For as long as I can remember, I've been a collector of things. The main thing I've collected over the past 25 years has been music. It started out purely as cassettes, since we didn't have a CD player yet. After I finally got a CD player, I collected both cassettes and CDs since we still had cassette players in our cars. When I finally got a CD player in my car, I eventually gave up on cassettes and just bought CDs. In the past ten years, I've been collecting CDs, lossy digital files, vinyl, and even an occasional cassette. I'm not really fond of digital files. The only time I really listen to them is on my iPod and an old iPhone 4S while I'm at work. I can listen to them in my car through a jack, but it just feels weird. I don't even think it's due to their lossy nature so much as that they should probably be played through a headphone amp. There's also a hum, making for an annoyingly loud noise floor. Thus, I stick to CDs in my car. Living in a small space, I can see the appeal of doing digital only, mainly that it takes up less room in your living space than physical copies do, but I don't trust hard drives to keep them around forever. You're probably better off backing them up on an SD card or flash drive.
When some people see my CD collection, they're like, "Wow, you have a lot of CDs!" Some people probably think I have too many, but I don't see how some people can claim to like music and have 50 CDs or fewer. I think a lot of those people tend to be radio listeners. If people took a closer look, they would see that my collection is made up of multiple albums from certain bands and artists, sometimes even a band's entire catalog, or at least every studio album. This would be okay if I were content to have only these, but as soon as I complete one band's catalog, I find another band to obsess over. It usually starts by buying some band's compilation. I end up falling in love with the compilation, and then I want more, so I seek out every album from that band that I can find. This tends to happen most with New Wave or synth-pop bands from the 1980s who have mostly faded into obscurity in the U.S.. I feel like I'm the only Heaven 17 fan in the Louisville area sometimes, but I know I'm not the only person in the Louisville area to have heard them since I found a previously owned copy of "Higher and Higher: The Best of Heaven 17" at Book & Music Exchange. The only other Heaven 17 albums I own are "Before After", which I found at an FYE during the store's closing out sale, and "Live at Metropolis Studios", which I heard about through Heaven 17's Facebook page, and pre-ordered on Amazon. I have not found any other Heaven 17 CDs in stores around Louisville, so it seems like I'll have to go the online route.
To make matters worse, I'm also something of a junior audiophile. I'm guilty of buying multiple versions of the same album purely for sound comparison purposes, but I'm pretty restrained compared to some people. They will buy a copy of every unique mastering of an album from all over the world to find what they consider to be the best sounding version out there. Reading multiple people coming to multiple conclusions is maddening. As far as my comparisons have gone, there are some where one version sounds significantly better than another, and it's not always the most dynamic version sounding better than a heavily compressed version. Then there are times where the differences in sound are significant, but I can't really decide which one is better. For instance, I've had the Steve Hoffman DCC gold disc version of Metallica's "Master of Puppets" for fifteen years now, and it's considered by many to be the best CD version. I recently bought the Blackened Recordings version (same mastering as the Elektra-E/M Ventures versions) of it for comparison purposes, and because it was only $5. They're both very different, and they both have their pros and cons, and I have not determined a clear winner. I'm tempted to buy an original Elektra to do further comparisons. I also want to see if it sounds any more like the old MoP cassette that my brother had than the later masterings did, including the remastered cassette I bought in 1995. Anyway, back to Heaven 17, the easiest to find versions of their albums are remasters. Judging from the Dynamic Range Database, they don't seem to be horribly compressed, but I can't see them sounding as good as my "Higher and Higher" compilation, which is one of my favorite sounding CDs in my collection (Thanks Greg Calbi!). Besides that, I've also read about mastering errors that have nothing to do with overall sound quality, but these errors may possibly have been fixed.
Update, July 9, 2016: It has occurred to me that since vinyl and cassettes were the dominant formats in the 1980s, that it's easier to find used copies of obscure 1980s albums on those formats than on CD, whereas it's easier to find albums from the late 1980s and 1990s on CD and cassette. I've been looking for Genesis's 1983 self-titled album on CD, but have so far only found the vinyl and cassette. I've bought a couple of Heaven 17 albums on vinyl, but I'm still itching to get those remastered CDs. I also managed to get an old Elektra CD of Metallica's "Master of Puppets", and I've found it superior to the '95 Marino remaster and the DCC Hoffman re-remaster. (As it turns out, Steve Hoffman was given the '95 Marino remasters to work with. I don't know if that was due to his reputation, which I won't go into here, or because whoever sent him the remasters thought they were adequate.) As you probably know by now, Metallica has just released brand new remasters of their first two albums. I'll probably comment on those in another entry, but I am looking forward to having a new version of "Master of Puppets" to compare, along with a new "...And Justice For All".
It is a really frustrating time to be a collector of physical formats, at least if you're the type that likes to go hunting locally. Doubly so if you're something of an audiophile, since you might only be able to find a remaster when you want an original, or an original when you want a remaster. The music selection at the department/chain stores is shrinking. The CD selection at Target is pathetic. Walmart's selection is also barely there, plus they have edited albums. The Best Buy CD section is a shell of its former self, and while it still has a better selection than Walmart or Target, it's horribly disorganized. FYE still has an okay selection, but they're concentrating more on pop culture stuff than music. I'm lucky to live in a town with multiple record stores, at least three of which I love, but I still miss Ear X-tacy and the days of the mega record store.
Speaking of frustrating, vinyl is way too damn expensive these days! It seems like you're lucky if you find a new album on vinyl for twice as much as the CD. Even if the vinyl legitimately sounds better than the CD, I'd almost rather just settle for the CD. And while there has been some progress in the Loudness War, there are still enough badly mastered albums out there to make me want to quit buying new music altogether.
I won't be surprised if the vinyl record market implodes, and I'm afraid that when it does, CDs will be too dead to make the kind of comeback that vinyl has. And since CDs are dying, I feel compelled to not only get CDs that I'm actively looking for, but CDs that I didn't know I wanted! (I would put an LOL here, but I don't think abbreviations like that belong in blogs.) I've never been a huge Green Day fan, but bought "Dookie" recently since it's cheap, and somewhat of a landmark, at least in the sense that it seemed to be the first Punk Rock that most kids who were into mainstream Rock had heard. I like some of Dire Strait's songs, but never had any interest in owning their albums, outside of maybe a compilation. I ended up buying a used copy of the original mastering of "Brothers In Arms" just because I had heard that it sounded better than the remasters. I'm also not a huge fan of late Eighties/Nineties R&B, but have been tempted to buy New Edition's "Gold". It not only has New Edition's hits, but a lot of the solo/Bell Biv DeVoe hits as well. The only songs I feel are really missing from it are "Candy Girl", "Popcorn Love", and BBD's "Do Me!", but I guess I'll just have to get the "Candy Girl" and BBD "Poison" albums for those songs. I'm pretty sure that the former two tracks weren't included on "Gold" because the "Candy Girl" album was on a different label, and getting the rights to them probably wasn't worth the trouble. Anyway, another factor in why I'd want to get New Edition's "Gold" is because all of the Motown/Universal R&B compilations I've heard so far have sounded pretty good and they're cheap.
But wait! I probably shouldn't mourn the death of CDs just yet. It appears that digital downloads, at least of albums, are declining even more rapidly than CDs. Or maybe those rumors are false, and downloads aren't declining as fast as some sites say they are. But either way, as far as digital goes, streaming is now where it's at. Call me an old fogey, but I don't really get streaming as a source for music that I would actually want to own.
As I mentioned earlier, physical product takes up way too much space. I sometimes wish I didn't like it so much, and were open to just giving it away so I could just pack up a suitcase and go wherever I want to go. But one of my few real pleasures is listening to well recorded and mastered music on decent equipment. Have you ever listened to "In The Air Tonight" by Phil Collins on vinyl or CD (excluding the recent remasters)? If you've only heard it on the radio, then you're missing out. The difference is that when you listen to it on CD or vinyl, the part where the drums kick in really knocks you on your ass. I also remember listening to Yes's "Roundabout" from an original CD version of "Fragile" on my cousin's system, and being floored by how the acoustic guitar kind of jumps out of the speakers. I also remember being floored the first time I heard "Rosalita (Come Out Tonight)" on "The Essential Bruce Springsteen". That part where the music stops and starts back up again just doesn't sound as impressive on the radio.
Update, July 9, 2016: It has occurred to me that since vinyl and cassettes were the dominant formats in the 1980s, that it's easier to find used copies of obscure 1980s albums on those formats than on CD, whereas it's easier to find albums from the late 1980s and 1990s on CD and cassette. I've been looking for Genesis's 1983 self-titled album on CD, but have so far only found the vinyl and cassette. I've bought a couple of Heaven 17 albums on vinyl, but I'm still itching to get those remastered CDs. I also managed to get an old Elektra CD of Metallica's "Master of Puppets", and I've found it superior to the '95 Marino remaster and the DCC Hoffman re-remaster. (As it turns out, Steve Hoffman was given the '95 Marino remasters to work with. I don't know if that was due to his reputation, which I won't go into here, or because whoever sent him the remasters thought they were adequate.) As you probably know by now, Metallica has just released brand new remasters of their first two albums. I'll probably comment on those in another entry, but I am looking forward to having a new version of "Master of Puppets" to compare, along with a new "...And Justice For All".
It is a really frustrating time to be a collector of physical formats, at least if you're the type that likes to go hunting locally. Doubly so if you're something of an audiophile, since you might only be able to find a remaster when you want an original, or an original when you want a remaster. The music selection at the department/chain stores is shrinking. The CD selection at Target is pathetic. Walmart's selection is also barely there, plus they have edited albums. The Best Buy CD section is a shell of its former self, and while it still has a better selection than Walmart or Target, it's horribly disorganized. FYE still has an okay selection, but they're concentrating more on pop culture stuff than music. I'm lucky to live in a town with multiple record stores, at least three of which I love, but I still miss Ear X-tacy and the days of the mega record store.
Speaking of frustrating, vinyl is way too damn expensive these days! It seems like you're lucky if you find a new album on vinyl for twice as much as the CD. Even if the vinyl legitimately sounds better than the CD, I'd almost rather just settle for the CD. And while there has been some progress in the Loudness War, there are still enough badly mastered albums out there to make me want to quit buying new music altogether.
I won't be surprised if the vinyl record market implodes, and I'm afraid that when it does, CDs will be too dead to make the kind of comeback that vinyl has. And since CDs are dying, I feel compelled to not only get CDs that I'm actively looking for, but CDs that I didn't know I wanted! (I would put an LOL here, but I don't think abbreviations like that belong in blogs.) I've never been a huge Green Day fan, but bought "Dookie" recently since it's cheap, and somewhat of a landmark, at least in the sense that it seemed to be the first Punk Rock that most kids who were into mainstream Rock had heard. I like some of Dire Strait's songs, but never had any interest in owning their albums, outside of maybe a compilation. I ended up buying a used copy of the original mastering of "Brothers In Arms" just because I had heard that it sounded better than the remasters. I'm also not a huge fan of late Eighties/Nineties R&B, but have been tempted to buy New Edition's "Gold". It not only has New Edition's hits, but a lot of the solo/Bell Biv DeVoe hits as well. The only songs I feel are really missing from it are "Candy Girl", "Popcorn Love", and BBD's "Do Me!", but I guess I'll just have to get the "Candy Girl" and BBD "Poison" albums for those songs. I'm pretty sure that the former two tracks weren't included on "Gold" because the "Candy Girl" album was on a different label, and getting the rights to them probably wasn't worth the trouble. Anyway, another factor in why I'd want to get New Edition's "Gold" is because all of the Motown/Universal R&B compilations I've heard so far have sounded pretty good and they're cheap.
But wait! I probably shouldn't mourn the death of CDs just yet. It appears that digital downloads, at least of albums, are declining even more rapidly than CDs. Or maybe those rumors are false, and downloads aren't declining as fast as some sites say they are. But either way, as far as digital goes, streaming is now where it's at. Call me an old fogey, but I don't really get streaming as a source for music that I would actually want to own.
As I mentioned earlier, physical product takes up way too much space. I sometimes wish I didn't like it so much, and were open to just giving it away so I could just pack up a suitcase and go wherever I want to go. But one of my few real pleasures is listening to well recorded and mastered music on decent equipment. Have you ever listened to "In The Air Tonight" by Phil Collins on vinyl or CD (excluding the recent remasters)? If you've only heard it on the radio, then you're missing out. The difference is that when you listen to it on CD or vinyl, the part where the drums kick in really knocks you on your ass. I also remember listening to Yes's "Roundabout" from an original CD version of "Fragile" on my cousin's system, and being floored by how the acoustic guitar kind of jumps out of the speakers. I also remember being floored the first time I heard "Rosalita (Come Out Tonight)" on "The Essential Bruce Springsteen". That part where the music stops and starts back up again just doesn't sound as impressive on the radio.
