View Poll Results: What's your favorite music format?

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  • Vinyl

    6 17.65%
  • 8-Track (no, really)

    0 0%
  • Cassette Tape

    1 2.94%
  • CD

    20 58.82%
  • MP3 or digital format

    7 20.59%
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Thread: Favorite Music format?

  1. #1
    Administrator sodascouts's Avatar
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    Default Favorite Music format?

    This topic was brought up and it got me to thinking. Which music format do you most prefer?

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  2. #2
    Administrator sodascouts's Avatar
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    Default Re: Favorite Music format?

    LPs have great artwork, but the music sounds all scratchy, they're ungainly to carry/store, and you can't play them in the car or take them anywhere. They're easily damaged as well.

    The cassette tapes are more durable up to a point, but then they start to lose sound quality as they age and that tape gets run across those heads time and time again.

    CDs are portable, have the artwork (although smaller), have high sound quality, and give you a physical object to hold onto. You can rip them to MP3 without too much effort if you want to do that. They're easily scratched and damaged, however.

    MP3s are highly convenient but artwork is pathetic (yeah, you can download some, but what do you do with it? Load it onto an ipod where it's not displayed, or displayed very tiny). Plus, there's something to be said for hearing the song in the context of the album. However, I love that I can download one song from an album and not have to shell out $15+ unless I really do like it all. Also, nothing beats the portability and convenience of immediate downloads and mp3 players. I can listen to a vast array of music any time, anywhere, by just pulling my iPod out of my purse. On the other hand, said mp3 players don't really allow you to hear the sound in all its glory, nor do your average computer speakers. Finally, if you download from iTunes, you only get to put the song on five different machines before it becomes unplayable and you have to buy it again. UNCOOL. (nowadays, 5 machines is nothing... desktop, iphone, laptop, ipod... inevitably they will need to be replaced and then you're out of luck. I have recently subscribed to a music service so I don't have to use iTunes for just that reason.) Storing them on your computer can start taking up a lot of space unless you lower the quality so the file is smaller.

    hmmm!

    ETA: I think I'll go with CD, but still burn 'em all to MP3 for my iPod. lol

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  3. #3
    Border Troubadour Annabel's Avatar
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    Default Re: Favorite Music format?

    I must admit I still have some albums on vinyl that I just won't get rid of even though I don't play them anymore. (I do still have an old stereo with turntable in the atic. ) I like the way I can see the words of the songs on LPs. They are a decent size unlike on CD's where I need a magnifying glass sometimes. Also like having the bigger art work there.
    Still have a few cassettes too but likewise they never get played.

    I tend to buy most of my stuff on CD but pretty much always add to it my I-tunes library and my I-pod. I have got the odd track I have bought just as a download, but they are very few in number.

    I think I'll have to go CD.
    Melanie



  4. #4
    Stuck on the Border WalshFan88's Avatar
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    Default Re: Favorite Music format?

    CD although I'd LOVE to have a vinyl collection and a turntable to hook into my stereo (maybe for Christmas I could get a turntable! ) But for me MP3/digital cannot come close to the quality of a CD or an LP through a big stereo. But then again I'm an audiophile and I'm sure for most people iTunes is fine. Not for me. I use the iPod in travel and that's it.
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  5. #5
    Administrator sodascouts's Avatar
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    Default Re: Favorite Music format?

    I also find that I don't buy CDs anymore unless it's a proven artist that I already like a lot. If it's new music, I'll almost always just buy one or two songs... For instance, I own music by artists like Adele, Alicia Keys, Amy Winehouse, The Black-Eyed Peas, Bruno Mars, Christina Aguilera, Coldplay, Daniel Powter, Daughtry, David Cook, Edwin McCain, Enrique Iglesias, The Fray, Jason Mraz, Lady GaGa, Ne-Yo, Nickelback, OneRepublic, Paolo Nutini, Plain White Ts, Rihanna, Shakira, Usher, 3 Doors Down, 30 Seconds to Mars, etc., but only a few songs each. The last time I bought a CD of a "new" artist was Keith Urban, and that was only because he was opening for the Eagles and was getting such high recs from my fellow Borderers! I just don't want to spend $15+ dollars unless I know I'm going to like the majority of it, and I don't know that with new artists. I will say that I have bought so many Beyonce, John Mayer, and Maroon 5 songs at this point that it about adds up to one album each.

    It's all about the numbers. If I budget myself $35 to spend on music a month, I can either buy two albums from two artists with about 26 songs, some of which I may not like... or I can buy about 30 songs I know I like from a variety of artists. That's why the "You must buy the album to get this song" marketing crap pisses me off so much.

    ETA: I should note that for me, "new" artist is anyone who came on the scene in the last decade, lol.

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  6. #6
    Stuck on the Border TimothyBFan's Avatar
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    Default Re: Favorite Music format?

    LOVE my vinyl!!!!!! Nothing beats the artwork in an album and the sound is freakin' awesome with the right speakers and equipment.

    And anyone who has seen our garage and the wall of music that holds 900+ albums could figure that out. We also have several stereo systems and a pair of out of this world speakers that have gotten us into a bit of trouble with the law. Oops!! But I also have a friend who has a turntable that I can download my albums from into my Itunes and then onto my Ipod.

    OK--let's face it.... I love them all and purchase them all. It just depends on what it is and the format I want it in. Lately, for my favorite artist, it's been a purchase of cd AND vinyl and if there was a pre-release couple of tracks you could purchase, I've done that. LROOE and Move Like This by The Cars are 2 examples of all of the above.
    He sings it high, he plays it low

  7. #7
    Moderator Brooke's Avatar
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    Default Re: Favorite Music format?

    Well, now I guess I'm learning something new today! Austin, you say that the audio quality on the ipod is not as good as a cd? Darn! I thought I had discovered the solution to scratched cds! And I thought that cds weren't supposed to scratch!

    Back when cds first came out I just knew I'd never buy them. I loved my vinyls too much! Then we bought a car with a cd player! Well, I had to have a few to play in there! (A few led to quite a few, the complete works of some nameless artists!) I did like that you get the liner notes and artwork with a cd. Finally, last summer when one of our stereos left us our kids talked us in to buying an ipod and a light came on in our head! You could take this anywhere and have all your music at your fingertips! Unbelievable! I've downloaded lots from itunes and also added all of our cds to my itunes library, but I'm still learning.

    But now, Austin, you have deflated me if the listening quality is not as good! We have a pretty awesome stereo too! How will I tell my husband?

    And I don't even know how to vote in the poll now!
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  8. #8
    Administrator sodascouts's Avatar
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    Default Re: Favorite Music format?

    It depends on the quality of your digital rip. If you rip from the CD into a lossless format (I use Exact Audio Copy, which is free), your quality will be just as good as the source material. However, lossless files are big and take up a lot of space on the computer, nevermind the iPod!

    The problem is that if you're listening to it through earbuds or on a computer's default speakers, it usually doesn't sound as good. That doesn't seem to be the case with you, though, Brooke.

    Most iTunes song downloads comes at a quality of 256 kbps, which is pretty good (I believe they are planning to raise that in the future once they start selling players with better audio output capabilities). Many people rip their MP3s from their CDs at 128 kbps so the file is smaller and you can fit more songs onto your computer or iPod, but sound quality does start to deteriorate.

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  9. #9
    Moderator Brooke's Avatar
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    Default Re: Favorite Music format?

    So, how do I know if I'm ripping my mp3s from cds at the right kpbs? I just put the cd in the Mac and let 'er rip! (sorry! lol)

    Methinks I'd better just enjoy what I've got and try to pretend I didn't read this! It's all way above my head and even farther above hubbys! When we play the ipod through our stereo, which is Pioneer with nice Bose speakers, it sounds great to us! Better just let it be! I do understand that lesser quality speakers or headphones make a difference.
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  10. #10
    Administrator sodascouts's Avatar
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    Default Re: Favorite Music format?

    You can look in the settings of whatever program your Mac is using to rip the CDs to find out... but if you're happy with the way it sounds, why worry?

    Always in our hearts, Never forgotten

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