Mp3 Players, Good Or Bad?

[sub.42]

Hi all,

Not posted in here before, but I want to share some thoughts with you. My daughter is constantly harrasing me for credit on iTunes, and being a music junkie myself, I tend to give in if she has been well behaved. I do have some reservations, one being you never own the physical CD single or Cd album. Which kind of leads me to my next quandry.

I have just been rummaging through my collection, ripping some cd's to disk, and compiling some of my own cd's from them. As I filled my drive, I began to look at more than the cd's themselves, at the actual cases, and at the sleeve notes. All of them have some marks of time, some of the oldest cd's now being almost twenty years old. My eyes were drawn to my oldest cd. I will never forget buying it. It was at WHsmiths in Southall, London, in June 1987. Level 42's 'World Machine' album.

I still have it. It's travelled through my teenage years, into young adulthood, and into my thirties with me. It has the mug stain from the tea I drank in my Dads garage as I fitted my first car hifi system, in my first car in 1990, it has scratches and dog-earing from living on my bedroom floor for years. It watched as I brought my wife-to-be home to see my parents for the first time. I was played at my wedding. It saw the arrival of all of my children.

It's amazing. It's still here. So am I!

Downloaded MP3's will not hold the same magic for me, ever. They cannot 'collect' physical reminders of how long they have been with you. That mug stain in priceless!

Any thoughts anybody?

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[Arfie]

I kinda get what you mean, I feel similar about my old vinyls. I no longer have a record player, but I can't get rid, I also have my parents and even grandparents vinyls in my loft.

That said, people said the same thing about CD not having a soul when they came out and that they wouldn't last. The basic factor for me is that I want to listen to my music, it used to come on vinyl or tape, then CD, now MP3, so long as there is still the music, I don't really care how I listen to it. The music itself holds memories for me, like when listening to a song, gave me the courage to ask a girl out, or when I was depressed about being dumped one that lifted me up, or my 1st time (tip, "in the air tonight" by Phil Collins is not good lovin music, the drum solo really messes your rhythm up ).

So bring on the music

Arfie

 

[Captain Retardo]

i am definitely not old enough to say i grew up with records, but i think they are much better than Mp3s...possible for the reasons you pointed out, possibly because you can see it and feel it, not like a whole bunch electronic signals... I'm kinda a technology hater, yet im on the internet now!

 

[sub.42]

Arfie,

Don't get me wrong, I love my music. I couldn't function without it. Mr Kings basslines are second to none, well, maybe just behind Mr Clarkes or..........

I think you know what I mean. I suppose what I'm trying to say is that I have carried this object full of my favourite sounds from then until now. It's been a milestone marker. Yes, the noises held within it are truly important too, but for me that extra feeling of owning the original hard copy from day-dot is kind of heart warming. I just know that my kids won't open a drawer one day, when they are thirty-odd, and find a copy of Robbie Williams' album that they bought when they were 14. I just don't think it will have the same kind of impact. Add that most peoples PC's are crashing and burning their drives regularly as clockwork, I just can't see the impact lasting as long, or having the ability to jump up and bite you, as my old stuff does now.

Anybody for a copy of Thunder Thumbs and the Toetsenman? Yep, it's vinyl, played on a Roksan Radius 5, and it sounds great.

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[timmystood]

Nope... MP3's all the way for me!

I have a 1GB MP3 player and about 4GB of music stored on my computer!

 

[sub.42]

.... or my 1st time (tip, "in the air tonight" by Phil Collins is not good lovin music, the drum solo really messes your rhythm up ).

Yeah! Try my mishap for size! Was Playing Jan Hammers 'Crockets Theme', and then leant on the remote and shuffled it to Stanley Clarkes 'Vulcan Princess'. No lies, try keeping up with that one! Or rather, try explaining to her your weird choice of music.........

Cheers Arfie!

You've made me laugh!

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[Arfie]

I know what you mean and yes, when I pick up a record or cd, many of them do cause a memory to flood back, but so does hearing the tracks. The other thing is that I rarely even bother with them, the vinyl I can't play so they are in storage bags in the loft and directly above mr as I type is a CD rack with 200 cd's on that haven't been played in over a year, because most of them have either been ripped to mp3 or copied onto cdr to use in the car.

I do burn some MP3's back onto CDR, but purely to play in the car. When I get a new car, I'll be looking at a solid state MP3 player for it rather than a cd. The problem with cd/vinyl is that the penalty for having memories is very bulky easily damaged disks. Once my memory is no longer capable of recalling things on the sound of a track, I doubt the cover will help

BTW the Phil Collins track was nothing to do with me, it was her house, quite apt though

Arfie

 

[catxx]

i love my new video ipod (even though i have windows 98 and can't use itunes, doh!). i also love to buy cds.
and collect vinyls (i think i have 94 now, all modern metal/hardcore/indie/rawr bands).

my dad just bought himself a new sony mp3 player, he travels a lot, and has taken great pleasure in borrowing my cds (my dad rocks haha!), and burning all his 100+ vinyls to mp3!! (he's techy and hooked his 1970s player to his computer).

 

[Ben]

im 14, and i still go out and get vinyls to listen to, and mostly only listen to those when possible, theyre also half price of cds anyway!

They definitly feel they do have a history behind them and feel much "warmer" in a way....and the musics good too!

 

[Arfie]

im 14, and i still go out and get vinyls to listen to, and mostly only listen to those when possible, theyre also half price of cds anyway!

They definitly feel they do have a history behind them and feel much "warmer" in a way....and the musics good too!

You'd like mine DD, I have my mothers collection of Beatles 7" singles and 12" albums all originals from the year they were released I must consider getting a record player

Arfie

 

[catxx]

my dad has some rare beatles singles too!
he was a university radio dj in the 70s, got all sorts from that!

 

[sub.42]

I'm just waiting for my Dad to let me at his collection.

He's got so many Elvis and Beatles discs its unreal. But, not even a peek yet. He won't give me the keys to the lockable cases......

Mum on the other hand has some real nice reggae from the sixties and seventies, most probrably why I'm a funk junkie!

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[afireinside]

We really don't have records, so I go mp3 all the way!

 

[wendywc]

From what I've seen with my friends and family is that people mostly listen to just the hits of artists. And those are the mp3s they listen to over and over. No one hardly listens to entire CDs/albums anymore or buy/download entire albums in mp3. I still love listening to entire albums and finding songs most have never heard... for now, it's used CDs for me.

 

[Ben]

You'd like mine DD, I have my mothers collection of Beatles 7" singles and 12" albums all originals from the year they were released I must consider getting a record player

Arfie

My dad is a huge beatles fan and was an even bigger fan in his youth so i still have some originals he kept all those years

You should really get a record player, great fun, also fun to go out and find records and such