Memory Sticks from Chandos

[listener]

noted in Norman Lebrecht's blog
All the music you ever wanted on a memory stick for just £100 ($160)? Not quite, but it's a step in the right direction.

Chandos, the indy Brits, are offering the equivalent of a large boxed set of CDs in hi-def sound on something you can stick on your key chain. Wagner's Ring? It's yours, in English.

The Vaughan Williams symphonies - all bar two. The pick of Malcolm Arnold? Now there's a tempter.
link for the press release and list of releases: http://www.artsjournal.com/slippeddisc/2011/02/a_sticky_proposition.html

[mc ukrneal]

Interesting idea - the more I think about it, the more I like it. For me, the time savings for ripping alone is just great!

[Lethevich]

It's an interesting prospect for two reasons - not only are they offering lossless (previous "digital" relelases have tended to be lossy - such as Nimbus's Haydn symphonies, or the BachPod), but also that they are doing it via a physical backup rather than as download only - which is a great help to people with crappy connections.

As much as this sounds like a gimmick, to somebody like myself who listens to their CDs almost exclusively in copies on my PC, this removes even the hassle of ripping (although the company must be trusted to make good rips themselves - something I am not too sure about).

The make or break for me as to whether I will ever use this service will be the digital documentation available. Hyperion lead the way in this, with (by and large) well-presented and uniformly sized pdf booklets. A lot of Chandos's back catalogue has quite crummy documentation on their site - very poor looking scans (opposed to a digital source) of the covers, and often the booklets are scanned rather than going to the source as well, which not only looks ugly but reduces functionality (such as searching within the pdf file for keywords).

It will be an annoying and perhaps high expenditure, but for them to re-do all of their covers and booklets like this is neccessary before I would ever consider purchasing from them, and it will put them ahead of the pack for when the market begins to more frequently demand such things.

[Henk]

Lethe, what would the world become if we connect our watches to the computer as well? Therefor prefer to spin cd's.

Henk

[Lethevich]

If watches connected to computers that might give me a reason to start using one again Very... Star Trek.

[Henk]

If watches connected to computers that might give me a reason to start using one again Very... Star Trek.

On earth we are and on earth we'll stay. Faithful to earth. Our planet is the null-point of universe from which we'll steer the cosmos. No space-shipping, which has never been attractive to me.

comment: Facebook communication, but Lethe isn't on Facebook, so that's why we speak here.

[Mirror Image]

This idea is interesting, but ultimately I'm not that interested in it. I prefer having hard copies (CDs) of my music and I also like having the tangible booklets in my hands to read. That is something a memory stick could never reproduce. People say I could print out the pdf booklets from the computer, but you have to think about your own printer and the cost of continuing to buy ink cartridges. It is cheaper to own the CDs themselves with their artwork. I guess I'm old-fashioned in this regard.

[Brian]

If watches connected to computers that might give me a reason to start using one again Very... Star Trek.

I know a guy who can check emails on his watch. It connects to wireless networks, so it only works when he's on the same network as his computer and his computer is turned on. Still, he can read his emails on his watch!

[Grazioso]

I know a guy who can check emails on his watch. It connects to wireless networks, so it only works when he's on the same network as his computer and his computer is turned on. Still, he can read his emails on his watch!

I remember when this was the cutting-edge watch to own 

[petrarch]

This idea is interesting, but ultimately I'm not that interested in it. I prefer having hard copies (CDs) of my music and I also like having the tangible booklets in my hands to read. That is something a memory stick could never reproduce. People say I could print out the pdf booklets from the computer, but you have to think about your own printer and the cost of continuing to buy ink cartridges. It is cheaper to own the CDs themselves with their artwork. I guess I'm old-fashioned in this regard.

How did you arrive at that conclusion? I am not fond of printers and especially not of ink cartridges, but one printer and a set of cartridges would print a lot of booklets.

[Scarpia]

How did you arrive at that conclusion? I am not fond of printers and especially not of ink cartridges, but one printer and a set of cartridges would print a lot of booklets.

I just would want to clutter up the place with lots of printouts.  Viewing information on the computer (pdf file, etc) would be a reasonable option, as long as the information were made available in a consistent matter, which I don't think is likely to occur any time soon.

[Lethevich]

When tablets become the norm, this should be less of a problem - providing labels follow Hyperion's solution of not having double pages, so you permenently read and scroll down, with each page occupying a full screen. No point crudely replicating the layout of physical booklets when a more elegant native solution can be found.

Strangely, I have the opposite attutide about physical booklets to MI - I hate browsing them/leaving them on a side-table while I listen, etc, because I dislike making the CDs less "mint" condition.

[petrarch]

It won't print as many as you think it would. My point, since you totally missed it, is that you have to spend money on cartridges (which do run out) and that there's nothing like holding a real booklet in your own hands. Bottom line: owning the CD is more gratifying for me and most collector's would agree.

No argument there, but that's not what you said.

[petrarch]

It won't print as many as you think it would.

Oh right... because I asked for the details of your reasoning, it is what I think that must be wrong. Silly baseless argument.

Let's see... My old HP LaserJet 4L prints about 3000 pages per toner cartridge. Some 4 or 6 booklet-sized pages can fit one side of one sheet of paper, or 15 thousand booklet pages in total. That's a lot of booklets.

Whatever that number is, I would rather have the original booklet or a proper pdf (i.e. searchable) of it. I would never create printed versions.

[petrarch]

So as you can read (or not ), my point was always the same. I was just trying to make a point and I used printing cartridges just to make that point. You're the one who stretched it so far out from the point I was trying to make that it's not recognizable any longer. Next time, read what I wrote (or typed rather) and don't jump to your own conclusions, because I sure as hell didn't deserve any argument from you. Now go listen to some Nono and get off my back!

Whatever. Your point was poorly framed. And yes, there's nothing like some late Nono to refocus the mind. The dogs bark and the caravan moves on.

[PaulSC]

That's what I love about music, it can bring people together.

[Mirror Image]

That's what I love about music, it can bring people together.

Yes, you're right. My apologies to Petrarch. I didn't mean to be a jerk to you. You didn't deserve that. I will delete my posts that were in confrontation with you because music should bring us together as Ives said.