the future of recorded music

[Gurn Blanston]

But you don't need to own and you couldn't own all the music you ever might want to hear on a given occassion and perhaps that is why streaming is the way to go in future. Even Youtube makes it possible to hear music you don't own - albeit in poor quality often. I am not for or against but it is interesting. How much does possession of the item matter. Must we 'own' the music?

Well, since I've given that some thought now that you've asked it, I can say that 'owning' actually does give me some flexibility that streaming wouldn't do. I can truly play what I want, when I want, without being bound to my 'listening room' so to speak. It would be hard to find a lot of my favorites in an online library, although if I could do, it would go a long way towards pushing me in that direction. As for physical possession, once you pass a certain point it becomes rather more a pain in the ass than an ego boost. If it wasn't for the security of knowing that I can restore my 'rips' should I lose them, I would be rid of disks now. Also, I would take a moment (but not dwell on) to look at copyright issues. If I buy a disk, I can rip it and store it away and do just what I do now. If the copyright police knock on my door, I just pull out the disk and scream about fair use. However, if I sell the disk after ripping and that situation arose, I would be well and truly screwed. Not worryin', just sayin'...

Hear, hear. Or, as it may be, whether I have a certain recording of a certain piece of music (which I suspect is also true for the Gurnatron).

Yes indeed. You know me, Karl, I would give you all 30 different modern instrument versions on the streaming server of a Mozart piano concerto for one, favored fortepiano version....

[Gurn Blanston]

Addendum:
I really did mean to add though that if I had to go down the road to streaming music as you envision it, I am well-aware that there is already hardware out there that can make it portable for me. I wouldn't be 'stuck' with what I have now and trying to make it fit with the new media. Still, it will have to go a ways before I am totally in love with it. I already like the concept, it is just lacking in execution right now...

[OzRadio]

I prefer cds for the convenience and portability. I don't really know how to listen to digital files except on a computer and I don't want to sit at my computer to listen to music. And the thought of ripping and tagging several hundred cds makes my head spin. I could see if you're online most of the day a streaming account might be just as convenient.

[Bulldog]

I prefer cds for the convenience and portability. I don't really know how to listen to digital files except on a computer and I don't want to sit at my computer to listen to music. And the thought of ripping and tagging several hundred cds makes my head spin. I could see if you're online most of the day a streaming account might be just as convenient.

Even though the excellent streaming Naxos service has a huge inventory, there are many great labels and recordings not included.  Overall, I find a streaming account a supplement to the foundation of discs and/or downloads.

[ongakublue]

Even though the excellent streaming Naxos service has a huge inventory, there are many great labels and recordings not included.  Overall, I find a streaming account a supplement to the foundation of discs and/or downloads.

Yep, it would have to change whereby the big labels allow streaming but it could well catch on now naxos is the shining light. Like high quality radio except you pick what composer(s) to listen to and in any order and many versions. Last.fm won't allow you to play full albums by an artist on request I think. You can't listen to just Mozart for an hour for example. It is limiting. 

[DavidRoss]

This is true now, though over the course of the next 5, 10, or 20 years, I'll bet that improves. 

One thing I like reading in various magazines and newspapers is how comparatively slow America's internet service is in general.  You need to go to South Korea and Japan if you want smokin' fast service.  This disparity has of course led to people talking about a bandwidth gap; America is not only behind other countries in bandwidth, but dangerously so.  Yet my life seems so pleasant . . .

My mother lives in the mountains with phone service via old wiring, too many tall trees for satellite, and a cable company that still doesn't feel it would be sufficiently profitable to offer broadband internet in the area.  Her only decent hope is a project to replace old wiring with fiberoptics, or for the damned cable company to get its head out of its rear.  Recently they learned that "Stimulus Funding" intended to bring broadband internet service to rural citizens is headed for their county...but before the cheering died down, they also learned that various government services in town that already have broadband internet will be taking all the money for their own upgrades. 

Re. Naxos streaming:  I love it!  Not for regular listening, but for previewing prospective purchases.  Perhaps when redbook or better quality downloads and solid state drives become cheap and common enough, I will switch to file downloads, but until then I keep buying CDs (but far less often than I used to!).

[greg]

One thing I like reading in various magazines and newspapers is how comparatively slow America's internet service is in general.  You need to go to South Korea and Japan if you want smokin' fast service. 

The thing about South Korea is that they all have to use Internet Explorer. 
I don't remember if it's a law or not, but close to 100% use it.

[George]

hello all,
today i posted an interesting review with the head of the Naxos label. He was talking about the sales in CDs as opposed to mp3 downloads and so on.

Hello, Jamie. 

I read much of that review, as I recall, he spoke optimistically about the present and future of physical media. I was very happy to read this and I hope he's right.

I wonder what people feel about these issues...
do you love your 'hard copy' or have you moved exclusively into mp3s, transferred your CDs and ditched the originals?

Yes, I love my hard copy. I love the liner notes, the artwork, the fact that I can resell it if I one day wish to, though I doubt that I ever will. I was in my teens when CDs came out and I loved them from the start. After years of dealing with the issues associated with cassette tapes (unstable playback, easily damaged tape, etc) I was very happy to have a better option.

do you see yourself as a collector? how important is it to 'own the music'?

Yes, I do see myself as a collector. How important is it to own it? I assume you mean the CD and the not the music for as Todd said, I don't own any of the music. How important is it to own the CD? For me, pretty important. If it's an album or performance that I love, I go pretty far to own the CD. In a few cases, I have spent as much as $100 for an OOP CD.

[George]

I prefer cds for the convenience and portability. I don't really know how to listen to digital files except on a computer and I don't want to sit at my computer to listen to music. And the thought of ripping and tagging several hundred cds makes my head spin.

I totally agree! 

[Szykneij]

Digital music sales will overtake CD sales for the first time next year ...

http://www.dailyfinance.com/story/media/music-industry-sings-a-sad-song-on-sales-despite-a-sharp-drop-of/19899147/

[Archaic Torso of Apollo]

Yeah, well it's gotta be pop music that's driving that trend. CDs with their 80-minute capacity were never a good format for pop, while downloads are ideal.

I take comfort in the fact that, even if they stopped making CDs today, there would still be billions of CDs out there to make up a huge secondhand market.

[Szykneij]

I take comfort in the fact that, even if they stopped making CDs today, there would still be billions of CDs out there to make up a huge secondhand market.

Yes, I agree. I'm still thrilled with the great second-hand stuff I'm getting cheaply on vinyl.

[Mandryka]

Right now the idea of playing a CD seems to me as old fashioned as making your own clothes. The retrieval benefits of streaming across a private network via a squeezebox  are enormous. Buy Cds by all means, cheap second hand ones if you can. But for goodness sake as soon as you get them rip and tag. And leave the physical Cd on a shelf as a sort of extra back up.

[petrarch]

Buy Cds by all means, cheap second hand ones if you can. But for goodness sake as soon as you get them rip and tag. And leave the physical Cd on a shelf as a sort of extra back up.

With my set up, my CD player sounds vastly better than my Squeezebox, so it is still worthwhile handling the media and putting it in the player. I will rip and stream my collection only when I upgrade the player to e.g. the Esoteric P-03/D-03 combo, and even then the higher quality transport will probably still have an edge over the stock Squeezebox. I would miss the booklets and liner notes though.

[Mandryka]

With my set up, my CD player sounds vastly better than my Squeezebox, so it is still worthwhile handling the media and putting it in the player. I will rip and stream my collection only when I upgrade the player to e.g. the Esoteric P-03/D-03 combo, and even then the higher quality transport will probably still have an edge over the stock Squeezebox. I would miss the booklets and liner notes though.

That's interesting -- what DAB do you use? The internal DAB in the Squeezebox is not good. My set up has an external DAB.

Or are you saying that the Squeezebox itself somehow reduces the sound quality even if you bypass the Logitec DAB and use a good one? That the streaming effects the music?

I certainly don't miss the booklet and liner notes 

[Szykneij]

I certainly don't miss the booklet and liner notes 

I would, almost as much as I'd miss real books on a shelf. But I understand that's mainly a generational thing. My teenage son would never even consider buying a CD instead of downloading the music he likes.

[Grazioso]

Right now the idea of playing a CD seems to me as old fashioned as making your own clothes. The retrieval benefits of streaming across a private network via a squeezebox  are enormous. Buy Cds by all means, cheap second hand ones if you can. But for goodness sake as soon as you get them rip and tag. And leave the physical Cd on a shelf as a sort of extra back up.

Why would I want to spend time doing that? My setup is beautifully simple: buy CD, put CD in player, listen and enjoy, put CD on shelf when done, repeat when the mood strikes.

Heavens save us from digital media. I particularly dread the day when physical books are looked on as some kind of odd antiques. That will be a giant step backwards for culture. And I can say this unequivocally to any record company execs out there: if you want my money, offer the music on a physical CD with a physical booklet.

[Florestan]

Why would I want to spend time doing that? My setup is beautifully simple: buy CD, put CD in player, listen and enjoy, put CD on shelf when done, repeat when the mood strikes.

Heavens save us from digital media. I particularly dread the day when physical books are looked on as some kind of odd antiques. That will be a giant step backwards for culture. And I can say this unequivocally to any record company execs out there: if you want my money, offer the music on a physical CD with a physical booklet.

Ditto.

[Scarpia]

Why would I want to spend time doing that? My setup is beautifully simple: buy CD, put CD in player, listen and enjoy, put CD on shelf when done, repeat when the mood strikes.

The transition may take some getting used to, but I am gradually loading my CDs into computer using lossless files and there are clear benefits, depending on the size and style of your convention.  If you do it right there is absolutely no sacrifice of sound quality.  It is nice to go to the computer and access a list of every version of, say, the Faure Violin Sonata No 1, in your collection, then say, "I'll listen to this one."  You may be able to find every version of Beethoven's ninth in your collection in a minute, but for more obscure pieces that may be found in various anthologies it may not be so easy to find them all.  I'm not happy about giving up the booklets, but sometimes the booklet is available as a file that you can keep with the audio file, or sometimes you can go to wikipedia and find out everything you need to know about the piece.

[Dancing Divertimentian]

Why would I want to spend time doing that? My setup is beautifully simple: buy CD, put CD in player, listen and enjoy, put CD on shelf when done, repeat when the mood strikes.

Ditto x2.

But I admit if I were still a rabid pop fan the benefits of downloading might actually appeal, especially since from the day of my first LP I can't remember a single album that satisfied from first song to last. This seems to be the nature of the pop album - a couple of hit songs accompanied by half-hours of filler music which have limited appeal (there are notable exceptions, of course: The Beatles, Pink Floyd, etc...but even bands like Led Zepplin couldn't fill out entire albums with top-rung music).  So in the pop realm cherry-picking songs might be an enormous advantage since if I don't want to spring for the entire album I can simply download the songs I want. Which means the savings would probably add up quickly!