What format is most of your music library in? - Page 4

ManosHandsOfFate · 09-06-2010, 10:29 AM

Music I listen to - MP3
Music to which I no longer listen but to which I have a nostalgic attachment - CD

Sweetpea · 09-06-2010, 10:31 AM

MP3's. It's been ages since I've bought a CD. Don't even have a CD player (not counting the DVD players in the PC's) in the house anymore (ok, we do have one, somewhere, hidden away behind all those boxes...)

Maggie May · 09-08-2010, 10:58 AM

I've ripped all my cds to mp3
The sound is pretty good. No complaints.

Mag.

John1997 · 09-08-2010, 12:33 PM

I'm even more of a luddite--I think I have more sheet music than recorded music! Mostly stuff from my Mother who really enjoyed playing.

And I have Player Piano rolls, cylinders (mostly Edison Blue Amberol), several shelves of 78's (down from about 10,000 78's a few years ago).

We do International Folk Dance, and most of the music for that is in OGG format, taken from out-of-print 78's/45's or ripped from current (and yes, paid for) CD's. On that last point, so few people record this music that I feel it's important to offer them a financial incentive to continue putting in all the hard work. It may be a labor of love, but people still have to eat. :-)

sakura-panda · 09-08-2010, 01:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sonny Blount

As a comparison to the current situation of paper books giving way to electronic books, I think observing how quickly our libraries of other media have transfered to newer formats offers some insight into how quickly the paper to ebook shift is likely to occur.

It's not really comparable though, is it? I can't take my existing books and move them to a digital format and still be able to use those books. I'm not interested in repurchasing some of my collection, and the parts I do want to shift seem to not be available in digital format.

I buy CDs exclusively. I bought my first CD about 20 years ago and for the last 15 years, they have been ripped to the mp3 format. I listen to the CDs themselves more often than I listen to those mp3s. I do use my iPod enough to justify having them converted, but I find it more convenient to listen to the CDs themselves than to program the iPod.

I honestly can't see what one has to do with the other. If mp3s were independent from CDs, like ebooks are from paper books, I'm sure I wouldn't have any mp3 files at all.

Lady Fitzgerald · 09-08-2010, 06:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sakura-panda

It's not really comparable though, is it? I can't take my existing books and move them to a digital format and still be able to use those books...

Actually, you can but it is a lot of work and requires an investment in certain equipment such as high speed ADF scanners (flat plate will work if only doing a few books but it's slow as a dead turtle), paper cutters, etc. CD to MP3 is much easier since all one needs is a computer with an optical drive and some software that can be obtained for free. I've been digitizing my books and I'm already using them without any more problems than using MP3s present. A dedicated MP3 player is roughly analogous to a dedicated e-book reader. Despite certain, minor compromises, I've found reading e-books to be far more convenient to reading p-books.

Granted, one would have to have some serious motivation to want to undertake digitizing their present p-book library, especially if it is very large. In my case, it's a looming lack of room that will force me otherwise part with my p-books (something I would prefer death to) in the not too distant future.

Quote:

Originally Posted by sakura-panda

...I buy CDs exclusively. I bought my first CD about 20 years ago and for the last 15 years, they have been ripped to the mp3 format. I listen to the CDs themselves more often than I listen to those mp3s. I do use my iPod enough to justify having them converted, but I find it more convenient to listen to the CDs themselves than to program the iPod...

I actually find playing MP3s to be far, far more convenient than playing my CDs (which I will be getting rid of once I get over my irrational attachment to them, something that will have to happen soon). The only time I now buy CDs instead of downloading MP3s is if high quality downloads are unavailable or I'm wanting the cover art/data that comes with the CD (the latter rarely being available for download). However, it is far more convenient (and usually less expensive) to buy the download than to have to rip the CD.

At home, it is fairly easy to que up a playlist (which can be saved) to play the MP3s on my computer, which is connected to a 5.1 sound system. My truck has a 6 CD changer that can hold 20-30 hours worth of music, even more if I were to plug in a player with a decent sized HDD or SSD. I don't use a portable player (don't especially want one) but if I did, it wouldn't be an iPod. From what people have told me, they can be inconvenient to program. I also will not use iTunes because it can be inconvenient. I'm using a legacy organizer program that will also play my music on whatever computer player I choose (I use VLC) but will need to upgrade when I upgrade from XP to the OS du Jour when I upgrade in two or three years (Win 8 should be out by then; there is nothing wrong with Win 7 except my current machine, which is only 2 years old, won't run on it and I want to get my money's worth out of it).

Quote:

Originally Posted by sakura-panda

...I honestly can't see what one has to do with the other. If mp3s were independent from CDs, like ebooks are from paper books, I'm sure I wouldn't have any mp3 files at all.

I don't really how you can say mp3s are any more or less independent from CDs than e-books are from p-books. Both e-books and mp3s are digital replacements for physical media. Once I destroy my physical CDs, my mp3s are going to be completely independent of them (they might as well be now since I never use the CDs anymore). Digitizing my p-books destroys them.

sakura-panda · 09-09-2010, 10:56 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lady Fitzgerald

I don't really how you can say mp3s are any more or less independent from CDs than e-books are from p-books. Both e-books and mp3s are digital replacements for physical media. Once I destroy my physical CDs, my mp3s are going to be completely independent of them (they might as well be now since I never use the CDs anymore). Digitizing my p-books destroys them.

I use both mp3s and CDs independently of each other for different applications. After I convert my CDs to mp3s, I can continue to use the CDs, but to convert books to ebooks, my understanding is that I will no longer have the physical book.

Since I keep my original source -- files, documents, discs, books, negatives, whatever it happens to be -- I will not be doing a format shift that destroys it. However, this is also my opinion and my workflow and I don't expect anyone else to follow it or to even use it as their own guideline.

I suppose I should have said so in my first response, that because of the choices that I make, I do not believe that the shift from physical to digital music is comparable to what is happening with books because, in my case, it is easy to adapt to the new format using my current music collections, and still use the original and new formats independently of each other, but significantly more difficult to do the same with my book collections.

phenomshel · 09-09-2010, 04:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sweetpea

MP3's. It's been ages since I've bought a CD. Don't even have a CD player (not counting the DVD players in the PC's) in the house anymore (ok, we do have one, somewhere, hidden away behind all those boxes...)

What Sweetpea said...

chainring · 09-09-2010, 04:25 PM

I voted mp3, although the majority of my music is in lossless form of FLAC, then transcoded to AAC when I want it on a portable device. I still have all the CDs this music was ripped from, so I guess I could double vote.

MacEachaidh · 09-09-2010, 09:18 PM

CDs are a step down in sound quality from LPs. I was kinda pushed into that world when all my LPs were stolen and couldn't be replaced in their original format (actually, many of them I still haven't been able to replace in any format), though I admit I appreciated the space-saving that came with CDs.

MP3 is a further step down again, and I'm not keen to go there. I'm not one who thinks woofy sounds are generally better; I likes me a bit of treble and overtones in my music, and oftentimes even high-Kb mp3s sound like listening to the music through a blanket.

View Poll Results: What format is most of your music library in?
MP3 or similar (10 years)	67	63.21%
CD (20 years)	32	30.19%
Cassette (30 years)	2	1.89%
LP (60 years)	4	3.77%
Sheet Music (200 years)	1	0.94%
Voters: 106. You may not vote on this poll

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09-06-2010, 10:29 AM	#46
ManosHandsOfFate Addict Posts: 298 Karma: 1537324 Join Date: Aug 2010 Location: Chicago Device: Nook, K3, Fire, Nexus 7	Music I listen to - MP3 Music to which I no longer listen but to which I have a nostalgic attachment - CD

09-06-2010, 10:31 AM	#47
Sweetpea Grand Sorcerer Posts: 9,707 Karma: 32763414 Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Krewerd Device: Pocketbook Inkpad 4 Color; Samsung Galaxy Tab S6	MP3's. It's been ages since I've bought a CD. Don't even have a CD player (not counting the DVD players in the PC's) in the house anymore (ok, we do have one, somewhere, hidden away behind all those boxes...)

09-08-2010, 10:58 AM	#48
Maggie May Grand Sorcerer Posts: 8,907 Karma: 87755439 Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Ireland Device: CYbook Gen3 and Sony PRS 3505 Kindle 3 G Nexus 7 iPad	I've ripped all my cds to mp3 The sound is pretty good. No complaints. Mag.

09-08-2010, 12:33 PM	#49
John1997 Enthusiast Posts: 34 Karma: 80 Join Date: Dec 2009 Device: Jetbook Lite	I'm even more of a luddite--I think I have more sheet music than recorded music! Mostly stuff from my Mother who really enjoyed playing. And I have Player Piano rolls, cylinders (mostly Edison Blue Amberol), several shelves of 78's (down from about 10,000 78's a few years ago). We do International Folk Dance, and most of the music for that is in OGG format, taken from out-of-print 78's/45's or ripped from current (and yes, paid for) CD's. On that last point, so few people record this music that I feel it's important to offer them a financial incentive to continue putting in all the hard work. It may be a labor of love, but people still have to eat. :-)

09-09-2010, 04:25 PM	#54
chainring Addict Posts: 210 Karma: 1000659 Join Date: Jan 2009 Location: Sunnyvale, CA Device: Kindle Voyage, Kobo Aura H2O, PRS-650 (black), Kindle 3G	I voted mp3, although the majority of my music is in lossless form of FLAC, then transcoded to AAC when I want it on a portable device. I still have all the CDs this music was ripped from, so I guess I could double vote.

09-09-2010, 09:18 PM	#55
MacEachaidh Browser Posts: 745 Karma: 578294 Join Date: Apr 2010 Location: Australia Device: Kobo Touch, Kobo Aura HD	CDs are a step down in sound quality from LPs. I was kinda pushed into that world when all my LPs were stolen and couldn't be replaced in their original format (actually, many of them I still haven't been able to replace in any format), though I admit I appreciated the space-saving that came with CDs. MP3 is a further step down again, and I'm not keen to go there. I'm not one who thinks woofy sounds are generally better; I likes me a bit of treble and overtones in my music, and oftentimes even high-Kb mp3s sound like listening to the music through a blanket.