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What format do you usually use?


GA Russell

  

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All of this is really disappointing to someone spending dozens of hours in the studio to make the 24/96 master sound as good as possible. Seems I'm playing the fool.

Take heart. The poll is running at 85% preference for CDs (... as of this post. But CNN is now projecting CDs will win the vote in a landslide).

I think there's only been one person so far who has said they listen to 100% mp3.

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I've noticed that a lot of students at my school still buy & listen to vinyl, which I think is really cool. The ones who listen exclusively to mp3s are missing out on numerous important things- personnel/liners/cover art and the ordering of the tunes (which on a record like Speak No Evil is sublime). Also, by downloading only specific cuts they are missing out on the discovery of the other "buried treasure" tunes on the record. It really gripes me when they can't identify sidemen- I'm always on them to find out who EVERYONE is on whatever they're listening to. I give many blindfold tests in my classes.

I listen to vinyl, CDs and mp3s. I do like the convenience of the iPod for teaching & traveling purposes- not having to carry all those CDs is great. When I was on the road in the 80s I remember having a huge bag of cassettes to haul around. I remember buying my first Pro Walkman and what a cool gadget it was at the time.

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I split my listening between vinyl and CD; never MP3. My twenty-something kids listen exclusively to MP3s (maybe a reaction to my over the top LP/CD habit mellow.gif .

OTOH, I was scrounging vinyl in a local thrift shop, when a trio of guys, probably 18-22, hit the record bins, obvious vinylphiles.

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I appreciate high quality source material from which to rip. Good source = better quality rip, since I tend to rip to the highest, not most convenient, file size. Besides, I ain't gonna be stuck in a damn office forever. I'm just saying that right now, I pretty much have to do the MP3 thing if I want to get any listening done.

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I listen to FLAC [and where space is an issue like on the laptop, Ogg] mainly, although most of my music is on CD. I have some vinyl, but my record player died a while back. I still buy and sell CDs. In fact, I actually removed the downloads section from my site through lack of demand! I sell way more CDs. People seem to much prefer the physical product. Well, here, anyway.

It doesn't cost more to do 96 though some engineers think 88.2 translates better to cds.

That sounds like the Nyquist theorem. I remember an engineer that had been in the business a while giving me a ticking-off about that, saying that it didn't work. I think he was essentially saying "record at the highest quality you can", which I obviously wasn't disagreeing with. But I'd be interested to know what you'd heard...

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I do the majority of my listening from the computer, but most of my collection is lossless (either FLAC or ALAC). I've also started doing 24/96khz vinyl transfers, which come out VERY nice indeed. Since my computer is the central component of my stereo system there is no discernable difference between playing an audio CD or lossless file (thanks to Jazzbo for helping out with cables). I also have an older Sony CD player, Panasonic blu ray player and a Technics turntable running through the same setup. It's very convenient.

That convenience factor of using digital storage/playback mediums is just too enticing to someone that has grown tired of maintaining and organizing a large-ish CD collection...most of my CDs are stored in boxes.

I've turned into a playlist junkie as well.... excited.gif

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one should always use the highest resolution available -

don't know; recordingin my living room with a Neumann 87 knockoff (a good one) I did go between 24/44 and 24/96 and played it back on high end speakers (my BSLs). Very close.

Maybe with a higher end mic pre-amp this might change.

but as I mentioned elsewhere 24 bits have changed my life.

Edited by AllenLowe
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I acquire the vast majority of new music as downloads; but then burn as CD-r and play as a traditional CD.

Also listen via the iPod when out, gardening, sitting in waiting rooms etc.

Why do you burn your mp3s?

Conservatism? Having things stacked round the room where I can see them convinces me they are there - and I like to make a little facsimile sleeve. I've got a few thousand recordings - I'm not sure I'd remember they were there just on a hard disc. In my bizarre world the CD-R means I remember them. I get the convenience of instant access via download and the cheaper cost; but also the physical act of manipulating the CD-R into the machine.

As I only have a modest set up all the hi-fi stuff is lost on me. So I can't distinguish between CD and download.

Completely illogical, I know, but it works for me. But then I never thought I'd be able to do without packaging and weened myself off that (apart from my mini sleeves!); I'll probably find a way to part company with the shiny disc in the future.

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All of this is really disappointing to someone spending dozens of hours in the studio to make the 24/96 master sound as good as possible. Seems I'm playing the fool.

Depends how many listeners you want to reach. I see no contradiction between trying to make the 24/96 master sound as good as possible, and trying to make the .mp3 master sound as good as possible. You could do both, and sell them both ways. You might even make more money off the .mp3.

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  • 3 weeks later...

CD's only. I swore off the surface noise and inner groove distortion of lp's after 1987 and MP3 is an aural abomination.

Maybe in the 90's they were an abomination, but with the improvements in LAME I would be willing to bet most people couldn't tell the difference in a blindfold test.

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Guest Bill Barton

CDs almost exclusively. When I finally get my turntable reconnected and "tweaked" again will be delving into the long-dormant vinyl collection. I rarely if ever listen to MP3s. In terms of digital, FLAC files on rare occasions.

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There are two ways of looking at this.

I thought I'd do a little query to see what the answer was for this year so far.

CD - 64%

MP3 - 16%

LP - 13%

K7 - 7%

Which doesn't tell me very much except I've got a lot more CDs than anything else. So I looked at the average amount of plays per album on whatever medium.

MP3 - 15

CD - 3.4

K7 - 1.8

LP - 1.7

Which also doesn't tell me much more than that I've acquired a lot of MP3s recently and, obviously, I want to listen to recent stuff more frequently than stuff I've had for years.

The other way of looking at it is this. Basically, whatever medium I can get music on, I will, and I'll listen to it on that medium as much as I feel like it. There's a hierarchy of media though. K7 at the bottom, then LP, MP3, CD. So if I've got an album on K7 or LP and MP3, I'll play the MP3.

MG

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