I bought my first ever CD on the weekend.

[mcnach]

I remember when the first CD player I bought started having tracking problems when I thought I had bought a lifetime storage medium, compared to vinyl degraded. With computers no longer taking a disc It will probably be soon where being unable to replace the players will leave metal covered plastic as well as vinyl as wall art.

They seem more durable than anticipated. I'm still using CDs I bought or recorded in the early 90s, no trouble.

 

[mcnach]

There have been many claims that vinyl records sound better than CDs, however there are also claims that both formats’ sound quality do not have much difference from one another. These claims have really caused much confusion and so we have stepped up to give some clarifications.

Indeed, vinyl records give a richer and closer sound to what an artist intends to let their audience hear compared to CDs, as long as the custom vinyl record pressing was done professionally. This may have been due to being an analog format. It’s a format that’s a complete replica of the track’s soundwave, so every bit of information is present during playback.

CD is a digital type of audio format, which means that they contain snippets of the tracks’ sound waves and translate them into numbers. This method causes some music information to be lost, therefore removing some of the nuances that the artists may have included.

Only if the sampling rate is too low. Nyquist and all that.

 

[Ellery]

Cool CD's, welcome to the fold of physical media enthusiasts!
I never moved on to streaming music for similar reasons, I pick what I want to listen to, I enjoy listening to albums in their entirety, no commercials, and of course no need for connectivity.
Recently I was given a company car. Someone in the office asked me how I liked it, I said it was great but no CD player. One of my employees gasped and said "you still listen to CD's?!?"

 

[GretschWretch]

Talk about CDs reminded me of a friend in college that put a high end CD head in his Honda Civic, this was the early to mid 90's. Was bragging about how the player wouldn't skip and to show how stable it was to whoever was in the car, he sped up and hit a hump in the road very fast. Something happened and the car went out of control and rolled 3-4 times, landing back on the wheels and the CD player kicked back in when the rolling stopped. Everyone was ok and the damage wasn't too bad for rolling your car. Pounded out some dents and drove the car for a few years after that. Buffered CD playback made skipping a thing of the past. He was very lucky, still drove like an idiot.

A couple of guys I knew in college rolled a Mustang at 110 mph on the Interstate coming home from a bar. And walked away from it. They were so drunk that they just bounced around inside the car like rag dolls.

 

[Cloudspine]

Interesting conversation. I'm supportive of the physical media for the same reason others are here....however, I'm also pretty deterred by just that: it's physical, plastic crap that takes up a lot of space. a few years back when I was considering what road to go down I ultimately decided against it. I have apple music for streaming, and for the artists I love and want to support, I throw them a bandcamp album download.

I definitely miss not being wired in though.

 

[roccobass]

A couple of guys I knew in college rolled a Mustang at 110 mph on the Interstate coming home from a bar. And walked away from it. They were so drunk that they just bounced around inside the car like rag dolls.

Yikes!...Glad they were ok.
But how did their CDs make it through the accident?

 

[12bass]

Compact Disc exceeds vinyl in nearly all technical aspects. The volume wars are one of the key reasons why records can sound better, because LPs can't handle super-loud, highly-compressed, music, especially in the lows, meaning the problem is in the mastering (and the industry), not the CD medium. Most LPs these days come from a digital source.

And owning your music is great, not paying monthly for access to lower-than-CD quality music that may dissappear into the streaming void at any moment. Uncompressed, high resolution, digital streaming might be worthwhile for some.

 

[GretschWretch]

Yikes!...Glad they were ok.
But how did their CDs make it through the accident?

The CDs were not damaged at all. This happened in 1972.

 

[roccobass]

The CDs were not damaged at all. This happened in 1972.

Ok...clarification...Thank you.
So how did their 8-Tracks make it through the accident?

(You know I am pulling your leg, right?)

 

[Wood and Wire]

Well, both not quite right here. Any digital recording technique involves "sampling" of a real-time sound wave. Sampling techniques can seek to improve accuracy by way of bit depth (how much information recorded in each sample) or the rate at which samples are taken. So the samples can come quite close to re-creating the original wave, but at the end of the day, sampling is an approximation and the integrity of that initial sound wave is compromised.

In contrast, analog recording techniques and vinyl reproduction maintain and replicate that original sound wave, but the mechanical realities of a phono needle tracking record grooves impose limits on the lowest bass frequencies, the highest frequencies, and the dynamic range (loud to soft) that can be replicated, including the noise floor, below which musical signals cannot be heard. Meanwhile, optimized digital data provides a much wider dynamic range, including a much lower noise floor. It also may not be subject to the physical degradation associated with vinyl - scratches and pops. However, in practice, many digital signals are NOT optimal; compression techniques - MP3 in particular - trade sonic data for storage capability, so that the sampled material - already an approximation of the original soundwave - is further compromised.

If you have the ability to to compare a tune across MP3, typical CD "Redbook" standard, digital resolution via data streams exceeding the Redbook standard, and good vinyl playback, you'll likely flee from all of your MP3 sources (although for digital streaming of radio programs or for reasons of convenience, you may be stuck). You can hear the promise of digital in the way of dynamic range and lack of background noise, but for many listeners this is a trade-off for coloration or incomplete resolution of timbre and timing cues, as well as spatial information relating to performance in live spaces.

I'm not doctrinaire - I love the convenience and enormous breadth of availability through streaming (I use a premium Tidal subscription), I like the sound and convenience of CDs, and by the mid-1990's, CD recording techniques locked in to provide - for me - a more satisfying experience. But I'm spread across two locations and the CDs are mostly in one place, which also is where my 3000 phono records are stashed - I never gave up on vinyl, and have a lot of obscure jazz and world music material that does not show up in streaming libraries. On streaming, I detest a ridiculous royalty structure that denies creators from reaping appropriate value from their work, and only adopted streaming once I was in the two-location mode, and realized that ripping all of my CDs would be a gargantuan task for which I have no patience. Overall, I prefer vinyl for certain things, CD or high-sampling rate streaming for others, but happily live with all (except MP3 or other compressed formats), depending on convenience.

One caveat - over the years I've been able to develop high-quality audio playback systems in each location, and suspect that low-resolution playback might mask the sonic differences I've addressed. If you're relying on desktop speakers and meh amplification, maybe MP3 is fine...and that's cool. But if opining with broad pronouncements re the virtues or vices of digital vs. analog, consider the breadth of your experiential base.

It's as if Nyquist was just making a wild stab in the dark.

 

[GretschWretch]

Ok...clarification...Thank you.
So how did their 8-Tracks make it through the accident?

I never saw this particular car, so I have no idea what was the sound system.

 

[Joebone]

It's as if Nyquist was just making a wild stab in the dark.

Well, actually the Nyquist-Shannon theorem? And at the end of the day, until proven by evidence, a theorem is just a theorem. The vitality of the analog-digital debate, and continued efforts to improve upon the Redbook CD standard (which implemented Nyquist-Shannon with a cap at around 22kHz for high-end content) suggest that the jury is still out...

 

[GretschWretch]

Ok...clarification...Thank you.
So how did their 8-Tracks make it through the accident?

(You know I am pulling your leg, right?)

I won't become irritated until you ask how the wax cylinders made it through.

 

[matthewbrown]

I used to brag about the recordings I was on, but one was an LP and the other was a CD, so I stopped.

 

[Jeff Scott]

Imma get The Gambler by Kenny Rogers on my 8 track next week

I sold Kenny a 10" Meade catadioptric telescope in the mid '80s.

And, unlike early CDs, vinyl LPs have music on both sides.

I have some DVDs that are 2-sided.

 

[OldSchoolFlats]

I’d recommend using your iPhone as your “iPod”. Rip the CDs to your computer and drop the files into iTunes. Connect your phone and instant sync! I’ve got well over 2000 songs on my iPhone this way.

Been thinking of doing same, but when you "rip" the CDs using iTunes, how do you have it fill-in the album and track-names? Or do you type in the names yourself?

Years ago, I used to "rip" CDs, but filling-in the album and track names was a pain!

 

[Jeff Scott]

I won't become irritated until you ask how the wax cylinders made it through.

I almost bought a wax cylinder player last summer; there was a box full of cylinders with it.

 

[Joebone]

Most vinyl today is pressed from MP3s. You get a mechanical approximation of digital originals.

Also a similar problem with most vinyl releases since the early 90's, as tape began to disappear from recording studios. Vinyl reproduction of a meh digital recording is the worst of both worlds. OTOH, there's a studio tech in LA who owns and maintains 3 Studer decks, that are constantly rented out to brand-name artists. I have to ask him where tape can be obtained these days!

 

[Wood and Wire]

Well, actually the Nyquist-Shannon theorem? And at the end of the day, until proven by evidence, a theorem is just a theorem. The vitality of the analog-digital debate, and continued efforts to improve upon the Redbook CD standard (which implemented Nyquist-Shannon with a cap at around 22kHz for high-end content) suggest that the jury is still out...

The only thing you're proving here, is that you really don't understand the subject.

 

[kleinenenten]

I'm just intrigued by the ability to "upgrade" an old Ipod. Any info on that @Katoosie ? My Ipod Touch is old, the battery doesn't last long, and if I can get an increase in storage, I'm rather intrigued! I still use an old Ipod to listen to most of my stuff, and I prefer to purchase music whenever I can. Typically, I get a good quality digital file. Regardless, there's no radio station that plays what I like, and I want to OWN and not pay to stream something that can be removed. I've also recently started buying physical DVDs and Blu-Rays again for the same reason. They're affordable enough that if I enjoy it and think I'll watch it a few times, I can justify purchasing it. I use free streaming services (Roku, Tubi, etc.) for some TV shows, but if it's something I really like, I purchase it. While those are great options for free stuff, many times by the time I have the change to watch what I want, it's been removed! So I have those mostly for TV shows that I'm interested in, but don't have physical media. Many are random documentaries or decades-old shows that nobody watches anymore.