Digital music

[Cail]

Don't know if this is the right forum for this, but....

What's everyone's opinion of digital music? I read an article a week or so ago predicting the end of the home stereo in very short order due to the popularity of portable mp3 players like the iPod.

I like my iPod. It's convenient for bike riding and working out, and it's simple to plug into my truck and have a pile of songs that I'm not gonna hear on the radio (even XM). But there is no way on God's green Earth that it's going to replace CDs and my home stereo. The sound quality is decent enough through the ear buds, and tolerable through my car stereo, but it's just dreadful through a decent system.

Back-to-back comparisons of CD vs. downloaded mp3 through a decent stereo really highlight this. There's no bass, the mids are muddy, and the highs are brassy. It's almost like listening to a cassette tape.

[Cheval]

I agree on the sound quality.
MP3s are good to take to the beach on a portable player,
but as you said... on a decent home system, it is like listening to a cassette.

[dANdeLION]

I like mp3's because my work pc has tons of space so I loaded 8,267 songs on it and listen to them here, rather than my old way of carrying 20 or so of my favorite cds.....

[Zarathustra]

I don't have an MP3 player, but both my children do, and so does my wife. Though I don't listen to them myself, I've heard that if you don't mind compromising space on your player, you can load it with music using a lossless format, instead of the lossy compression formats most people use. This is the single reason why MP3 music sounds so bad. Digital compression. The problem isn't digital music itself. CDs are digital, remember. The problem is that when data is compressed, you lose a lot of the original analog waveform. The wave is chopped up into "slices," and MP3s store fewer slices than CDs. Usually, that is. Like I said, you can have CD quality music on an MP3 player at the sacrifice of space. [I don't even think most new CDs sound good--but then again, I'm one of those freaks who has a universal player which supports both Super Audio CD and DVD-Audio formats. My system isn't super expensive, but it sounds nice. ]

But since that defeats one of its main benefits, I've just never bothered to get one. When I'm on my bike or jogging, I like to hear what's around me. Any other time I need music (car or home), I've already got a system that doesn't need to be replaced.

[Cail]

Yeah, my iPod supports lossless mp3, but as you say, you lose storage space.

[Sorus]

I regard the iPod as a basic survival tool - my commute is about 4 hours per day.

At home, however, it's not gonna replace my stereo or CD player in any way except convenience - it is very nice to have most of my library all ready to go in my computer.

[stonemaybe]

I've had one now for just over 2 years and more than anything else it has reignited my love of music. I was finding that I wasn't listening to much music just due to my everyday routine. But now everywhere I go I listen! It has also really helped me give up the cigarettes as I have something to do when I'm walking somewhere, whereas before I would have just lit up.

Mobi-blu

[CovenantJr]

I use my MP3 player a lot, but the main selling point for me is being able to carry around a large quantity of music. If this means sacrificing a bit of quality, so be it - but for that very reason, it will never replace my home stereo unless it's vastly improved. My stereo has better sound quality and a larger catalogue (I can only fit two thirds of my CD collection on my MP3 player), plus I like to have the CD inlays etc.

Besides, the battery life on my MP3 player is rubbish, and it takes ages to put music on it.

[Damelon]

I don't listen to music much outside of when I'm in my car, where I have a 3 hour daily commute. I now use my ipod almost exclusively there. To me it's a great advance over cd's since I'd almost always scratch up the cd over the course of a few months of use in the car. The audio quality is adequate for my use.

[Warmark]

I listen to my iPod where i go, i use it every single day. It allows me to take it all with me, so its worth the sounds qualtiy drop.

[matrixman]

I don't have a "pure" MP3 player, but a Sony Discman that plays both audio CDs and MP3s burned onto CD. For me, that strikes the best balance: I can have the convenience of MP3s if I want, while still having the option of enjoying regular CDs.

I never use the crappy earbuds that come supplied with portable players. My favorite portable phones are a pair from AKG that, imo, do justice to CD audio. It also helps that my Sony Discman delivers, imo, above-average audio fidelity. It also has a clever "parametric" equalizer that works quite well in adjusting sound without undue distortion.

When I do rip my CDs to MP3, I use the highest quality variable bit-rate setting. At such a setting, MP3s can sound pretty good. Personally, I think the Windows Media Audio format is superior to MP3, but unfortunately, Sony CD/MP3 players don't support WMA - the politics of Sony's rivalry with Microsoft prevent such a "dream" scenario for me. If I could have the quality of WMA files combined with the quality of Sony Discmans' audio processor, I think I'd be in portable sonic heaven.

[CovenantJr]

I used to use one of those too, but I ended up getting through several of them. They have a short lifespan - at least, the ones I've owned do. But then, everything Sony I've ever owned has broken or worn out or become faulty at some point.

[matrixman]

Whew, I'm glad I only talked about the sound quality of Sonys, not their durability. Sorry you've had a lousy experience with Sony, Cov.

I've only ever owned Sony Discmans - not out of blind loyalty, as I've sampled other brands and to my own ears they just don't give as "natural" a sound as Sony does. Bought my first one sometime in the early 90's. My current one is my fourth - I didn't buy it because my previous ones had broken down, I just wanted a new toy to play with after a while.

[Nav]

I love my iPod for the simple reason that I take effectively my entire music collection (the albums, anyway) wherever I go. That means the days of thinking "I feel like listening to x, I wish I'd brought it with me" are behind me and that's a good thing.

I was always quite happy with the sound quality from the iPod until I forgot to charge it up a while back and instead took a handful of CDs to work with me. Even through the computer's bog standard sound chip, the difference was startling. Some of the albums I'd only listened to as mp3s before and there was a depth of sound there that I just didn't realise I was missing out on.

I now have a nice home system of hifi separates, which sounds really nice and I do like having the physical product of a CD or record, so taken with the quality issue, I'm in no rush to go all digital at this point.

[matrixman]

True, a multi-gig iPod will always beat any portable CD player for the ability to carry one's entire music collection on the go. And there's no question that the absence of moving parts on an MP3 player makes it less likely to break down than a CD player with all its whizzing mechanisms.

I guess if I had as much trouble with Discmans as Cov has had, then I'd be more inclined to get an iPod, too. (Though I'd probably get some other brand of MP3 player.)

[Cail]

iPods (well, mine at least) are idea for exercising. My Nano goes on an armband, and it has almost no weight to it. Perfect for bicycling, 'cause it'll never skip.

[CovenantJr]

True, a I guess if I had as much trouble with Discmans as Cov has had, then I'd be more inclined to get an iPod, too.

Discmans, Playstations, Playstation 2s, portable stereo things, old cassette walkmans...everything Sony has broken. Give me Panasonic any day.

[Cail]

I used to be a complete Sony snob, and I still have a fair amount of their stuff, but I'm tickled with my Panasonic TV and DVD player.

[balon!]

I like digital music, especially now that its become so muc easier to share songs and artists, now that we dont actually have to exchange the CD's themselves.

But I haven't been able to force myself to pony up the dough to buy an iPod or equivalent MP3 player.