Do you still play your actual audio cd's?

[yoda313]

So do you still play your physical audio cd's? Or are they all ripped and in storage now?

I really don't take out the real discs anymore. When I get a new cd I rip it right away and put the disc away. That's what I love about my 30gb capacity on my ZUNE. I really won't run out any time soon. I have quite a few videos on it and 2000+ songs and I still have about 14gbs free

[betwixt]

CDs ?? Are they those round MP3 things with a hole in the middle?

[Noahtuck]

Always play my real cd's!!!

MP3's just sound like crap to me through the home systems & vehicle systems, regardless of the bitrate.

Although i do use MP3's on the pc for listening just to save a little room.

[yoda313]

????

@ Noahtuck - I seem to remember you being somewhat of an expert and pusher for the flac format. You don't use compressed audio???

The convenience is to great for me. Also I have a xbox 360 and my zune plugs right in with my usb cable. I get pure digital sound from the usb cable to the xbox 360 up through my fiber optic cable to my stereo. Plus I can use my xbox remote which works great

[MOVIEGEEK]

I still listen to audio CD's on my home stereo but I listen to MP3 in my car.
Even though my home stereo plays MP3 I still like the sound of uncompressed audio.

[Midzuki]

So do you still play your physical audio cd's?

Of course I do! LONG LIVE Compact Disc Digital Audio!

[träskmannen]

I still listen to audio CD's on my home stereo but I listen to MP3 in my car.

Same here.

I play my LPs once in a while as well.

[Noahtuck]

????

@ Noahtuck - I seem to remember you being somewhat of an expert and pusher for the flac format. You don't use compressed audio???

Oh yeah, i use flac a lot, because of the lossless compression, for storing rare music recordings on a couple of diff. HDD's across a couple of pc's, but just to listen to music occasionally on my main pc i will rip music from my pressed cd's into mp3 at 256 just to save on space.

But as for listening in the truck or throughout my home it's straight up cd's or cdr's!!!!

[p_l]

The only place I ever listen to CDs anymore is in the car. At home, I don't have time, but in the car it's a thing you can do while driving. The 5-year old Pioneer car stereo doesn't play MP3's from a external input, but it does play MP3s on a disc. Since I already have the CDs, though (a collection of thousands built up mostly through the 90's, much of it CD reissues of the LPs and audio cassettes I acquired in the 80's and 70's), I can't be bothered to rip them to an MP3 CD unless I want an exceptionally long "mix tape," to use an equally anachronistic term. I just use the CDs I already have most of the time.

[yoda313]

exceptionally long "mix tape," to use an equally anachronistic term

I have the cure for that - switch "disc" for "tape and you are set - it is a "mix disc" walla! You are in the modern era now

[p_l]

It's like saying you dial a number when you use a push button phone...




or turn on a light when you use a switch...




or film something when you use a video camera.

[dcsos]

You need more modern equipment!


YES THATS an original Nomad (holds 6 songs at 320) and giant AKG phones

[p_l]

And you need to wash your ears, if those are your headphones on the right.


My point is that though technology evolves, the language often retains the term for the original form of the technology.

[yoda313]

Yep like the term "rewind". i don't think we will ever stop saying it even though in the digital era there is nothing physically rewinding.

[p_l]

But even on shows like CSI today, whenever they "rewind" video, you hear a kind of high-pitched reel-to-reel tape audio rewind sound effect, ever notice?

[yoda313]

Well actually I've noticed on my ps3 there is a .5 step fastforward feature where you can here the audio in high pitched mode. Not exactly the same thing.

However I was watching Star Trek 3 the other day and they were reviewing a video and it was obviously tape and had me thinking, boy that future will never happen now! (all digital and that really wasn't a term back in the 80's, not like it is now).

[p_l]

However I was watching Star Trek 3 the other day and they were reviewing a video and it was obviously tape and had me thinking, boy that future will never happen now!

Perhaps in the alternate future of a Mirror Universe, where the men sport goatees and scars, and the women bare midriffs.

[Xylob the Destroyer]

yes, it's really the only option I have in the car. I do not own a portable music device.

[nic2k4]

No, I don't play them anymore, although I won't buy digital music files I still want the CD. I have an OFFA modified DVD player with a hard drive full of MP3's and I recently bought a hard drive media jukebox. For the car I bought a $90 deck that plays MP3's off an SD card; I'm using a 2GB hybrid card that can plug directly in a USB port.

[JohnnyMalaria]

Yes - I only listen to CDs or music DVDs.

I don't have any kind of MP3 player and all the MP3 recordings I have heard sound awful - even at the "premium" bit rates, the artifacts are horribly clear.

[videopoo]

Kinda off topic

Considering the type of folks you visit this site and the results of the poll, I don't see a big future in Movie downloads.

[Noahtuck]

what's movie DL's have to do with the subject of this thread

[oldandinthe way]

Highly a function of where I am listening.

In the car - CD. On the stereo - CD. On the PC - MP3. On the TV - MP3. Note - no portable MP3 player.

[dadrab]

Yes - I only listen to CDs or music DVDs.

I don't have any kind of MP3 player and all the MP3 recordings I have heard sound awful - even at the "premium" bit rates, the artifacts are horribly clear.

That's me in a nutshell. No MP3 devices for me. My kids use them, but not me.

The disc player in my truck will play MP3 discs, and I have been known to build a "mix disc" (zat right?) for low volume playing during 4-wheeling expeditions, but for full volume listening, it's a WAV file for me.

Sorry, but I can hear the difference...

[orsetto]

I still play the actual CDs, hell I even spin vinyl now and then on an old Thorens turntable I restored. Like many new developments, MP3 a generational thing. If you grew up with vinyl LPs, the switch to CD was fairly painless since it was still physical media and after a few years "teething" the players and discs became nearly as good as vinyl without the skips, scratches and pops. MP3, on the other hand, is a total mindf**k if you're used to (and still fond of) actual discs. I have virtually zero interest in the iTunes store or downloading MP3s (other than the Dylan Theme Time broadcasts.) I'm still grieving the loss of the two Tower Records outposts in NYC- the best browsing ever, now gone forever.

I play my CDs on a high end old Nakamichi OMS4A cd player that cost me two weeks pay back in 1987. Other than having to replace the drawer belt every two years, the thing is built like a tank and due to its exceptional transport it adds "weight" and "realness" to even the worst-mastered early CDs (the quality that made me pay thru the nose for it in the first place). For background listening or parties I use an Onkyo 606 carousel changer, which I picked up for $20 at a thrift shop and discovered to have a sound as good or better than any megabuck saloon player I've ever heard, not to mention the best headphone amp ever put into a CD player (look it up- if you need a CD player, a used Onkyo 606 and 909 are astounding values-per-dollar, they get no respect because they're changers so their price stays low).

After much hemming and hawing, I finally caved and bought an iPod- for VIDEO use, primarily. I decided on the "5.5" model over the new classic because it had a cleaner navigation system and easier video out options. It beats a portable DVD player hands down- it holds 40 hours of TV-grade video, runs 12 hours off a supplemental 4-AA pak, and attached to a matchbox size portable RF adapter (for TV connection), the whole kit stashes in the corner of a carryon and makes rainy-day vacation hotel blues disappear. I never use it for audio other than the Dylan TTRH, though- navigating thru more than a few dozen songs gives me a headache. And I do hear the difference vs original CDs- I even hear differences between the various Dylan uploads and have to choose among them carefully.

[TheFamilyMan]

For me, there is no substitute for the CD player, tape deck and turntable attached to my home stereo when it comes to really enjoying recorded music (though I could use a better turntable and phono preamp). I own an iPod shuffle and it rocks solely for its tiny size; it can be worn while doing any chore/project without getting in the way. I've pretty much decided that my Nakamichi's days are numbered: once I get all my valued tapes to digital it'll hopefully find a new home via ebay (I've also got boxes of metal and SAX casssettes that'll go with it).

I also mourn the loss of Tower Records. I grew up in Sacramento, CA where Tower started and I bought my first few LP's there in my pre-teens. About 80% of my CD collection was purchased at the Tower Records in Mountain View,CA. I really liked how they had separate rock, classical, and jazz stores: awesome for browsing.

[JohnnyMalaria]

I play my CDs on a high end old Nakamichi OMS4A cd player that cost me two weeks pay back in 1987. Other than having to replace the drawer belt every two years, the thing is built like a tank and due to its exceptional transport it adds "weight" and "realness" to even the worst-mastered early CDs (the quality that made me pay thru the nose for it in the first place)

My first player was a midi sized Marantz 14-bit (16-bit was way, way, way too expensive since I was a student). The tray was machined from a single piece of alumin(i)um. One time I was bending down (probably looking for a blank metal tape to make my Dolby C recording) and forgot the tray was open. It put a gash in the top of my head!

Sadly, it croaked a while back and just a couple of weeks ago got taken to an electronics recycling 'fair'. Also had to say goodbye to my Dual II turntable which has lain idle for 11 years ever since moving from a 50Hz country to a 60Hz country.

Still got my Aiwa cassette deck, though. And my NAD 3120 amp which needs some repair. One day.

[SCDVD]

With a lot of kids, CDs are a stigma to be avoided like the plague. CDs are considered unfashionable by kids and they would be unmercifully teased if they were seen with a CD player. MP3 is the only socially acceptable player with many kids these days. This stigma is similar to the one some years ago with cassette players like the Walkman after CDs came out. Kids wouldn't be seen with a cassette player. Now CDs have run their course with kids and now they are "old fashioned". This will continue and some day MP3 players will become unfashionable when they are replaced by something newer.

[dadrab]

And my NAD 3120 amp which needs some repair. One day.

There's a guy very close to my house who's a high-end audio dealer. He also deals NAD equipment because he likes the way they sound.

He recently repaird my NAD amp and preamp after some goons doing construction work in our house dropped them.

His rates are very reasonable and he does the work himself, in-house. Got my system back up and running for $150 and it didn't even have to travel two miles both ways. 8)

PM me and I can hook you up with him.

[TBoneit]

Strangely enough that is the phone hooked up in the basement.

Used to be in a house that had old, old wiring. The light switches had two buttons each. You pressed on to turn it on, then the other one popped up and you pressed it to turn the light off.

If kids think CDs are NG they'd have really laughed at 8 Track.

I play more records than CD these days. Here at work I picked up a ION USB turntable to use.

At home I have a belt drive turntable hooked up to a Stereo with Cerwin Vegas and a DVD changer hooked up to the stereo for sound and a 13" color monitor for the video. Nothing beats those big woofers for shaking things up.

So put me in the Records camp, then DVD music Videos, then CDs & MP3s.