Did MP3s kill music?

[Littlepeahead]

I decided I wanted to buy a CD to listen to at work today.

But where to buy one? Not one shop within easy reach of my work, on my commute or home sells CDs of the sort I'd want to buy - in this case Damon Albarn. HMV at Moorgate closed, all the independent shops shut down, WHSmith no longer sell music and the supermarket not much beyond One Direction.

So tonight I had to download the album as an MP3, which in itself was a total PITA as I don't have Windows 7 yet so had to do each one as in individual email link. The quality will be poor, the CD will get scratched and I don't have any artwork or cover notes to read through.

My first job in 1989 was in the local Our Price record shop. How I miss the specialist knowledge of those record shop staff I worked with, you could browse, read the sleeve notes, flick through the new releases and get their recommendations.

Then I spent years working in the art departments of record labels but now no one bothers much with the artwork as it never gets seen if you are doing a download. I used to love the spot varnishes, the gatefolds, the matt card, the ink smell. I do still get that when I seek out proper vinyl but it's all mail order.

Just think, if Abbey Road had been a download, that zebra crossing wouldn't mean a thing. I feel quite sad. :(

[tigersaw]

We cant rewind we've gone too far...

[maviczap]

CD's & the loss of ALL the Tv programs that brought you new artists to your attention, that got your interest, then you went out & bought the albums.

IMHO these killed music, you lost a lot of the stuff you mention when the little plastic cases took over.

CD's were expensive. So you didn't go out and buy 3 or 4 Lp's like I used to do from my local woolies, WH Smith etc. You'd only come back with 1.

Many a happy Saturday spent wandering round the shops looking at LP's

Ok, no more scratched LP's and warped discs (Led Zep 2 in my case), but there's no soul in the cd case and cover.

I'll download the MP3 album & load it onto my USB stick to play in the car & on the phone, but I've started buying vinyl again, especially as the new releases hold or increase in value. Usually I can then wait until the CD has reached rock bottom price, so I can add that to the CD collection.

[DarrenSV650S]

You should have bought the CD from Amazon. Then you could listen to it instantly, then sniff the sleeve when the postman brings it. Don't know what your windows version has to do with it.

Your impatience killed CD's [-X

[DJ123]

None of my music is downloaded. All of it is from CD's. Now I buy a CD then transfer it to my PC/USB stick/phone and listen to it on there. Then store the CD away.
The glove box, seat pockets & box in the boot of my car used to be full of CD's!
They still exist and my local Tesco (supermarket & direct) have a good range of them. There is also a local store (http://www.rockbox.co.uk/) to me that sells many older ones, collectors vinyls & so on. The market isn't dead the people in the know and specialists are keeping it going as are the enthusiasts.

[Littlepeahead]

I didn't want to wait a week for it to arrive as I wanted it for work today and a car journey tomorrow.

If it's an album I know I'll like then I'll buy the heavyweight vinyl to listen to at home.

[Littlepeahead]

Oh and the Windows 7 thing is because they don't support XP any more for the download manager so email you links to the songs you have to download individually.

[NTECUK]

Windows 8.
Seven of Nine is So last year.
https://encrypted-tbn2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcS2mxmhRucgcSTyxptokfnHtKz-0fEvwvZgmH-7afa_iNsUX6AOcA
Amazon would have been the way to go

[dizzyblonde]

None of my music is downloaded. All of it is from CD's. Now I buy a CD then transfer it to my PC/USB stick/phone and listen to it on there. Then store the CD away.
The glove box, seat pockets & box in the boot of my car used to be full of CD's!
They still exist and my local Tesco (supermarket & direct) have a good range of them. There is also a local store (http://www.rockbox.co.uk/) to me that sells many older ones, collectors vinyls & so on. The market isn't dead the people in the know and specialists are keeping it going as are the enthusiasts.

We still buy CDs as well, and use them in the car. There's still a second hand Cd exchange where we live, so if we can't get it new from the last independent music shop shop standing, chances are, we may find it there.

Then there's the smart Tv.......Omg, youtube in.full screen, obscure obsolete stuff on Cd, but now on your TV....brilliant.


Anyway, it's the untalented twaddle that is killing music these days... Have you listened to the racket they play on radio 1?

[DJ123]

Have you listened to the racket they play on radio 1?

That's not new, they've been doing it for years :lol:

[Littlepeahead]

Radio 1 hurts my ears. I use internet radio, a Kiwi station called The Rock. The DJs can't pronounce stuff properly, but the music is great.

[thulfi]

I can't even be bothered to download mp3's anymore. Very rarely. I pay for a spotify subscription, and it is worth every penny. Thanks to this new age, discovering new music has never been easier.

[DarrenSV650S]

I didn't want to wait a week for it to arrive as I wanted it for work today and a car journey tomorrow.

If it's an album I know I'll like then I'll buy the heavyweight vinyl to listen to at home.
You can download music from CD's you buy online

Oh and the Windows 7 thing is because they don't support XP any more for the download manager so email you links to the songs you have to download individually.

Is that on Amazon?

[Mrs DJ Fridge]

It is a pity that HMV was closed, if you can fight your way past all the dross at the front of the shop you can usually find some useful music. I have never brought music on download, we have approximately 800 DVDs all loaded onto computer then put on ipod, which is also apparently going to be a thing of the past because they are going to discontinue it as people now use their phones. I do however always buy ebooks rather than paper equivalents as we ran out of space for boks in the house years ago.

[dizzyblonde]

That's not new, they've been doing it for years :lol:

When I say lately, I mean 10 years or more. I am getting on a bit(in my music age at least) :$

[Dicky Ticker]

This Radio 1 thingy, is it like the Light Program ?

[dizzyblonde]

I only listen to radio 2 ;-)

[tigersaw]

I only listen to radio 2 ;-)

cant even abide that any more, its radio 4 and french music stations. Cant understand what they are talking about but thats no different to uk music stations

[Bibio]

physical music media will be obsolete within 10 years. dont the music industry know that what they are doing is going to kill them off when it's soooo easy for people to share MP3's for free never mind such things as spotify etc.etc.

add to this the 'dont care' attitude of the younger generation and its one big slippery slope.

[Littlepeahead]

We still have an HMV in Chelmsford. It doesn't sell vinyl, CDs are overpriced and the last 3 times I went in there they were out of stock of the three different albums I wanted, none of which were that obscure. Jeff Buckley, Prince, Moulin Rouge OST. Not bothered with them since.

I don't own anything that claims to be a fruit!

[Spank86]

I only listen to radio 2 ;-)

You're supposed to.

Radio one is targeted at younger people and if too many older people admit to listening to it they have to change it.

It's supposed to cater to 15-29 yr olds.

[Littlepeahead]

I listen mostly to Radio 4. Farming Today, the Shipping Forecast, Gardeners' Question Time. The fact I don't garden, own a boat or have any livestock is entirely irrelevant!

[PyroUK]

We still have an HMV in Chelmsford. It doesn't sell vinyl, CDs are overpriced and the last 3 times I went in there they were out of stock of the three different albums I wanted


That is nothing new. HMV have always been overpriced on everything, films, games and music.

Stock is also an issue as they won't (at least my local) order stuff in anymore.

I don't mind digital stuff, so long as there is a saving. My main purchases are games but applies across the board. On the new gen consoles you can buy direct and download, but there is no point when you pay the same and sometimes more than getting it on disc.

In terms of quality, I will grant you that digital won't have the same feel as vinyl but with the quality of the files now, especially on spotify, you do get very good fidelity.

Spotify is very handy now it's free. I use it on the iPad so I can search and play songs in 300+ kbits quality that I am interested in. If I like it I go and buy the album on iTunes so I'm not completely freeloading the artist.

[Littlepeahead]

I only really listen to music at work or in the car so Spotify isn't an option for either of those. What happens if your hard drive dies and you lose your MP3s?

[PyroUK]

Ah yes, signal issues. That's fair enough.

Well anything I have bought through iTunes I can just download again as it knows I have already purchased it.

Anything I have gotten from other sources, cd, other downloads etc will be lost and i would need to source again.

[Littlepeahead]

This happened to me already. I bought some albums from I think it was either Tesco or HMV and then they closed down their download service, I had some files go corrupted on a hard drive and that was that, I couldn't re-download them as the music service was no longer running. Now I might lose or scratch one CD but I'm unlikely to lose my whole collection which I could do with a PC going pop.

I don't do the file sharing thing, if I want an album I buy it.

Though when Radiohead did their service where they said people could pay what they felt was fair for downloading the album I was annoyed to find there wasn't a button where I put in how much I expected them to pay me for having to put up with Mr LPH forcing me to listen to it on repeat while my ears bled.

So far I'm really liking this Damon Albarn album. Not everything that comes out of Essex sounds like the cast of TOWIE thank God.

[PyroUK]

In those instances, where you get downloads from places that may not be around forever, you could back them up in the cloud. I think you have Dropbox so you can put them in there. Thankfully music isn't that big so even if you have the basic 2gb one that's still a lot of albums.

[PyroUK]

Also that should maintain any drm applied to the files

[L3nny]

I buy my MP3s from Amazon it's great, was in the barbers the other week, heard a song on the radio while waiting to get my hair cut, liked it but didn't know what it was so opened shazam, it identified the track, gave me a link to the album on Amazon which I clicked on and purchased. By the time my hair cut was done the whole album was downloaded to my phone and it only cost £6. All my MP3s are stored on Amazon's cloud and I can listen to them whenever I want on whatever device I fancy.

Don't know how anyone can think that is worse than driving into town, finding somewhere to park, paying £3 for the privilege, going into HMV and finding they don't stock that album, they can order it in, but it'll be a week and it'll be £20.

Then you have hundreds of CDs cluttering your house up, when you want to listen to one you can't find it, or it's in the car, or my personal favourite, the wrong CD has been put in the wrong case.

So no, they didn't kill music, in fact it's been the best thing for music as smaller artists can reach a much wider audience than they did before.

[L3nny]

I buy my MP3s from Amazon it's great, was in the barbers the other week, heard a song on the radio while waiting to get my hair cut, liked it but didn't know what it was so opened shazam, it identified the track, gave me a link to the album on Amazon which I clicked on and purchased. By the time my hair cut was done the whole album was downloaded to my phone and it only cost £6. All my MP3s are stored on Amazon's cloud and I can listen to them whenever I want on whatever device I fancy.

Don't know how anyone can think that is worse than driving into town, finding somewhere to park, paying £3 for the privilege, going into HMV and finding they don't stock that album, they can order it in, but it'll be a week and it'll be £20.

Then you have hundreds of CDs cluttering your house up, when you want to listen to one you can't find it, or it's in the car, or my personal favourite, the wrong CD has been put in the wrong case.

So no, they didn't kill music, in fact it's been the best thing for music as smaller artists can reach a much wider audience than they did before.

[timwilky]

I have about 200GB of legally acquired music on MP3. It is replicated on the 3 servers I own in France, the UK and the US. together with my home servers. So I doubt I will ever loose it. When I ripped my vinyl, I got the familiar hisses and scratches. But most were replaced over time with digital downloads that are clinically clean.

I go on holiday with all my music on a 2.5" drive I plug into the transformer so what ever the mood I can have my AC-DC, Zeppelin, Verdi, Puccini, The wife can have her compilations of the 60s 70s etc. No way could I take that on CD.


I have a friend with a very extensive music collection, in excess of 5000 albums (you should see the walls of shelving in his house). Having to buy on CD was heartbreaking for him. He now downloads as he cannot justify adding to his collection.

Artists and publishers that embrace downloads will continue to thrive. Those that scream pirate and DRM will disappear.

[Littlepeahead]

But you don't get any covers or sleeve notes. Maybe it's because I'm a photographer and worked in the art departments so for me part of the experience of buying an album is the enjoyment of the packaging of an LP or at least the booklet of a CD.

The lovely live edged (day glow) perspex we used for the Alice In Chains album, the Strawberry scented packaging for Lightning Seeds Jollification, the special silver matt UV varnish on George Michael's album that peeled off when the shops put a price sticker on it and George Michael had a massive hissy fit about it. And Leftfield's triple gatefold for Leftism on the most beautiful matt board.

And best of all the wood block print on a Levellers EP that we found out later the bassist had carved out of his kitchen table in a heroin induced moment of creativity after I told him he was 3 days late getting the artwork to us. His flatmates were not happy.

http://991.com/NewGallery/The-Levellers-15-Fifteen-Years-257703.jpg

[L3nny]

You're right, I'd much rather look at that album cover than have to listen to any of The Levellers music ;)

I like a good picture disc too, this is pride of my collection

http://www.picture-disc.co.uk/WebRoot/BT3/Shops/BT2680/4FB6/674E/6BF6/59B2/C114/0A0C/05E8/D346/altern_8.jpg

[NTECUK]

I only really listen to music at work or in the car so Spotify isn't an option for either of those. What happens if your hard drive dies and you lose your MP3s?

You should back up your pc and phone regularly.
I recall you saying that your relations lost loads because they didn't back up important files.
That was your fult I remember.
You can do it automatically too.
Important when so many memories are no longer pictures but jpeg s

[Littlepeahead]

Yes it was my fault because I showed them how to do it numerous times but they forgot to do it! All my photos are backed up in several places.

That picture disc - it is an audio instruction manual on what to wear in the bunkhouse at AR this year?

[NTECUK]

You can still print out the album covers that's what floats ya boat

[Spank86]

But you don't get any covers or sleeve notes. Maybe it's because I'm a photographer and worked in the art departments so for me part of the experience of buying an album is the enjoyment of the packaging of an LP or at least the booklet of a CD.

But none of that is music.

You're actually bemoaning the loss of art, not the loss of music.

You might even say that all that is merely frippery that detracts (or distracts) from the music.

[atassiedevil]

I think there's pros and cons to this.
Pros - MP3s and the like made so much more new music available to so many. I've bought albums since listening to them, or having friends play them to me, so it's not completely black and white.
It's also made me rediscover my love for music, and i certainly listen to more than i did, and have a much wider taste in music these days.

[NTECUK]

So far I'm really liking this Damon Albarn album. Not everything that comes out of Essex sounds like the cast of TOWIE thank God.
Insert Leytonstone inn't Essex(ie real Essex starts north of chelmsford)

[Spank86]

Insert Leytonstone inn't Essex(ie real Essex starts north of chelmsford)

How far north?

[NTECUK]

Start of Essex regiment way.
You can hear the rest all talk like gangster's or TOWIE.
Edit.
I forgot the posh elite that also reside there and commute to the smoke.

[TamSV]

If we're talking about the music, then MP3's are the best format for me. I wouldn't consider buying a CD these days.

I've got access to my entire music collection, and much more besides, pretty much anywhere. It exists on several devices as well as a cloud back-up.

As I replace equipment there are more possibilities - so in the last couple of years I've been able to play all these tracks in my car and now on my TV (which has a better sound system than my old stereo).

MP3's haven't killed music - nothing will. A worldwide ban on music couldn't kill music. Nor art. What it has done is drastically changed the music industry.

How we consume music, and the way in which it is packaged and shared has changed but access to the music itself is waaaay better than it used to be. Listening to and appreciating a wide range of music is no longer an elitist pursuit.

[Spank86]

Start of Essex regiment way.
You can hear the rest all talk like gangster's or TOWIE.

Bad choice, I'm still Essex's fault then since I scrape in having been born in Broomfield.

[NTECUK]

The hospital saff of the road. Lol

[yorkie_chris]

Pub.... pint... band... sorted.

[Littlepeahead]

To resurrect an old thread, Mr LPH popped into Cambridge today where they have a proper record shop and he bought me a present.

Heavyweight double vinyl, gatefold, on the rega turntable through the Nad amp and Mission speakers it sounds just beautiful. The string arrangements are totally lost on the mp3.

Superunknown just came out on vinyl remastered so I think I'll order that tomorrow.

http://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/07/13/vudubaty.jpg

[Spank86]

If your music was recorded on record then record will be bestr,

modern music is generally just converted so you might as well listen to it in original format.

If you're Sam cook or pink floyding then record will never be beat.

If you're Justin biebering (admit it LPH) why bother?

[missyburd]

I get quite a lot of satisfaction from flicking through charity shop collections of CDs and finding obscure titles there. Not that I get much time to do it which makes it more fun when I do. I'm also lucky to know a fair few talented musicians in my local area and I have an ever-growing collection of their EPs, when I see a new band and I know I like 'em I always make sure I come away with a CD, they have to make a living somehow and start somewhere.

I can't remember the last time I bought a brand new CD from the shops, seeing as I end up ripping it straight onto the computer anyway it just seems a wasted effort, although I agree with LPH about loving to flick through the album notelets and whatnot. And it saves on postage... But saying that, the last time I downloaded a 12 track album online from the band's website, it took forever and I ended up having to email the site as two of the tracks had corrupted after having to download each one individually :/ at least with a CD you click the button and it does it's own thing!

I stopped listening to Radio 1 in my early teens, utter rubbish. That was when I used to record the newest releases onto tape...learning the art of knowing when to fade the DJs out with the volume button :lol:

[Littlepeahead]

I can't comment on Justin Bieber as I've never actually assulted my ears with any of his music.

It seems that somewhere between downloading the file that is bought as an MP3 and burning it to a CD a lot of quality and depth of sound, such as the strings on this album, are lost.

I know since most of the population will be playing terrible music on an iPod through their cheapo head phones that might not really matter to them or they won't even notice.

But they are probably the same people who think mild cheddar is actually a food substance.

[MisterTommyH]

It'll be books next....

[Citizen]

Thats a great album by the way, not overly cheerful though.

Thing with a MP3 is you cant scratch it like an LP, I still miss them though, have loads in the loft, will maybe venture up there at some point and listen to some old greats.

[Spank86]

But they are probably the same people who think mild cheddar is actually a food substance.

If it's ASDA value mild cheese then you're right it's not.

It's the excrement of Bacteria (don't you wish this was a joke)

[Littlepeahead]

Thats a great album by the way, not overly cheerful though.

Thing with a MP3 is you cant scratch it like an LP, I still miss them though, have loads in the loft, will maybe venture up there at some point and listen to some old greats.
Well Mr Tembo is quite cheerful and Parakeet is a bit bonkers, and now my ringtone, but I agree the rest is fairly sombre. Growing up in the same area of Essex and then having my first London job not far from where Albarn lived on Westbourne Grove at around the same time (he's almost the same age as me) there's lots of this album that has a familiarity to my youth and early twenties.

[Richie]

?v=eFTLKWw542gwe didn't start the fire...

[flymo]

No reason why quality of music should suffer due to it being a download. MP3s are lower quality than CDs, but there are a number of lossless formats that are just as good. AAC, WAV for example.

[Littlepeahead]

If you buy music online what do you get though? MP3? The Albarn album was noticeably poorer quality on the download than either the vinyl or the CD that you get with it as part of the package.

[Mrs DJ Fridge]

I have no problems with MP3 per se, but I do miss the organic experience of browsing and buying, even more so with books, I really miss browsing in bookshops now I have an ereader, this makes me sound like a late comer to the market, I was one of the first to get an ereader, I feel guilty when I go into a bookshop have a look around and only leave with notes of what I want to buy.

[Littlepeahead]

I don't have an e reader, instead I have a big handbag large enough to accommodate my book. I swap books with colleagues, buy and donate to the charity shop and enjoy browsing in bookshops. I know it's old fashioned, but apart from anything else I can read ink on paper without needing my glasses but backlit screens strain my eyes more so long live books.

[flymo]

If you buy music online what do you get though? MP3? The Albarn album was noticeably poorer quality on the download than either the vinyl or the CD that you get with it as part of the package.

If I buy through iTunes I get m4a format that can be exported or burnt to disk as .mp3, aac (lossless) or WAV (lossless).

These days mp3 is likely the worst choice for sound quality, people often choose it as its the one they are most familiar with. On the upside the file sizes are smaller due to carrying less information and you can therefore store more music on a player. And on many players it can be very difficult to notice any difference.

[Mrs DJ Fridge]

I don't have an e reader, instead I have a big handbag large enough to accommodate my book. I swap books with colleagues, buy and donate to the charity shop and enjoy browsing in bookshops. I know it's old fashioned, but apart from anything else I can read ink on paper without needing my glasses but backlit screens strain my eyes more so long live books.

I have an ebook mainly because I am the family go to person when someone goes to hospital and if you have a well stocked ebook you can finish one book and go straight onto the next one. I have a very accident prone family, they ride and drive horses which are much more dangerous than motorbikes so I get called to the hospital relatively often. I also have a great ability to talk rubbish for hours on end to keep people occupied whilst waiting for a doctor, the first and second books of general ignorance are very good for this, I have both on my ereader. I know I am leaving myself open to comments about talking rubbish, I am used to it, but love or hate it it is a skill when you are waiting in hospital.

[PyroUK]

Got to love The Slightly Plumper edition!!!

[Mrs DJ Fridge]

Got to love The Slightly Plumper edition!!!

Are you calling me fat? He, he, if you saw me you would know why that is funny.

[PyroUK]

I have just realised what an epic fail that was, as it is in fact, The Discreetly Plumper edition.

I apologise for any offence getting that wrong may have caused.