a start on the vinyl, particularly the artists and tracks that aren't on Spotify (mainly '90s/'00s electronica).
2500 CDs
150 Vinyl albums
100 Cassette tapes
1 Apple Music subscription
I am 49, I got into CD in a big way in the 2000s and have a decent collection, I love them, much to my wife's annoyance.
Pre-pandemic we didn't have a turntable downstairs, just loads of vinyl in the loft and she owned a supposedly broken turntable. I got it down during the first lockdown, diagnosed and fixed a displaced drive belt and (one £25 pre-amp later) she had given birth to a middle-aged vinyl w
ker! 
I have started re-buying some of my favourite CDs on vinyl. I'm not a massive audiophile, although I would be if finances permitted. I just like the theatre of 'putting a record on' and flipping it over halfway. In today's modern, fast-paced, disposable society it's all too easy to be a track-skipper, the turntable gives you the opportunity to appreciate a record in its entirety. I've found it to be a nice way of de-stressing and I it has helped me become less of a telly addict.
I've done a load of Tim Burgess' Twitter Listening Parties over the last year, it's a real sense of togetherness to listen along to the same record with the artist and other fans at the same time, with some real-time interaction and stories behind the songs.
I uses Apple Music for convenience and when out of home, and for discovering new acts, but if I like a new album I will now buy the physical copy, usually on vinyl, ideally direct from the artist, as streaming is shafting them.
150 Vinyl albums
100 Cassette tapes
1 Apple Music subscription
I am 49, I got into CD in a big way in the 2000s and have a decent collection, I love them, much to my wife's annoyance.
Pre-pandemic we didn't have a turntable downstairs, just loads of vinyl in the loft and she owned a supposedly broken turntable. I got it down during the first lockdown, diagnosed and fixed a displaced drive belt and (one £25 pre-amp later) she had given birth to a middle-aged vinyl w
ker! I have started re-buying some of my favourite CDs on vinyl. I'm not a massive audiophile, although I would be if finances permitted. I just like the theatre of 'putting a record on' and flipping it over halfway. In today's modern, fast-paced, disposable society it's all too easy to be a track-skipper, the turntable gives you the opportunity to appreciate a record in its entirety. I've found it to be a nice way of de-stressing and I it has helped me become less of a telly addict.
I've done a load of Tim Burgess' Twitter Listening Parties over the last year, it's a real sense of togetherness to listen along to the same record with the artist and other fans at the same time, with some real-time interaction and stories behind the songs.
I uses Apple Music for convenience and when out of home, and for discovering new acts, but if I like a new album I will now buy the physical copy, usually on vinyl, ideally direct from the artist, as streaming is shafting them.
Edited by PurpleTurtle on Tuesday 13th July 11:52
sociopath said:
Never understood people who complain about clicks and pops on their LPs, maybe they should learn how to keep them properly.
Streaming is super convenient and great quality, but there's something about putting a record on that still appeals
Agree that putting a record on was something of an event - partly because of the relative cost at the time - but some came with crackling. Island label were particularly bad iirc. That was in the early eighties, hopefully better now.Streaming is super convenient and great quality, but there's something about putting a record on that still appeals
Following advice on here I rewired the speakers on my 80s hifi and really enjoying CDs on that. Used to use Google Play Music but streaming wasn't reliable until I recently put in mesh wifi. Amazon Music has a lot of my library but it's a bit flaky. Radio Caroline daily.
Mostly listen to radio or Spotify thru Google or Echo depending on which room I'm working in. Still have my old 80s Rega turntable and amp set up in the dining room for the odd Sunday afternoon record listening session. Grown to hate clutter so the collection of far too many CDs has been banished to the big Swiss Cottage shed down the garden where I have an early 90s JVC midi system I rescued from a skip (all works, sounds mint). Other than the kids PS5, I reckon that is the only CD player we own. I used to be really fussy about hi-fi but these days I'll happily listen to music streamed thru a smart speaker.
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