MP3 players and their effect on how I listen to music

[Tubbs]

Yeah lossless is good if you want to take up your entire hard drive with 10 albums.

For my pc I prefer good ol' 192 Kbps mp3.

Although Ogg Vorbis is quite superior.

 

[angelofdeath9308]

A couple of things:
Let's give a round of applause for cd booklets! I love reading those things, even who the band gives thanks too. I just bought Slaughter of the Soul yesterday, and it was an special edition or something, and the booklet had like the stories behind the songs and stuff, and who the band gave thanks to, and lyrics. So +1 for buying cds. No matter what, if I like the artist, I'll always support them by buying their albums, whether they be on cds, tapes, or if in the future they release something in a smaller format, I'll support them.

With that said, as much as I like to buy cds, I go ahead and import them onto my computer when I get a chance, because I find it easier to click and play then to get up, walk down the hall (in a dorm), down the elevator, walk across the street to burger king, order food, walk back, and pop in another cd.

Also, I had a question for those people with iPods, since I'm thinking about buying one. I think someone said on here that they don't play music that was downloaded, or wma, is this true? How long does the battery life last? and how would I hook it up to my car? say if I had road rage, and wanted to listen to some Bloodbath.
Are they really worth the high price?
aight G, peace.

 

[socialenemy69]

Im currently on my 3rd MP3 Player in 3 years, the first two broke from overuse! Good thing I got the extended warranty. Currently I own one of the new iRiver h10 20GB MP3 Players and almost all of the mp3s I have on there I ripped myself from my own CD collection at 320 Kbps Bitrate. I do a lot of downloading and I do buy a lot of the stuff I like to support the artists and to actually have a hard copy of the music on my shelf as well.

I just like mp3 players because they are very convenient. I have it plugged into my car stereo, home stereo, and I take it everywhere, around the house, running, snowboarding, on busses and trains, and even listen to music when Im falling asleep.

 

[MetalManCPA]

Also, I had a question for those people with iPods, since I'm thinking about buying one. I think someone said on here that they don't play music that was downloaded, or wma, is this true? How long does the battery life last? and how would I hook it up to my car? say if I had road rage, and wanted to listen to some Bloodbath.
Are they really worth the high price?
aight G, peace.

iPod's do not support wma's. That made no difference to me, as I have a computer-load of the inderior MP3 format, mostly at 192kbs. I just ran my iPod on battery today to give it a drain.charge - I got about 8 hours on my 5G w/o backlight. I usually have mine plugged in (wall or car), so I never use it 8 hours straight anyways.

As far as the car is concerned, that all depends on your setup. There are FM transmitters abound, although they don't sound great (but they do get music into your car). I have an Alpine head unit. I purchased a $15 cable for auxilliary input, and a $30 Sendstation line out for the iPod. Personally, I think the iPod sounds pretty impressive in my car.

Is it worth the price? It depends on how you see it. What's it worth to carry 4,750 songs and 10 music videos around in my pocket?

 

[Larsson]

but not for me, so your convincing isn't gonna happen

Im not trying to convince you, not since you made it glass clear that you dont want to have anything to do with mp3 players. Im just saying it works for some people.

And to add something to the discussion:
I must say that this mp3 file buying craze is really scaring me. CD sale have never been worse then it is right now(in Sweden anyway). What the point first of all? Why buy 128 k/s songs for 10 kronor(about 1$)? I mean when you have bought an entire album woth of songs you could just as well have added a little money and bought the CD(=case, booklet, better sound quality and something to add to the collection). You really must be crazy to buy songs from the internet, or lazy. Cant they hear the sound difference?

The scary part is ofcourse that if this thing gets carried to far musicians might consider releasing music on the internet only, that would be a day of horror if anything is.

I think somebody allready mentioned this in this thread, it may however be possible im mixing it up with another thread from another forum.

 

[CAIRATH]

I'm pretty sure most online music services offer files at better quality than 128k. Personally I am not a fan of the whole concept either and I don't think I would ever pay just to download some files. But I do fear that is what eventually will happen if CD prices don't drop drastically. In the US CDs are still a vaguely reasonable price (judging from The End Records and Amazon generally between $11 and $16), but here in the Netherlands a new CD generally costs 17-20 euro ($20-$24) which is basically twice as much as in the US. Which is why I import a lot of my CDs. When you buy them from stores like The End who are nice enough to label the package as gift on the customs form so you don't have to pay import taxes afterwards it makes quite a huge difference in price. Unfortunately CD prices only seem to be going up rather than down so I doubt this will ever be remedied.

 

[Kenneth R.]

i have 2 huge hard drives so space is no issue.

secondly, CD booklets DO rock, and i feel deprived without them.

If it comes to the sad, sad day when bands release internet-only, I will frikin draw, print, and cut my own covers and album art. I will write the thanks page too.

 

[Larsson]

I'm pretty sure most online music services offer files at better quality than 128k. Personally I am not a fan of the whole concept either and I don't think I would ever pay just to download some files. But I do fear that is what eventually will happen if CD prices don't drop drastically. In the US CDs are still a vaguely reasonable price (judging from The End Records and Amazon generally between $11 and $16), but here in the Netherlands a new CD generally costs 17-20 euro ($20-$24) which is basically twice as much as in the US. Which is why I import a lot of my CDs. When you buy them from stores like The End who are nice enough to label the package as gift on the customs form so you don't have to pay import taxes afterwards it makes quite a huge difference in price. Unfortunately CD prices only seem to be going up rather than down so I doubt this will ever be remedied.

I checked out some of swedens biggest download services soemtime ago and i dont think any of them had over 128 k/s. Things may have changed though.

The new cds here cost about 170 kr which is about 20$ i think. An entire download album costs about 100 kr. I don't think the price difference is that big in terms of what you get. The problem is ofcourse that the idiots that download music dont realize that.

 

[Ermz]

128kbps is disgusting quality. The artifacts are clearly audible in the higher frequencies on any half-decent speaker system. I would never, ever, pay for a 128kbps mp3.

 

[SPLASTiK]

128kbps is disgusting quality. The artifacts are clearly audible in the higher frequencies on any half-decent speaker system. I would never, ever, pay for a 128kbps mp3.

Which is why you see iPod users wearing white shitty earbuds

Cowon iAudio is the best player on the market IMO. Plays FLAC. I'll probably hold off on buying any sort of player until it can fit all my 600+ CD's in a lossless format. So what a 250GB player full of FLAC?

 

[Braighs]

What annoys me: People wearing only one earbud. I'm thinking of parts of IMSWS and BTPISIO where the audio stops in one ear. Does pop music not utilise stereo?

 

[Ermz]

It does - people don't care. Hence why we don't have albums in 7.1 going around at the moment. Hardly anybody gives a shit about sound.

 

[a rofl nazi]

i hope to buy a x-fi soundcard soon (supposedly the best card ever)
then gigaworks 7.1 speakers

i would be jizzin

 

[angelofdeath9308]

i have 2 huge hard drives so space is no issue.

secondly, CD booklets DO rock, and i feel deprived without them.

If it comes to the sad, sad day when bands release internet-only, I will frikin draw, print, and cut my own covers and album art. I will write the thanks page too.

laugh out loud, that isn't such a bad idea, thanking people for the band, you should start now and sell them, start a new trend.

 

[Kenneth R.]

It does - people don't care. Hence why we don't have albums in 7.1 going around at the moment. Hardly anybody gives a shit about sound.

its a travesty. i dont understand how people can tolerate the shitiness of ipod headphones.

 

[MetalManCPA]

its a travesty. i dont understand how people can tolerate the shitiness of ipod headphones.

Agreed.

The MP3 format isn't the absolute greatest, although at 192kbs I don't find it all THAT bad. But using crappy headphones is ridiculous. I too can't understand how anybody can listen to lifeless music.

 

[cuntface]

i have some sony one and the format is smaller and better quallity than mp3

 

[ViCyniC]

I love my Rio Karma. I use it in my home setup where I hook it up to my stereo receiver via RCA jacks and play it back on my Infinity speakers.

 

[CAIRATH]

Out of everyone I know who has an iPod, no one uses the headphones that came with it. I never even opened mine because I already knew how rubbish they were beforehand so I just bought a good pair of Sennheiser PMX 60 headphones instead. They're the kind that go behind your neck which I find much more comfortable than earbuds anyway. Earbuds are terrible for your ears and just do not produce sound as clear as proper headphones do. The only advantage is that they do block outside noise better so if you often listen in noisy environments then I suppose they're decent if you can stand them in your ears for long enough. But even then you could do a lot better than the rubbish iPod ones.

 

[Braighs]

I can only tolerate earbuds and circumaural headphones. Sound gets lost on any other type. Though I suppose you loose bass with earbuds.