Tuesday, April 8, 2014

Discuss: Modernizing Music Methods

 

Doug: Today let's sing the merits of our means of getting that music to our waiting ears. And along the way, share a memory of a favorite song or album garnered by you in one of the formats below.

 
 

 
 

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14 comments:

Anonymous said...
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April 8, 2014 at 7:44 AM
Anonymous said...
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April 8, 2014 at 8:11 AM
david_b said...

Heavens, what a GREAT topic. Sooo much to share, but busy this morning, so will only share a few now, perhaps more later.

First off, off-topic, I've been so emmersed in 'Bridge Over Troubled Waters' lately, especially Art Garfunkel's 1981 Central Park performance. I swear, there are a good handful of songs in our lives that are 'owned' by ONE singer, granted. This song is not only 'owned', but his voice is so iconic with that song, no one else will ever be able to sing it like Art. I remember being warmed by his lilt voice back in 1970, as I am today. His voice is as balming as the song itself. It can never truely be sung by anyone else.

Now, back to the topic. My big brother was a big Beatles/Stones fan, he actually went to see Let It Be when it came out, bought so many solo Fab albums when they were released. I can still remember him playing 'All Things Must Pass' like it was going out of style. We both went to see 'Concert of BanglaDesh' when it first came out. My 'first bought' 45 had to have been Macca's 'Live and Let Die'.. It was awesome.

Ah cassettes ~ Back in the day it was the only way to get the music you always wanted to hear free, when you didn't have the $$ for albums. I taped many a Beatle weekend on WOKY AM, as well as their movies off TV, scifi tv/movies, just to relive moments. I've worn out a few tapes in my day.

I didn't have 8-tracks when they were big, but once cassettes took over by 1978/79, I got literally shopping bags of great music when everyone was getting rid of 'em.

My big brother donated his old 8-track player, a dozen Stones tapes, and stores around town were dumping their tapes for under a buck. I got nearly all of Harrison's 70s catalog on 8-tracks for like $3 apiece. What a way to get music.

When I had my wisdom teeth taken out, I had to sleep off the sedative for a day. I just popped in the Stones 'Satanic Majesties' and let that play over and over.. Whaaaaaat a trip.

I was slow to get on board with CD's.., I didn't start buying until the mid-90s. I still have about 50some CDs, I typically prefer them over downloading music, so I can put 'em on different formats, or just play 'em in the car.

Before my first deployment, my wife and her best friend got me my first 'classic iPod', 'round 2007. I still use it, I know they've gotten smaller and have much more drive space, but I just like my classic one for it's larger miniature screen, etc. I've downloaded a bunch of vintage television shows off Amazon, and other movies and I'm still impressed with the overall screen quality when I plug it into a large flat screen when I'm traveling.

April 8, 2014 at 8:17 AM
J.A. Morris said...

I grew up with records & cassettes, but I quickly fell in love with CDs. I still prefer them to downloads. But if I just want one song (not the whole album)I'll download that track. Otherwise, I still want the physical shiny consumer object.

April 8, 2014 at 8:21 AM
Anonymous said...

I can proudly say I'm old school - I have an iPod Classic. It was the first one I bought for myself and not one that one of my daughters had outgrown. It's the 160gb version.

The other thing that has helped me immensely in my music enjoyment is a program I found on the innerweb called Audacity (it's up to Audacity 2.0 now). It's a recorder/editor program that with the 2.0 version allows you to save in mp3 format. The old version saved in wave. I ran my old tape deck into my audio in in the back of my computer and transferred most of my cassettes to digital files. I am now in the process of converting my old waves to mp3. With the mp3, I load them onto iTunes and then my iPod. When I upgraded to Windows 7, the old feedback loop problem when you tried to play and record something at the same time got fixed (don't ask me how, I just know they did). Now I can record something using Audacity while it's playing on my computer. This led my to Radioshaker, Radioio, Addicted to Radio and so on and so forth, etc etc etc. I can find a channel I like, say eighties pop or seventies soul or blues or hair band (you get the drift) hit the red record button and hour or two later come back and hit stop. Save it as an mp3 pop on the iPod and listen to it at work. If I want, I go back later, break the file down into individual songs, cut out the commercials and reload it.

With all the stuff people are putting on youtube, I can find something I'm interested in, hit record, play and boom. There it is. When the topic was top five albums, many of them were on youtube. (Sadly, not many of the King Biscuit stuff).

And I'm with david_b, I have so many cassettes of holiday weekends or when a station was just changing formats and for the first day or two, there were no commercial interruptions. And I use Cucusoft to make my videos stuff into mp4s to load and watch on my iPod. I just finished Battlestar Galactica, working on Remington Steele and will probably then do Stargate Atlantis.


The Prowler (definitely not picky on what is "sponge" worthy).

April 8, 2014 at 8:47 AM
Garett said...

I remember my parents' 45 collection, like the Peppermint Twist
Hilarious intro to this tune, about how this dance is corrupting society.

In the '80s, my rock band would tape songs off the radio onto cassette. We became very good at listening to learn...so much easier now with lyric/chord sites. Also I had a boom box that allowed me to record multiple tracks onto a cassette--a big deal back then!

I still like to pick up CDs if I see a live band and want to support them. I saw Vancouver band Bend Sinister last weekend-- fantastic high energy live show.
Bend Sinister "Teacher"

To sample new and old music, Songza is good: http://songza.com/
Select your mood, and it starts the party.

April 8, 2014 at 11:15 AM
Dr. Oyola said...

I used to DJ - so I still have a chunk of the vinyl I used to collect - over the years I have given away a lot of my records to friends who are DJs and/or still into vinyl collecting but I still have a couple of 100 in storage.

I miss tape cassettes, because nothing beats making or receiving a mixtape. I do make mix CDs for people sometimes (I make one for my wife every birthday - it is getting more difficult), but it is not the same as a tape.

Nowadays, I still collect CDs - to the point where when I come across digital file only music I like I burn it on a disc! I joke that I am starting in on the ground floor of the nostalgic CD collection market that will develop in the next 10 to 20 years like it did for vinyl.

All this being said, nothing beats an ipod for driving or trips on mass transit - but I am really picky about it - I only put full-albums on my ipod and the proper album art must be included.

When I want to hear a one-off song and I am on my computer (which is a lot) I just use youtube.

April 8, 2014 at 11:29 AM
Sean Budde said...
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April 8, 2014 at 2:43 PM
Sean Budde said...
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April 8, 2014 at 2:47 PM
Redartz said...

A pretty fun topic; running the gamut from pop 45's to mp3. The first 45 I bought was "The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia" from Vicki Lawrence. Still have a warm spot for that song. That purchase led to a lifetime of music acquisitions. Never really did much with tape, although I did make mix tapes for friends (including custom-drawn cover art).

The decline in CD popularity has been a boon; now you can pick up many fine discs for a pittance and download them to your smartphone. The flea market frequently features (alliteratively) cd's for a dollar or two; about what you'd pay for a single Itunes download. And like Prowler, I find Audacity very useful. Over the last couple years all my vinyl has been converted to mp3 and loaded on the laptop. Subsequently sold all the vinyl; much to the dismay of my nephew who just recently started collecting LP's...

April 8, 2014 at 7:54 PM
Fred W. Hill said...

The first vinyl lp I ever bought was Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, which I got in early 1978. For some odd reason I never got into buying singles, I only ever got maybe a dozen, but between '78 and '88 I got about 300 lps before I started collecting cds, of which I have over a thousand now. I still haven't gotten into MP3s or downloading. I'm a bit of a luddite, I suppose. Before I started collecting lps, tho', I did a lot of recording off of the radio on cassettes. My earliest cassettes eventually fell into ruin, but I still have quite a few that I recorded from a San Francisco alt-rock station in the late '80s, and stuff I recorded while in Greece in the mid-90s, and from a college radio station in New London, CT, in the late '90s. Some of those recordings I haven't been able to find anywhere, even when I know the song & artist, which isn't the case with everything on those tapes. I really need to convert them to cds or another format which isn't prone to warping or falling apart.

April 8, 2014 at 9:00 PM
Anonymous said...

Fred, that's what we're saying about Audacity. It's free and they pretty much walk you through the download. If you're running Windows 7 or a later version, you just plug your tape player into the back of your desktop or audio in on your laptop. Open Audacity, push the red record button, then play on your tape deck, when it's down playing push stop. Export and boom, mp3 file.

The Prowler

April 9, 2014 at 7:03 AM
Anonymous said...

Anybody ever heard of the research Neil Young has been involved with that says listening to digital music is an altogether different aural experience than listening to vinyl/records???

Something about it's an entirely different affect on the brain, therefore the new generation is having a very different experience with music than we did listening to vinyl.

starfoxxx

April 9, 2014 at 6:29 PM
Joseph said...

Great topic. Today (april 11th) is even 8-track appreciation day!

The album I've purchased the most times might have to be The Who's Tommy (a few LPs, an 8-track, and at least three different CD versions).

I've kept hold of many of my old 45's but they are mostly cheesy love songs from the 80s (eg - I Guess That's Why They Call It The Blues).

April 12, 2014 at 1:39 AM

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