Deleted 12,000+ Digital Files

This. No need to keep album MP3s when you can just stream them for those times when you aren’t home.

I take CDs for the car ride and listen to LPs when I’m home. No need for virtual music

 

i don't understand why it was necessary to delete these files in order to enjoy the physical collection. Can't a person still listen to albums and cd's even though they own digital files of music? what about the presence of the digital files was stopping your access to your albums and cd's? Could you not instead move your 12,000 files onto a single hard drive (12,000 files isn't very many files after all) and stick it on a shelf? But even still, say they remained on your computer, what about their presence was stopping you from listening to your albums and cd's? was there some governing effect they were exerting?

 

If you travel, it’s nice having all your music accessible on a portable harddrive

 

You can't get any attention on here just doing that...as it is he's been lauded like a book burner in Berlin in some quarters.

 

Yikes.

 

Indeed, but keep in mind it was mostly Grateful Dead, so we may be...grateful?

 

If they remained, there may be temptation to use them. Just the thought of backing up and managing was more than I care to do these days. I want to enjoy the music the way it was intended...that is to be played in a sequential format from start to finish. As mentioned earlier, a lot of listening was just putting the whole library on shuffle. It no longer was music, it was more of a commodity. I kind of lost the joy and excitement of music when listening and managing in this way. I now take the time to make a selection of what to play instead of letting the computer decide what to play. Yes, there are many times I could just listen to a digital version in its entirety but after using the computer primarily for music for who knows how many years, it was time to get back to basics like when I first started to build my personal music collection.

 

Proven by who? I always assumed it was just an individal preference as to what is more enjoyable

 

catharsis :
the process of releasing, and thereby providing relief from, strong or repressed emotions. syn: purging

 

but you don't need to destroy the digital files in order to enjoy the physical files. if the presence of a digital file is keeping you from enjoying your albums, is it really the fault of the digital file? you can still play your albums, even though you have digital files on your computer. the digital file is not blocking your access to your records and cd's. destroying files so you can enjoy your albums doesn't make any sense.

 

Perhaps it is the crux of the misunderstanding between physical formats fans and (most) digital file collectors.

The former tend to prefer to enjoy the music as it was originally recorded/assembled, with the slow and tactile experience reinforcing the integrity of a recorded piece, while the latter value the most fast access to individual tracks that can be shuffled either automatically or according to hand-picked playlists. And for the latter streaming does not offer enough flexibility, reliability, fidelity and availability, despite its similar content organization/access model.

I am excluding here the segment of file collectors who go for downloading to fetch the material that is out-of-print/overpriced, physically unavailable, in high-definition, etc

Just a food for thought.

 

Different strokes for different folks, if deleting those files helps you enjoy your music collection, I say good on you! Most of my music is on CD and BD, but I rip them to FLAC for my Pono. I'm a headphones lover, so the Pono is great and I enjoy having the music right there on SD cards. Plus I've been getting into albums from HDTracks, but that is just me.

Getting enjoyment is the most important thing about music, so if this helped then I'm glad you did it. You might want to grab your CD or 45 of Lennon's "Cold Turkey" for one of your first non digital listens.

 

I used the word cathartic in an earlier post, and yes, I think that's the point here. For the OP, he'd developed a dislike/contempt for the digital files because they'd crept into his relationship with music and eroded the true pleasure he takes in listening. Keeping them just wouldn't do. Some divorced couples remain "just friends" while others need a clean and permanent break.

 

Mrs. Townshend, that's not nice!

 

I agree entirely. It's another format. In fact, as a format, given the amount of material I have digitally, I would rank it #2 only to my vinyl collection.

 

Ohhhhh. Put in context, this makes perfect sense. Nothing against The Dead, but I've also deleted hundreds of gigs of Dead music I downloaded (free and legally) on Archive.org. Stuff I just never listened to. So in this context it makes total sense to me now. Especially since I've done the same damn thing.

 

Uh, good one. You sure did provide a powerful counterpoint to the OP with your made up post.

 

You need dedication to do that. Dedication.

 

Well - it does seem extreme - but have somewhat of a shared experience - I will repeat here again, that starting listening to music at the end of the first vinyl era (because I started when I was a child, not a teenager) then coming of age thru the CD era, I amassed a biggish CD collection. - The digital era coincided with streamlining due to paternity - so at some point I did listen only on portable players... I went back to having a system when the kids got bigger...


So - my digital collection got built haphazardly, ripping my CDs as I could or buying whatever most accessible version of a download... all this done when I knew a lot less about digital music. So I ended up with many 192 Kbps (damn iTunes default) to 320 Kpbs mp3s - then started getting into high res, flac, etc.

One epiphany I had, related to the OP is that I was spending more time ripping than listening. So I got a CD player IN 2017 after many years of not having one - and it was fantastic. Finally my collection was available again - it was like getting 1000s of CDs for free at the same time...

Second is related to the OPs action - I have been tempted to just delete all those 192 Kpbs to 320 KBps mp3s - no mater if I ripped them or bought them - start over fresh the right way. Only lossless (at least, if not high res ) files in the collection. And yes, delete them outright to avoid the temptation to not do it or not replace them. Again no matter if I bought them. However, haven been able to get myself to do it. Wish I drank so I could have our fine Mexican friend Don Julio help along...

Streaming -nah - music is art, not a utility or monthly service - I don't want to depend on a 3rd party to have access to music.

v

 

Nah. Ticking off your wife or girlfriend is easy!

 

I am going through that process myself, although not quite as draconian. I find myself these days listening to a more select catalog of music. Part of that stems from changes in my taste in music these days. I would rather have a more limited supply of music that I really like vs stuff that just gathers dust. Less can me more and you actually start to play things you haven't heard in a while because it begins to narrow you possibilities.

 

I was able to quit cold-turkey a few years later, in 1985.

 

Never had a habit of drinking drain water.

 

S'truth!

'Course, you could always "preserve" it by digitization. Oops . . . no . . . that would entail converting it into those cursed 1s and 0s.