Buying CD's

[Sega2006]

I'm the polar oppisite to my age group, I hate downloads and prefer a physical copy as I'm always of the mind set of what happens if its lost by accident and the service has gone tits up.
I'll use youtube sometimes like a jukebox when I'm at home but I'm usually driving when out and the M3 has an unfinished nav conversion in it so can't attach anything.

[psj3809]

Mentioned it before but all this 'what happens if the service goes tits up' i wouldnt worry about. Far more important things to worry about than that, Apple/Spotify arent going anywhere

Just got a new car and i thought there wasnt a CD player (as its all bluetooth). Found it tucked away deep in the glove compartment !

I just think back to my dad with the 'why do you need 1000 channels' when Sky arrived but was soon converted. Granddads avoiding tapes as records sounded better etc. I dont want to sound like that !

Happy to go with the latest tech ! (He says on a retro gaming forum !)

[Megamixer]

I use new tech as well but I like to have a bit of both.

Had 1000+ tracks on my mp3 player for example and it randomly corrupted at the end of last year. If I'd have been a dummy and not had all that backed up then that would have been it. It was a real mix of stuff ripped from CD's or downloaded from various providers so it's not as if I could have just re-downloaded everything again.

Love CD's and having an actual product but I only buy them for my absolute favourite artists now. It is however, just a fact that ripped CD's in WMA format sound way better than the mp3 format. The downside is that WMA isn't compatible with a lot of non-Windows phones so I don't really get the advantage anymore now that I use my phone for all of my music.

[Matt_B]

WMA was good for about 20 years ago, but you should try FLAC nowadays. It's completely lossless, i.e. the compressed audio file can be used to re-create every last bit of the original. Files end up somewhat bigger, but you know you're getting the best quality, and you've generally got that much more storage to play with these days anyway.

There are players for nearly ever Android phone out there too. Apple, of course, have to be different and their phone support ALAC which is basically the same thing but using their own technology.

[MattyC64c]

I found a load, well maybe not a 'load', but quite a few music CD's in a drawer under my bed a few months ago. Not sure what I'm gonna do with them, heck, I don't even own a CD-player anymore!

It's still kind of sad to see the format die off though, and I think it will eventually. And of course the end is coming for HMV. I remember there being so many different music shops being around back in the 80's, 90's and early 00's, all gone now. I used to visit 'Our Price' quite often back in the day.

[psj3809]

Yeah i remember the days of cassette singles and then obviously CD singles. Did love those shops back then but always found the prices to be sky high, started buying all my music from Amazon. Remember getting an Oasis album back in 1997 from Sam Goody (Be Here Now) and as i was at the front of the queue i got a free t shirt !

Then back in 2000 I remember using Napster and being amazed by it. After that i've mostly been digital apart from my favourite bands

[kiwimike]

Lol would love to get the Depeche Mode 12" singles on CD in their boxsets, but those things go for stupid prices. That's where downloads from iTunes really are good, you can get the extended versions you used to have on vinyl without breaking the bank

[Megamixer]

Added another el cheapo single to the collection today. 5 mixes for a few quid? No reason to say no.



Love this tune btw!

[demon]

Haven't bought a CD for myself for at least a decade or even more... those few which I bought since then were all presents for someone else.

I had a huge collection of CD from my youth years, but honestly I barely listened to them anymore, so I have been downsizing it by selling something and giving away something else. Naturally I won't be capable of parting from my very favourite ones, and I will be careful to keep those which are rare enough to be unavailable from streaming, but there is little reason for me to still keep CDs or DVDs, streaming services like Spotify gave me millions of records available in no space.

[TheAlex]

An EP I loved disappeared off Spotify, iTunes etc. earlier this year. I wish I'd bought the MP3s.

I've recently bought CDs by Polish post-rockers Tides from Nebula and violin/piano duo AVA, both signed at gigs to make them that bit special.

[Elgin_McQueen]

I still buy CDs cause the car takes them, less faff than trying to organise mp3s these days. Gotta admit though, had stopped for a while but started buying them again after getting spotify. Messenger I could listen to new/unknown bands easier and figure out what I wanted to buy.

[rocky1980]

Found a box of CD's in the loft the other day, most are worth nothing. Mrs Rocky took a few for her car but my car does not even have a CD player anymore ! I have kept a few I have had since the 90's whats left charity shop I think

[MattySlug]

It's rare I buy a full priced CD nowadays, but today I got BABYMETAL's new Album Metal Galaxy.
I buy $1 or $2 Op Shops CDs though everyday.
I usually get good stuff but sometimes buy a dud that I will never play.

[English Invader]

I upgraded my sound system recently and surprisingly it's reduced my appetite for vinyl and pushed me more towards CDs. Prior to this, I was using my TT with a pair of cheap powered speakers (£80 from Amazon) and playing CDs through the TV but having separates and a dedicated CD player has changed the whole landscape. My current Hi-Fi set-up is as follows:

- Castle Acoustics Richmond speakers from February 1974 (complete with rubber surrounds and front-facing bass reflex ports - fully refurbished by a reputable dealer of vintage equipment)
- NAD 310 amplifier (streamlined mid-90s design with a modest 20w per channel and a very impressive line level SNR of 106db)
- Technics SL-P200 CD player from 1988 (SNR of 96db which beats a lot of low end players on the market today)
- NAD PP2e pre-amp (my Sony TT has its own pre-amp but I'm getting much better sound from this little beast with a moving magnet SNR of 80db; also supports moving coil cartridges with an SNR of 78db which is rare at this price point)
- Sony LX-300USB turntable with LP Gear elliptical stylus upgrade (not the best on the market but I like having an automatic TT and the elliptical stylus and separate pre-amp have massively improved the sound so it's a keeper for the foreseeable)

My biggest takeaway from building this system is that if you love how your system sounds you won't worry so much about the format the music comes in and that vinyl has a lot of obstacles to overcome before it can match CD for sound quality. Right from the get-go (even if you're using an audiophile quality TT like a Rega), you're looking at a 30db SNR deficit and it's going to take a lot of customisation to bridge that gap. I'm not saying that vinyl isn't enjoyable and worth listening to but it's a mistake to think of it as an absolutely superior sound quality to CD. It should be treated like a legacy, "retro" format like VHS or 8-Track and enjoyed in those terms like we enjoy old computers and games consoles and not a technical upgrade like DVD to BR/UHD.

[oldtimer]

Found a box of CD's in the loft the other day, most are worth nothing. Mrs Rocky took a few for her car but my car does not even have a CD player anymore ! I have kept a few I have had since the 90's whats left charity shop I think

I use Charity shops a lot and ive noticed now that CDs and DVDs have almost gone the same way as Video tapes did all of a sudden.,
Instead of DVDs selling for around £2 markish and cds a £1 they seem to be around the 50p and 10p mark now which makes me wonder how places like CEX will survive especially as even new games will eventually move to downloads.