Not album box sets.. But cd box sets.

[RAY AGAINST THE MACHINE]

I will always buy CDs . It's the best hard format left IMHO .However, I realise that I have quite a few cd box sets that are taking up space, and hardly listen to. I will probably put one or 2 up for sale shortly.
I don't / didn't buy these box sets for the gimmicks - just for the material .of course the hmv sale used to be good purchasing stufff like this.

Anybody else have this problem?

[Urban Bassman]

The only one I've got is the Pink Floyd Wall Live box set. The main reason I got it was that I was at the Earls Court gig that's used on this set. A great night.
I agree about CDs. I always prefer to have something tangible when I buy music. As much as I love vinyl, yes I'm of that age, CDs are more convenient.

I will be watching with interest to see what you'll be putting up for sale.

[flyfisher]

[quote name='RAY AGAINST THE MACHINE' timestamp='1391518906' post='2357989']
Anybody else have this problem?
[/quote]

I also only buy CDs, but I immediately rip them to a PC. When I've collected another 10 or so, I put them in the attic along with all the others, so shelf space is rarely a problem.

[stu_g]

i still buy cd's and rip them to my computer and store them on a external hard drive, though i do have boxes of them stuffed under the bed in the spare room

[RAY AGAINST THE MACHINE]

Forgot to mention that I too , transfer the content to my mac. Stuff I have to keep; Metallica binge + puge( VHS ) was a leaving do pressie.
Tangerine dream Tangents, Slayer and sod have gotta go , as has queensryche;)

What got me thinking, was when I got the deluxe warrior on the edge of time (hawkwind).
At the end o the day, I purchased another cardboard box

[Dingus]

I used to have the Led Zeppelin box set of remasters of all their original albums, but you couldn't play them backwards for the satanic messages, so I got rid.

[RAY AGAINST THE MACHINE]

could've got a blues box set. You get your house back , your dog, your baby ...

[flyfisher]

[quote name='RAY AGAINST THE MACHINE' timestamp='1391521484' post='2358042']
Forgot to mention that I too , transfer the content to my mac. Stuff I have to keep; Metallica binge + puge( VHS ) was a leaving do pressie.
Tangerine dream Tangents, Slayer and sod have gotta go , as has queensryche;)

What got me thinking, was when I got the deluxe warrior on the edge of time (hawkwind).
At the end o the day, I purchased another cardboard box
[/quote]

of course, you'll be deleting the ripped copies from your mac when you sell the original CDs . . . . .

[spinynorman]

[quote name='flyfisher' timestamp='1391533076' post='2358259']
of course, you'll be deleting the ripped copies from your mac when you sell the original CDs . . . . .
[/quote]

In the wider context of where CD buying is headed, would you have to?

Yesterday I was looking for a track on Amazon. I had a choice, an mp3 of the one track for 99p, the entire album as mp3s for £6.50, or the CD of the album, plus all the tracks as mp3s, for £4.50. I went for the latter.

Along the way I downloaded the Amazon Cloud Player and found that every album I ever bought from them is there on my account as downloadable mp3s. I remember I did have an email about it a while ago, but didn't really take on board what they were offering. For all they know, I could have sold, broken, given away or lost all of those albums.

Not sure I understand the box set problem. It's just packaging.

Edited February 4, 2014 by spinynorman

[spongebob]

A lot of empty space here!

I no longer (as of a few years) own any vinyl/cd, etc.

I have also just sold my ipod and dock (which was the cd substitute), and gone down the wireless route. Tablet, speaker, and a monthly subscription to Google Music. Unlimited streaming, so I never need buy a download again.

Download sales are now falling, as more and more opt for paying for a stream service (Google, Spotify, etc.) I have no interest in the physical side of music (I used to) - just access to a library a could, years ago, never imagined. I like! [size=4] [/size]

[flyfisher]

[quote name='spinynorman' timestamp='1391533559' post='2358266']
In the wider context of where CD buying is headed, would you have to?

Yesterday I was looking for a track on Amazon. I had a choice, an mp3 of the one track for 99p, the entire album as mp3s for £6.50, or the CD of the album, plus all the tracks as mp3s, for £4.50. I went for the latter.

Along the way I downloaded the Amazon Cloud Player and found that every album I ever bought from them is there on my account as downloadable mp3s. I remember I did have an email about it a while ago, but didn't really take on board what they were offering. For all they know, I could have sold, broken, given away or lost all of those albums.
[/quote]

Well you wouldn't [u]have[/u] to delete the ripped copy, but I see it as effectively being the 'licence' to listen to that music. Selling on the CD after making a copy is tantamount to downloading for free - and we all know how popular that is around these here parts.

Interesting about download sales falling. There was also a report the other day about iPods becoming obsolete (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-25927366)
Amazing how things change so quickly these days.

[spinynorman]

I won't trust streaming services until network connections can be guaranteed everywhere. I tried streaming on my phone in the car and it was hopeless. Mind you, we struggle to pick up Radio 4 in these uncharted wastelands of rural Warwickshire.

My experience of streaming video hasn't been encouraging either. It's ok so long as you want to watch what the industry wants you to watch. Anything else is either not available on Netflix, or rental only on Lovefilm.

My point about Amazon's cd/mp3 pricing and the Amazon cloud is that, in that model, either the CD or the mp3 has no value. I think it might be the CD.

Edited February 4, 2014 by spinynorman

[KevB]

I'll be sorry to see the ipod go though I expect there are so many spare parts kicking around they will be around a long time after they are officially discontinued. Never really been interested in smartphones and the storage seems quite limited. I can go on holiday and have over 100Gb's of music on my ipod to choose from with space to spare to have the occasional movie or two to watch on the ipod classic's screen (great for long plane journeys). No guessing if there's going to be wifi or streaming facilities where you are going, it's all there already at your fingertips. I went through a few cheapo non-ipod mp3 players which all died in a couple of years but I've had great service from my ipods which have all been second hand buys from ebay at sensible prices. The battery on my tiny 1GB 'clip on postage stamp' is only lasting about 3-4hrs now but I've worked it to death over the last 6 years so i don't think it'll owe me much when it gets retired. The battery on the 16oGB classic gets stick if I'm watching movie on it but i take a plug-in recharger on holiday so I've never been stuck yet.

[BigRedX]

IMO the CD still has value as it's the backup of the music that you've ripped into your computer. How many people have at least one complete back up of their music library stored in a different location to the primary computer/drive?

[KevB]

Always kept a backup hard drive, update about monthly using synctoy (absolute doddle to use and it's free software) ;
[url="http://www.pcadvisor.co.uk/reviews/software/3333540/microsoft-synctoy-21-review/"]http://www.pcadvisor.co.uk/reviews/software/3333540/microsoft-synctoy-21-review/[/url]
With the relatively low cost of external storage media it's madness not to if your collection is of any size and/or rarity. And of course you can back up all the other useful documents at the same time.

[BigRedX]

[quote name='KevB' timestamp='1391609062' post='2359138']
Always kept a backup hard drive, update about monthly using synctoy (absolute doddle to use and it's free software) ;
[url="http://www.pcadvisor.co.uk/reviews/software/3333540/microsoft-synctoy-21-review/"]http://www.pcadvisor...ctoy-21-review/[/url]
With the relatively low cost of external storage media it's madness not to if your collection is of any size and/or rarity. And of course you can back up all the other useful documents at the same time.
[/quote]

And where is your backup? Right next to the computer it's backing up or in an entirely different physical location?

[Dingus]

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1391604045' post='2359024']
IMO the CD still has value as it's the backup of the music that you've ripped into your computer. How many people have at least one complete back up of their music library stored in a different location to the primary computer/drive?
[/quote]

Equally to the point is, if you value high fidelity reproduction of your music through your audio equipment, ultimately it's far easier to get a superb sound from CD than from files on a computer. Yes, certain formats like flak files and lossless can sound very good and can technically exceed CD quality in theory, but that science fails to take into account the positive influence that a good audiophile CD player can have on the overall sonic complexion of the music playback, and the detrimental sonic qualities of most computer based systems.

P.C's need a lot of help in the form of asynchronous DAC's ect to start rivalling even modest CD players in terms of sound reproduction. You can get a very acceptable sound from a computer, that is true , and with a little effort and small financial investment you can improve the sound from a basic computer a great deal, but your CD's still ultimately have potentially far better audio quality in practical terms than the music stored on your computer.

[BigRedX]

[quote name='Dingus' timestamp='1391609549' post='2359150']
Equally to the point is, if you value high fidelity reproduction of your music through your audio equipment, ultimately it's far easier to get a superb sound from CD than from files on a computer. Yes, certain formats like flak files and lossless can sound very good and can technically exceed CD quality in theory, but that science fails to take into account the positive influence that a good audiophile CD player can have on the overall sonic complexion of the music playback, and the detrimental sonic qualities of most computer based systems.

P.C's need a lot of help in the form of asynchronous DAC's ect to start rivalling even modest CD players in terms of sound reproduction. You can get a very acceptable sound from a computer, that is true , and with a little effort and small financial investment you can improve the sound from a basic computer a great deal, but your CD's still ultimately have potentially far better audio quality in practical terms than the music stored on your computer.
[/quote]

If you store your audio in lossless format then technically the 0s and 1s are in better shape than they are on a Red Book audio CD because the WAV or AIFF format has more error correction built in. Our course the DAC in the average CD player is going to be better than the default in a computer but surely anyone who is serious about using their PC to store uncompressed audio on will also have invested in at least HiFi (if not studio) quality DACs.

[Dingus]

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1391609778' post='2359157']
If you store your audio in lossless format then technically the 0s and 1s are in better shape than they are on a Red Book audio CD because the WAV or AIFF format has more error correction built in. Our course the DAC in the average CD player is going to be better than the default in a computer but surely anyone who is serious about using their PC to store uncompressed audio on will also have invested in at least HiFi (if not studio) quality DACs.
[/quote]

DAC's of various levels of quality are a big thing in audio nowadays, and even a modest one can transform the sound from your PC or laptop, but a surprising number of people are blissfully unaware of how depressingly thin and flat the basic sound coming from the audio output of a standard computer is .

My own personal perception is that only the very best DACs that cost over a thousand quid in the current market can make the music from a computer rival a well - chosen £300- £500 CD player if you are playing the music through a decent system. By the same token, adding a £100 USB DAC can improve the sound quality of music from a computer so much that it can be very enjoyable in its' own right , even if it can't match CD.

I think that the way of the future will have to be computer based audio, and surely the way technology is going to develop is to refine and improve the hifi quality of computer-based music so that it outstrips CD. That is what the market is demanding because of the way that the opublic are buying and consuming their music. CD was and still is a great format, but it has been superceeded by wider trends in society. The music industry told the general public that they ought to abandon vinyl in favour of CD and by and large they complied with that directive, but in this instance the general public are spontaneously abandoning CD and other formats in favour of what is most convenient for themselves rather than what the music industry would find most profitable , and that is computer- based audio. It's the audio equivalent of the Arab Spring.

[KevB]

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1391609306' post='2359144']
And where is your backup? Right next to the computer it's backing up or in an entirely different physical location?
[/quote]

Backup HD at work, they are so slim these days it can easily go in my rucksack even when I'm on the bike for when i need to take it home for its monthly update. Currently use a 2TB but it is slowly filling, might have to think about upgrading ot a 3 TB in a year or so or do some serious clearing of unwanted files.

[spinynorman]

My listening habits have entirely changed since the 1970s, when I would regularly sit down specifically to listen to music. Now I never do that, when I listen to music it's either bass practice via mp3s on my laptop, exploring via Youtube, or listening during car journeys. I have a 32gb SD card as additional storage on my phone and that serves as my travelling mp3 player. For that reason, I wouldn't want a phone that didn't have extendable storage. I can't explain why my listening has changed, and I wouldn't say it's a good thing, it's just the way it is. But then, even in the 70s I was never serious about hifi to anything like the level that some people are. I can't explain that either, my ears just seem unable to detect differences that really bother someone else.