R.I.P. Compact Discs

A place like half.com, or even amazon, is ok. I enjoy actually going to a store though. I miss Tower Records. We used to have an old school indie store with incense, misc. guitar stuff like picks and humifiers, etc. But of course it folded. Only place in the county to buy now is Starbucks. Other than that, it is 1.5 hrs. to Twin, or 2.5 hrs to Boise pretty much. I like Barnes and Noble when we are near. They have a good selection, and usually have some cool stuff on sale.
 
sunvalleylaw said:
A place like half.com, or even amazon, is ok. I enjoy actually going to a store though. I miss Tower Records. We used to have an old school indie store with incense, misc. guitar stuff like picks and humifiers, etc. But of course it folded. Only place in the county to buy now is Starbucks. Other than that, it is 1.5 hrs. to Twin, or 2.5 hrs to Boise pretty much. I like Barnes and Noble when we are near. They have a good selection, and usually have some cool stuff on sale.
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I really miss the old record stores. There is nothing like browsing through the record bins, with that head shop smell. Tower Records used to be a holiday tradition. My aunts and uncles would give me and my brothers gift certificates for Christmas and we would head there after presents and before dinner on Christmas day. It was sad to see it fold.
 
dodgechargerfan said:
Well, vinyl IS making a comeback.........
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Actually, the audiophiles have been saying that the CD would eventually die and that vinyl would come back. CDs have more headroom, but the engineers never used it to the full advantage musically, they used it to the full advantage of the strongest possible signal while compressing the he77 out of it but that is not musical.

The people who say vinyl sounds better are not the same people who say that they need vintage knobs on their guitars...analog is just better for sound than digital is.
 
I have no problem w/major label cds dissapearing- they produce nothing but shitty sounding compressed crappily lazily formulaic cliche bland shit anyways.

Mp3s are convenient, but for sound quality, it's not that good. Sometimes it even sounds terrible. Older recordings converted to mp3 tend to sound better than new expensive studio recordings. Found an mp3 of a Zappa bootleg called "The Ark" from 1968, recorded w/just 3 mics set up in front of the stage-sounds better on mp3 than most new studio recordings converted to mp3. I can only imajine what it must sound like on all analog equipment.

Technology is just a means to an end. If something sounds much better through old technology- I'll use that. Nobody wants their cds anymore? Give them to me:) (or us, apparently).

Many people under 25 or so literally don't realize what they are missing (damn kids-get off my lawn!:mad: ).
 
Help!I'maRock! said:
with cloud data services becoming ubiquitous, this issue is being minimized. this is also why you buy a backup hard drive.
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Sigh. I still miss cleaning seeds on album covers. :lol:
Damn, I'm a geezer.

Actually, just brought what's left of my vinyl collection home from mom's. A turntable is on the way and I should be listening to my bootleg of Zeppelin live in 69 soon. :thu:

EG
 
Elias Graves said:
Sigh. I still miss cleaning seeds on album covers. :lol:
Damn, I'm a geezer.

Actually, just brought what's left of my vinyl collection home from mom's. A turntable is on the way and I should be listening to my bootleg of Zeppelin live in 69 soon. :thu:

EG
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I haven't owned a turntable since I was a college sophomore. I've been thinking about looking for a used one lately. I bet they're all over ebay.
 
Probably so. The newer ones, of course, have USB connections for MP3 rips.
The one that's coming my way is an old one, though.

EG
 
I think the artwork on an album is a BIG part of of the whole experience..certainly used to be in the vinyl days...it's a shame to lose that aspect.
 
Elias Graves said:
Probably so. The newer ones, of course, have USB connections for MP3 rips.
The one that's coming my way is an old one, though.

EG
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The USB connection would be nice. However, I've seen some crappy turntables out there whose major selling point is the USB connection.
 
mosiddiqi said:
I think the artwork on an album is a BIG part of of the whole experience..certainly used to be in the vinyl days...it's a shame to lose that aspect.
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I think this is a part of it. People, particularly younger people, experience music differently than we who went to record stores did/do. For some of us, the going to the record store, particularly one where you could listen to new stuff before buying, was part of the experience one paid for when buying a recording.

Likewise, hanging out looking through the liner notes and album art while listening to the record in its entirety was an experience that a lot of us liked. Now, a lot of kids simply hit shuffle on their ipods, or listen to stuff on youtube, etc.
 
sunvalleylaw said:
I think this is a part of it. People, particularly younger people, experience music differently than we who went to record stores did/do. For some of us, the going to the record store, particularly one where you could listen to new stuff before buying, was part of the experience one paid for when buying a recording.

Likewise, hanging out looking through the liner notes and album art while listening to the record in its entirety was an experience that a lot of us liked. Now, a lot of kids simply hit shuffle on their ipods, or listen to stuff on youtube, etc.
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growing up, I lived across the street from a head/record shop. I couldn't wait to walk over every week to see the new releases and browse through the used bins. I probably went there every day. I knew all of the sales people and loved talking music with them. They were all older than me and they turned me on to all kinds of music.
 
There was a "Budget Records and Tapes" my buddies and I used to walk to. It was a record shop and head shop also. Had that really hot poster of Linda Rondstadt from the mid 70's on the wall that used to distract me, and there were all those funny glass and wood pipes and things. Not sure I want my kid hanging out at a store like that. :wink:
 
sunvalleylaw said:
There was a "Budget Records and Tapes" my buddies and I used to walk to. It was a record shop and head shop also. Had that really hot poster of Linda Rondstadt from the mid 70's on the wall that used to distract me, and there were all those funny glass and wood pipes and things. Not sure I want my kid hanging out at a store like that. :wink:
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My uncle had that poster on the wall in our basement. He also had some funny glass and wood pipes in his room :embarrassed:
 
I saw and heard my first "Sex Pistols" album at that store. I wasn't ready yet. Still too into Boston, VH, and stuff.


Anyways, I hope there are still some avenues for checking out and buying new music "in person" and hopefully not only via a computer or some sort of electronic connection.
 
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tgk03 said:
The thing I would miss most is the packaging and having a way of knowing who wrote which song, who played on what track, etc.
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Good point. I used to by vinyl and rush home to put the new album on and check out the artwork and read everything, credits, lyrics, everything. Album art kinda went downhill when cd's came around. I was late jumping into the 21st century and went from almost went from cd's to downloading mp3's. It kinda came about from playing in bands and downloading songs I needed to learn. I do still buy cd's but not as much as downloading music to my computer and ipod. I have found myself wanting an amp with a phonograph input or some sort of d.i. so I can use my old school turntable again. I have a lot of good music on vinyl records I would love to listen to again. Frickin' EG and his son took his box of records home Saturday before I got a chance to put them on my computer. Sorry bastage.
 
Chad said:
I really miss the old record stores. There is nothing like browsing through the record bins, with that head shop smell. Tower Records used to be a holiday tradition. My aunts and uncles would give me and my brothers gift certificates for Christmas and we would head there after presents and before dinner on Christmas day. It was sad to see it fold.
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We had a place called Jack's Records and Tapes. I would go in there and run into friends or people I knew and would spend an hour or so looking around, checking out the posters on the wall and trying to decide what record I couldn't live without. A lot of times I went in there with money in my pocket and no clear idea of what I was looking for but would end up leaving with two or three new recordings. I'm not sure if EG is old enough to remember Jack's.
 
From Neil Young's authorized biography written by Jimmy McDonough (JM).

At one point Neil talks to JM about Digital versus Analog:

JM: How did digital get over if it sucks so bad?
NY: Promotion. Nobody realized digital wasn't as good-because it wasn't an obvious problem. It was more obvious after you listended a while. The first time, "Hey - no hiss, wow great!" You didn't realize there was no sound until a little while later.

JM: I notice I can't listen to as much music on CD.
NY: Right. It hurts. Did you ever go in a shower and turn it on and have it come out tiny little ice cubes? Thats the difference between CD's and the real thing - water and ice. It's like gettin' hit with somethin' instead of havin' it flow over ya. It's almost taking music and making a weapon out of it - do physical damage to people without touching them. If you wanted to make a weapon that would destroy people, digital can do it OK?
 
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