From: owner-alloy-digest@smoe.org (alloy-digest) To: alloy-digest@smoe.org Subject: alloy-digest V11 #138 Reply-To: alloy@smoe.org Sender: owner-alloy-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-alloy-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk X-To-Unsubscribe: Send mail to "alloy-digest-request@smoe.org" X-To-Unsubscribe: with "unsubscribe" as the body. alloy-digest Saturday, May 27 2006 Volume 11 : Number 138 Today's Subjects: ----------------- Re: Alloy: RIAA sues XM Satellite [OT] [Elaine ] Alloy: MP3s suck or not? [Crackers ] [OT]Alloy: was RIAA sues XM...now mp3 ["Kara R. Laidlaw" Subject: Re: Alloy: RIAA sues XM Satellite [OT] Well, I (for one) am interested because I'm learning things. :) Do you agree with what I read elsewhere: "MP3 compromises audio integrity. A cassette walkman will give you far superior sound as opposed to an iPod. Listening to 128 kbps mp3s? You're listening to shite. The industry is leading you down a consumptive pathway paved with the 'latest thing'." I guess I'm trying to figure out who the baddest bad guy is in this story. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 26 May 2006 13:59:58 -0400 From: Crackers Subject: Alloy: MP3s suck or not? Elaine wrote: > Well, I (for one) am interested because I'm learning things. :) > > Do you agree with what I read elsewhere: "MP3 compromises audio integrity. > A cassette walkman will give you far superior sound as opposed to an iPod. > Listening to 128 kbps mp3s? You're listening to shite. The industry is > leading you down a consumptive pathway paved with the 'latest thing'." > > I guess I'm trying to figure out who the baddest bad guy is in this story. > > The thing is, the MP3 is a convenience format. The small file size makes it convenient for portable devices both in terms of how much data you can carry with you and how much power is consumed. I don't have an MP3 player, but I do have a CD player that plays MP3s and that's how I listen to my music when I'm on the go. It's perfect, the disk doesn't have to spin as much which means I can get almost 12x the battery life out of my player than I can playing CD Audio. Basically everything I purchase gets ripped and burned on CD as MP3s. The original CDs stay home in a nice binder case (and I have a box in the basement for the Jewel cases and booklets) and the burned CDs are on the go with me. If I'm out and my player gets stolen, or my CD gets lost/stolen/damaged it's no big deal. When you're listening to music on headphones, especially on the go, you're never going to enjoy "the full audio experience" anyways so the trade-off in audio quality isn't that big a deal. Basically I have three music listening modes (four if you count listening to live music... and music related work). 1) On the go. Got my CD/MP3 player and I'm out getting stuff done. 2) Soundtrack to my life. I'm working on my computer, doing housework, in my workshop, the music is background entertainment to help lighten the load and make the time pass easier. MP3s work fine here, CDs too if I'm in an environment that's safe for them (ie, not around the power tools). 3) I want an ear-gasm. This is quiet me-time where I want to kick back, relax and devour some songs. This is all about the music and naturally I'll want the audio to be as good as possible. 128kb just isn't going to cut it for me here. Saddly, as a husband, home owner, father, and professional I rarely get the chance to enjoy listening option #3 anymore. MP3s are probably how I listen to most of my music just because the format works best for my lifestyle. But I'd still want to buy my music as CD Audio and I think it would have to be at least 256kb audio before I'd pay for MP3s. As for the RIAA, the sooner they crawl away somewhere dark and lonely and die the happier I will be as a musician. Crackers ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 26 May 2006 15:23:28 -0500 From: "Kara R. Laidlaw" Subject: [OT]Alloy: was RIAA sues XM...now mp3 Elaine compelled me to agree when she wrote, :^) > From: Elaine > Date: 2006/05/26 Fri AM 11:12:50 CDT > To: alloy@smoe.org > Subject: Re: Alloy: RIAA sues XM Satellite [OT] > > > Well, I (for one) am interested because I'm learning things. :) Agreed! This topic has finally engaged my non-comedic, rather more philosophical side [yes, I do have one, hee hee.] As we Alloyites are all music lovers, and intelligent people, we *should* be discussing this, I think. We love music, and I think we collectively want what is best for the songwriter/artist {TMDR being of course one shining example thereof}, and NOT what's best for the big record companies and the RIAA. But anyway... > Do you agree with what I read elsewhere: "MP3 compromises audio integrity. ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, Hell yes!!! I certainly do notice the difference between, say, a 160 kbps [kilobytes per second] mp3, and a decent-sounding CD. {I've been careful to preserve my hearing throughout my entire life, reasoning that if I crank the music now, then later I might not be able to hear it at all.} I don't know what the kbps rate is on a typical CD--does anyone here know? Some CDs I've bought have amazingly three-dimensional sound; one example is Banco de Gaia's "Last Train to Lhasa", whose sound is so realistic that you'd swear you were about to be hit by a train! On the other hand, Chris Isaak's "Always Got Tonight" is just plain loud. Distorted, even, but apparently that's how the "big record companies" mix CDs these days--chop off the high end, and crank the bass. To me, it's audially blurry, like the sound is covered in dryer lint. ;^) I have a number of graphic equalizers, and I'm not afraid to use 'em, especially the one in Winamp. Sometimes, when I'm in a very picky, technical mood, I just have to make some adjustments to bring out the best in every individual song--I used to save settings for individual songs and everything. So I empathise with the incredibly intricate and time-consuming work that TMDR does for each of his songs. His songs NEVER need adjusting. When I listen to Thomas' albums, I can just relax and drown in the perfection. :^) ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, > A cassette walkman will give you far superior sound as opposed to an iPod. > Listening to 128 kbps mp3s? You're listening to shite. The industry is > leading you down a consumptive pathway paved with the 'latest thing'." ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, I wouldn't doubt it. Newer is not necessarily better--let's not even go into vinyl vs. CD... ;^) but I'm not sure about tape vs. CD. I think it depends on which tape ["official" record company release, I presume] and what kbps the mp3 was encoded at. The problem with cassettes was, in my opinion, if you didn't like a song, you had to fast forward past it. Drove me bloody insane!!! > I guess I'm trying to figure out who the baddest bad guy is in this story. Gawd, aren't we all. Love and deeeeeep thoughts, Kara "Oh to paint her eyes so red, and her lips so blue...carve her legend on the bow...Caroline four-five-two" :^) ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 26 May 2006 15:39:06 -0500 From: "Kara R. Laidlaw" Subject: Re: [OT]Alloy: was RIAA sues XM...now mp3 Oops, realized I made a little typo near the end--meant "tape vs. mp3", not "tape vs. CD". My fingers outstripped my brain on that one!! ;^) > From: "Kara R. Laidlaw" > Date: 2006/05/26 Fri PM 03:23:28 CDT > To: > Subject: [OT]Alloy: was RIAA sues XM...now mp3 > > > Elaine compelled me to agree when she wrote, :^) > > > From: Elaine > > Date: 2006/05/26 Fri AM 11:12:50 CDT > > To: alloy@smoe.org > > Subject: Re: Alloy: RIAA sues XM Satellite [OT] > > > > > > Well, I (for one) am interested because I'm learning things. :) > > ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, >Agreed! This topic has finally engaged my non-comedic, rather more philosophical side [yes, I do have one, hee hee.] > > As we Alloyites are all music lovers, and intelligent people, we *should* be discussing this, I think. We love music, and I think we collectively want what is best for the songwriter/artist {TMDR being of course one shining example thereof}, and NOT what's best for the big record companies and the RIAA. But anyway... > ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, > > > Do you agree with what I read elsewhere: "MP3 compromises audio integrity. > > ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, > Hell yes!!! I certainly do notice the difference between, say, a 160 kbps [kilobytes per second] mp3, and a decent-sounding CD. {I've been careful to preserve my hearing throughout my entire life, reasoning that if I crank the music now, then later I might not be able to hear it at all.} > > I don't know what the kbps rate is on a typical CD--does anyone here know? Some CDs I've bought have amazingly three-dimensional sound; one example is Banco de Gaia's "Last Train to Lhasa", whose sound is so realistic that you'd swear you were about to be hit by a train! On the other hand, Chris Isaak's "Always Got Tonight" is just plain loud. Distorted, even, but apparently that's how the "big record companies" mix CDs these days--chop off the high end, and crank the bass. To me, it's audially blurry, like the sound is covered in dryer lint. ;^) I have a number of graphic equalizers, and I'm not afraid to use 'em, especially the one in Winamp. Sometimes, when I'm in a very picky, technical mood, I just have to make some adjustments to bring out the best in every individual song--I used to save settings for individual songs and everything. So I empathise with the incredibly intricate and time-consuming work that TMDR does for each of his songs. His songs NEVER need adjusting! > . When I listen to Thomas' albums, I can just relax and drown in the perfection. :^) > ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, > > > A cassette walkman will give you far superior sound as opposed to an iPod. > > Listening to 128 kbps mp3s? You're listening to shite. The industry is > > leading you down a consumptive pathway paved with the 'latest thing'." > > ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, > I wouldn't doubt it. Newer is not necessarily better--let's not even go into vinyl vs. CD... ;^) but I'm not sure about tape vs. CD. I think it depends on which tape ["official" record company release, I presume] and what kbps the mp3 was encoded at. The problem with cassettes was, in my opinion, if you didn't like a song, you had to fast forward past it. Drove me bloody insane!!! > > > I guess I'm trying to figure out who the baddest bad guy is in this story. > > Gawd, aren't we all. > > Love and deeeeeep thoughts, > Kara > > "Oh to paint her eyes so red, and her lips so blue...carve her legend on the bow...Caroline four-five-two" :^) > It's All About the Music. :^) ------------------------------ End of alloy-digest V11 #138 ****************************