Author Topic: ALBUMS- Keep em,sell them, ditch them? (Read 780 times)

glocke · « **Reply #15 on:** October 17, 2012, 04:10:55 PM »

Give 'em a listen...if they do anything for you keep them...if not, there are plenty of people that collect vinyl so you shouldnt have a problem getting rid of them...I have a friend that is always adding to his vinyl collection, he probably has over a thousand albums at this point...

Except for a handful that have some cool artwork or photos, I got rid of most of mine long ago...

CD's are next as soon as I finish getting everything onto harddisks..(with multiple backups of course)

sonicus · « **Reply #16 on:** October 17, 2012, 05:09:37 PM »

If you digitize your vinyl , instead of mp3 , use 24 Bit /96 KHz .wav file conversion and it will sound better then mp3. You can store them all on an external hard drive.

hieronymous · « **Reply #17 on:** October 17, 2012, 05:30:37 PM »

I once received advice for selling CDs - if it's something that's easily replaceable, like an Aerosmith CD or something like that, then just sell it - you can always acquire another copy later. If it's something that's harder to find, then consider hanging onto it. Then, if you haven't listened to it in the past year, sell it unless you have some emotional tie to it.

I used to have probably around 1000 lps, as did my father (who do you think I got the addiction from?) - after my folks died and I sold the house, I got rid of all of them except a few that I thought I wanted to hang on to - two boxes to be exact. It's been ten years and I really don't regret it - I have other mementos that have a lot more meaning for me and that are much easier to cart around!

sparechaynge · « **Reply #18 on:** October 17, 2012, 06:15:22 PM »

On digitizing LPs:

If you use a good turn table, like a Stanton, and Audacity, which is quick and painless, you will have awesome sound quality. Set Audacity up to record in 32-bit float/48 khz/24 bit. this is the max most ipods can handle, and sounds as good as the lp. I have many records stored in this form and it is totally worth it. It only takes a little longer than the run time of the album, and you can remove some of the really bad pops and stuff if needed.

(Message edited by Sparechaynge on October 17, 2012)

hammer · « **Reply #19 on:** October 21, 2012, 09:12:42 AM »

Speaking of audio quality...what do the more sophisticated electronic wizards here know and think about Pono? I read about it recently in Neil Young's new book, but don't know enough about the technology to determine if it's really any different from music heard via WAV or FLAC. Young of course is touting it as the savior of the music industry.

sonicus · « **Reply #20 on:** October 21, 2012, 09:58:17 AM »

To serve as a reference source to compare to the regular CD discs that you purchase at the store have an audio resolution of 16 BITS /44.1 KHz. Pono claims it can do 24 BITS/192KHz. WAV and AIFF can vary and are usually an uncompressed format for hard storage and archive work. FLAC or free lossless audio codec cannot store floating point data. Although I have not had a chance to really check out PONO it's technical specs seem really promising for the ipod type of application over other older formats such as mp3. For Hard storage archive work I use mainly WAV and AIFF @ 24 BIT/96KHz.

sparechaynge · « **Reply #21 on:** October 21, 2012, 10:10:24 AM »

I have read that things like Pono that have claims of extremely high quality are actually less pleasing to listen to, because they incorporate parts of the audio spectrum that are difficult to reproduce. The low lows and high highs are on the fringes of human hearing as it is, and don't translate as well to recorded music as well as the middle.

sonicus · « **Reply #22 on:** October 21, 2012, 10:48:36 AM »

Everything is relative ! If you improve your resolution and don't like what you hear then Improve your reproduction system and speakers or monitors. The sound or lack of good sound and unfaithful reproduction from many mp3's is what I find unacceptable . What are you listening through ? That is the question ! LOL ______

sonicus · « **Reply #23 on:** October 21, 2012, 11:03:34 AM »

Also in order to incorporate high audio resolution you need really good AD convertors that can handle it well . Cheap stuff might not fly that well! LOL ____ You can spend big money along the way .

sonicus · « **Reply #24 on:** October 21, 2012, 11:20:56 AM »

All in all , A format such as PONO might be long past due because too many ears have been sold and made accustom to mediocre sound for too long now . Perhaps it really could turnout to be the savior of the music industry !

sparechaynge · « **Reply #25 on:** October 21, 2012, 11:51:34 AM »

From what I read the problem stems from the system itself. Here is the article: http://people.xiph.org/~xiphmont/demo/neil-young.html

Just $0.02

adriaan · « **Reply #26 on:** October 21, 2012, 02:05:07 PM »

I rather like my new 1 Watt all tube Blackstar guitar combo, especially after it's been running for about an hour, and the sound warms up. (To my ears, anyway.) It has an analog control that sweeps from a ringing Fender tone to a crunchy Marshall drone, and the only real downside is the digital reverb. And, I should add, the 8 speaker is a bit boxy sounding, but it's excellent for home use.

To return to the subject, I just finished reading the article that sparechaynge linked to and it sounds like the voice of reason.

In the early days of the CD player, Sony thought that co-inventor Philips had it all wrong, and they pushed the use of analog filters for anti-aliasing. Not only did the analogue filters make the CD player run hot, the output sounded dull by comparison.

You can't please everyone all of the time, but you can certainly try not to.

sonicus · « **Reply #27 on:** October 21, 2012, 02:07:30 PM »

Interesting article. The fact is that 24/192 audio resolution has been used in major recording studios for a while now on the professional side of the industry. It's time for the consumer to reap the benefits . There will always be opponents with credible sounding arguments swaying consumers from progress as is the case with the oil and tobacco industry. There are conflicting agendas for various reasons. Perhaps if PONO does not make it another high resolution consumer format will .
DVD audio already has 24/192 ! DVD audio link:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DVD-Audio

PRO TOOLS HD link: http://www.avid.com/US/products/HD-IO

hammer · « **Reply #28 on:** October 21, 2012, 04:07:10 PM »

One of my biggest questions is whether people (specifically younger ones) will actually be willing shell out the additional $$$$ for the Pono format. If one grew up listening to Mp3 music and never experienced hearing good vinyl (yes some vinyl was a LOT better than others) through a great audio system do they even know what they are missing?

On the other hand, there are those of us from earlier generations who have lost the ability to appreciate a lot of lows and highs either because of the normal degradation of hearing that comes with age or the unwillingness to turn it down when we were younger.

sparechaynge · « **Reply #29 on:** October 21, 2012, 05:59:51 PM »

I can't speak for your second point Hammer, but I can say that as a person with a ways to go before I see 30, it seems that my peers are quick to choose convenience over quality. Mp3's are the format of choice everyone I see regularly, and they see the promise of quality as a limitation on how many songs they can fit on an ipod (or whatever).

The way I see/hear it, (and I speak for no one but myself) I embrace quality as long as I can tell the difference between formats. I don't like AAC or Mp3, and so avoid using them. My home setup is OK-sounding, and having experienced a superior system I can say there's a lot to be gained with a little extra cash. However, I don't know how many people will be able to appreciate the quality that a service like Pono offers. Why not continue to offer it to the enlightened public and let everyone else go their own way?