IDM Mailing Archive

On Sun, 13 Feb 2000, Alex Quintana wrote:

quoted 7 lines looks damned nice, but for touch-less vinyl playing for our not-so-rich

> looks damned nice, but for touch-less vinyl playing for our not-so-rich > vinyl junkies, I'd recommend sampling your vinyls with a nice sampler, and > encoding to MP3. > > On that topic, I wonder if any place rents those laser decks. Since it > can overcome scratches, and pops and sqeaks and stuff.. What better way > to encode your vinyl to MP3? :)

You know, this is straying off topic a bit, but I'm kind of horrified at how excited you seem about making MP3s out of records instead of listening to the actual record. Making an mp3 of a file pulled off of a record with an INSANELY EXPENSIVE TURNTABLE is a fucking DUMB idea, make a CD! At least then you're getting SOME level of fidelity. I mean, why drop $13K on a turntable so that you can make COMPRESSED AUDIO FILES out of your records? Why use a good sampler to rip your vinyl if you're just going to make an mp3? You're going to LOSE QUALITY because (a duh) mp3 is LOSS COMPRESSION... I'm not going to start the "vinyl vs. CD" debate up (though it should be noted that the record player in question is ALL ANALOG woohoo!) but I will start up the "anything vs. MP3" debate. OK, face it everybody. MP3s sound like complete utter shit. They're nice, it's fun to trade them with your friends, but I'm not really as impressed by people that say "I have 40 terabytes of mp3s" as I am when I see somone with a serious record/CD collection. 40 terabytes of pr0n would impress me, as would 40 terabytes of "FS/FT" mail from the IDM list, but not 40 terabytes of crappy compressed audio. Woowoo, you have a WHOLE LOT of compressed audio files that SUCK. Think about all the gymnastics that people will do to TRY TO GET THE DAMN THINGS TO SOUND GOOD. It's NOT EASY because, in general, MP3s SUCK. LOSS COMPRESSION, folks. It THROWS OUT information. And now, here's my point: With all of this mp3 hype, I'd hate to see everything go mp3, as we're all going to have to suffer with the loss of fidelity. Imagine if they just stopped making CDs and we all HAD to switch to minidisk? Those things sound like CRAP! Car mp3 players are cool and all, but I'd hate to see the CD die (I never thought I'd say that) to be replaced with DVD audio (which only the major labels will be able to afford to produce) because all the non Warner/Polygram/Sony/BMG indies are going to be able to put out will be MP3s! Gar! The horror! All of this mp3 hardware these days is making me very worried about the future. I think it's cool and everything, but if it becomes some sort of phenomenon, we're all going to get screwed into buying COMPRESSED media LIKE DVDs! "this is my dream, this is my nightmare." I, PERSONALLY have burned CDs of vinyl, and I've made mp3s of songs from vinyl, but that was mainly for portability (sharing the mp3s so people could hear stuff) or I'd burn a CD so I could listen to something before I go to sleep without having to get out of bed and stop my turntable. I've done a few compilation CDs with some hard to get 12"s on it (like the MASK ones) to save some of the daily wear and tear, but I still get the records out and play them fairly often, because I like the way they sound better, and what's the point in having a record if you don't listen to it, other than to sell it on ebay to a moron for over $300? I'm not one of those record collectors who's hellbent on *profit* I like to HEAR them :) The thought of being left only with mp3s after some sort of disaster involving my vinyl is horrifying to me. Next time you're ripping away to build up your little mp3 archive, think of this analogy (that involves copiers) : If you collect paintings, but instead of looking at the real paintings, and you just hang up color photocopies, people will think you're a fucking moron. Those people ARE RIGHT, because color copies will let you know what the picture looks like, but you're not going to get the full impact of the original. If you have a bunch of records, but sit in front of your computer listening to mp3s of them through tiny speakers, you're CHEATING YOURSELF... STOP IT! I am not a Spock-ear wearing audiophile turd, but don't forget that records SOUND GOOD and that's why you bought them in the first place. Listen to them, that's what they're for... you'll be surprised at how good everything sounds without a large percentage of the data MISSING. :) Thanks for reading this far. .Bil. [mp3g d00d] --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: idm-unsubscribe@hyperreal.org For additional commands, e-mail: idm-help@hyperreal.org