What is really sad is I was volunteering at KPFT 90.1 working the sound board for a talk show. Got to know some of the late night DJs. They have access to an enormous CD library, but will bring their computer and plug it into the board and play their MP3 playlists over the radio. Lazy, disgusting and low quality over radio's inherent low quality. The other problem with MP3s is making a playlist from them, they often have different audio levels...some louder than others, etc. I don't understand why people deal in MP3s vs lossless ripping from CDs. "High Density MP3s" what the f!ck does that mean. "Oh, it's really close to CDs." huh.
I would still buy CDs if I can get them cheap enough but for me it is a storage space. I have probably 1000 CDs and it is getting harder and harder for me to add to that total. MP3s are better for me because I don't have the storage space problem. And sometimes you will find albums that are out of print but Amazon will still have the MP3 version of the album available to buy? I have not noticed a big difference in the quality of the music on a CD compared to a MP3.
You sound like me before I got married (let me guess - you're still single?). Except I would buy about 10 albums every other week which comes out to about 20 albums a month.
I could go deep into this, but pirating music is not necessarily a bad thing. I've spent a ton of money on artists (Mostly at concerts, where artists get most of their money from, they don't even make much off record sales, the record company gets most of that money) that I would have never ever heard had I not originally downloaded their music from a torrent or something. A lot of indie artists probably wouldn't have successful tours if it weren't for pirating. And we'd hear less of that fresh and new music and more of the generic stuff that sells.
Here's the problem I have with CDs (and I mean no disrespect, DCkid): I couldn't stand having an eyesore like that taking up so much room in my house. Not to mention, sorting and searching a collection like that would be way too much hassle for me to put up with for very long. By comparison, MP3s are more versatile, easily searchable and truly compact.
None taken, that's why I listed the space CDs take as a con. Overall, I still feel the pros outweigh the cons though, especially since you still get the mp3s after ripping the CDs..and the ripped mp3s are better since you can determine the quality to rip them at, and there is no DRM to worry about.
Download the music...If I really like them then i'll spend the money and buy their album and/or goto their concerts and events. However I will say this, Whilst downloading music is easy and free I tend not to appreciate it as much. I remember when downloading full albums was a hard task to find so I would just buy the CD and take it with me everywhere, the house, the car, friends houses, friends cars, BBQs just any event where music could be listened to. I would do this for a few weeks until you got bored of the album. But there's nothing like getting to really know the songs you hear and discussing them with your friends at the pub over a beer. These days because it's so easy you just keep getting new music every day and get sick of them easily because before you've had a chance to really listen to the album you already have another one on the go. Maybe just me though
True, but even after you rip, you're still left with a whole lot of plastic to deal with. Not to mention the time and trouble to rip every single CD. As for the quality, the average user can't hear a difference between a lossless rip, a song ripped at 320 kbps, and a song ripped at 192 kbps (I'm a trained musician, with some pretty good ears, and even I can't always hear the difference). DRM isn't really an issue if you purchase from the right source (i.e. - Amazon).
There's too much lol in this thread. People talking about audio quality when half of the "hi-fi" threads on this board seem to think that Bose speakers are the high-end stuff. :grin:
