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CDs are pretty much dead... Long Live USB?

#161
After much contemplation, I blame the downfall of music not on anti-smoking, anti-drunk driving laws, or mp3's, streaming, etc... but on two buttons who's arrival merely coincided with the arrival of random access media.
1) Shuffle.
2) Next Track (rather than forward fast).

It all went downhill from there. To remedy, we should just encode MP3 on cassettes. MP3 does 10:1 compression quite well, so - you should easily be able to get CD quality audio on it.

Tape - like water cooling, will come and go for future generations. Whenever we start bumping the limits of a current generation's technology - they become appealing once more. Then something new comes out and we all go - pshaw throw those tapes away. Then later on they're like 'hey if we bring back tape, we can get a lot more data on there. And repeat.

https://gizmodo.com/magnetic-tape-data-storage-breakthrough-will-make-your-1797462392
 
#162
CapnSev said:
Really? Cassettes were the worst of them (other than 8-track). They warp, wear out, crackle like crazy, you have to rewind, fast forward, etc. Vinyl I can see to a point, but cassettes? Eww.
Click to expand...

gln1955 said:
But they were so much fun when they unspooled inside the player.
Click to expand...

:roflmao:

And great for little kids! VHS players too! :D

A great place to put your cookies and all kind of other funny things! :hyper::hyper::hyper:


Wise(b)ass
 
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#163
Even for storage USB is dying off. Where you used to put data on a USB drive to transfer to someone, now you use Dropbox or another cloud service. Physical media other than nostalgic desire for vinyl is dead. And from the pricing I’ve seen on having vinyl pressed, not so sure it’s viable unless you have a large following. Plus, you send them digital files to convert to vinyl. So, why not listen to the digital originals? Apply a “vinyl” filter if you want cracks an pops and a certain EQ curve.
 
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#164
I've been re-discovering my 1970s-1980s LP collection, recording them into my PC from my old Kenwood turntable using Audacity, exporting to MP3 and putting them on my waterproof MP3 player to listen to while I'm swimming laps (makes it MUCH less boring!). I figure, I own a legal copy of that music, why should I re-buy it? (Yeah, it's a bit of trouble, but I enjoy doing it) Plus, I get to hear the faint crackling between tracks (and is indeed VERY minimal, I always took good care of my records).

If I want to buy something new (well, actually, a "new" copy of old music, which is the only kind I listen to), I'll either buy it on vinyl or CD, then transfer to MP3. I do like the Amazon "Auto Rip" bonus they give you with many CD purchases.
 
#165
Fredrik E. Nilsen said:
This is fascinating. Here (meaning northern/western Europe), all physical formats are practically dead. Some bands make LPs or CDs for their usual crowd, but streaming rules. (Everyone is connected through their phones 24/7 anyways). CDs were pretty much dead 10-15 years ago. If this was 2003, I would have understood the question.
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Are they downloading quality audio? I’m a bit dismayed by the idea that these days convenience trumps everything. Sad. If you can’t push a button to make it happen, no-one’s interested.
 
#166
retslock said:
Are they downloading quality audio? I’m a bit dismayed by the idea that these days convenience trumps everything. Sad. If you can’t push a button to make it happen, no-one’s interested.
Click to expand...

I'm doing 320kbps with Spotify, iTunes is 256kbps for streaming. Tidal is lossless, but I never really cared for it's interface. Convenience doesn't trump everything, but having access to 20 million albums, algorithms that suggest similar songs, AI that will put together a setlist of music that I might like - and it learns, I discover music that I would have never heard before and would have never been in my CD collection. The same CD collection that I recently gave away because I haven't touched them or the DVDs and BlueRays that I also haven't touched and also gave away. When I go on vacation this summer, my movies and music come along with me. It's just a superior form factor than physical media. Recently my movies purchased via iTunes became 4K without me repurchasing everything like I did when BluRay replaced DVD.
 
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#169
So I never expected such a response to my question. My take aways from this thread are as follows.

CDs are on the way but are not necessarily a bad way for a band to get music to its fans.

USB Flash drives are great for personal use but not they way to go when it come to getting music to fans.

Download cards/streaming seem to be the best option esp for bands with a younger fan base but have CDs as a back up.
 
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#172
RadioactiveGuy4 said:
So I never expected such a response to my question. My take aways from this thread are as follows.

CDs are on the way but are not necessarily a bad way for a band to get music to its fans.

USB Flash drives are great for personal use but not they way to go when it come to getting music to fans.

Download cards/streaming seem to be the best option esp for bands with a younger fan base but have CDs as a back up.
Click to expand...

I priced out USB drives, and I wasn't wild about the price. You could brand them with the name of the band, though, and your hashtag or something, and distribute songs on them, but the utility is not in only hearing the music, but in keeping your band's name, and music in the eye of the public through the merchandise. Look at like selling drink cuzzies or t-shirts.
 
#173
RadioactiveGuy4 said:
So I never expected such a response to my question. My take aways from this thread are as follows.

CDs are on the way but are not necessarily a bad way for a band to get music to its fans.

USB Flash drives are great for personal use but not they way to go when it come to getting music to fans.

Download cards/streaming seem to be the best option esp for bands with a younger fan base but have CDs as a back up.
Click to expand...
I think that is pretty accurate, I personally wouldn't buy a flash drive from a band in a bar and stick it in my computer.
 
#174
My band decided we were done with CDs, since we all use Spotify and have our music on there (and Bandcamp, in case people feel like downloading the songs/kicking us a few bucks for them). Then we played five shows back to back where multiple people asked to buy CDs from us. We have these business cards with our band info and links on them we'd give those people and tell them to look us up online, they didn't seem real excited about that. If they wanted to support us we told them we had shirts for sale, but it seemed like they wanted a cheaper way to support the band. It finally happened enough that we decided that if people wanted CDs, we'd give it to them, and we reupped a second run of our first album and decided to order a batch of our new record. I think there are definitely those out there who still enjoy CDs (I'm a Spotify/vinyl guy myself), want a cheaper option to support a band and want to have something they can slap into their car CD player for the drive home. Obviously YMMV, I'm sure everyone's experience with trying to move CDs is different, but my band was taken by surprise that there was still demand for them.
 
#176
swarfrat said:
After much contemplation, I blame the downfall of music not on anti-smoking, anti-drunk driving laws, or mp3's, streaming, etc... but on two buttons who's arrival merely coincided with the arrival of random access media.
1) Shuffle.
2) Next Track (rather than forward fast).
It all went downhill from there.
Click to expand...

Funny that you say that.

I just had a disagreement with my wife over the weekend while we were driving in the car. I had Spotify on and was playing The Essential Paul Simon playlist. After three or four songs, the song Duncan came on. Not being one of Paul Simon's bigger hits my wife immediately asked me to skip it. She didn't know the song, and was not the least interested in listening to it. I, on the other hand, love hearing deeper cuts from artists. She could not understand why I would be interested in just listening to a song, especially one that I wasn't very familiar with. Long story short, the rules are, whoever is driving controls the music.

Such is the state of the average music consumer these days. Good thing I drive usually.
 
#177
we have a couple CD's that we sell at gigs, both are 12 tunes cut from live shows. No studio album. Original stuff that we cherry-picked and mixed down from the tracks recorded with the DL32R. Toss on a little sweetening and away you go. I've resisted doing a studio album so far since our thing is a killer live show. There are a handful of tunes that we do that go over like gangbusters that I've held back from the CD's (I wrote 'em, so I can do that per the band rules). People ask if we have a CD with those tunes and I'll tell em that they can come to the next show and we'll play it for them again. Frequantly we'll play one of two at the end of the night a second time since folks keep yelling for it. My feeling is that as a local/regional band we're not going to make money from a studio CD so I'd rather people came out to see the band if they love the tunes. I sure don't want everything I write on youtube where it doesn't benefit me at all. Just my thoughts/opinion at the present time, I reserve the right to change it whenever I like.
 
#178
My band cut one "studio" album. Basically we showed up and banged out 9 songs, no second takes (well, there was one, because the first take was a train wreck). Came out okay in post, sounds pretty decent. Could be better, but considering our drummer had been with us for all of five rehearsals we were pretty happy with the result.

Aaaanyway, we hawk that CD at gigs. We were just discussing this very topic at rehearsal on Sunday. Maybe it's because we're old, but we agree that having a real CD album adds a certain legitimacy to the operation. And handing out flash drives is pretty tacky, likewise cards with download codes. Might be we'll go the way of the dinosaurs with that attitude, but we also agree getting our music available for download is really the next step, distribution wise.

We're not looking to get famous. We just want people who like our music to be able to hear it. All 25 of those people lol
 
#179
Always refer a physical copy myself. Either CD, Cassette or vinyl whatever. If I see a band live and I like them I always buy a CD if they're selling them. Always good to browse your collection every now and then and pick up a CD and remember where you saw the band and then think blimey! was it really that long ago? and how much that band has moved on. Also reminds me of what else happened that night. Can bring back some good memories. Don't really get that with iTunes, spotify or whatever. Just my opinion of course.
 
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#180
As long as there are Box Sets, there will always be a market for non-digital material. It appears that a new hobby is assembling one’s own box collection. I have a couple of my own which includes a concert program for every album from each year’s tour. This is a video of guy who has put together an amazing Rush box set.
 

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