Haven't purchased music in a while, most likely won't...

[my bloody television]

here here.

[aen]

DOnt buy this

http://dwarfcraft.com/Dwarfcraft_Device ... cords.html


Im such a whore

[Roseweave]

or buying a physical album when I don't like the art, or just want one song off the record.

I'm really afraid of the death of the album though. While I have my MP3 player on random a lot the most complete musical experience for me is to listen to album even if there's one or two tracks I don't like.

Then again there's some albums that have one or two good tracks or nothing else... but still I'd be afraid that most "mainstream" people would just opt for songs over albums as they're already doing to an extent. I think ideally there should be more songs made specifically for the "random" experience and more solid, coherent concept albums for the "album" experience.

Apart from that I kind of feel the same way.

[monoblock]

yeah, good old topic

buying mp3s feels kinda weird; collecting cds is even worse.
i think "digital leather" from arizona (at least that's what it was back then) did the right thing:

sell the record on vinyl only, including a coupon for a drm-free download of the album. so you get the good collector-stuff AND some noise to flood your ipod with.
at least buying that record didn't feel wrong at all


oh, and for that album/ one song - thing: doesn't that depend on too many things?

[Roseweave]

sell the record on vinyl only, including a coupon for a drm-free download of the album.

A local band, You're Only Massive, do exactly this.

[my bloody television]

I think most if not all of the subpop artists do this

[jrmy]

or buying a physical album when I don't like the art, or just want one song off the record.

I'm really afraid of the death of the album though. While I have my MP3 player on random a lot the most complete musical experience for me is to listen to album even if there's one or two tracks I don't like.

I know exactly what you mean... and I've found that since iTunes has gone DRM-free, I've been buying a lot more mp3s. But I've also found that I still buy CDs... I'm just a little more picky than I was before.

Of course, it's also been pointed out by several people that I'm a luddite for keeping all of my CDs in jewel cases, and buying printed books rather than looking into e-print stuff like the Kindle, so maybe I'm the wrong guy to opine on this...

[Roseweave]

I think it makes sense of music to be something that's just "accessible" and I can pull up any song when I want without breaking any laws. Flat fee subscription is the best idea, and do away with the record companies in their current forum. I don't want the music industry to change totally to local artists and for popular music to "die" though. So there needs to be some kind of balance.

[Nychthemeron]

The music industry is still at its core an industry. There are a number of factors that cause albums and such to be so damned expensive. Sure, you may enjoy downloading music from the internet (I'm no exception), but it costs quite a bit to put out a professionally made record. Besides the initial investment of getting the equipment you need, you get studio time with an engineer which costs a pretty penny, the same or another engineer for mixing, one more for mastering, and during all of this you work with your label on how the album should sound with these engineers who might suggest otherwise (see Death Magnetic). After that, you manufacture all those CDs/LPs/Tapes/etc. It's a lot of money put down before the album is released, and while downloading does increase its popularity, if noone buys it you lost a lot of cash.

I do agree that the music industry needs some reworking to get everything more accessible for its consumers, but the industry itself still needs to keep itself alive if it wants to be able to thrive in the future.

[my bloody television]

yeah, and Death Magnetic was totally worth the effort and money invested....

not knocking the music, but I could do a better job recording with my computer in my room

[Nychthemeron]

Well if you read the Wikipedia article you'll see that Ted Jensen, the Mastering Engineer, thought the mix was already terrible when it got to him. I remember reading an article in Tape-Op saying that he didn't even want his name attached to the record.

[Roseweave]

The music industry is still at its core an industry. There are a number of factors that cause albums and such to be so damned expensive. Sure, you may enjoy downloading music from the internet (I'm no exception), but it costs quite a bit to put out a professionally made record. Besides the initial investment of getting the equipment you need, you get studio time with an engineer which costs a pretty penny, the same or another engineer for mixing, one more for mastering, and during all of this you work with your label on how the album should sound with these engineers who might suggest otherwise (see Death Magnetic). After that, you manufacture all those CDs/LPs/Tapes/etc. It's a lot of money put down before the album is released, and while downloading does increase its popularity, if noone buys it you lost a lot of cash.

I do agree that the music industry needs some reworking to get everything more accessible for its consumers, but the industry itself still needs to keep itself alive if it wants to be able to thrive in the future.

It doesn't have to cost anything except the electricity to record an album if the band already have gear and decent recording equipment. You don't need a huge studio full of stuff anymore, you can get decent tube-based mic preamps for example for $50. Hook that up to a half decent mixer or laptop w/soundcard and you're sorted. Most people won't tell the difference, and a lot of "digital mastering" is going to get better and better so you can produce real ambient sounding records. And if it still sounds too "flat and modern", just put more tubes in their somewhere.

Some tracker modules I've heard made in an hour sound better produced than a lot of the stuff on the radio. Production is an art, but it's not necessarily expensive or time consuming.

[androidpopjr]

Vinyl is just so much more personal and you take way better care of them. Plus it's better sound quality (analog vs. digital I know the ILF gang knows the winner here). I think the last CD I got was Yo La Tengo's last album or maybe a Thelonious Monk cd I picked up at Borders Five dollar rack. When most people get CD's now they rip them and throw them in the closet. Plus album art work is all part of the fun in getting the album and what better way to look at album artwork than on a vinyl sleeve, all nice and large . I know WIlco's new album threw a cd in with the vinyl which was cool but the download code works just fine. Vinyl sales are going up more and more these days, thanks to the White Stripes. If you also notice when a killer band plays on Letterman, Conan, and Fallon they usually hold up the Vinyl version of the album. I think that is pretty slick.

[my bloody television]

Vinyl is just so much more personal and you take way better care of them. Plus it's better sound quality (analog vs. digital I know the ILF gang knows the winner here). I think the last CD I got was Yo La Tengo's last album or maybe a Thelonious Monk cd I picked up at Borders Five dollar rack. When most people get CD's now they rip them and throw them in the closet. Plus album art work is all part of the fun in getting the album and what better way to look at album artwork than on a vinyl sleeve, all nice and large . I know WIlco's new album threw a cd in with the vinyl which was cool but the download code works just fine. Vinyl sales are going up more and more these days, thanks to the White Stripes. If you also notice when a killer band plays on Letterman, Conan, and Fallon they usually hold up the Vinyl version of the album. I think that is pretty slick.

couldn't have said it better myself

I might have just added that vinyl forces one to listen to an album all the way through, from beginning to end. It's a lot easier to skip tracks on CD or the computer, but on vinyl it's easier to just let the album spin. It becomes much more of an event that way, and a listening experience, which I prefer if I've invested my money in a record.

[Roseweave]

I'd love to get a record player but they're kinda pricey.

I don't think there's that huge a difference though. The main thing with records is the way they're mixed etc., the higher frequencies are rolled off. You could probably replicate it almost exactly with the right DSP. It's just that people don't bother trying to emulate "old" sounds outside of the guitar world it seems(and maybe synth).