Is it time to stop buying CD's?

Discussion in 'Audio Hardware' started by mgmgrand, Jul 26, 2016.

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  1. Mr Bass

    Mr Bass Chevelle Ma Belle

    Location:
    Mid Atlantic
    The OP clearly has not seen the 2016 RIAA/Soundscan reports. The data show a continuing brutal decline in Downloads of all kinds. Pono has gone on a hiatus due to the bankruptcy of Omnifone. It would be nice if hires downloads were zooming sales wise. Of course I hoped for the same thing with SACD 15 years ago and now look at me ...
     
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  2. Lester Best

    Lester Best Well-Known Member

    Location:
    Bklyn NY
    This is like asking if you should get married.
     
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  3. head_unit

    head_unit Senior Member

    Location:
    Los Angeles CA USA
    Nice stuff! I gotta ask, how much for the stacks?
     
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  4. Ntotrar

    Ntotrar Forum Resident

    Location:
    Tri-Cities TN
    I still buy CDs, I rather buy records, but it's great to find albums in the thrift store for a buck or two. Stuff I wouldn't think of buying for full price. I rip them to iTunes in ALAC and pack the disks away.
     
    Last edited: Jul 26, 2016
  5. SOONERFAN

    SOONERFAN Forum Resident

    Location:
    Norman, Oklahoma
    No
     
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  6. PhilBiker

    PhilBiker sh.tv member number 666

    Location:
    Northern VA, USA
    That plus a nice vinyl copy of Simon & Garfunkel Concert in Central Park was $172. The Goodwills in my area charge $3 per disc which is high. I wasn't planning on spending that much or buying that much but there was SO MUCH great stuff! I left an Optimus DCC cassette deck in the store. Almost brought it home just out of curiosity. I left a LOT of great CDs of stuff I already own in that store.
     
  7. Kristofa

    Kristofa Enthusiast of small convenient sound carrier units

    Location:
    usa
    I still buy CDs and LPs, and I buy them cheap and occasionally splurge for a new one. I love both formats. I rip all the CDs and sync to another HDD and Dropbox for backup. I see absolutely no reason to stop.

    Am I gonna buy my whole collection as hi-rez files? Not at this stage in my life. I would rather enjoy the mountain of music I own and add to it incrementally and inexpensively then repurchase it all again in a format I cannot touch.

    But it sounds as if you have answered your own question, and there are many folks on here willing to carry the CD torch for you, and with pleasure.
     
  8. Gavinyl

    Gavinyl Remembering Member

    No mate !
     
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  9. martinb4

    martinb4 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Irvine, California
    Damn you! Been looking for some cheap Smiths stuff and never have any luck. :p
     
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  10. The FRiNgE

    The FRiNgE Forum Resident

    I see some Columbia CK cat numbers.. Some of these are certainly early to mid 80's CD's. The thrift stores in my area charge $1.99 each for used CD's. But I'm lucky that I live in a heavily populated area, that many clean/pristine collections are donated, so I have to be more selective. But at 1 dollar or less, it's fun to discover unfamiliar music, sometimes stuff that will never be released ever again. (but for the obscure vinyl is king)

    I have no problem with CD's. Most of the difference I hear is in the mastering quality, and not as much in the media itself. Maybe 8 track would be the exception, just a poor format, limited frequency range and tape hiss, although a few of those were nicely mastered too (discrete quadraphonic 8 tracks/reel to reel are unique mixes, and sometimes an extra part added to the mix) That aside, I tend to favor the early CD pressings. However there's no guarantee even the early "uncompressed" masters will sound good. Inferior masterings tend to sound thin and harsh, lacking detail or nuance, just as some reissued vinyl sounds inferior to the original pressing (the tendency not the rule) But when they're good, they're very good!

    Just like vinyl, CD's have matrix numbers. They are not created equally, sometimes not made from the same master sources. I've compared what appears to be two identical CD's and have them sounding very, very different. When someone purchases a vinyl record, new or used, or a CD, we have not purchased just a CD. We purchase the matrix number printed on it, somebody's work for better or worse.

    So, I suggest to not sell your CD collections indiscriminately. There may be some gold in that collection, a well mastered disc or two.... or more, perhaps made from an excellent master source which no longer exists!

    rock on,
    Steve VK
     
    Last edited: Jul 27, 2016
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  11. JeffMo

    JeffMo Format Agnostic

    Location:
    New England
    :laugh:
     
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  12. Marcmusic

    Marcmusic Forum Resident

    Location:
    West Virginia
    I still buy CDs but my shopping is limited to what I can find online. I can't find a single shop that carries any older material. Even if it's a new release of an older album, I can only get it online. All my FYE carries is the latest Bieber or whoever else is hot at the moment.
     
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  13. timind

    timind phorum rezident

    A lot of good stuff there. Are these titles you didn't own, or titles you just couldn't pass up having an extra copy because of price?
     
  14. Brother_Rael

    Brother_Rael Senior Member

    Love the format, love the sound, never bought into the notion the format is to blame for bad sound quality.
     
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  15. PhilBiker

    PhilBiker sh.tv member number 666

    Location:
    Northern VA, USA
    Three or four unintentional duplicates, though at least two of those are different masters than what I already owned so I need to do some shoot-outs*. About 5-10 will replace needle drops. For MP3 and CD listening needle drops are nice but I prefer to have the CD master if I can get it for $3. 2-3 replace club copies or newer/unknown masters (The Lyle Lovett "Pontiac" is the original Japanese pressing). The Smiths stuff is mostly because I'm curious about them - I've seen people spinning a lot of Smiths in the "Listening" threads so I know they are well regarded, but all I've had to date is some "greatest hits" collections. The Squeeze collection is because I've never heard a Squeeze album that wasn't at least pleasant - (East Side Story replaces a needle drop with the original Japanese pressing) and I couldn't let pretty much their whole 80s-90s catalog slip through my fingers. The Fogelberg box is because I like Fogelberg but only have 3-4 albums and would like more - and a 4 disc box set for $3 is irresistible.

    Pretty much every CD has its own story.

    Plus on the Thursday before this I got about 15 discs at another Thrift and 10 or so from a local used CD store.

    * Anybody know the preferred mastering for Bob Marley's "Legend" or The English Beat's "Special Beat Service"?
     
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  16. timind

    timind phorum rezident

    That is one thorough answer. Thanks.
     
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  17. moops

    moops Senior Member

    Location:
    Geebung, Australia
    If you don't like the way they look, the way the feel or the way they sound ....... why do you have lots of them ?
    Are you onto something or on something ?
     
  18. KN Leong

    KN Leong Well-Known Member

    Location:
    Penang, Malaysia
    Just got the new Swans album on CD after reading about problems with the vinyl pressings (songs cut off at the ends, getting 2 duplicate records and missing the 3rd etc.).
     
  19. MrRom92

    MrRom92 Forum Supermodel

    Location:
    Long Island, NY
    Special beat service was a pretty early digital recording, or at least digitally mixed. So I imagine at least one particular pressing out there is probably a clone of the master/final mixes, which would be neat. An "unmastered" mastering, if you will.
     
  20. Grand_Ennui

    Grand_Ennui Forum Resident

    Location:
    WI
    I cannot see not buying CDs...
     
  21. PhilBiker

    PhilBiker sh.tv member number 666

    Location:
    Northern VA, USA
    I believe it's like the early Flim & The BBs recordings which were done on a completely different early digital standard (That early Mitsubishi machine was 50KhZ 18 bit or something like that) so there's no such beast. But who knows?
     
  22. DLD

    DLD Senior Member

    Location:
    Dallas, Tx
    No. As others have said, cheap new and, abundant and dirt cheap on the used market.
     
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  23. Schoolmaster Bones

    Schoolmaster Bones Poe's Lawyer

    Location:
    ‎The Midwest
    Keep buying them.

    Maybe someday you will like them.
     
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  24. PH416156

    PH416156 Alea Iacta Est

    Location:
    Europe
    Wow, great haul! :thumbsup:
     
  25. MrRom92

    MrRom92 Forum Supermodel

    Location:
    Long Island, NY
    Ahh, good point. I never saw any mention of soundstream in relation to that record but it's totally possible that's what they used. In that case, it's probably been resampled from 50khz to 44 like a lot of stuff from that period. But also possible it was mixed to an entirely different digital system that was natively 44.1. If I had to guess, probably one of those Sony PCM video adapters.

    In either case, there should be a relatively untouched version, resampled or not. At least that's what I'm hoping for! May be 2016, but I'd buy that CD.
     
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