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I still buy CD's. Do you?

#4
I do. I opened an iTunes account when I got my iPod four years ago and I think I've bought a total of about 20 songs in that time. I never download music from share sites.

For one thing, I like having the entire album from the artists I like because many times the best material is NOT what the record company chooses to release as the "hits". The record company chooses to release the songs they think will reach the widest audience and make them the most money in the shortest time possible. I'm more interested in the best material.

Second, downloading pirated copies of an artists material doesn't sit well with me. To me, an artist should be compensated for the work they put into writing, recording, and making an album. Yes, I realize some people will attempt to counter that with the classic "sticking it to the rich fat cat record company for screwing the little guy artist and extorting the little guy music buyer" argument. Please, spare me that tired, flawed idiocy. If the artist chooses to give away their music in some way, shape or form, such as free downloads on their website that's one thing. But downloading bootleg copies of their work that is NOT freely made available is theft, plain and simple. Any arguments to the contrary are simply weak justifications to cover up the fact that you're doing it only because you know you won't get caught. You don't walk into Guitar Center and steal a bass because the "fat cats" at Fender make too much money and are screwing poor starving artists by charging too much for their instruments, do you? Of course not. You'd get caught and could do time! When you have the guts to steal your gear from the stores while flipping off the store manager as you walk out of the building, then I'll listen to your arguments about pirating music. :D And no, I don't copy CDs from friends. I might borrow one to see if I like it enough to buy it. If I do, I will. If not, I won't. There have been some rare occasions when I didn't want an entire CD and instead only wanted only individual songs, but as I said above those cases are rare.

Third, I like having the entire package - original CD and any and all artwork. Enjoying a little JPG of the album cover that pops up on my MP3 player just isn't the same thing to me.

Fourth, you're guaranteed to get the best audio quality. Downloaded copies may be high quality, but certainly might not be.

That's it off the top of my head. I'm sure I'll also agree with many other reasons others come up with as well.
 
#5
dave64o said:
I do. I opened an iTunes account when I got my iPod four years ago and I think I've bought a total of about 20 songs in that time. I never download music from share sites.

For one thing, I like having the entire album from the artists I like because many times the best material is NOT what the record company chooses to release as the "hits". The record company chooses to release the songs they think will reach the widest audience and make them the most money in the shortest time possible. I'm more interested in the best material.

Second, downloading pirated copies of an artists material doesn't sit well with me. To me, an artist should be compensated for the work they put into writing, recording, and making an album. Yes, I realize some people will attempt to counter that with the classic "sticking it to the rich fat cat record company for screwing the little guy artist and extorting the little guy music buyer" argument. Please, spare me that tired, flawed idiocy. If the artist chooses to give away their music in some way, shape or form, such as free downloads on their website that's one thing. But downloading bootleg copies of their work that is NOT freely made available is theft, plain and simple. Any arguments to the contrary are simply weak justifications to cover up the fact that you're doing it only because you know you won't get caught. You don't walk into Guitar Center and steal a bass because the "fat cats" at Fender make too much money and are screwing poor starving artists by charging too much for their instruments, do you? Of course not. You'd get caught and could do time! When you have the guts to steal your gear from the stores while flipping off the store manager as you walk out of the building, then I'll listen to your arguments about pirating music. :D And no, I don't copy CDs from friends. I might borrow one to see if I like it enough to buy it. If I do, I will. If not, I won't. There have been some rare occasions when I didn't want an entire CD and instead only wanted only individual songs, but as I said above those cases are rare.

Third, I like having the entire package - original CD and any and all artwork. Enjoying a little JPG of the album cover that pops up on my MP3 player just isn't the same thing to me.

Fourth, you're guaranteed to get the best audio quality. Downloaded copies may be high quality, but certainly might not be.

That's it off the top of my head. I'm sure I'll also agree with many other reasons others come up with as well.
Click to expand...

I totally agree with you on this post. Yes stealing is stealing. Not saying I never stole but its still a bad habit. I know people who only get free music/dvds and it drives me nuts. And when they give me this copy its always garbage. Sorry but I would rather pay for the quality. Music is for enjoyment. And I can't enjoy MP3's or bootlegs.
 
#7
I buy my music online and download after purchase. The difference in quality doesn't matter at all to me as my hearing is so trashed from bad performance volume choices when young that I can't tell the difference.

I buy, I download what I bought, then I rip those to cd to listen to in my truck. When n ot in the disc changer they rattle around in the console and get horribly scratched. If I didn't do it this way it would be the actual cd's getting scratched.

This way at least I can just rip a new copy of what I want to listen to.
 
#8
Yes, I still buy CDs (though I don't buy nearly as many as I used to). I will occasionally buy an mp4 off iTunes, but this tends to be only when I can't find the song on CD. I personally like having a hard copy of the package - especially the liner notes and song details. It's important for me to have a good library of music at home, complete with the details of the releases. I always enjoyed the process of "record hunting", where a different record store would mean a different selection (and the opportunity to find a rarity or two). iTunes has kind of killed the fun of "the search" (though, admittedly, not everything is available on iTunes). Record buying was a huge part of my life for years and I worry that the experience of shopping for music in stores (with varying selections) is disappearing. I also find it funny that for years "hi-fi" was "the thing" and now it seems that people couldn't care less about sound quality. It's all about convenience and instant gratification. Hmmm - I'd say that just about sums up Western society these days!
 
#11
Yes I do, but I listen to a lot of music I haven't bought too. If I like it enough, I buy it. However, I rarely delete music I've downloaded, except if I really dislike the music and don't want to waste disc space on it.

On the other hand, with services nowadays as Spotify with a huge amount of music easily accessible, you can listen to a huge amount of music either for free (sponsored by commercials) or without ads, if you pay £10 a month, which isn't a very large fee. I'm using the free versions myself, might change though. I think we're going to see more and more of these kind of services in the future. What bugs me a little with Spotify is that some music by really big artists are not available, but otherwise it's a goldmine. I'm definitely going to order some CD's soon by artists whose music I've discovered by using spotify, among others some records by Tony Williams' Lifetime and Jeff Beck... :)
 
#12
stflbn said:
I buy my music online and download after purchase. The difference in quality doesn't matter at all to me as my hearing is so trashed from bad performance volume choices when young that I can't tell the difference.

I buy, I download what I bought, then I rip those to cd to listen to in my truck. When n ot in the disc changer they rattle around in the console and get horribly scratched. If I didn't do it this way it would be the actual cd's getting scratched.

This way at least I can just rip a new copy of what I want to listen to.
Click to expand...

Yeah I hate having a scratched disc. I can see why you purchase music the way you do. Sorry about the hearing loss. I look forward to the CD quality MP3. I just think I will miss the packaging.
 
#14
As a follow up to my previous post ...

I order a lot from Amazon, so every time I'm on that site I add CDs to my wishlist. Then when I put in an order for other stuff I'll throw a few CDs on the order. That way the shipping on a few lightweight CDs doesn't kill me - they're part of a bigger order so shipping isn't so bad.

As a matter of fact, I'm expecting an order from Amazon tomorrow and just happen to have four new CDs coming to me as part of that shipment - two Jimi Hendrix, one April Wine, and one Elvis Costello. I can't wait! :hyper:
 
#18
I generally only buy CDs from small bands. Anything more widely available, I buy on vinyl and will download a digital version for the MP3 player (which, as far as I know, is legal as long as you have a legitimately paid for copy). Vinyl is just a CD with warmer, less sterile sound and a much larger piece of artwork!
 
#20
Yes, I do. I hate paying for songs off of itunes. They are 256kbs, at best. A flac file is 1024kbs. So why would I pay half of the price for a quarter of the music? Yes, I like my audio quality and I am willing to pay for it. I just wish that some of my favorite artists released on vinyl.

lowsound
 

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