The Now Playing Thread

[sunvalleylaw]

I love to buy CD's, (for something I really like, I would rather get the CD than download), but then I rip them into my computer, and play music through it (in a few months when the room with the stereo in it is remodeled) or for now from my ipod into my stereo. Then I don't have to carry all that stuff. We still have a CD changer but rarely use it now. Not having the CD's out preserves them from my little kids' abuse.

Right now, I am going completely digital and streaming the Pandora station discussed here: http://www.thefret.net/showthread.php?t=11897

[marnold***]

I simply abhor downloads and MP3s and all that stuff! Running CD stores, and the "holdit in your hand" CD experience out of business! Browsing CD stores, and, before that, vinyl LPs, was all a HUGE part of the music buying experience...the fun, the enjoyment! Aw, shucks! :

Well, I know you once ran a music store so I understand your take on this. Remember there's also the side of the recording industry artificially inflating CD prices (in a move that can only be described as "contempt of Congress") while simultaneously giving less to the artist that recorded the music in the first place.

I live in a small town. There is no place to buy CDs within about a 25 minute drive. None. Zero. So to buy a CD I need to make a 60 mile round trip--adds up with gas approaching $3 again. Plus, try finding a Joe Bonamassa CD within tactical nuclear weapon distance of here. Good luck! There's one store (a Barnes and Noble) that had one Bonamassa CD. One. His "Live from Nowhere in Particular." Too bad I was looking for another one. The only way I could get "Sloe Gin" was to pay $20 to get it at his concert. Expensive, yes, but at least the money was going directly to him.

With Amazon I can get the stuff I want quickly, cheaply, easily, and legally. I'm buying more music this way. Why the heck would I want to waste my time driving or using some Torrent of a questionable nature (and dubious legality) when I can get it this way? Plus the reality of digital delivery systems means that artists can go more directly to the fans. They don't need the RIAA anymore. That's a good thing. Hopefully that means more good music instead of just rafts of dreck trying to ride the latest trend.

[bigG]

I should start a new Thread about this, but I'd certainly be in a very small minority here.

Here goes: this is the first time in the history of recorded music that the pursuit of ever higher fidelity has not been the goal! (Overlooking the dreaded 8-track, audio cassettes and quadrophonic debacles, all of which died off.) SACD, and to a lesser extent, DVD-A, were a huge step in the right direction, but were buried, with honors, by the seeming preference of the music-buying public for convenience over high(er) fidelity!

That convenience trumps quality when it comes to musical fidelity seems heresy to me! For background music lovers, I can understand. But for those many audiophiles among us music lovers, the squashed, lo-fi sound of downloads and MP3s and their ilk is pure blasphemy!

I have been an audiophile since the late 60s, and I have a HUGE stereo set-up, purchased at a huge price (and many before my current one) that gives me hours of aural pleasure almost daily, whether CD, LP, or SACD, as has been the case for many, many years. Nothing beats parking yourself in the "sweet spot" and letting the great music on a great sound system take you away!

Sad to say that I have all but given up on CD/LP shopping in brick and mortar stores, as the selection gets thinner and thinner thanks to downloads and MP3s and ipods and yourpods and blackberries and raspberries and cell phones, and gawd knows what else! I don't own any of 'em, and doubt I ever will.

Glad to say that I have such a huge collection of LPs, CDs and SACDs that I'm pretty much covered in having most all the music I love already in hand - from classical to blues to jazz to rock, and anything and everything inbetween. My tastes are eclectic and widespread, thank goodness!

I also have a HUGE home theatre set-up that cost huge $, and I see these adds for the Bose Wavelength or Waveform or whatever it's called, and I just laugh and cry at the same time. These people have never heard a good, much less GREAT home theatre set-up! Or they certainly wouldn't be so blown away by that simple, silly little box! (That's WAY over-priced, btw!)

It seems to me that going from hi-fidelity, in all its glory, to lo-fi downloads and MP3s is analogous to going from a Les Paul or a Strat thru a Marshall or a Vox to a Sears Silvertone guitar thru a Sears Silvertone combo amp w paper-thin speakers...Surely you can understand that analogy!

End of rant. Not telling anyone what they "should" like, just expressing MY opinion as to the state of recorded music as it exists today for the seemingly ever-growing bulk of music listeners. *whew* and :

[sunvalleylaw]

Marnold, I suffer the same lack of buying options. The only place around here to buy CD's is Starbucks. What a laugh! And if I drive to Twin Falls, an hour and a half away, I have only Target and Walmart type options pretty much. I tried to find "The Wall" down there, and couldn't! So I guess I have to Amazon it, or wait until our vacation to the Seattle area. The question I face with Amazon is am I going to download (from there or iTunes depending), or do I order the CD so I can get the stuff that goes with it. I do love album art, liner notes, etc.

Oh yeah, right now I am listening to Jeff Beck, She's A Woman, on Pandora. P.S. I wouldn't mind a new thread on this BigG. I find it interesting.

[bigG]

Marnold, I suffer the same lack of buying options. The only place around here to buy CD's is Starbucks. What a laugh! And if I drive to Twin Falls, an hour and a half away, I have only Target and Walmart type options pretty much. I tried to find "The Wall" down there, and couldn't! So I guess I have to Amazon it, or wait until our vacation to the Seattle area. The question I face with Amazon is am I going to download (from there or iTunes depending), or do I order the CD so I can get the stuff that goes with it. I do love album art, liner notes, etc.

Oh yeah, right now I am listening to Jeff Beck, She's A Woman, on Pandora. P.S. I wouldn't mind a new thread on this BigG. I find it interesting.

Thanks, svl! Being as hi-tech illiterate as I am, if you can tell me how to re-post this as a new Thread, I'm glad to do it!

[sunvalleylaw]

Sure BG, when I get off on a tangent, and want to take it to a new thread, I generally hit the quote button on my post, then cut or copy the quote, then migrate over and start the new thread and paste the quote in, generally with an explanation, and start the new thread. If I have more than one post to bring over, I use the quote and edit features and copy and paste away. I often, but not always, use two browser windows to do this. Whether I delete the original post depends on how badly I diverted the thread. In a case like this, I am not sure it is necessary. It is only a coupla posts and we are moving on to a new thread.

I was going to PM you this, but thought other members might get some benefit out of seeing it too. See you over in your new thread, I am quite interested in the discussion, but a while later. I have to go do some work now.

[bigG]

It is done, SVL, mucho thanks!

[R_of_G]

[R_of_G]

Happy Birthday to a guitarist I have idolized since I was a teenager, the great Greg Ginn.

[bigG]

Today I have some tasty live albums on the menu:

Ten Years After - Undead

Gary Moore - Blues Alive

SRV & 2xTrouble - Live Alive

BB King - Live at The Apollo

Great stuff! No doubt I'll be jamming along w these later today!

[tunghaichuan***]

Up next:

[R_of_G]

I view The Final Cut more as Roger's first solo album than I do a Pink Floyd album. That's not really a criticism as I quite like Roger's solo work. It just sounds much more like what he did after than much that he did with the Floyd.

NP:

Pixies - Surfer Rosa

I would post the album cover but it has bare boob and this is a family friendly forum. If you want to see the cover (and the boobage), Google Image Search for it.

[marnold***]

It'd be easy to dismiss Fozzy as a Chris Jericho vanity project, but "All That Remains" is actually a really good hard rock/metal album. My only complaint is that the mix sounds over-compressed like Metallica's "Death Magnetic."

[tunghaichuan***]

I view The Final Cut more as Roger's first solo album than I do a Pink Floyd album. That's not really a criticism as I quite like Roger's solo work. It just sounds much more like what he did after than much that he did with the Floyd.

I would agree with that assessment. Gilmour sounds awesome on this album as always, but at the same there is a slight feeling that he was just phoning it in. By this time Gilmour and Waters hated each other, right?

NP:

Pixies - Surfer Rosa

I would post the album cover but it has bare boob and this is a family friendly forum. If you want to see the cover (and the boobage), Google Image Search for it.

Thanks for the heads up. : 'Cause, lik finding pix of nekkid wimmin' on the 'net is so hard.

tung

[R_of_G]

I would agree with that assessment. Gilmour sounds awesome on this album as always, but at the same there is a slight feeling that he was just phoning it in. By this time Gilmour and Waters hated each other, right?

I believe that's correct. I've read that Gilmour wasn't particularly thrilled with the touring for the Wall because the stage show was so orchestrated that it required the band to play the songs more or less the same way every night so the timing of the show would match up. This meant Gilmour had very little freedom in his soloing. His work on The Final Cut is still great because he's the consummate professional. He gave Roger what he wanted but it seemed he was more of a hired hand than a true collaborator at that point.

[tunghaichuan***]

A little viking death metal for your consideration:









tung

[R_of_G]

[R_of_G]

[just strum]

as already noted in another thread