Are C.d's On The Way Out ?

[Shinehead]

Have about 5,000 CDs was thinking of dumping most of them on ebay since I rarely play the vast majority of them......

Ain't that the case with all formats, we all own more music than we ever play and we are always buying more.

[Ian Dewhirst]

Can't be that hard, surely?

When I last bought a new laptop - about 18 months ago - I just sat the old and new side by side, turned Airport on to copy everything and went to bed. All done by the time I got up in the morning.

The only time I tend to use an airport is when I fly somewhere.

I presume airport is some sort of imaginatively-named transfer software or something? Simply by dint of the fact that you know about something called airport I know that you're far more computer literate than me LOL.....

I'll look it up. Will it transfer my media library with all the correct file paths and playlists etc in EXACTLY the same order that they're currently in?

Cheers,

Ian D

[Guest john s]

The only time I tend to use an airport is when I fly somewhere.

I presume airport is some sort of imaginatively-named transfer software or something? Simply by dint of the fact that you know about something called airport I know that you're far more computer literate than me LOL.....

I'll look it up. Will it transfer my media library with all the correct file paths and playlists etc in EXACTLY the same order that they're currently in?

Cheers,

Ian D

It'll copy whatever you want in exactly the same way it's set up on your current laptop - I copied the entire contents of the hard drive - files, applications, settings. Easy too.

[Ian Dewhirst]

It'll copy whatever you want in exactly the same way it's set up on your current laptop - I copied the entire contents of the hard drive - files, applications, settings. Easy too.

Cheers John. I'll check it out and try it at the weekend.

Ian D

[Guest Andy Kempster]

I'll be glad to see the back of CDs. They never worked as intended, the tiniest scratch and they are knackered, same for DVDs. At least with vinyl you can skate down the street on it and it will still play.

I know people who are going back to VHS tapes because they are sick of knackered DVDs.

and as for digital tv, pixelating and screen freezing

dont remember that with analogue!

[Chalky]

Cheers John. I'll check it out and try it at the weekend.

Ian D

Airport is Mac only.

[Ian Dewhirst]

Airport is Mac only.

OK, back to square one again..........hopeless. Is there an equivalent for PC I ask myself.......?

Ian D

[Guest MrC]

Acronis Migrate Easy 7.0 or Paragon drive copy.

Are both laptops connected to a network - wireless or wired via the hub built into a router etc?

The Acronis software is easy to use and it works well.

[Dave Moore]

OK, back to square one again..........hopeless. Is there an equivalent for PC I ask myself.......?

Ian D

I just bought a transfer cable and then selected the stuff I wanted to transfer to my new one. It converted it all from Windows 7 to Windows Vista for me. Is that what your on about?

Regards,

Dave

[spike1]

Did iTunes etc ever come out with the liner notes download? If could get Kent via iTunes with the booklet in PDF or something similar then that would be great.

Chalky with some of the more commercial stuff for exampkePhil Collins going back you get an electronic style booklet

Msybee in time this will happen for all downloads???

Spike

[Pete S]

Do you know what, if Ace put together a compilation of say 50 of their greatest CD booklets, blown up to an A4 size book, it would be one of the best music books ever made. Throw in a double cd featuring one track off each of the featured cd's - heaven.

[Ady Croasdell]

Do you know what, if Ace put together a compilation of say 50 of their greatest CD booklets, blown up to an A4 size book, it would be one of the best music books ever made. Throw in a double cd featuring one track off each of the featured cd's - heaven.

I'll mention it to the sales geezer and see what he says Pete; thanks for the compliment to the firm.

My take is that they're not perfect but with the info, scans and pics make a great package to indulge in. I rarely get a chance to play vinyl at the moment so they're grat for me.

Our sales are holding up very well indeed in a shrinking market. Licensing, syncs, publishing, vinyl and downloads all help but its the CDs that keep us going.

ady

[Shinehead]

Even though cds may not be the favoured medium for most people on here without it loads of great soul music would still be languishing in the vaults , you can,t get 70 minutes of music on one lp. And its good to see Ace making some cash out of them and long may it continue.

[Guest ScooterNik]

I know I'm in a minority on here, but I love CDs and can't see them vanishing, if only for one simple reason that I would have thought was familiar to most on here.

You're in a small band. You play small gigs in local venues. You want to get better known, and maybe make a few quid back for your efforts. What method is most likely to get the most sales: A CD you can buy at a gig, or a download that you can tell people about, but which they'll probably forget about the day after, or hmm and haa about once they sober up again?

Also, speaking as someone who does record, download and cd reviews, I can guarantee that every single music reviewer would rather have a CD land on their doorstep rather than an emailed link to a free promotional download. Even worse though is the dread 7" package that drops through the door.,. Why? Because my car has a CD player in it, my work has a CD player, my house has multiple CD players. You can pause to scribble notes down, you can skip back to the start of a track.. And I don't think that it's just reviewers that find this form of functionality useful.

And don't get me started on bloody iTunes. The worst thing I ever bought was an iPod.

[Guest sharmo 1]

I know I'm in a minority on here, but I love CDs and can't see them vanishing, if only for one simple reason that I would have thought was familiar to most on here.

You're in a small band. You play small gigs in local venues. You want to get better known, and maybe make a few quid back for your efforts. What method is most likely to get the most sales: A CD you can buy at a gig, or a download that you can tell people about, but which they'll probably forget about the day after, or hmm and haa about once they sober up again?

Also, speaking as someone who does record, download and cd reviews, I can guarantee that every single music reviewer would rather have a CD land on their doorstep rather than an emailed link to a free promotional download. Even worse though is the dread 7" package that drops through the door.,. Why? Because my car has a CD player in it, my work has a CD player, my house has multiple CD players. You can pause to scribble notes down, you can skip back to the start of a track.. And I don't think that it's just reviewers that find this form of functionality useful.

And don't get me started on bloody iTunes. The worst thing I ever bought was an iPod.

Strangly enough my son's band The Hedge pig's who do covers of ska and soul track's plus there own material are adamant that they are going to put a 7 inch out.Well what do you expect when three band members are the off spring of regular northen soul attendees and collectors !!! regards ect.

[soulpaul0]

I'll mention it to the sales geezer and see what he says Pete; thanks for the compliment to the firm.

My take is that they're not perfect but with the info, scans and pics make a great package to indulge in. I rarely get a chance to play vinyl at the moment so they're grat for me.

Our sales are holding up very well indeed in a shrinking market. Licensing, syncs, publishing, vinyl and downloads all help but its the CDs that keep us going.

ady

to quote -- irarely get a chance to play vinyl at the moment-

if you can't what chance us mere mortals.

p.s. you won,t get away with that at the 100 club

[Spacehopper]

i know i came down hard on cds but even i have a use for them...great to give out at go go children and spread our tunes and get those who dont know northern hooked....and yes in the car...skipping tracks is so much easier than going back and forth with a casette!.....

dean

[Guest soulboy]

i like buying cd's and if i see any that i like i buy ,it is getting harder to find shops that sell music of any sort .let alone lp's or 45 ok i know there are plenty of mail order ,but spur of the moment buys for me are getting harder . one thing i have always wondered why do most new or reissue 45 cost £10 ? does anyone know how the profits break down from this ? and why dont who ever owns the rights of indemanders reissue them , and not wait for some one to boot leg them ,then at least the artist would get some thing out of it .

[Tsu Tomatoes]

The game has changed with the technology, just look at apples new iOS, with the cloud, its not (or won't be) a question of ripping CDs & making play lists with iTunes etc etc, those days will be gone sooner rather than later.

In the next couple of years with the advent of cloud computing, everything, and I mean everything will be streamed directly from the cloud to 'a device', no one will own this music, it will be subscribed to for a fee, giving you access to tens of millions of tracks.

Even Virgin media have done a deal with Spotify so you can now do it through your tv box via an app, the phone companies & sky will be next, every track you've ever owned on a cd is available & in high resolution, this is why the cd is dead, nothing whatsoever to do with our beloved vinyl.

Cheers ears

Aid

I've no doubt Clouds are the future for music. I save my vinyl to mp3 onto my Livedrive Cloud. I also save all my Invoices, Quotes & Photos' etc which also enables me to access everything on my phone when I need to. I can save huge amounts of data for little more than the cost of one external hard drive.

Instead of compiling CD's I point friends to my Cloud to save what they want themselves.

I'm a vinyl man first but I'm then more likely to reach for a CD over mp3 to play indoors, so I'll miss them.

[Ian Dewhirst]

Another good reason to buy CD's is that music has never been more easily available at such a great price. You can buy most Backbeats releases now for under £4 each brand new and posted to your door for free! And yes, the artists, writers and catalogue owners do see royalties on material that might not otherwise be out there!

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/search?rh=i%3Apopular%2Cn%3A229816%2Ck%3Abackbeats+demon&keywords=backbeats+demon&ie=UTF8&qid=1319053474&ajr=0#/ref=sr_pg_1?rh=n%3A229816%2Ck%3Abackbeats&keywords=backbeats&ie=UTF8&qid=1319053509

There's 20 of 'em already and another 10 coming on Boxing Day! You never had it so good!

Ian D

[Guest sharmo 1]

i like buying cd's and if i see any that i like i buy ,it is getting harder to find shops that sell music of any sort .let alone lp's or 45 ok i know there are plenty of mail order ,but spur of the moment buys for me are getting harder . one thing i have always wondered why do most new or reissue 45 cost £10 ? does anyone know how the profits break down from this ? and why dont who ever owns the rights of indemanders reissue them , and not wait for some one to boot leg them ,then at least the artist would get some thing out of it .

Hi there soul.boy well I think that a lot of new release soul and re issue soul are between £8 and £10 for a couple of reasons really .For example I've just bought 125 nu soul/funk release's from the states there was a minumum order per title of 25 and minumum order of 6 titles from the label portfolio.With import duty and postage they will have cost me about £6. each before I open the box.Most re issue or new release 45's are ltd to short runs of between 250-500 unit's I would imagine that the manufactoring costs would be about £2.each depending on label colouring or if you want a picture cover ect.So if a licence of between £500. and £1000 per unit is paid then the label put's it's profit on top then wholesale cost ect it's not unreasonable to see the end price of around a tenner.Bootleg's are a different kettle of fish take your cash and recording to a back street pressing plant manufacture for cash sell for cash and off you pop if He makes a couple of quid a pop on 500 units it's a grand no one knows about including the owners of the work.Also the reason that the owners of the work don't release thier own work are because they are either dead or don't realise anyone's intrested in somethink they did donkey's years ago particularly because they're thousands of miles away regards ect.

[Ian Dewhirst]

I know I'm in a minority on here, but I love CDs and can't see them vanishing, if only for one simple reason that I would have thought was familiar to most on here.

You're in a small band. You play small gigs in local venues. You want to get better known, and maybe make a few quid back for your efforts. What method is most likely to get the most sales: A CD you can buy at a gig, or a download that you can tell people about, but which they'll probably forget about the day after, or hmm and haa about once they sober up again?

Also, speaking as someone who does record, download and cd reviews, I can guarantee that every single music reviewer would rather have a CD land on their doorstep rather than an emailed link to a free promotional download. Even worse though is the dread 7" package that drops through the door.,. Why? Because my car has a CD player in it, my work has a CD player, my house has multiple CD players. You can pause to scribble notes down, you can skip back to the start of a track.. And I don't think that it's just reviewers that find this form of functionality useful.

And don't get me started on bloody iTunes. The worst thing I ever bought was an iPod.

It's a good point you make there Nik. My PR guy for Harmless says that ALL reviewers want the real thing. They even get cheesed off if they get a CD promo pack leave alone a file link. They 100% want the finished CD's because they get the whole package, sleeve notes, scans, photos etc which in turn generally inspires them to write decent reviews touch wood.

I don't blame 'em. Me too!

Ian D

[Chalky]

I just bought a transfer cable and then selected the stuff I wanted to transfer to my new one. It converted it all from Windows 7 to Windows Vista for me. Is that what your on about?

Regards,

Dave

Thats all Ian should need really Dave, connect both computers and windows should do the rest for him, easy!

[Chalky]

Do you know what, if Ace put together a compilation of say 50 of their greatest CD booklets, blown up to an A4 size book, it would be one of the best music books ever made. Throw in a double cd featuring one track off each of the featured cd's - heaven.

I've mentioned it before to Ady to stick all the booklets in one book, would make a fantastic read...I for one would buy one.

[Guest soulboy]

Hi there soul.boy well I think that a lot of new release soul and re issue soul are between £8 and £10 for a couple of reasons really .For example I've just bought 125 nu soul/funk release's from the states there was a minumum order per title of 25 and minumum order of 6 titles from the label portfolio.With import duty and postage they will have cost me about £6. each before I open the box.Most re issue or new release 45's are ltd to short runs of between 250-500 unit's I would imagine that the manufactoring costs would be about £2.each depending on label colouring or if you want a picture cover ect.So if a licence of between £500. and £1000 per unit is paid then the label put's it's profit on top then wholesale cost ect it's not unreasonable to see the end price of around a tenner.Bootleg's are a different kettle of fish take your cash and recording to a back street pressing plant manufacture for cash sell for cash and off you pop if He makes a couple of quid a pop on 500 units it's a grand no one knows about including the owners of the work.Also the reason that the owners of the work don't release thier own work are because they are either dead or don't realise anyone's intrested in somethink they did donkey's years ago particularly because they're thousands of miles away regards ect.

thank you well put ,

[Guest ScooterNik]

It's a good point you make there Nik. My PR guy for Harmless says that ALL reviewers want the real thing. They even get cheesed off if they get a CD promo pack leave alone a file link. They 100% want the finished CD's because they get the whole package, sleeve notes, scans, photos etc which in turn generally inspires them to write decent reviews touch wood.

I don't blame 'em. Me too!

Ian D

Stick us on your distrubituion list then :D

[Supercorsa]

Just back from deepest darkest Bracknell, where I spent a massive £19.99 in HMV on CD's. After Hours The Collection (all 3 CD's from the series) - 75 tracks from Atlantic/Atco/Loma/Reprise & Warner Bros was 1p short of a tenner! Added to this were 2 Trojan CD's (both containing 40 tracks) for a tenner. So let's do the maths, 155 tracks for less than £20, it would have been criminal to not to have bought them.

So Cd's get a big thumbs up from me!

[Ian Dewhirst]

Stick us on your distrubituion list then :D

OK, pm me your details and I'll get 'em over to our Press guy. Here's what's coming up with most of 'em compiled by S.S. stalwarts..........

BACKB021 Backbeats - Soul A La Mode – 1970’s Modern Soul Compiled by Ian Dewhirst

BACKB022 Backbeats - What’s The Word - Socially Conscious Soul Music Compiled by Dean Rudland

BACKB023 Backbeats - Smooth Grooves – Sophisticated 80’s Philly Soul Compiled by Ralph Tee

BACKB024 Backbeats - Phillybusters – Underground Philly Dancefloor Gems Compiled by Kev Roberts & Ian Dewhirst

BACKB025 Backbeats - Bustin’ Out – Ghetto Grooves From Dusty Cellars Compiled by Dean Rudland

BACKB026 Backbeats - 2 Steps To Soul Heaven – More 70’s & 80’s Steppers Compiled by Ian Dewhirst

BACKB027 Backbeats - They Call It Crossover – More Mid-Tempo Soul Gems Compiled by Sean Hampsey

BACKB028 Backbeats - Mod Life Crisis – 60’s Mod Anthems For The In Crowd Compiled by Dean Rudland

BACKB029 Backbeats - Lost In Time –More Northern Soul Treasures Compiled by Kev Roberts & Ian Dewhirst

BACKB030 Backbeats - The Pain Goes Deep – More Deep Soul Gems Compiled by Sean Hampsey

Ian D

[Cunnie]

Simple answer. NO.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/How-Do-You-Mayer-Hawthorne/dp/B005HWUBZ0

[Mark R]

As a modern souler, as you might imagine I have oodles of 'em. Not sure about on the way out or not, but my biggest concern at the moment is for all those obscure indie titles I have that are basically CD-R's which have a limited shelf life compared to pressed up CD's.

I'm concious that I really need to get these onto the PC but with a busy "normal" life I just struggle to find the time for it. I know of at least one CD (Max Flava - the Troutman's etc) that just no longer plays and I've tried recovery software on it!

Beware!

Cheers,

Mark R

[Guest ScooterNik]

That's the fallacy of the short life of a CD in short Mark, stamped up CDs are pretty much the same as good old genuine vinyl, they last for ever. I've CDs from 15+ years back that play exactly the same way as they did when I bought them. Ones that I've burned myself less than 5 years ago (on cheap CDs admittedly) are starting to break up and become unplayable.

It's the comparison between vinyl and tape really.... one was generally used by professional outfits and will last a lifetime, others are home enthusiast tools, and they'll last as long as you'd expect.

[Shinehead]

OK, pm me your details and I'll get 'em over to our Press guy. Here's what's coming up with most of 'em compiled by S.S. stalwarts..........

BACKB021 Backbeats - Soul A La Mode – 1970’s Modern Soul Compiled by Ian Dewhirst

BACKB022 Backbeats - What’s The Word - Socially Conscious Soul Music Compiled by Dean Rudland

BACKB023 Backbeats - Smooth Grooves – Sophisticated 80’s Philly Soul Compiled by Ralph Tee

BACKB024 Backbeats - Phillybusters – Underground Philly Dancefloor Gems Compiled by Kev Roberts & Ian Dewhirst

BACKB025 Backbeats - Bustin’ Out – Ghetto Grooves From Dusty Cellars Compiled by Dean Rudland

BACKB026 Backbeats - 2 Steps To Soul Heaven – More 70’s & 80’s Steppers Compiled by Ian Dewhirst

BACKB027 Backbeats - They Call It Crossover – More Mid-Tempo Soul Gems Compiled by Sean Hampsey

BACKB028 Backbeats - Mod Life Crisis – 60’s Mod Anthems For The In Crowd Compiled by Dean Rudland

BACKB029 Backbeats - Lost In Time –More Northern Soul Treasures Compiled by Kev Roberts & Ian Dewhirst

BACKB030 Backbeats - The Pain Goes Deep – More Deep Soul Gems Compiled by Sean Hampsey

Ian D

Would any of these ever seen the light of day on vinyl Ian ?

[John Reed]

I have accepted that downloads seem to be the format of choice for new releases, but I personally still like holding a physical product. If I like a track, I do search if a CD exists and prefer to buy that, unless the price prohibitively high and I can't justify the cost I'll pay for the download. I also have a mental block at buying reissue vinyl when there's an original out there, even though it may be completely unavailable to me. I'm happy to have it on a CD in the interim, with the (foolish) expectation I may get the original one day.

One of the things that does seal CD purchases for me as people have mentioned, are the CD booklets and unreleased tracks stuff. The supplementary liner notes provided by companies such as Kent and Rhino add to the whole experience and as long as they provide quality documentation I'll still keep buying their CD's.

[Ian Dewhirst]

Would any of these ever seen the light of day on vinyl Ian ?

Good point. I guess they'd all be doubles so wouldn't be cheap to manufacture. Might be worth doing a limited edition run across all 30 titles though if we thought there was enough interest to justify such a run.

Ian D

[Shinehead]

One downside to cds i can see is that some great soul music that got released on cd only will probably not get the exposure it deserves on the dance floor because of the vinyl only obsession . Some great stuff got released cd only, some of the Malaco stuff comes to mind amongst other great stuff.

[Chalky]

What are the early cds of the northern scene worth these days, I've got the very first Soul Supply one somewhere upstairs.

[Geoff]

Interesting topic. I've got loads of CDs, but rarely buy them these days. Still buy vinyl, only cheapies and now I'm retired have to be a bit more sensible with money. I've never downloaded from iTunes, although I've got an iMac as well as a PC. My main objection was that the quality was not good enough, 128 kbps is the absolute minimum quality for CD burning imo, when I rip a CD I do it at 320. How much do the higher quality tracks from iTunes cost? And have they got the rare soul songs that I'm interested in?

The best CDs I get these days are from my friends, hope they like the ones I do them.

Apple hardware is good, but very proprietary. I'm no great fan of Microsoft, but Apple aren't that different.

I've used iTunes on my iMac for cutting CDs, took me a lilttle time to get used to it, making playlists but got on top of it eventually. However on my PC I couldn't get it to work properly. I use Nero for burning CDs under Windows 7, works fine.

There is something about vinyl, just the feel of it when you hold it, and seeing a record on the decks, at home or in a club. But CDs are practical and are good at home for listening when doing things. I did start to put my vinyl on to CD, but the CD recorder (Transdata) stopped recording after a time, despite spending money, it never recorded again, simply plays CDs. As my music system is a distance from my iMac not easy to connect. I probably need to get a laptop.

But even if I did manage to transfer my music (vinyl, CD and cassette tape) to digital format there is one thing that no one has mentioned so far. All digital media can fail, certainly hard disks in computers fail, sure people on here have suffered from that, I've experienced it. I have used external USB hard disks for back up, but the older ones don't always work with Windows 7, I need to get hold of a laptop running XP. There are solutions from Netgear, with 2 or 3 hard disks set up in the Raid format, like the servers in a business network. I don't think "cloud" storage is the answer as it may prove very expensive if you've got a lot of music, photos, etc. Plus you are at the mercy of big corporations.

Hope all this made sense.

[Ian Dewhirst]

But even if I did manage to transfer my music (vinyl, CD and cassette tape) to digital format there is one thing that no one has mentioned so far. All digital media can fail, certainly hard disks in computers fail, sure people on here have suffered from that, I've experienced it. I have used external USB hard disks for back up, but the older ones don't always work with Windows 7, I need to get hold of a laptop running XP. There are solutions from Netgear, with 2 or 3 hard disks set up in the Raid format, like the servers in a business network. I don't think "cloud" storage is the answer as it may prove very expensive if you've got a lot of music, photos, etc. Plus you are at the mercy of big corporations.

Hope all this made sense.

Makes perfect sense to me to have hard copy backups of everything Geoff. All it will take is for the Chinese to launch a logic bomb (a sort of internet armageddon) and you can say goodbye to everything that's stored electronically. Also I look at the fact that if Sony can't protect their systems properly then how much better can some of these cloud storage options be?

Ian D

[Chalky]

I don't know where people get the poor quality from iTunes. The last one I downloaded was 253 kbps (standard download as far as I'm aware), cd standard used to be 192kbps. You can compress a sound file quite a lot before you can audibly hear any loss to the music.

My digital files are backed up to three other drives.

[Guest sharmo 1]

Makes perfect sense to me to have hard copy backups of everything Geoff. All it will take is for the Chinese to launch a logic bomb (a sort of internet armageddon) and you can say goodbye to everything that's stored electronically. Also I look at the fact that if Sony can't protect their systems properly then how much better can some of these cloud storage options be?

Ian D

Well if ever there was a pro argument for vinyl ....A logic bomb..... that would be quite scary I can't see the Chinese doing it but muslim fundamentalists ? regards ect.

[MrsWoodsrules]

I don't know where people get the poor quality from iTunes. The last one I downloaded was 253 kbps (standard download as far as I'm aware), cd standard used to be 192kbps. You can compress a sound file quite a lot before you can audibly hear any loss to the music.

My digital files are backed up to three other drives.

Beg to differ there Chalky, depends what system your using, high end hifi will expose the compression, I use exact audio copies, lossy files stand out a mile on my system.

Aid.

[Chalky]

Beg to differ there Chalky, depends what system your using, high end hifi will expose the compression, I use exact audio copies, lossy files stand out a mile on my system.

Aid.

at a compression rate of 11:1 there is little if any noticeable difference to the human ear. You can go as far as something like 17:1 before any loss becomes audible. Of course it all depends on what bit rate you compress to and the quality of your source. Take iTunes, at a bit rate of 253kbps you will not notice any audible loss. You can get lossless and many download platforms now so that will do away with any quality issues.

[MrsWoodsrules]

at a compression rate of 11:1 there is little if any noticeable difference to the human ear. You can go as far as something like 17:1 before any loss becomes audible. Of course it all depends on what bit rate you compress to and the quality of your source. Take iTunes, at a bit rate of 253kbps you will not notice any audible loss. You can get lossless and many download platforms now so that will do away with any quality issues.

Sorry Chalky but a compressed file at 253kbps is blown out of the water by a lossless file on a real high end system, no danger.

All depends on the components used like I say.

I don't use any compression, but that's a double edge sword cos you then get massive file sizes & have to use a NAS drive out to DAC/amp, so it's a trade off, but certainly worth it for the sound quality, but that's just me & (unfortunately for me) I'm very particular when it comes to hi-fi, but do agree, on most mid-range systems you won't see a difference.

The irony is of course, that when it comes to Northern, rough production & sound is sometimes a plus point, but i listen to a lot of other genres too, jazz etc then nothing less that absolute perfect reproduction will do for me.

[Chalky]

Sorry Chalky but a compressed file at 253kbps is blown out of the water by a lossless file on a real high end system, no danger.

All depends on the components used like I say.

I don't use any compression, but that's a double edge sword cos you then get massive file sizes & have to use a NAS drive out to DAC/amp, so it's a trade off, but certainly worth it for the sound quality, but that's just me & (unfortunately for me) I'm very particular when it comes to hi-fi, but do agree, on most mid-range systems you won't see a difference.

The irony is of course, that when it comes to Northern, rough production & sound is sometimes a plus point, but i listen to a lot of other genres too, jazz etc then nothing less that absolute perfect reproduction will do for me.

I'm referring to cd vs. 253kbps rip. Most will not notice a difference with your average pop/soul etc track, the losses are too subtle to the ear. Classical etc then the trained ear will notice the difference.

Of course lossless is far better, no one denies that but we are talking downloads via iTunes/amazon/napster etc. 253kbps download (the last track I downloaded, Kim Katrell - Did You See Here Last Night) you will not notice the difference between that and the cd. It is a 6.1mb file which will probably be a compression rating of around 5:1.

[MrsWoodsrules]

I'm referring to cd vs. 253kbps rip. Most will not notice a difference with your average pop/soul etc track, the losses are too subtle to the ear. Classical etc then the trained ear will notice the difference.

Of course lossless is far better, no one denies that but we are talking downloads via iTunes/amazon/napster etc. 253kbps download (the last track I downloaded, Kim Katrell - Did You See Here Last Night) you will not notice the difference between that and the cd. It is a 6.1mb file which will probably be a compression rating of around 5:1.

Okay Chalky, Fair comments have to say, I do think Apple's 256 kbps AAC encoding is not too bad, I see Spotify are streaming at 320 kbps, which looks good as I believe I'll be able to get through my Virgin Tivo box shortly, I think I'll be happy with that, although don't know what the selection of Northern is like in Spotify's catalogue, but if it's half decent then happy days.

[Guest Carl Dixon]

Spotify? My stuff will be available through Spotify. This is a methodology that has interesting ramifications. If somebody streams a song, and don't like it, there is still a royalty. If they like the song and play say, 200 times over a year or so, I think the royalty becomes more than the price they would pay for a digital download track from iTunes/Amazon...and if ever there would be a hard copy, a fan would possible consider a purchase, so maybe a win win situation. I will let you know when my Spotify royalties are more than .0015cents a month.

[MrsWoodsrules]

I wouldn't know anything about the Spotify royalties situation Carl, but I do know that that Spotify Premium will be bundled with my Virgin Package at a 'significantly lower price'.

And Virgin have been busy dealing with all the major labels to get the deal done, I imagine it's a legal minefield.

Aid.

[Guest Carl Dixon]

I think so Aid..but,it gets the music on a different platform and curiosity may well be a good friend when people search these databases. Let's say 100,000 curious people play the same track and do not like it I think it generates .015cents on some outlets and .0015 on others etc. Add it up and them chuck in those that do like it and play more etc. It's all new and uncharted territory so to speak. Sky tried to do something like your Virgin set up and closed it. It is a minefield. I tried to get a job in there because whether I like it or not, this is the future of music distribution and the hard copy will become a collectable and novelty....I guess.

[MrsWoodsrules]

I think so Aid..but,it gets the music on a different platform and curiosity may well be a good friend when people search these databases. Let's say 100,000 curious people play the same track and do not like it I think it generates .015cents on some outlets and .0015 on others etc. Add it up and them chuck in those that do like it and play more etc. It's all new and uncharted territory so to speak. Sky tried to do something like your Virgin set up and closed it. It is a minefield. I tried to get a job in there because whether I like it or not, this is the future of music distribution and the hard copy will become a collectable and novelty....I guess.

Yes Carl, I think Sky tried & failed something similar, but Spotify is already a successful product in its own right, it's also now available in North America. I think I read somewhere that with this deal, Virgin will be making the Spotify product available to close on one million homes bundled in with TIVO, like the idea of controlling it all from my iPad too, can't wait, just hope the Northern catalogue doesn't just contain Al Wilson & Wigan's Chosen Few, a bit of real soul wouldn't go amiss Failing that youtube aint too bad for Northern is it, they've got a app for that!

[Guest Carl Dixon]

Yes, I have serious reservations, as you probably know, about all this and copyright issues, because things are murky out there...but part of me is starting to realise the potential of old and new material on these services. The issue is, it's quite complicated to get things in the right place to make earnings from song writing, or as a performer/copyright owner. If the likes of ASCAP/PRS/BMI/PPL/SoundExchange get it rights with those transmitting the material. it would be an interesting windfall for those songs that get played the most.

As for Al Wilson and WCF, well, they are part of history I guess and without them or the other 'political' songs we would not be able to criticise anything ha ha.

Edited October 23, 2011 by Carl Dixon