Collecting CDs, etc.

[gvopedz]

"Far from being nostalgic and conservative, the maintenance of a stock of physical media at home is a progressive act of defiance."

https://www.newyorker.com/culture/the-front-row/what-we-lose-when-streaming-companies-choose-what-we-watch

[mjzee]

I liked this article; it's all true.  What's especially threatening, at least to me, is not the disappearance of titles but the stealth-editing of scenes, dialogue, etc.  With the coming of AI, we may soon experience the changing of scenes or dialogue, or even new endings that change the dramatic meaning of a movie.  Jazz is somewhat immune to this, since it's considered a marginal art form (although not by us).  But pop music: just this week brought the news that "Fat Bottomed Girls" will no longer appear on Queen's Greatest Hits.  How long will it be before the entire song disappears into the memory hole?  So, yes, we should be concerned.  It's very hard to notice an absence.

[Teasing the Korean]

Great article.  I liked this sentence:  "Yet the experience of art is, above all, an experience, a part of life, and, just as the arts are more than mere nutrients, the medium is more than a delivery system: it has an aesthetic and a psychology of its own." (Italics mine.)

We have some younger friends who can't understand why someone would own so many LPs, CDs, books, and DVDs.  I like knowing that a certain title can't be pulled by a streaming service or somehow revised to make it more palatable to contemporary tastes or mores.  The physical object is a link to the era in which it was produced. And I like the fact that I am keeping things out of the landfill.  

I'll take the physical media any day.

[Ken Dryden]

I firmly believe in physical media: CDs, LPs, DVDs, Blu-Rays and books. I don’t want downloads for review or broadcast.

Edited August 26, 2023 by Ken Dryden

[Aggie87]

3 hours ago, mjzee said:

But pop music: just this week brought the news that "Fat Bottomed Girls" will no longer appear on Queen's Greatest Hits.  How long will it be before the entire song disappears into the memory hole?

This isn't really true at all.  

Queen is issuing some of their tracks to an online streaming service geared toward 3-8 year olds, with the average age of listeners there being 5 years old.  5 years old.

The streaming company elected not to include that track for the listening pleasure of the 5 year olds.  I see nothing wrong with this.

The song still exists on their official albums, including their in-print greatest hits albums.

It's not a "woke" issue.  Whatever "woke" is.  I know that is being pushed strongly by right wing media in this case though.

[Teasing the Korean]

4 minutes ago, Ken Dryden said:

I firmly believe in physical media: CDs, LPs, DVDs, Blu-Rays and books. I don’t want downloads for review or broadcast.

Well, downloads are different than streaming.  Once you buy the download, it's yours, and you own it.

I have bought lossless downloads of albums that were never released on CD or LP.  Not my first choice, but it's better than nothing.

[Ken Dryden]

I have acquired downloads of music not available in physical form. But when offered a download of a physical release for review, I usually pass. There is too much on my computers already and I would never listen to the music on computer.

[JSngry]

A download is in effect a physical object. You have a file on a drive. From there, do with it what you will.

It's streaming that does not present a physical object to the end user, although the generator of the stream must have the physical object, a file that lives somewhere.

And let's not conflate physicality wit permanence. If I give you a drive full of files, there you go, that's a physical object, end of story. Now if that drive crashes, yeah you lose the music. But if your house catches fire and all your records burn up, you still lose that music.

Drives crash, but houses also catch fire. Ounce of prevention, etc. 

10 minutes ago, Aggie87 said:

This isn't really true at all.  

Queen is issuing some of their tracks to an online streaming service geared toward 3-8 year olds, with the average age of listeners there being 5 years old.  5 years old.

The streaming company elected not to include that track for the listening pleasure of the 5 year olds.  I see nothing wrong with this.

The song still exists on their official albums, including their in-print greatest hits albums.

It's not a "woke" issue.  Whatever "woke" is.  I know that is being pushed strongly by right wing media in this case though.

Whoa, ok! Thank you for that! 

Being able to tell the difference between reality and half-ass mind-clouding propaganda is the real woke. 

[Ken Dryden]

The problem I have with downloads: no complete credits, liner notes, etc. Even if they are enclosed, I have to open a different file. I'm not one to back up music files all over the place, I would not have enough time to hear the backlog of physical product.

Plus I still have storage space, as HutchFan can attest, since he's seen my music library.

[Teasing the Korean]

1 hour ago, Ken Dryden said:

I have acquired downloads of music not available in physical form. But when offered a download of a physical release for review, I usually pass. There is too much on my computers already and I would never listen to the music on computer.

I hear you.  Most of Les Baxter's exotica albums were not issued on CD from the master tapes, but became available through grey market CD releases sourced from vinyl.  Eventually, Universal/EMI released them as downloads from the master tapes, so I bought those from Qobuz.  

[JSngry]

I do miss the used stores being full of promo copies. Seemed like an easy way to get some money for nothing. 

[Rabshakeh]

It seems an obvious thing to say, but listening to a record on CD, vinyl, tape/minidisc, download or streaming is a very different experience. Sound quality is nothing to do with it.

Some records "work" on vinyl but never worked on CD.

I stream a lot, mostly whilst sat in front of a computer watching my life tick away, but almost never in my life have I managed to sit still at a computer to listen to a downloaded or ripped album from an MP3 library in full. I don't know why, but it is just like that. 

[Kevin Bresnahan]

14 hours ago, Aggie87 said:

This isn't really true at all.  

Queen is issuing some of their tracks to an online streaming service geared toward 3-8 year olds, with the average age of listeners there being 5 years old.  5 years old.

The streaming company elected not to include that track for the listening pleasure of the 5 year olds.  I see nothing wrong with this.

The song still exists on their official albums, including their in-print greatest hits albums.

It's not a "woke" issue.  Whatever "woke" is.  I know that is being pushed strongly by right wing media in this case though.

But you know what's really fucked up here? First., "Fat Bottom Girls" is not any sort of fat-shaming song. In fact, it's singing the praises of said fat-bottomed girls. Second is the fact that they will include "Another One Bites The Dust" in that songlist for children.

So, to be clear, a mere hint of sex = bad for children but this is perfectly fine:

Steve walks warily down the street
With the brim pulled way down low
Ain't no sound but the sound of his feet
Machine guns ready to go

 

Are you ready? Hey
Are you ready for this?
Are you hanging on the edge of your seat?
Out of the doorway the bullets rip
To the sound of the beat, yeah

 

Another one bites the dust
Another one bites the dust

 

That's America for you. We love our guns and hate the mere whiff of sexual innuendo.

[Niko]

imho, the problem isn't so much the fat-shaming but rather that the song talks about sex between a kid and his grown-up nanny as if it was no big deal... maybe they should have left off more of those songs - maybe a Queen Greatest Hits collection for five year olds wasn't the best idea in the first place... but kids are going to be fascinated by guns anyway, what matters is that they don't have access to them... "sexual innuendo" when it's all going on between children and grown-ups... can wait until they're 12. 

[Kevin Bresnahan]

32 minutes ago, Niko said:

imho, the problem isn't so much the fat-shaming but rather that the song talks about sex between a kid and his grown-up nanny as if it was no big deal... maybe they should have left off more of those songs - maybe a Queen Greatest Hits collection for five year olds wasn't the best idea in the first place... but kids are going to be fascinated by guns anyway, what matters is that they don't have access to them... "sexual innuendo" when it's all going on between children and grown-ups... can wait until they're 12. 

But again, it's innuendo.

Hey, I was just a skinny lad
Never knew no good from bad
But I knew life before I left my nursery, huh
Left alone with big fat Fanny
She was such a naughty nanny
Hey, big woman
You made a bad boy out of me

It's more likely that children will miss that innuendo as opposed to these lines from Bohemian Rhapsody:

Mama, just killed a man
Put a gun against his head, pulled my trigger, now he's dead

No innuendo there.

And have they read the lyrics to "Don't Stop Me Now" and realized that it was basically Freddie Mercury singing about being out of control on drugs or understood that "Killer Queen" was Freddie's tribute to a high-end prostitute?

And FWIW, I agree with you that Queen's "Greatest Hits" might not be the best album to play for a child's enjoyment.

Edited August 27, 2023 by bresna

[HutchFan]

Returning to the original topic. . .

I collect LPs and CDs because I enjoy having a collection and playing music from my own collection.  From where I'm sitting, there doesn't need to be any moral component, a rightness or wrongness about it. It's just fun.

I like looking at records. I like playing records. I like looking for records. I like adding stuff to my collection, watching it grow.

Given technological "advances," maybe there's an irrational aspect to what I'm doing.  But it's no more irrational than walking by a stream hoping to find a certain rock -- like rock collectors do.  Or peering through a pair of binoculars looking at birds -- like bird watchers do.  They do those things because it gives them pleasure.  Just like them, that's sufficient justification for me. 

Other folks can listen to music (or not) however they wish.

 

[Eric]

3 minutes ago, HutchFan said:

Returning to the original topic. . .

I collect LPs and CDs because I enjoy having a collection and playing music from my own collection.  From where I'm sitting, there doesn't need to be any moral component, a rightness or wrongness about it. It's just fun.

I like looking at records. I like playing records. I like looking for records. I like adding stuff to my collection, watching it grow.

Given technological "advances," maybe there's an irrational aspect to what I'm doing.  But it's no more irrational than walking by a stream hoping to find a certain rock -- like rock collectors do.  Or peering through a pair of binoculars looking at birds -- like bird watchers do.  They do those things because it gives them pleasure.  Just like them, that's sufficient justification for me. 

Other folks can listen to music (or not) however they wish.

 

Hell yeah 👍👍👍

[mjzee]

2 hours ago, bresna said:

That's America for you. We love our guns and hate the mere whiff of sexual innuendo

Except that the service that banned the song, Yoto, is British.

[Teasing the Korean]

I like having a physical collection too. I like knowing that my LPs do not contain digital watermarks, and that a corporation cannot pull them from the shelves on a whim.  Of course, the flip side is that we have hurricanes here.  

[mjzee]

36 minutes ago, HutchFan said:

Returning to the original topic. . .

I collect LPs and CDs because I enjoy having a collection and playing music from my own collection.  From where I'm sitting, there doesn't need to be any moral component, a rightness or wrongness about it. It's just fun.

I like looking at records. I like playing records. I like looking for records. I like adding stuff to my collection, watching it grow.

Given technological "advances," maybe there's an irrational aspect to what I'm doing.  But it's no more irrational than walking by a stream hoping to find a certain rock -- like rock collectors do.  Or peering through a pair of binoculars looking at birds -- like bird watchers do.  They do those things because it gives them pleasure.  Just like them, that's sufficient justification for me. 

Other folks can listen to music (or not) however they wish.

 

Exactly.  Great comment.  I can look at a disc and remember where I bought it.  I can take pride in having a collection that reflects my tastes.  I still have books I bought in high school; it's all part of who I am.

[Teasing the Korean]

8 hours ago, Rabshakeh said:

Some records "work" on vinyl but never worked on CD.

I guess those of us who came up in the LP era have been conditioned to experience music in 15-20-minute chunks.  Sometimes, the first track on side 2 does not necessarily sound great directly after the last track on side 1.  

Early in the CD era, I would find myself drifting off at about the 75% mark, which would have once been the middle of side 2.

[mjzee]

17 hours ago, Teasing the Korean said:

Well, downloads are different than streaming.  Once you buy the download, it's yours, and you own it.

But if you "buy" a movie that remains on Amazon's streaming service, they're still able to edit that movie.

[Teasing the Korean]

Just now, mjzee said:

But if you "buy" a movie that remains on Amazon's streaming service, they're still able to edit that movie.

Right, but music downloads are different in that regard.

[rostasi]

Physical collection was a nice idea until it wasn't.
It looks like hoarding when I step back and look at it objectively.
When it comes to selling: am I more interested in "time" or "money"?
Take a box a month to the local reseller - or start putting things on Discogs ready to ship later?

For me, the music is the thing and I too, have a collection. It's compact and backed up both at home and away.
Moving from 20 minutes sides to 80 minute discs was a delight (couldn't imagine having 78s to always turn over and clean).
Having constant access thru speakers to music at any time with incredible ease - while doing or not doing anything else - 
is a great leap forward to me. Was it in that Bowie movie "The Man Who Fell to Earth" where "in the future" you would place
a small rotating ball with the world's music on it on a kind of platter(?) and play anything you wanted to hear?
Can't remember...it's been too long, but it was an idea that I looked forward to seeing happen (or something very near like it) during my lifetime.

[kh1958]

I've been trying to edit Queen from my memory and had been quite successful until this recent baffling Freddie Mercury lionization..