i have never bought a digital release. the exception being the downloads that
came with my purchase of the radiohead boxset. i'm not even bothering to
download them, i'm waiting until i get the stuff in the mail.
in the age of instant gratification (which i succumb to quite enough), there's
something to be said for the excitement of anticipation. buying a physical release,
opening the package, looking at the artwork, and actually paying attention to the
music as it unfolds before you. i certainly don't have the time to do that every time
i listen to something, but i prefer it to be my first impression of a work - and have
the option to return to it if i want.
more importantly, i hate the sound of mp3s. they aren't the final product of the
mixdown/mastering, they're an intentionally downgraded compromise to speed up
transmission and save on storage space. the sad truth, i believe, is that
compression technology got further than storage or transmission technology. if
the average internet connection were a T1 and we had high-capacity flash memory
back in the late 90's, the mp3 format wouldn't have been necessary.
there are players on the market that play uncompressed formats, but they don't
have the marketing muscle or the drive capacity of the ipod. and most digital
downloads are mp3s.
and no one has (yet) come up with a self-contained audio/visual file format which
would be high-quality sound with access to, say, plain text lyrics and credits, static
images to go with the song, or even a full video, which could be switched back and
forth by the listener/viewer.
in the meantime, i'll probably keep buying CDs as long as they're made. i agree
that shipping from outside your own country sucks and adds both time and cost,
but them's the breaks until someone builds a real-life transporter.
in fact, i'm now going to listen to the VEX'D album 'degenerate' which came in a
slipcase with a bonus second CD i wasn't even expecting.
d.
quoted 17 lines rednetic wrote:
>rednetic wrote:
>> Hi
>> Who still buys CDs? We are a small label that still sell CDs, but we are
>> also starting up paid for mp3 downloads. I have been thinking for a while
>> that the future will be limited vinyl and digital downloads for labels such
>> as us and CDs will disappear all together.
>>
>> We currently give away free mp3s as a netlabel, as i have always had the
>> opinion that the quality isnt as good. I would be interested in peoples
>> thoughts.
>>
>> mark
>> rednetic recordings
>> http://www.rednetic.com www.rednetic.com
>> http://www.myspace.com/rednetic www.myspace.com/rednetic
>
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