itunes vs. Retail

[Crepuscularia]

Thanks guys, this has been really informative. I guess if I want a complete understanding of this topic, I'll have to start dissecting the different compression algorithms....

 

[soundave]

Thanks guys, this has been really informative. I guess if I want a complete understanding of this topic, I'll have to start dissecting the different compression algorithms....

Try ripping a file in a bunch of different bitrates and have a friend randomly play them back for you. See if you can notice the difference, and then try to pinpoint what that difference is. Try to match what you perceive to what the algorithms do. The idea behind the good encoders is that perceptually, it shouldn't matter much. The problem is in the execution of the theory. I can point out how encoders typically fail, but I think you'll probably appreciate it more if you discover it on your own!

 

[Luciferious]

You say that it's "still not spontaneous and performance based", but that's only recorded music, which obviously by definition is fixed. There's still plenty of live music out there, and still plenty of bands doing creative and spontaneous stuff live. In an artistic sense I don't think downloading has hindered music at all, just maybe the packaging.

It seems that it is the delivery of music, the format in which the listener recieves it, that we really categorizing here. The end product is always a sound, but its source might have historically varied. Originally, of course, music was exclusivly a performance art. When music was first recorded, the quality was prohibitivly low, and recordings of music were only to preserve the live experience. Now, the recorded sound has become the default state of music, and the live performance is secondary. This is rooted in the production, but becomes problematic because most of the world believes that it is natural. This is, I think, what is leaving Kenneth so disenchanted. Often no more than one album out of a band's entire discography is devoted to representing a live show. Most people have only ever seen a small percentage of the artists they listen to, even those they call their favorites.

You've all seen bands perform their songs a little differently on stage than they do on the album. A young friend of mine saw this and told me "they played it wrong."

I think that we may be confusing the delivery with the default state. The physicality of music that we are talking about is, I believe, not a change in the medium or even in its format, but simply a pairing of music with visual art. One might call this simply good marketing.

But I'm not opposed to this pairing--without it I would never have discovered Opeth. I chanced upon Still Life in the CD rack of a Hot Topic, no less, and bought it spontaneously because of the cover art. That said, I don't think that this pairing has to go because of the digitization of music--visual art is equally digitizable, and itunes seems to be the only one who know this. While not perfect, their library display is the most natural and the player in general shows the most commitment to album art. I'm still undecided though...

I guess I tell you that to say that I am not necessarily opposed to the digitization (real word?) of music, it's the simple act of recording it that has changed our perceptions of its default state. And I'm not convinced that that's bad until live shows stop all together, which they can't for business reasons.

 

[wankerness]

As time goes on and I've gotten an mp3 player and been using that exclusively instead of a cd player, the value of buying CDs has declined considerably. It's just taking up space on a shelf after I rip it for the most part. At the same time though, Itunes' lack of giving you anything but a tiny thumbnail of the album art makes paying for it on there instead of just downloading it illegaly somewhere else seem like a gigantic ripoff. I don't really know what they could do to give some incentive to buy off there other than "peace of mind" (which is countered by the fact that very little of the money is going on to the artist), but they should figure out something quick imho. The last nine inch nails release pwnd it in execution, as fans that chose to pay knew it was going straight to the artist, and you were able to download it in FLAC for no additional cost if you wanted.

 

[Kenneth R.]

I love when bands change it up at a live show - that's what makes going to the concert worthwhile. As for players that display art, winamp's latest release is very committed to showing album art. But is it just the artwork jpg and some files that can replace a physical copy? Like forgottenglory said, try getting that autographed...

 

[murderedbysound]

It's all about a few thousand pressings, or serial numbers or special editions and art work that just isnt the same from the digital world. Yea I could download the album cover and all that crap and then print it out on my own printer....but fuck that. Hard copies FTW!