For the nostalgia threads: Why I prefer digital music files

[Vintage Old School]

For me I saw a documentary about two months ago that lit the fire to revisit the music of my youth. The price to replace all my old LP albums with CDs was prohibitive and frankly many of them have not ever been released in CD format. My goal is not to collect new albums, just to listen to the albums that I have.

Listening to vinyl again was like an instant transport back to the days of my youth. I was flooded with all sorts of memories. I remembered the jobs I had to do in order to save up enough for each album I purchased. There was no instant gratification in those days--I had to work for my music and catch a ride to go to Tower Records to decide which album I wanted the most. I also rediscovered the joy of reading the liner and jacket notes, credits, lyrics and looking at the artwork. There's something more natural to me about holding a jacket in my hands to read rather than reading off of a device. And the music actually sounds bigger and different to me now . . . it ought to coming out of my studio reference monitors rather than my cheap archaic Radio Shack speakers. This is likely as close to hearing the actual mix as it was being mastered in the era of rock music being birthed.

Don't worry, I'm still buying CDs for new music. But I've got to tell you, you can't beat the nostalgia of listening to vinyl.

Let's regroup and revisit this thread in another 30 years when all your kids inherit their parents' CD collections and rediscover the joy of music apart from instant streaming.

 

[wildbill]

....Why would I want to sit at home in front of my stereo (or with headphones) to hear the music I grew up with? I get the nostalgia bit, but does anybody really have the time?

Discuss

Some things are worth making time for.

 

[Bo Eder]

I too, miss reading liner notes and admiring album cover artwork. Some would say it was because of the record albums that shooting film in a Hasselblad camera (square format) remains so cool today. I simply cannot read the liner notes on a CD booklet unless I had a magnifying glass these days. We come from such a different era compared to the kids these days - we used to collect music and it was all about having the latest album by so-and-so and whatnot. Now kids just instantly stream it from somewhere and other than collecting a new device every two years, I'm not sure they're spending their money like we used to. But I'm sure their apartments and homes will be more spartan, eh?

But I'm not sure what it means to listen to music on the medium it was meant for though. I recall having an old album by the Four Freshmen from the 1950s, and then I found it again re-mastered for CD, and literally the CD version blew the old vinyl record out of the water in terms of sound quality. Jimmy Page has done some really night-and-day re-masters of the old Led Zeppelin stuff (listen to the difference between the vinyl version of The Song Remains the Same, and the newer re-mastered CD version) - all of a sudden those old records, via re-mastering, had bass, and BASS DRUM...it was striking.

I think if they were legitimate recordings made, then they should stand-up to whatever re-mastering they go through for any new mediums in the future. Some old hit songs that have been forgotten, were not recorded with longevity in mind and sound just as bad today as they did back then.

 

[Bo Eder]

Some things are worth making time for.

Thats what everybody says when all they have is time

 

[wildbill]

Thats what everybody says when all they have is time

Truth

 

[toddmc]

Let's talk about how we used to play along to songs back in the day shall we?

My brilliant setup circa 1998 consisted of a Sony CD Discman, safety earmuffs with a pair of headphones from an old Walkman inside them, CD folder sitting on the floor and a pillow to stop the constant CD skips from the vibrations of the kit.

Nowdays I plug my phone into the mix-in port of the module and listen/ play through quality heaphones- I know which setup I prefer

 

[Xstr8edgtnrdrmrX]

I'm a listener first and foremost. I'm not picky about the medium. It doesnt need to sound "better" for me to enjoy it. This is my whole life, not just today.

This doesnt mean I dont want music to sound good. It means I just want music and dont care how I get it. It's my version of being a junkie. Any music is better than none.

I also got into the streaming thing due tot he space demand for my large CD collection. As much as I hate not getting the jewel case and all of thhe packaging artwork, I LOVE not having to dedicate an entire room off the house to media storage and use.

I alos love having access to at least 98% of fmy 5000 Cd's anywhere I am

I do most of my listening in the car, or on the move. I wish I had time to build an audiophile set up, but it would be a waste of time, money and space.

I was never one of the people who really lamented the difference in sound quality either