CDs vs. mp3s: Which do you buy?

I only buy cds unless it's a download only type of release. I will not spend my $'s on mp3s unless they are cheap. I WILL (and have) paid more for lossless downloads. I've been collecting cds since 85-6, so not only am I an old dinosaur, but I have the same sickness :heh:

If I want mp3s for an mp3 player, I'll make my own. Can't beat a better backup than having the original cds to rip from in case of some kind of disaster/loss of one's music library.
 
Ok, I just switched to mostly digital over CD's only in the past few months. Mainly I did it for the expediency. But as I said in another post:
AMBR said:
I just did an update to iTunes and for some reason it lost a bunch of music from my library. I keep getting the "can't find location" error message for a number of my favorite CD's. Some I have the physical copy and can reload, some I don't and I'm really unhappy. (Anyone know why that happens?)
Click to expand...
Nailz suggested that I must have moved the music, but no, everything is all on one place and always has been. Most of my 6600-song library is just fine. There are just four whole albums missing and I had them for months. One is Vanden Plas, Seraphic Clockwork, and when I plugged in my iPod, it erased it from there too. :cry: Don't mean to hijack the topic, but I think this is relevant too. Does anyone know why this happens? I think I need to repurchase and I'm considering getting the CD's instead.
 
As far as the whole 'backup/ripping' thing goes....do all of you have really fast computers or slow internet connections? At least for me, it's much much faster to just re-download an album than it is to rip it straight from the source. Quality is never an issue unless it's some obscure demo/EP. Is this just personal preference or what?

Plus, it's not like a natural disaster is only gonna affect someone's hard drive and not your physical media collection. Internet storage is cheap (free) and easily accessible. Not trying to step on any toes here -- as I said earlier in this topic, I really only buy vinyl which is much more outdated than CDs LOL, but just looking to satisfy my curiosity.
 
AMBR said:
Ok, I just switched to mostly digital over CD's only in the past few months. Mainly I did it for the expediency. But as I said in another post:

Nailz suggested that I must have moved the music, but no, everything is all on one place and always has been. Most of my 6600-song library is just fine. There are just four whole albums missing and I had them for months. One is Vanden Plas, Seraphic Clockwork, and when I plugged in my iPod, it erased it from there too. :cry: Don't mean to hijack the topic, but I think this is relevant too. Does anyone know why this happens? I think I need to repurchase and I'm considering getting the CD's instead.
Click to expand...

I suggest not using iTunes. I had a similar situation happen with it a few years ago. Foobar is the best IMO but for those folks looking for ease-of-use, there are plenty of media player alternatives. Plugins for iPod compatibility are pretty easy to find too.
 
I'm trying to cut back a lot of expenses and my music collection has been one of them. No longer am I spending $100 a month or so on new albums (yes I still call them that).

when I buy an album, I rip it to mp3 for my player of choice (ipod, sandisc, sony walkkman) anyhow, so I started buying the digital versions of the albums when I find them at a good price. I primarily buy from Amazon unless stated otherwise in the following examples;

Warbringer $5 - nuff said
Brainstorm $8 a couple weeks before physical release on Amazon? - easy sale
Ace Frehley Anomaly with Itunes exclusive track

Last 3 actual CDs I've purchased were new releases for $9.99 at Best Buy; Steel Panther, Iced Earth and Megadeth.

gone are the days of me spending $15 for a CD. I may go 12/13 or an import of some harder things to find, but I'm mostly about the cheap.

I'm currently looking for inexpensive purchases of the new Fastway and Electric Boys because they haven't been released state side yet.

Also, I love listening to new stuff on Spotify (new live Volbeat on now for example).

Try Media Monkey for an mp3 player on your computer, hasn't failed me yet and is compatible with all the mp3 players I have.
 
AMBR said:
Nailz suggested that I must have moved the music, but no, everything is all on one place and always has been. Most of my 6600-song library is just fine. There are just four whole albums missing and I had them for months. One is Vanden Plas, Seraphic Clockwork, and when I plugged in my iPod, it erased it from there too. :cry: Don't mean to hijack the topic, but I think this is relevant too. Does anyone know why this happens? I think I need to repurchase and I'm considering getting the CD's instead.
Click to expand...

Or, just drag and drop them back into iTunes. You can do that, btw. It will re-establish the link to the music files, and when you go into your ipod/iphone setup in itunes and choose "Vanden Plas" (assuming your id3 tags are set) you should get it to resync fine.
 
I also wonder how often people in this thread actually dig out and listen to these CD's they buy. Or look at the artwork. What ended up making the switch for me was that I just got sick of having so many CDs laying around that I never touched.
 
nailz said:
I would like to try a blind listen experiment with those of you crying about lossy codecs. about 5% of the population can hear a difference between 128kbps and lossless, and less than 1% between 320k.

In fact, take the challenge!

http://www.noiseaddicts.com/2009/03/mp3-sound-quality-test-128-320/

I failed.
Click to expand...

I guess I'm in the < 1%. I guessed the right one! lol (but I did the test it in some good headphones)

The reverberation is easier to hear and the bass/kick is less 'thin' on the first clip on the page which is 320 ;)

EDIT: but yes, its such a small difference its hardly noticeable. Honestly if you arnt using the stuff for anything other than enjoyment, huge quality isn't really necessary, but, its America so bring on the HD!!!
 
nailz said:
I also wonder how often people in this thread actually dig out and listen to these CD's they buy. Or look at the artwork. What ended up making the switch for me was that I just got sick of having so many CDs laying around that I never touched.
Click to expand...

I take a CD wallet with about 50 discs to work each week, and change out the discs weekly. I managed to go through and listen to my whole collection...in three years.
 
nailz said:
I would like to try a blind listen experiment with those of you crying about lossy codecs. about 5% of the population can hear a difference between 128kbps and lossless, and less than 1% between 320k.

In fact, take the challenge!

http://www.noiseaddicts.com/2009/03/mp3-sound-quality-test-128-320/

I failed.
Click to expand...

the drums are a dead giveaway that number 1 has more punch than number 2. With headphones 1 just sounds more "full." That being said, this is a really soft song so it's kind of a shitty example to judge the difference between 128 and 320.
 
I like to collect music in addition to listening to it. I imagine many of you on here are like me in that regard. If I get into a new-to-me band, I'll often buy their entire studio output, generally newest to oldest. If I really like a band live I may buy their live albums as well. To me the "collection" mentality requires something to collect, so I buy CDs.

I like to read through the liner notes and flip through the artwork while listening and such - to that end I buy CDs.

I also have a nice system in my home office as well as a nice system in my car. Those were setup before most of the stuff I like to listen to and are setup primarily for CD playback. Heck, I even have a snazzy intercom/music system on my motorcycles but use an iPod there because with 60mph wind noise in the background you really can't tell the difference in sampling rates.

One other thing...I started with cassettes, then got some vinyl, then switched both of those over to CDs. There was a long period where everything was on CD so most of my collection came in that form. I don't really want to have part of my collection in one format and the other part virtual.

I can think of one exception where I bought MP3s. Some of While Heaven Wept's older stuff I could only find CDs for $30+ so decided to purchase MP3 for much much less.

When I buy computer software I generally purchase the physical CD/DVD too. The irony there is I write software for a living and my product is primarily available on shareware sites for trial use and the purchase is a license file. Only a tiny percentage of my customers purchase a physical CD, but the company who handles product delivery for me charges a bit for the physical product.
 
AeonicSlumber said:
the drums are a dead giveaway that number 1 has more punch than number 2. With headphones 1 just sounds more "full." That being said, this is a really soft song so it's kind of a shitty example to judge the difference between 128 and 320.
Click to expand...

Exactly give me something with a bunch of cymbals and you can EASILY tell the difference between 128 and 320. shit, i can tell a difference between 192 and 320 given the original recording.
 
It's not even a choice for me, ever. Physical media forever. snapshot of my CD Collector program. 10,000+ and still going. Doesn't take into account the duplicate versions I have because I wasn't following the instructions when I scanned my collection in to the computer in bulk. But it's close enough.

CD-collect.jpg
 
I continue with CDs, but mostly so that I can rip them how I want and then have a backup. They are a huge pain in the ass though. I move around a lot, and as an example, I am still lugging around the discs from the last two PPs that I haven't touched since I ripped them. I just haven't made it to storage where my boxes of other CDs are. I doubt I'll ever be somewhere where I want to put them all out on display. Even at the last place I did, I never used them. I'd queue up whatever I wanted on an iPod or computer.
 
I will say this, a big hurdle for me ever getting rid of my CDs is the fire i had a few years back that consumed THOUSANDS of my CDs and i have slowly rebuilt over the last 6 years. So it's hard for me to part with any of them even if i don't listen to them because i know what they have been through. Yes, i am a hoarder when it comes to my CDs. but at least there can be pleasure had from them if i choose to pull one off the shelf and air guitar to it. :) you cannot say that about a beer can collection. hahaha.
 
I buy CDs. I won't buy mp3s. Now if the album is ONLY in digital format I'll pass on it unless it is offered in some sort of lossless format. I will not pony up for lossy, compressed files. No sir.
 
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