jazzbo Posted October 22, 2006 Author Report Share Posted October 22, 2006 You are to blame! Well, since my life now consists for a month more or so of wasting time in medical waiting rooms, hospital rooms and hotel rooms in the medical center area, this speeding arrow is a good find and keeping my mind occupied! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
orchiddoctor Posted October 22, 2006 Report Share Posted October 22, 2006 You are to blame! Well, since my life now consists for a month more or so of wasting time in medical waiting rooms, hospital rooms and hotel rooms in the medical center area, this speeding arrow is a good find and keeping my mind occupied! Just remember one thing--everyone who downloads from speeding arrow--the intent of those who obtained, cleaned, and digitized these tapes into SHN and/or FLAC files that they did not wish to have the material copied into MP3 format for distribution. It's aa bit grey, I think, for them to convert to MP3 for distribution, but as long as it's for personal use, especially walkman/ipod, I don't see it as being all that evil. Chalupa might disagree--any thoughts, Tony? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chalupa Posted October 22, 2006 Report Share Posted October 22, 2006 MP3's Not a fan. I would only get a MP3 recording if it was the only way to obtain a copy of a performance. I do find them fatigue inducing after extended periods of listening. Where I really notice the compression is on the drums, especially the crash cymbal. HOWEVER...... I have no problem w/ people converting files for their own personal use. They're your ears and if MP3s sound good to your ears I say grab as many as you can. (N.B. I have to admit that the AAC encoded files on my wife's Ipod sound pretty darn good.) What gets my goat is when people distribute MP3s w/out being upfront about it. I can't tell you how many times I've seen shows up on the Dime and the show is 70+ minutes long yet the cd torrent is only ~300mb. There's no way there isn't a mp3 generation in there. That's why I like that speeding arrow site. The guy is totally upfront about the music on his site being compressed. I mean what's really important here is that the music is getting distributed and listened to. Better to have an inferior recording then no recording at all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
orchiddoctor Posted October 23, 2006 Report Share Posted October 23, 2006 That pretty much sums up my take on it. I'm still grabbing shn/flacs when I can. Most of my archive downloads were shns. Mind you, my ears are so shot from loud music that I can't tell the difference. Besides, I listen mostly in my car. AND--I grew up on nth generation copies of tapes with hissssss and speed issues and cuts and so on. But it is wrong to pass off mp3s as lossless. And I think it's important to bear in mind that these tapes have been lovingly worked on by serious enthusiasts to make them as clean as possible. Since many of the uploads on dime and elsewhere contain the express wish not to have the files disseminated on mp3, it is important to respect those wishes. BUT--for personal use which excludes trading or posting, go for it. After all, all those shns on archive have become lossy streams only. And yes, a great mp3 concert is better than no concert! It's just that it's so addictive . . . . . . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John L Posted October 23, 2006 Report Share Posted October 23, 2006 I already had a problem of music overload before I started downloading the Dead recently. How do you guys find the time to listen to 3000 3-hour shows? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jazzbo Posted October 23, 2006 Author Report Share Posted October 23, 2006 That's a really good question. . . . Right now I'm listening to about 1/4 or 1/5 of what I'm downloading, I'm just stockpiling because I have the time (I won't have the time when I return to my "normal" life, this year of treatment and caretaking I refuse to see as "normal") and the availability is there. I'm having a lot of fun and am calmed by the mechanics of what I do (download the MP3, convert in iTunes to Apple Lossless, burn a backup cd, convert to AAC files, load to iPod) and I listen when I can (on the shuttle back and forth to the hospital, when my wife is sleeping in the hospital, in the evenings over my laptop and my Bose Companion 2 powered speakers, walking to the stores in the evening, etc.) I find that the cds burned with the Apple Lossless file sound pretty okay, not as fatiguing as otherwise, and the AAC files sound pretty good on the laptop and the iPod--these new B&O headphones (A8) that my father gave me are largely responsible for great sound, I've never head better headphones with an iPod or a regular stereo. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John L Posted October 23, 2006 Report Share Posted October 23, 2006 The Zephyr site uses a 256 bit rate, which minimizes losses, even though it makes the files somewhat large. Lon: why do you do all of that converting? Why not just load the 256 bit MP3s directly into iTunes and your iPod? They sound good in mine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
orchiddoctor Posted October 23, 2006 Report Share Posted October 23, 2006 I already had a problem of music overload before I started downloading the Dead recently. How do you guys find the time to listen to 3000 3-hour shows? Well, I get up 'round five a.m. and put on the first disc. I sing along in the shower and head down for breakfast--disc 2. Drive to work (okay, I walk)--disc 3. On a good day, one without pesky customers, I can nail about three or four more shows. Then, night comes, and I hit some of the heavier stuff. 3,000 shows? Nothing to it. Actually, I only download stuff between 66-72; and having done so for around four years, that's not totally insane. Now Lon on the other hand . . . . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
.:.impossible Posted October 23, 2006 Report Share Posted October 23, 2006 I may be mistaken, Lon, so forgive me. I don't understand how you can 'up-convert' an mp3 into a lossless format. Isn't it impossible to restore any information that has already been compressed from the file? In other words, once an aiff, or wav has been compressed into an mp3, it can be compressed further (more lossy), but it can never be improved upon.\ Am I wrong? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jazzbo Posted October 23, 2006 Author Report Share Posted October 23, 2006 The Zephyr site uses a 256 bit rate, which minimizes losses, even though it makes the files somewhat large. Lon: why do you do all of that converting? Why not just load the 256 bit MP3s directly into iTunes and your iPod? They sound good in mine. I convert to lossless. . . because actually I feel they make the cds sound "deeper" . . .better on my home system. It may be an illusion. I convert from lossless to AAC because of the capacity. . . I can store more on the iPod/iTunes (I have iTunes on an external harddrive as it already is larger than my notebook can hold). I've already dumped about 10G of audience shows from the iPod/iTunes that didn't sound so hot so after I'd listened to them a couple of times, I doubt I'd revisit them too often. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jazzbo Posted October 23, 2006 Author Report Share Posted October 23, 2006 I may be mistaken, Lon, so forgive me. I don't understand how you can 'up-convert' an mp3 into a lossless format. Isn't it impossible to restore any information that has already been compressed from the file? In other words, once an aiff, or wav has been compressed into an mp3, it can be compressed further (more lossy), but it can never be improved upon.\ Am I wrong? Cary, I don't know if you're wrong or right. . . I don't think you can really change the file, but I just find that the converted MP3s sound better on playback on my main system. Maybe I'm just imagining it. If so, it gives me something to do, it's sort of a ritual for me now after about 6 months or so of doing this for eMusic and Dead shows. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jazzbo Posted October 23, 2006 Author Report Share Posted October 23, 2006 I already had a problem of music overload before I started downloading the Dead recently. How do you guys find the time to listen to 3000 3-hour shows? Well, I get up 'round five a.m. and put on the first disc. I sing along in the shower and head down for breakfast--disc 2. Drive to work (okay, I walk)--disc 3. On a good day, one without pesky customers, I can nail about three or four more shows. Then, night comes, and I hit some of the heavier stuff. 3,000 shows? Nothing to it. Actually, I only download stuff between 66-72; and having done so for around four years, that's not totally insane. Now Lon on the other hand . . . . Lon on the other hand is downloading shows through 1975 (meager pickings from 1975!) I don't like Midland, never did, never will, and he ruins the later years for me. I'm not that crazy about the years from 1974 on when Hart returned and the Godchauxs sortof got jiggy. So it's not 3000 shows for me, but it's plenty! I've got ALL the official product from these years and will keep buying! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony Pusey Posted October 23, 2006 Report Share Posted October 23, 2006 I live in the sticks with access to dial up, never got into the tape trading scene and so far have not started downloading. I am not only technologically challenged, but also a Luddite. The Dead are , however, my first love so I buy all official product thru to 73 when I lost interest, and of course I have had my share of boots, in the past on vinyl and then cd. In time I will however get the official down loads. And much as I do love the Dead, I have also a fair bit of other music to listen to! Plus , I dont want to get divorced, as I said in a very early posting to this thread, wifey wonders how many Lovelights a man needs! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
orchiddoctor Posted October 23, 2006 Report Share Posted October 23, 2006 I live in the sticks with access to dial up, never got into the tape trading scene and so far have not started downloading. I am not only technologically challenged, but also a Luddite. The Dead are , however, my first love so I buy all official product thru to 73 when I lost interest, and of course I have had my share of boots, in the past on vinyl and then cd. In time I will however get the official down loads. And much as I do love the Dead, I have also a fair bit of other music to listen to! Plus , I dont want to get divorced, as I said in a very early posting to this thread, wifey wonders how many Lovelights a man needs! Of course it's insane to download every fart and burp the Grateful Dead created over the years. And, worse than too many Lovelights are too many Me and My Uncles! But we all need a hobby. Mine used to be going to the local traffic light and reading the license plates. But the cops thought that was a but squirrely and asked me to stop. There is something to be said for listening to the evolution of a group such as the Dead. As with Lon, my interests are in the early years. And I'm no completest or elitist when it comes to what I download. I don't care much for chopped up partials or weak shows or (sorry)) audience (except those capital theater shows from fall 1970). Beats waiting for the light to turn green. Besides. I'm already divorced. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jazzbo Posted October 23, 2006 Author Report Share Posted October 23, 2006 Those Capitol shows are something! There are some really good audience ones I've found, but yes a lot of them aren't worth hearing more than once. Those early years. . . they can be different from night to night! Sort of thrilling to hear them grow and change as Bill mentions. This is a rare period for me (I'm hoping) in my life. . . I sort of leaned on the Dead when my wife began getting her treatment last November and they were there for me. Diving deep into their music was something new and I found that their music HELPS me. I've been reading about them during this time period as well. The music is here in my head now, and welcome there. My wife is fairly supportive of the habit though no fan of the Dead. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony Pusey Posted October 23, 2006 Report Share Posted October 23, 2006 Till now Wifey doesnt realise that I have more than one version of Me and my Uncle!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony Pusey Posted October 23, 2006 Report Share Posted October 23, 2006 And Jazzbo, I think I can empathise a bit with what you are both going thru, my partner was diagnosed with breast cancer 2 years ago, tuff times, but keep on keepin on, OK? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
orchiddoctor Posted October 23, 2006 Report Share Posted October 23, 2006 Till now Wifey doesnt realise that I have more than one version of Me and my Uncle!!!! You scoundrel. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jazzbo Posted October 23, 2006 Author Report Share Posted October 23, 2006 Tony, thanks, after nearly a full year of this we may be weeks away from the end. Helen's stem cell transplant was 18 days ago, and her white cell count is finally on the rise and the doctor's think everything is going well and are predicting a relatively long remission of the lymphoma. I'm going to keep on keeping on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John L Posted October 23, 2006 Report Share Posted October 23, 2006 That's encouraging, Lon! I wish Helen and yourself all the best. John Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
orchiddoctor Posted October 23, 2006 Report Share Posted October 23, 2006 (edited) Tony, thanks, after nearly a full year of this we may be weeks away from the end. Helen's stem cell transplant was 18 days ago, and her white cell count is finally on the rise and the doctor's think everything is going well and are predicting a relatively long remission of the lymphoma. I'm going to keep on keeping on. Edited October 23, 2006 by orchiddoctor Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quincy Posted October 23, 2006 Report Share Posted October 23, 2006 I'm going to keep on keeping on. Yay! Glad to hear things are looking up! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quincy Posted October 23, 2006 Report Share Posted October 23, 2006 (edited) According to my databases I have 91 CDs of official Dead product + about 810 hours of unofficial live Dead (a few hours of that is outtakes.) Never mind the vinyl. And yet I saw 5-18-72 on dimeadozen the other day and decided to give it a whirl. Not a bad show (surprise surprise) and supposedly it's a relatively recent find (within the past 2 years), or least this version that sounds nice. I heard part of it about 5 years ago and gave up as it was distant and hissy (like an old Who AUD ) - not a problem now. I probably only do part of a show a week nowadays, but it's nice to have lots of bottle in the cellar to chose from. Edited October 23, 2006 by Quincy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
orchiddoctor Posted October 23, 2006 Report Share Posted October 23, 2006 I probably only do part of a show a week nowadays, but it's nice to have lots of bottle in the cellar to chose from. And oh so easy to get drunk! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chalupa Posted October 23, 2006 Report Share Posted October 23, 2006 Healing vibes for (((((Helen and Lon))))) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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