mp3 vs cd vs vinyl

torrents mean sharing and sharing means love!
(and lotsa stuff i want isn't avaliable anymore, or damned expensive in the buisness of amazebays - so whatts?)

 

I've got absolutely nothing against digital sharing. The band I'm in put out a full-length album this year on a website/"record" label that hosts free album downloads, with the option to donate money.
Given that we now have digital music, I think that music should be free. Whether or not you want to pay to have the music on a physical medium is completely up to you. However, when I can buy a CD or record directly from a band (ie at a show), I usually do so. A lot of smaller touring bands pass through my town and when you're on tour, every penny helps.

I personally love listening to music on vinyl. There are a lot of albums out there that benefit greatly from having that break in the middle, plus I like having the artwork, and even just holding it in my hands. Plus, there's a lot of cool/weird shit you can do with vinyl. There's a band from Toronto called Fucked Up, who started out as a hardcore punk band, then started getting more and more into indie/prog rock. Still pretty good though (in my opinion). Anyway, they had one 7" single where they put half the song on one side, and half on the other, just to annoy people. They also had another record with two sets of grooves, each one with a different sounding mix of the song, so depending on where the needle dropped, it sounded different.

 

vinyls have their advantage with musics produces before 1976, here and there i like the analog brilliance of old hendrix-experience records, but i survived my losses on old shellack-records to and now i'm getting more and more away from the old "holding it in my hands". and i don't spend that much money anymore on music, even if i have some to spend.
music should be free, entertainment and arts don't have to be objects of mass-consume and keeping a whole industry alive while most band still have problems to fund their work and tours.
and what really pisses me are these pay-torrent nets specialising on the stuff not avaliable elsewhere and turning completely against the sharing-idea by paying dues to the industry. fuck them!

 

Seems here is as good a place as any to ask this question. How do I convert my music files to mp3s and then upload them up here? Is there something I need to download because, I'll be honest, I haven't a bloody clue what I'm doing and I'd like to put up some stuff - not least of all the Amebix album if such a thing is allowed. I've read the instructions but the baby steps aren't baby enough for me...

On the topic at hand, I always try to get my music on CD. However, some stuff - such as Contravene, pas example - is very hard to get hold of and if the choice download or nothing, download every time. Vinyl is a little pointless for me as I have no vinyl player and limited space. Maybe one day though. Record collectors are pretentious assholes, after all!

 

there is this foobar 2000 program freely avaliable in the nets, a nice and small player capable of almost all possible music media formats/codexes - and the little wonder has a "convert" option too, along with a .dll lame 3.98.4 it converts into most possible formats and qualities - highly recommended!

for direct ripping of cds: audiograbber, freeware on the nets too, combined again with the lame.dll you can make mp3's fast and reliable.

 

I honestly cannot choose between any of them. They all have pros and cons. CD's are perfect for blasting some music in your car, but they scratch and (from my experience) your friends are probably the main cause of them getting scratched (hahaha) Vinyls are forever irreplaceable because they are classic and, to the older folks, can give a sense of nostalgia. They're also awesome to collect and trade/borrow with other vinyl collectors. But also, like CD's, they scratch. They're also the exact fucking opposite of portable (hahaha) and when you've got shelves and shelves of em' they take up a fuck-ton of room. MP3's are awesome because you can put entire discographies in your pocket. MP3's are the definition of portable. BUT, they also have a downfall because when you've got that much music in the palm of your hand, you can very easily start to neglect the music. Skip, skip, skip, skip, skip, skip. (Some people call it music ADD) That's the exact opposite of what your favorite bands want you to do when you buy/download an album. They want you to listen to the whole fucking thing, that's why they made the whole fucking thing haha.
My point: They're all awesome with a side of small flaws. It's whatever floats your boat.
PEACE!

 

I'd have to say I use them all for different purposes.

I use mp3's a ton for work, and in the car sometimes through the ol' Aux port for practicality purposes. I mainly use soulseek to find a band if I know the name I'm searching for. I use some blogspots for direct downloads, I enjoy those too.

Cd's are quick and easy to give someone or get rid of a couple at your show. Almosteveryone has a means to play them.

Vinyl... mmm. Their packaging is so large that sometimes there's a whole collection of goodies from the band, back patches, posters, lyric sheets(my favorite), pins, sometimes even a "thank you" like in the old crimething distro stuffs. They also, don't sound like the music's sound was defined by how it was recorded, it just sounds how it would at a show.


To me mp3's are practical, cd's are easily distributed, and vinyl is delicious.

and as far as cassette tapes, had collections as a kid, but I just don't like the sound or dealing with the fast forwarding to be honest.

 

well said

 

Mp3's are the shit but I like to buy the actual cd's though. I would collect vinyl if I had a turntable since there's all that good rare shit that isn't available in cd form.

 

I prefer vinyl, everyting I buy is on vinyl these days. I'm 50/50 with cds and digital right now but ultimately i think i will stop getting cds and just go to digital.

As ridiculous as it may sound, I like digital music because it is more enviro-friendly. Less packaging, transporting, and all that shit (and yes I know it still goes on with vinyl but atlest its only the one and not both) .

I collect the vinyl for the physical experience (as mentioned above, the wax, the cover, the posters, etc) and then digital for the ease of mobility (mp3 players can hold my whole vinyl collection in the palm of my hand). I really like that a lot of vinyl comes with a free download these days!

As for torrents, if I'm downloading a torrent, it's usually just to determine whether or not I like the whole album before buying it, or if an album is out of print or hard to find *cough*GISM/Disrupt*cough

 

I personally hate MP3's but i'm generally anti-tech besides the general computer usage on occasion. I just think that when people can use am music player to listen ALL music whenever it can hurt appreciate for it. I don't know people who have listening parties or anything really, quite sad.

 

Or increase appreciation. Think about it, say you live in the middle of fucking nowhere; somewhere grim. You work all day long and make so little money that buying physical music mail-order is out of the question. To you, it's a bourgeoise luxury that loads of punk kids take for granted and rub your nose in online...

 

I prefer to buy mp3s simply as its more convenient and quicker to obtain. However if I do sometimes buy CDs but only if its at a show/record store to support them