Macca's Lash Up 2: Lash Harder

[Gazjam]

Gary , what's the cost ?

£11.99 a Month Al.

[StingRay]

See I only listen to albums, never just individual songs, and always all the way through. Might cut it off before the last song if it's just filler though. You Tube is perfectly adequate for checking out anything that is new to me whether it is current or old. Then I buy the CD.

Even new albums are only £8 so it isn't the massive outlay it was 30 years ago. And then you've essentially got the master-tape, of the version you want, forever. You can copy it to a hard-drive or just play the CD but you still have the physical copy that can't be taken away. Of about 400 CDs I have maybe 20 I probably won't play again, not a bad failure rate.

Renting music makes no sense for me but I can see how it would to someone who goes through 2000 songs a month. Assuming ten songs on an album I'd maybe get through 400 in a month. Big difference.

There's still a fair few albums I need to get to replace the vinyl, Robin Trower, Pat Travers, Montrose, Golden Earing, Creedence, just off the top of my head. And I like jazz fusion but not really scratched the surface of that yet. That's where the Amazon music will come in handy.

Anyway I already have Amazon Prime so costs me nothing extra to use their music library.

Just been looking at a few cds to buy, some are very expensive, one was over £100 used and £300 new. Several others were £20+. Some are not available on cd. Think the days of cheap cds are over, I used to buy some for about £1. To buy a decent collection will cost many thousands. I find YouTube to be pretty poor for choice and quality, you are better off using some of the free streaming services such as Spotify or Deezer. 400 cds is nothing, I’m not into playing the same music over and over again, I rarely play an album more than a few times a year.

[StingRay]

Of course there is nothing to stop you buying your favourites on cd or whatever format you want. Even if I did buy a lot of cds I would still using a streaming site to find new music and to check out the quality of the recording and to add variety, many I play I would not want to buy them.

I don't do background music either, if I did the hours of playing would be much more, I could stick it on a streaming station and leave it on but I prefer whole albums. If its on in the background then I'm not really listening to it.

[Macca]

Well I agree that 400 cds is nothing in the context of people who own thousands of them. I would argue that it is still a substantial collection though. When I went to university I think I had about 50 albums on vinyl and maybe the same again on tape, copied from friends. Don't recall ever being stuck for something to listen to and as poxy student I had all day every day to listen to music. But then, as now, I only listen to music if I am in the mood for it. Sometimes that is every day, sometimes a week or more can go by.

Also depends on how well sorted my system is, if I've got it on song then I listen more.

I've never been a record collector, I don't see the point in accumulating stuff for the sake of it. If I thought I was only going to play an album twice a year I probably wouldn't buy it in the first place.

I still manage to get worthwhile CDs from £1 upwards. New releases are still only around £8. I recall buying Pink Floyd 'Momentary Lapse...' in WH Smith on vinyl when it came out, and the CD was £14. That was 1985 or '86. So allow for inflation a CD should cost £42.74. So at £8 they are practically giving them away. There are some rarities I would like that are upwards of £30 but I won't pay that for a CD.

The quality of the recording is of no interest to me. I've never bought music on the basis of the production values. It's not even a remote consideration. One of the worst recordings I own is a Sam And Dave 'best of' CD. Even though it has been remastered it's still a very crude-sounding recording. That gets played all the time because it's superb music.

[StingRay]

Well I agree that 400 cds is nothing in the context of people who own thousands of them. I would argue that it is still a substantial collection though. When I went to university I think I had about 50 albums on vinyl and maybe the same again on tape, copied from friends. Don't recall ever being stuck for something to listen to and as poxy student I had all day every day to listen to music. But then, as now, I only listen to music if I am in the mood for it. Sometimes that is every day, sometimes a week or more can go by.

Also depends on how well sorted my system is, if I've got it on song then I listen more.

I've never been a record collector, I don't see the point in accumulating stuff for the sake of it. If I thought I was only going to play an album twice a year I probably wouldn't buy it in the first place.

I still manage to get worthwhile CDs from £1 upwards. New releases are still only around £8. I recall buying Pink Floyd 'Momentary Lapse...' in WH Smith on vinyl when it came out, and the CD was £14. That was 1985 or '86. So allow for inflation a CD should cost £42.74. So at £8 they are practically giving them away. There are some rarities I would like that are upwards of £30 but I won't pay that for a CD.

The quality of the recording is of no interest to me. I've never bought music on the basis of the production values. It's not even a remote consideration. One of the worst recordings I own is a Sam And Dave 'best of' CD. Even though it has been remastered it's still a very crude-sounding recording. That gets played all the time because it's superb music.

Well if they are bought over many years like mine then you probably don't want to play a lot of them, my tastes have changed, I rarely play my 70s music now. Before streaming I was bored with my collection, to bring it up to the variety I want I would have to add a considerably number to it. No point in buying music if you don't enjoy listening to it because the sound quality is poor. Since streaming I hardly ever play my cds, it is far easier to stream, sometimes there are better remastering as well, not keen on buying multiply versions of the same album.

I thought Amazon prime only had a very limited choice of music around 2m tracks? It is only mp3 as well. For many of the cds I may want to buy they are more than £8 new, quite a few are not available new or on cd. Even Fink's live album is not available.

[walpurgis]

Well I agree that 400 cds is nothing in the context of people who own thousands of them

400 is probably about the same as I own. I don't think most consider how long it would take to play even that many, let alone thousands.

[struth]

on hdd ive about 1170 albums.. most will be cd.. according to audirvana it will take about 47 days non stop to play then

[StingRay]

If you lost all your music, how many would buy again?

[Macca]

Well if they are bought over many years like mine then you probably don't want to play a lot of them, my tastes have changed, I rarely play my 70s music now. Before streaming I was bored with my collection, to bring it up to the variety I want I would have to add a considerably number to it. No point in buying music if you don't enjoy listening to it because the sound quality is poor. Since streaming I hardly ever play my cds, it is far easier to stream, sometimes there are better remastering as well, not keen on buying multiply versions of the same album.

I thought Amazon prime only had a very limited choice of music around 2m tracks? It is only mp3 as well. For many of the cds I may want to buy they are more than £8 new, quite a few are not available new or on cd. Even Fink's live album is not available.

My tastes haven't changed since I was a teenager, I still listen to the same albums I bought when 15 years old, just on VD now instead of vinyl. I still live like a teenager too. Whether that's good or bad or irrelevant I can't say. I've got into other genres like jazz and soul over the years though.

A couple of 'best of' albums with massive compression aside I don't have anything recorded so poorly it is unlistenable. Finding you have lots of unlistenable recordings is a problem with the replay system. Been there, got the T shirt. Recording engineers know their job and have a reputation to protect, they don't turn out rubbish recordings. The idea that the better the system the more recordings will sound poor on it is audiophile nonsense of the worst kind IMO. You might hear some flaws or editing issues occasionally, that doesn't concern me.

Remasterings - I have a few, but I prefer to buy the original release where possible. That's 'the album' as it was intended as far as I'm concerned.

Amazon Music claims to have 60 million tracks. Standard appears to be 320 KBPs which should be indistinguishable from 16/44.1 in most cases. I've only tried it on my cheapo headphones so far but sounds okay. Will report back when the proper USB cable arrives tomorrow.

Personally I wouldn't dream of paying for a streaming service but since I already have Prime (which already more than pays for itself on delivery charge savings) I'm getting it for nothing. Nothing a month? I am happy to pay that.

[Macca]

If you lost all your music, how many would buy again?

Probably about 90% of what I have on CD now.