I second Criterion Collection stuff. I had LDs back in the day with all the features that DVDs had when they came in in 1996 and wiped out laserdiscs (menus, multiple audio tracks, alternate endings etc), and CAV LDs that held 50,000 still images (e.g. moon landings and Voyager)- where are the DVDs of that??

Re music, I love physical media, and have most formats back to music boxes and pianola rolls. Scott Joplin died in 1917, with his wonderful ragtime popularised in The Sting movie. I have pianola recordings of him playing his tunes, which I can play back on a 1920s piano. Match that with streaming! Phonograph cylinders were excellent, and (really) old stuff is not available to stream. 78s are great too, and I love going to record fairs where everything is pre-vinyl Before 78s were formats like Pathe's 100rpm play from the inside out vertical grooved records. heh. (That was phased out in 1912). What I'm saying is- iTunes and streaming have MASSIVE GAPS in their catalogues that only analogue can fill.

As for streaming, I do that too (I guess no-one is daring to mention torrenting), and had Tidal for a year but it's overpriced @ £19.99 per month here. Spotify Premium @ 320kbps is a reasonable compromise for me on every device that can run an app. But really until lossless streaming is mainstream I don't accept that streaming has taken over (quality-wise) from (lossless) CD. I also like to own stuff, not have a 'list' that can be erased instantly and is DRMd. Back to torrenting, heh.

It's interesting that we had 20 years of crap quality digital audio and video, and only now has lossless and UHD matched the best analogue. Well, apart from IMAX and studio mastertapes Magnetic tape dates back to 1928.

8-track was disappointing though. Not great quality in the way vinyl remains.

IMO the streaming companies need to re-invent the art package that analogue was able to deliver (vinyl, CD in a smaller form). Provide a VR experience or somesuch e.g. re-create Freddie Mercury like Peter Cushing was in Star Wars, and then they have moved the industry forwards. I'm sure Viveport would be happy to collaborate, or PSVR. Is Oculus Rift dead now?

I'll stop rambling now

I wouldn’t sweat it, just enjoy listening to the music. There are many that claim they can tell the difference. Many are so convinced that even after they fail double blind testing they still say “well I still know myself that I CAN tell the difference”. They can’t.

I just always thought "vinyl sounded better" because those people are on the drugs

If you listened on a Windows computer, they were all the same resolution.

You would need a good set of headphones, a quiet room, and driver software to bypass windows native sound driver.

The only way to hear the difference is:

http://www.asio4all.org/
.

CDs are reader than fried chicken. I've totally switched to Amazon Unlimited. I ask for a song, and it plays anywhere in the house. I ask in the car, it plays in the car. Whatever my mood, there is music at the waiting for it. Screw CDs.

Not dead, just...impractical.

Like anything you're not a connoisseur of; be graftefull. I've had $100 steaks and they taste the same as an Outback, which is fine by me.

One rally really really sad thing about the "non-Cd generation", is that concept albums is often missed...that is, people listen to the one or two songs they like, instead of takin the time to experience an album with a story from start from finish. For example Metropolis pt2 by Dream Theater, Operation Mindcrime by Queensryche, Seventh son of a seventh son by Iron Maiden (alrigth, its a loosely based concept album) or..who knows, maybe newcomers as "The Fields of Trauma" by frail grounds (only if you like a good mix of heavy, prog and a little extreme metal) but still... yeah... CDs had a major role in enforcing people to listen to something from A to Z in my opinion.

You guys remember this thing? I used to drool over it at circuit city...think it was like two thousand dollars back in the day

Featured in a few movies as well I think when a swanky couple would start getting it on

9A9A9F9C-E57E-45AF-BE12-BFA6A4ACE260 (resized).png

Not in my basement.

1524098189183908704368 (resized).jpg

I was just pointing out that the "see if you can hear the difference" website was a scam.

Unfortunately it's a fast food Walmart world people just want something now they don't care how good it is or how long it lasts

No doubt the idea of the concept album is probably gone. But that is counterbalanced by the rejoicing that occurred when people realized that they could buy just that one “good song” or two that they liked and not an entire album of songs they deemed was mostly filler. This is kind of forgotten now but it was a big thing back in the day when the digital music situation started slipping out of control.

Why does physical property define whether or not a person is a "true fan"?

I mentioned bandcamp downloads earlier in the thread, and how more money goes toward the artist. Does supporting the artist through downloads make me less of a fan?

I will never stop buying physical music, ever! I listen to albums not songs, I guess it's a different perspective. I also like the physical product and the art. I'm not sold on this all digital nonsense.

Foobar can help with this if you use WASAPI or ASIO output.

Wasabi?

Pink Floyd got my money multiple times for the same music. I've seen video of David Gilmour at his house so I think he did OK . I bought the LP. I bought the CD. Now I don't have either, just digital versions of those songs floating around as 1s and 0s. Part of me wishes I kept the physical album and CD just for the coolness effect. But on the other hand, sometimes I get tired of "stuff" piled up all over the place, and I got rid of it all. I think I am still a pretty good fan. Been listening to that for 45 years.

150 or so record albums and who knows how many CDs are long gone. Those used CDs are worth next to nothing for the most part, but the LPs are probably worth a little bit with the resurgence. I had all that good 70s stuff on LP - Led Zep, Black Sabbath, Pink Floyd, and dozens of Jimi Hendrix albums, some never or rarely played. The ironic thing is I still have my original Pioneer turntable from the 70s. I do use it once in a great while to digitize some rare thing on an LP that can't be acquired digitally.

Put a glass of bourbon in that guys hand and that’s me every Friday night.

I have in the area of 1000 records, mostly albumes, collected over about 55 years. Love vinyl. When CD's came along I started buying them as well. Of course it helped that I operated 10 to 12 CD jukeboxes during the 90's. I still have 1 cd box on location. But sadly that location is closing next month. I still collect CD's and picked up 40 classic discs at a garage sale a couple of weeks ago. $1 a CD, what a bargain. Found a few I didn't know come out in the CD format. In-da-gada-da-vi-da by Iron Butterfly was one of them. That song would be great as background music in a pin. I love the hunt. Rockon Pinside.

Im just saying that if its made its way into retail furniture outlets, then its definitely on the upswing. Ive seen then at target as well.

There are a few really big record shops out here too, doing very well

Vinyl is doing really well and is on the upswing in the same sense that pinball is doing really well and on the upswing.

It's gone from tiny to less tiny, but compared to streaming music or video games it's still very very tiny.

That said vinyl and pinball are awesome.

Sadly yes. I spent the last 14 years in the music biz for a major retailer. I remember literally selling a million+ units a week and that was before the real dip in sales happened around 2009. It was an amazing ride. Lots of great people have been let go over the years. And now as we close up physical CD sales in the stores forever on May 1st, it will be a sad end to an era.

Pinball is always a topic I'll go to when talking with famous artists, and just like us, their eyes light up. Many have at least a game or two in their home. I was talking to Gilby from GNR last year and he told me how all the guys in the band were given a game when it came out. He still has his. He also said Slash was constantly sketching out pinball designs, even after their game came out. How cool would another GNR game be?

It would have to be a JJP widebody to fit Axl on it now.

.......And you can do them both at the same time!

Especially with Buckethead on lead guitar.

That guy is 50x better than Slash.

mahhhxresdefault (resized).jpg

He's 50x better than just about anybody.

Im an older guy (50) so i guess not that old but old enough lol and i would disagree. Two examples...

hqdefault (resized).jpg

MI0003416187 (resized).jpg

I have never heard those bands on the radio or on tv shows or anywhere else in the wild. All I hear is awful garbage like Ed Sheeran, Taylor Swift, and endless miles of useless horrible hip hop/rap.

No one has heard of Greta Van Fleet, no one. When I ask people if they have heard Greta Van Fleet they just look at me like I am some kind of insane idiot.

You have any local college radio stations near you? They do a really good job getting new music out there.

Nothing has really changed over the last 20-30 years as far as mainstream music being on the radio goes.

I would actually argue that there are waaaayyy more avenues to find great new music courtesy of Al Gore's internet.

I will toss you a newer (last 5 years) artist you can rock out and listen to for hours- Gary Clark Jr....

They have the #9 song in the country right now....

https://www.billboard.com/charts/hot-mainstream-rock-tracks

and the #3 rock album:

https://www.billboard.com/charts/hard-rock-albums

To be fair, it's an odd name for a Zeppelin cover band.

Both those bands are great. Saw Greta, major talent. Their sounds is similar to Zep, but not a cover band.

BSmoke is awesome as well.

well that’s just plain crazy talk there pardner.

I’m not totally up on these things but I’m not sure how relevant Billboard is these days. How about this?

YouTube:

Ed Sheeran just short of 30 million subscribers, just short of 13 billion video views

Taylor Swift 28+ million subscribers, almost 15 billion video views

Greta Van Fleet 11,000 subscribers, 2 million video views

Source: socialblade

Haha right. But, bless them for rocking out. Bless them. It gives you hope.

I'm old school and like to have the cd. I have plucked a few mp3's from Amazon and Apple but still prefer having a physical cd that I can always re rip in case the mp3 gets destroyed or my PC goes tits up on me. I love going through the booklet inside for lyrics and artwork. Rob Zombie is awesome for this still.

tumblr_p65ykiv20r1v5i3nmo1_540.gif

I still have about a 150 cds and i dont think i will ever get rid of them. I also still have most of my old cassette tapes. About 15 years ago i sold all my original albums (about 400 of them). Everything from original Floyd, Zeppelin, Sabbath, Stones etc, to lots of original 80s metal albums for about 800 bucks ! I had no idea that vinyl was going to make a comeback !! Im soo pissed about that one !

In the old days, Billboard would call (you know, on a phone) a group of record stores and ask them what they sold that week.

This of course allowed employees to report higher record sales to bands they liked, or allowed the mob to alter the reports in some markets.

But in 1990, Nelson switched over to Soundscan, and using barcode readers, tracked the actual unit sales. This brought Alternative, Hip Hop and Country music way up in the ranks. Suddenly all the **uncool** music was selling!

-

Fast forward 3 decades, and Nelson now tracks EVERYTHING it's human drones listen to.

When you see someone wearing a Pager nowadays, that pager is actually a Nelson tracker that is listening to the person's entire life.

Listen to Greta on Youtube for more than a few seconds? It's tracked and counted.

Go to a movie, or even watch a pirated movie? It's tracked and counted.

Watch CNN in the morning? They count it.

Listen to the one Country song you like on Spotify? Counted.

Then there are the digital sales also. I looked up Billboard digital song sales, then I gave a listen to the top 4. Drake Nice For What, Cardi B I Like It, Drake God's Plan, Bebe Rexha Meant To Be.

I literally want to kill myself and not be part of society any more after listening to all that drivel.

Drakes new tracks are pure fire, Ed Sheeran has some great tracks and anyone that famous that still drinks in dive bars is ok in my book. Taylor Swift is huge for a reason, even if you don't like there stuff you have to be able to see the talent. Music just changes and no period is really better than another its all relevant to its time. CDs are dead.

I don't know how anyone can not enjoy watching both the Drake videos.

It's been like that since the dawn of time, it did not just happen today.

#1 songs:

1973 "Tie a Yellow Ribbon 'Round the Ole Oak Tree"

1974 "The Way We Were" Barbra Streisand

1975 "Love Will Keep Us Together" Captain & Tennille

1976 "Silly Love Songs" Wings

1977 "Tonight's the Night (Gonna Be Alright)" Rod Stewart

1978 "Shadow Dancing" Andy Gibb

The worst music of all time, and imagine, that was when sales were being reported by phone - think how bad the actual #1 songs were!

Even if we switch to 1990 when Soundscan cleaned up the joint:

1990 "Hold On" Wilson Phillips

1991 "(Everything I Do) I Do It for You" Bryan Adams

1992 "End of the Road" Boyz II Men

1993 "I Will Always Love You" Whitney Houston

1994 "The Sign" Ace of Base

1995 "Gangsta's Paradise" Coolio

1996 "Macarena" Los del Río

Again, the worst songs of all time, and those are based on real sales figures.

-

So when people talk about "how good music USED to be" or other nonsense, remind them that Led Zep, KISS, Bruce Springsteen, The Who, Jimi Hendrix or Bob Dylan; never had a #1 song.

What is worse, Tie a Ribbon Round the Ole Oak Tree, or Nice For What by Drake? These are eternal questions that may never be answered

Also I am not convinced we have new trailblazers today hiding in the background like LZ, Kiss, Springsteen, and all those others. I will keep looking as much as I can though and have an open mind (I swear).

I just had to go run some errands in my car, and fortunately my iPod started me out with Iron Maiden Run To The Hills, followed by some Deep Purple, J Geils, Allman Brothers, ZZ Top, and then Megadeth. My ears were grateful.

That list of #1 songs just gave me acid reflux...

If you're into Springsteen try out the Gaslight Anthem, especially their album The '59 Sound.