Albums are dead.

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by manco, Jan 15, 2019.

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  1. schnitzerphilip

    schnitzerphilip "Modern Dad" Unlocked Award

    Location:
    NJ USA
    Yes, all of those songs were on albums. But the point is instead of me listening to 14 songs from Boz Scaggs and then 14 songs from Steely Dan and so on, I was able to listen to 40 songs in that type of groove/mood from assorted artists including those two and dozens of others. Better songs, more artist diversity, same groove/mood.

    What we like about albums, good ones at least, is that they tend to hold together in a specific groove/mood, they are related in theme/presentation, and can be enjoyed effortlessly, just hit the play button and it's an hour of great enjoyment. Well, Streaming does that with an extra wrinkle- instead of a single artist, it is featuring several and track selections generated on-the-fly based on the personal preferences of the listener.

    Playlists are the new album. Playlists uncanny randomness and surprise replicate the experience of the first play of a new album that you instantly fall in love with. Where albums have let us down in that regard with duds and filler countless times, playlists never do.
     
  2. schnitzerphilip

    schnitzerphilip "Modern Dad" Unlocked Award

    Location:
    NJ USA
    From a Yacht Rock perspective, Apple Music does a great job of replacing 'albums' as well. You can use these phrases to get at different experiences within the genre:

    "Hey Siri, play Yacht Rock Essentials" brings up 60 classic songs curated by human program directors at Apple Music.

    "Hey Siri, play some Yacht Rock" brings up 12 hours of songs in that genre tailored to your likes and dislikes over time in Apple Music or the iTunes Music Store.

    "Hey Siri, play more like this" when you are listening to a Yacht Rock song you like brings up 12 hours of songs akin to that song and will mix in songs from different genres that feature the same tempo, instruments, and mood as that one.

    "Hey Siri, play songs for brunch", "Hey Siri, play songs for a peaceful afternoon"......all will bring up a similar experience in feel, away from Yacht Rock specifically, yet still connected in mood.

    This type of technology is why Streaming is so compelling and why it's become a massive gamechanger in the industry. It's an album on steroids. There's nothing wrong with listening to Goodbye Yellow Brick Road for the 50th time. But asking Siri to play "Benny And The Jets Radio" is a lot more interesting.
     
  3. blair207

    blair207 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Fife, Scotland
    I thought the point of the thread was the death of the album. Then you come along and tell us playlists which are made up from tracks from albums are better. You may prefer playlists but if you need album tracks to compile them the album must be alive,
     
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  4. blair207

    blair207 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Fife, Scotland
    Can Siri differentiate between yacht rock and jazz rock? Who wrote the algorithm and how does it work. What if I want yacht rock and I get a jazz rock track in the playlist? I’m a bit of a yacht rock purist, non yacht rock in a yacht rock playlist is something I can’t abide.
     
  5. Luvtemps

    Luvtemps Forum Resident

    Location:
    P.G.County,Md.
    I just listened to the heartbeat of my albums...and they're still living!!
     
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  6. blair207

    blair207 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Fife, Scotland
    But they’re metamorphosing into playlists, they are living but in a new form. You will need Apple Music to communicate with them properly.
     
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  7. wallpaperman

    wallpaperman Forum Resident

    Location:
    Edinburgh
    Was ‘Pulse’ by Pink Floyd amongst them? (Get it, get it :winkgrin:).
     
    Calling All Stations likes this.
  8. Mookielagoo

    Mookielagoo Marky-mark Vinyl Nut

    Location:
    UK
    Bravo! Oh the joy of it all! Human beings are tactile, 'feel led' organisms.. The experience of enjoying an album in vinyl form and taking in the cover, sleeve artwork is special. For me it's 'depression busting' enjoyment. Streaming singles is great and has its place, but to sit down, relax from the day and emerse yourself in an artist is truly humbling. For me, it started when I helped my parents move house and my dad was about to giveaway a load of vinyl (beatles, stones etc)... These were albums he acquired as a young man. Giving some time to vinyl has been profound and life changing for me. Nothing beats the British weather in November to February than the ritual of enjoying a vinyl album!
     
  9. Carl Swanson

    Carl Swanson Senior Member

    . . . I wonder if you can.
     
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  10. DRM

    DRM Forum Resident

    Well said.
     
    lazydawg58 and Jrr like this.
  11. DRM

    DRM Forum Resident

    For people who have trouble making up their minds, dealing with the free market, and deciphering music, what you lay out must feel comforting. Stifling but somehow a relief from too many choices. Adolescents face the dilemma of too much too soon. So sometimes they gravitate to not having to decide and make informed choices. Troubled teens particularly.
     
  12. vanhooserd

    vanhooserd Senior Member

    Location:
    Nashville,TN
    I am 67 years old. I have thousands of CDs & LPs, even cassette tapes. I can also listen to albums via Hoopla courtesy of the public library. I do listen to some individual tracks via YouTube & internet radio, but my listening habits were pretty much set by 1970.
     
  13. kendo

    kendo Forum Resident

    If albums are dead, my shelves are full of zombie LPs and CDs, this being one of them...

    [​IMG]
     
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  14. schnitzerphilip

    schnitzerphilip "Modern Dad" Unlocked Award

    Location:
    NJ USA
    On the Apple Music platform while listening to a song, if you say "Hey Siri, I don't like this" it will minimize the playing of that song. If you say "Hey Siri, never play this song" it will stop playing it and never play it again. Those are the most harsh options.

    If a song comes on that you like but you feel it doesn't belong on the set of songs that is playing, merely "skip" it and it won't play in that context again.
     
  15. Fullbug

    Fullbug Forum Resident

    Location:
    Seattle
    Fortunately, I've built a fortress against the outside world, so it doesn't affect me.
     
  16. schnitzerphilip

    schnitzerphilip "Modern Dad" Unlocked Award

    Location:
    NJ USA
    True, but with 45 million songs on the platform and an additional 20,000 songs being added every day, one needs machine learning to filter and present a meaningful subset of tracks on a given session.

    If you want to sift through the spines in old school fashion, you can do that too, you can navigate on a computer or smartphone and browse genres, artists, etc. Being able to 'like' songs and add albums 'to library' helps to make sense of it all. It's not much different than a web browser, the millions of websites, and bookmarks to organize it all.
     
  17. Rocky's Owner

    Rocky's Owner I Don't Rent Air

    Location:
    Los Angeles
    According to Neil Young, Apple Music "controls the audio quality that is served to the masses and chooses to not make high quality available, reducing audio quality to between 5 percent and 20 percent of the master I made in studio in all cases. So, the people hear 5 percent to 20 percent of what I created.”

    https://www.cultofmac.com/516983/neil-young-rips-apple-music/
     
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  18. slop101

    slop101 Guitar Geek

    Location:
    So. Cal.
    Yup, sound quality on Apple streaming is dreadful, even if the version they stream is the best available master, which is rarely the case anyways. So you basically get a crap version of a crap version. Then on top of that you've most likely listening through bluetooth, further compromising the sound quality. Not that braindead apple fanatics will care, as long as their gear looks cool, they couldn't be bothered with sound quality.

    It's like watching Lawrence of Arabia on your cellphone.
     
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  19. Gaslight

    Gaslight ⎧⚍⎫⚑

    Location:
    Northeast USA
    The screen on my cellphone has a greater resolution than my 52 inch television.

    :shrug:
     
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  20. HotelYorba101

    HotelYorba101 Senior Member

    Location:
    California
    I dunno, of course lossless is best but 256kps AAC is really fairly decent sounding overall.

    And the people who would stream on bluetooth are probably the ones who wouldn't have a good setup for their lossless audio via CDs either when that was the main medium, so to me it is just the same thing - us audiophiles are a (albiet vocal) minority
     
    Hermes likes this.
  21. Schoolmaster Bones

    Schoolmaster Bones Poe's Lawyer

    Location:
    ‎The Midwest
    Maybe he should start his own


    oh that's right I forgot.
     
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  22. Schoolmaster Bones

    Schoolmaster Bones Poe's Lawyer

    Location:
    ‎The Midwest
    256kps VBR AAC is my default. I couldn't tell it from flac if my life depended on it.

    Also, albums are not dead.
     
  23. Larry Mc

    Larry Mc Forum Dude

    I keep old dvd players for that reason. No point in selling them, they are a dime a dozen. :)
     
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  24. Larry Mc

    Larry Mc Forum Dude

    So Bob Dylan, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, and all the other musicians are being selfish for wanting to be paid for the songs they write.
    I'm sorry but you don't know what you are talking about. Streaming is only paying pennies to the artist for the music they created.
    I have to wonder how old you are.
     
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  25. Larry Mc

    Larry Mc Forum Dude

    I didn't read his posts, having done that, I now notice some of the posts are confrontational.
     
    Rocky's Owner likes this.
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