I've become increasingly annoyed by the existence of CDs

[ComposerOfAvantGarde]

Just as a PS to these very good comments, when Rob Lang created GMG -- and I hope everyone here takes time now and then to think kindly of what he has done, since in addition to spawning this board, he's a great guy -- he did so not with recordings in mind, specifically, but classical music in general. His other mandate was that the board be welcoming to all, especially to those new to classical music.

So yes, discussion on "music itself" is not only welcomed, but encouraged, including composers, performers, styles, performance practice, scores, trends, and whatever other related topics anyone wishes. Of course, for many, recordings will be paramount, but that is just a piece of the entire picture.

--Bruce

I don't mind discussing recordings, but on a more general level I find the discussion of interpretation to be most interesting when observing stylistic trends and differences in interpretation based on musicological findings and discoveries made since music began to be recorded for us to listen to.

The repertoire itself, the composers and issues such as influences and stylistic idiosyncrasies are things I find a little more interesting again.

Sometimes I get the feeling that there is a tendency to view classical music on GMG as about recordings etc. perhaps because of the amazon ads, links and the good-music-guide.com main page as being very heavily 'recordings based' with an emphasis on reviews and building a personal CD library. It could very well be something that influences the discussions here as M. Croche stated earlier.

[Mirror Image]

To put a spin on things, I've become increasingly annoyed by the existence of this thread. CDs are and always will be a medium I'm interested in. Whether they're in decline or they're popular, doesn't matter to me. I love them and I've never been so cynical to where I believe that somehow they've become a burden or bane to music.

[Mister Sharpe]

To put a spin on things, I've become increasingly annoyed by the existence of this thread. CDs are and always will be a medium I'm interested in. Whether they're in decline or they're popular, doesn't matter to me. I love them and I've never been so cynical to where I believe that somehow they've become a burden or bane to music.

I know, how about a new thread dealing with other things we are increadingly annoyed about?

[ComposerOfAvantGarde]

To put a spin on things, I've become increasingly annoyed by the existence of this thread. CDs are and always will be a medium I'm interested in. Whether they're in decline or they're popular, doesn't matter to me. I love them and I've never been so cynical to where they're somehow a burden or bane to music.

Threads I'm not interested in I don't post in and rarely read.....

But it's great that recordings in general have made such an impact in music all over the world and honestly there must be more CDs than there are people by now!

Whether CDs are of any importance to anyone or not is obviously a situational and a personal thing. They benefit your enjoyment of classical music, but they are inconvenient and unnecessary for my enjoyment and support of classical music. That's simply what it boils down to here.

[ComposerOfAvantGarde]

I know, how about a new thread dealing with other things we are increadingly annoyed about?

Unpopular opinions?

Or maybe that the S and the D are way too close together on a QWERTY keyboard!

[bhodges]

Sometimes I get the feeling that there is a tendency to view classical music on GMG as about recordings etc. perhaps because of the amazon ads, links and the good-music-guide.com main page as being very heavily 'recordings based' with an emphasis on reviews and building a personal CD library. It could very well be something that influences the discussions here as M. Croche stated earlier.

Yes, I think this is probably true.

Another aside, for those who may not know: I highlighted "Amazon ads" above, because Rob has set up the board so that a portion of any Amazon purchases (made through GMG links) goes to fund GMG. And this applies to anything you buy from Amazon, not just recordings: furniture, food, watches -- you name it.

--Bruce

[Madiel]

Whether CDs are of any importance to anyone or not is obviously a situational and a personal thing. They benefit your enjoyment of classical music, but they are inconvenient and unnecessary for my enjoyment and support of classical music. That's simply what it boils down to here.

I'm honestly not sure precisely what your stance is. What, precisely, are you annoyed about? Are you against CDs, the physical medium? Are you against recordings? Are you against collecting lots of CDs? Are you against collecting lots of recordings?

At times your stance seems to veer into "why collect when you can stream" territory, and I will happily give you a sizeable number of reasons why I prefer buying to streaming, none of which will be an argument for buying 10 versions of the same piece because I don't. But it's actually not clear just what you think.

Live performance vs recording is one issue. Physical CDs vs streaming is a quite different issue, which is in part driven by the age of people (as is a preference for vinyl over either).

[Jo498]

I never found this explanation faults = "warm sound" all that convincing. It might be physically correct as far as the signal processing goes but it does not seem to capture the nuances people apparently can distinguish from the perspective of a listener, so there are some aspects of the physiology and psychology of perception relevant.

Because this explanation seems to assume that people are only/mainly comparing vinyl LPs to CDs and not either medium to live music. But there are/were plenty of people who listened to lots of live music (the sound of which can also be quite diverse depending on the hall) and some prefer vinyl for the "more realistic" sound. (And "warmth" is only one, not very precise attribute they use.) There is a fairly long text "God is in the nuances" or so about listening test with analogue vs. digital media.
http://www.stereophile.com/features/203/#lZ7wVFzFCBH3Stsm.97

[Mirror Image]

Threads I'm not interested in I don't post in and rarely read.....

But it's great that recordings in general have made such an impact in music all over the world and honestly there must be more CDs than there are people by now!

Whether CDs are of any importance to anyone or not is obviously a situational and a personal thing. They benefit your enjoyment of classical music, but they are inconvenient and unnecessary for my enjoyment and support of classical music. That's simply what it boils down to here.

Jessop, your whole 'point,' if you actually have one, seems to be nothing but a tirade against a medium you don't seem to understand. You can show your support for classical music in many ways as this is your prerogative, but your opinion is one of the minority around here and it shouldn't come as any surprise that some people may find this thread as simply a platform for you to rant and go on tirades about something you really have no interest in. You not caring much about CDs and your annoyance with them doesn't really open up healthy discussion whenever every post coming from you is lopsided and seems to be fueled by your own misgivings about CDs. Also, not all of us live in a city where we're able to hear classical music five times a week. If someone wants to buy 500 CDs of classical music and not attend one concert, that is their right and it would be undeniably strange for you to be annoyed by that.

[71 dB]

Thanks, 71! , quite so.  I ought to have been more specific; I have many records that sound much better than the CDs of the same material, surely for the very same reasons you cite.  I'm also acutely aware (but don't like to dwell on this as replacement is not an option) that a good chunk of my collection is first generation CDs, inferior to recent ones.   (hey! and like a record - or a CD for that matter - my orig. quote got warped in the transfer! )

Actually sometimes the early CDs are better, because the loudness war didn't start until mid 90's. But is a popular music thing.

btw, you might enjoy - and others - a new, free, online audiophile magazine, Copper http://www.psaudio.com/copper-magazine/

Thanks, I'll check it up. 

[Monsieur Croche]

I know, how about a new thread dealing with other things we are increasingly annoyed about?

Ha. Haaaa, Haaaaaaa.

Of course, any and all threads re: 'annoy,' or "your least favorite ____", "which era do you not like," etc. invite more whinging, complaint, and flat out negativity than anything else, or they beget counter comments like "I'm annoyed that that annoys you," (insert face palm image here ____.)

With the negativity inherent within the OP itself, that usually spawns like kind... yet more negativity. 

As much as I'll enter these frays as others do, I'm generally agin' em.  (It is easy enough to say what you don't like about something in any discussion without dislike being part of the main topic.)

In my experience, opening up any conversation with a complaint is starting on the wrong foot; it establishes a timbre of negativity which is near impossible to re-tune, but that is on whomever is writing and posting an OP.


Best regards.

[mc ukrneal]

I know, how about a new thread dealing with other things we are increadingly annoyed about?

It's called the pet peeves thread. Seriously - there is one.

[aleazk]

I threw all my cds to the garbage and listen to music in youtube.

[Mister Sharpe]

I threw all my cds to the garbage and listen to music in youtube.

Aleazk - sure wish you could see my garbage bin imitation - I just know you'd be sufficiently convinced to hurl those ridiculous CDs my way. 

[Andante]

So jessop the CD annoys you, oh you poor thing how do you manage? There is not much that annoys me but then I have a bit more experience of life and people.
Try to focus on some thing really important and your CD annoyance will fade away into the cosmos. 

[Monsieur Croche]

It's called the pet peeves thread. Seriously - there is one.

Ahhhh, but are those pet peeves numbered?
...as in my favorite pet peeve on this topic, aka pet peeve no. 3,492,089b, is....


Best regards.

[Andante]

Ahhhh, but are those pet peeves numbered?
...as in my favorite pet peeve on this topic, aka pet peeve no. 3,492,089b, is....


Best regards.

What rubbish spake ye 3,492,088f is much bigger pee..........

[lisa needs braces]

Alex Ross had a note on his blog a while back ago where he complained about being dissatisfied with digital services like Spotify because he missed the act holding the cd and its case, reading the cd notes, etc. I'm of the same view, though my CD buying has RADICALLY slowed down over the years because I more or less built up a significant representation of the works from the standard repertoire in which I was interested. But I feel like owning a CD is an act of respect for the music it contains -- to give it room in your living space. Plus, I feel the act of selecting a CD, putting it on the player, hitting play, is more a commitment than clicking play on spotify where it's easy to be distracted by all the other options at your fingertips.

I developed at interest in classical music in the few years before Tower Records went out of business, and man, they had a respectable classical music section. I'd make a trip to the store every two weeks when employed at a minimum wage job and would up pick something new. Those were exciting times!

[James]

Alex Ross had a note on his blog a while back ago where he complained about being dissatisfied with digital services like Spotify because he missed the act holding the cd and its case, reading the cd notes, etc. I'm of the same view, though my CD buying has RADICALLY slowed down over the years because I more or less built up a significant representation of the standard repertoire which I was interested. But I feel like owning a CD is an act of respect for the music it contains -- to give it room in your living space. Plus, I feel the act of selecting a CD, putting it on the player, hitting play, is more a commitment than clicking play on spotify where it's easy to be distracted by all the other options at your fingertips.

I developed at interest in classical music in the few years before Tower Records went out of business, and man, they had a respectable classical music section. I'd make a trip to the store every two weeks when employed at a minimum wage job and would up pick something new. Those were exciting times!

I echo your thoughts, and Alex's. I was raised on vinyl, cassettes, CDs .. I loved walking into those huge multi-tiered music stores and spending hours in them. Or going through the large local Library and University collections and renting things out, listening to them there. The travel time etc. What an experience all that was. I have an iPod, Spotify etc. .. and the experience is just not the same at all. It feels cheap, minimal, quick, almost disposable in comparison. Physical media is niche/specialist now .. I don't see it going away anytime soon. I've been even contemplating getting back into the vinyl experience again!

[Parsifal]

I've been trying to keep the best of both worlds. I've been transferring my classical CDs to computer. I don't use iTunes, which tends to give you a track swimming in a sea of tracks. Each CD becomes a folder with FLAC file, cue sheet and scan of the booklet. I have a database of the CD's I've loaded. That way I don't loose access to the program notes and other information that tends to get lost if you just put everything into iTunes.