Anyone gone exclusively digital?

corplhicks wrote:

tohostudios wrote:

corplhicks wrote:

tohostudios wrote:

Can anyone recommend a good program for ripping CDs?  I want to do some "Best Ofs" but the recording volume varies so much from one album to another that it's annoying to listen to.  I'd like some free software that will at the very least maintain a constant recording volume when ripping CDs to digital format.

Honestly? As much as I hate anything Microsoft-related, I've been using Windows Media Player for ages. There's an option to maintain consistent volume across the tracks. Works like a charm.

There is?  Where?  I've looked around and the only thing I can find is sound quality.  I found one under the burn tab but I thought that would only maintain consistent volume when burning to a disc.  Does that also apply when  reading from a disc?

You know, I stand corrected. For the longest time I thought there was such an option, but now you got me looking, and you're right, nothing like that is there. Now I'm curious if there is a program that will do this.

Apple and Microsoft have removed the volume leveling option in their latest releases.

journeyman wrote:

corplhicks wrote:

tohostudios wrote:

corplhicks wrote:

tohostudios wrote:

Can anyone recommend a good program for ripping CDs?  I want to do some "Best Ofs" but the recording volume varies so much from one album to another that it's annoying to listen to.  I'd like some free software that will at the very least maintain a constant recording volume when ripping CDs to digital format.

Honestly? As much as I hate anything Microsoft-related, I've been using Windows Media Player for ages. There's an option to maintain consistent volume across the tracks. Works like a charm.

There is?  Where?  I've looked around and the only thing I can find is sound quality.  I found one under the burn tab but I thought that would only maintain consistent volume when burning to a disc.  Does that also apply when  reading from a disc?

You know, I stand corrected. For the longest time I thought there was such an option, but now you got me looking, and you're right, nothing like that is there. Now I'm curious if there is a program that will do this.

Apple and Microsoft have removed the volume leveling option in their latest releases.

Ah ha.

tohostudios wrote:

corplhicks wrote:

tohostudios wrote:

Can anyone recommend a good program for ripping CDs?  I want to do some "Best Ofs" but the recording volume varies so much from one album to another that it's annoying to listen to.  I'd like some free software that will at the very least maintain a constant recording volume when ripping CDs to digital format.

Honestly? As much as I hate anything Microsoft-related, I've been using Windows Media Player for ages. There's an option to maintain consistent volume across the tracks. Works like a charm.

There is?  Where?  I've looked around and the only thing I can find is sound quality.  I found one under the burn tab but I thought that would only maintain consistent volume when burning to a disc.  Does that also apply when  reading from a disc?

Just wanted to say I am still laughing at your new avatar - Crazy!!   

MetalGuy71 wrote:

I guess what it boils down to for me is that I don't have a need or desire to go all digital.

I have the physical space to house my collection and since most of my purchases are used and exclude imports, cost isn't really an issue for me. The majority of the stuff I listen to or want is readily available on cd as well. I have working cd players in the bedroom, kitchen, living room, basement and garage. It's my one hobby I have left.

I suppose if anyone of those factors goes kaput, I'll make a change.

Going forward into 2014, I'm still grasping onto my same out-dated opinion. Even if the guys at work are starting to call me a dinosaur everytime another cd package arrives in the mail.  

Trip 'em with the cane and dump Ensure on 'em.

So, according to Nielsen: The LP continued its unlikely comeback in 2013, with vinyl album sales in the United States reaching 6 million units! As opposed to CD sales which declined 14.5 percent and digital album sales which stagnated.

Now, they show a 14.5% loss of CD sales. BUT what they don't tell you is that CDs in units sold 47 MILLION MORE UNITS than Digital. CDs sold 165 Million units in 2013, while Digital units sold 118 Million.

Now, that obviously does not take into account free or paid streaming, nor does it take into account how many units were illegally downloaded.

But physical sales (171 Million combined) outpaced digital sales by 53 Million units, and it's considered "failing"?

I guess it's a "slow growth" vs "sharp decline" scenario. But the units, IMO, tell the real story.

Interesting. Maybe the old farts are hitting the physical stores more now that the economy seems a little better.

Sales of CDs have been on a steady decline for years. Yes, there are still many of them sold but less each year.  Download sales (CDs are digital so I refuse to use that incorrect term here) were on the increase prior to 2013 but then started to fall off this year for the first time.  We are starting to see the streaming customers deciding that they no longer need to own the tracks, just pay the monthly fee and choose from millions of songs to listen to.  I predict sales of physical and download items will continue their decrease over the next few years, nothing is going to change the trend of the public loving their smart phones and having as much media at their fingertips as possible.  

I'm happy that LP sales continue to increase but still it's only 2% of total sales, barely a blip on the radar.  In 1977 there were over 344 million LPs sold compared to the 6 million sold in 2013.

Nothing is going to convince me that sales of music are headed anywhere but down, at least until the record industry comes up with a new idea that makes people want to actually invest in music again.

Music sales from 1999 to 2009:

No, I think sales will continue to go down. I don't disagree with that.

And the appearance of "failure" is clearly attached to the decline compared to earlier years.

My only point, if I had one at all, was that with all this talk of (legal) Download Music Product overtaking Physical Music Product, the fact that Physical Music Product is still 53 Million units over Download Music Product tells a different story, IMO. Despite declining sales, Physical Music Product still outperforms (legal) Downloads.

No way i'd go digital. I love to grab a CD, go through the booklet, enjoy the cover art and collect it on my shelves.

I miss going into a real metal cd store, since there are none around here. Can't wait for my next trip to Europe.

I think the market today allows for sufficient variety of formats for everyone's enjoyment. It caters to those who like collecting the physical format, be it in the way of CDs, vinyl or even tapes (though less of the latter), and also digital/file-form distribution be it lossless, lossy or streamed.

The decisive question, what will survive and for how long really is up to the consumer. Like with any industry, if there is a gradual or sudden downturn in revenue from a certain product, production will either be reduced or permanently halted. I don't think we are yet at the stage where the physical format will become extinct any time soon. The annual performance figures simply indicate a slowdown in the frequency of purchased CDs (to nominate the format of choice for the last 25 or so years).

The likely consequences of this slowdown will, at first in any case, be a lower production quota. In some ways, the consequences are already being felt - fewer stores that actually stock and sell CDs, with this operation being vastly taken online through various distros/online retailers. Where it is likely heading is CDs (much like vinyl) will be seen as the "ultimate collectors" item - an album will be printed in limited copies for distribution on CD and vinyl and will probably come with additional goodies (already seeing this) e.g. posters, belt buckles, lighters, figurines other such stuff to add a collectible value behind the physical format. You're also kinda seeing it with DVDs/Blu-rays specials - now classic movies are being re-released / re-packaged in all sorts of weird packaging and come with various side goodies for collectors.

The sale figures of physical formats don't appear to indicate that there isn't a market for such stuff anymore; simply that there is more variety for the consumer. Put another way, the discrepancy of 8.3bil in revenue between 1999 and 2009 shows a gradual diversification of consuming music.

In 1999, largely the only way mainstream audiences could experience a song / album was by buying the CD. I know this is a simplistic overview, but really digital distribution was at a grass roots level and while other physical formats such as vinyl and tape may have still been around they had a niche appeal over the appeal of CDs. However, 10 years later, the integration of computer technology and the prevalence of high speed internet diversified the way music was experience. Consumer expectations in the 10 year period changed - from CD to downloading music. Some say people have less patience these days, especially the younger generations - it's generation NOW not generation 'let's wait for the mail to arrive'. Like it or not it's a fact of life; technology has changed consumer expectations - even older generations are more in tune now with technology and are converging towards the same habits as perhaps younger generations that grew up with or had instant access to the internet.

However, in the defense of the physical format, the existing technology hasn't eliminated the choice for consumers to continue purchasing CDs (vinyl etc.). The choice is still there and imo the figures above simply show that in the 21st century there are $6.3bil worth of revenue from the sale of music in physical form. That chunk of sales shows continued interest albeit at a different scale, in competition if you will with other means of distributing the same information.

The current figures are in a way telling of the future - though it's unlikely to be as grim as some make it out to be. The CD audiences, much like the vinyl audiences will gradually become more and more niche markets. It won't affect anyone here who collects CDs, in fact it's unlikely to affect anyone who still buys music in physical format because by its very definition it will appeal to the segment that still enjoys music in physical formats. Places like ebay and amazon will still be around for you to buy CDs or vinyl.

I also wanted to highlight an aspect of the CD and perhaps an additional (arguably indirect) reason for the downturn in sales of this format: the CD was in a sense cannibalized by the same technology that helped produce it.

Here I am referring to the CD as a medium for storing information, including the durability, versatility and capacity of the format. Unlike other past formats used exclusively for music (save with the limited versatility of cassette tapes), the CD was the most versatile way of storing vast amounts of information. Although initially used for music, it soon became integrated in the distribution of video and especially of software. In terms of the latter, in the late 80s and early 90s you start seeing various systems that integrate a CD-ROM player and CDs that now hold video games, interactive encyclopedias, videos etc.

As I see it, it is this level of versatility and storage capacity that pushed consumer expectations at the turn of the century to think laterally beyond the physical CD. The technology that was produced to tap into the versatility of the CD was now broadly looking beyond this format towards a new level of mass storage. The internet invariably impacted upon this thinking and was the start a new versatile way of accessing information.

It is the versatility of the CD that imo made it so successful yet also revealed its own limitations and ultimately allowed for other competitive formats to enter the market. However, the pace at which internet infrastructure evolved at the turn of the century nipped much of the competition from other physical formats capable of replacing the CD - in the digital stream of information eliminated the need for the proliferation of other more competitive physical formats.

There were various experiments - all of which largely failed to capture consumer interest - in the form of SACD, DVD-AUDIO, I'm even now seeing Blu-Ray Audio. All these formats can store much higher quality audio than a mere CD yet none were able to compensate for the consumer's desire to instant access to information.

In the absence of the internet, it is likely that we'd now have 5.1ch mix as a standard for all newly released albums. The revenue from such newer formats would have enabled easier access to the sort of technology and infrastructure for such high-end audio quality albums. The Internet however really changed consumer expectations and more so perspective - quality still matters but it is secondary to the ability to access vast amounts of information instantly.

I'll never go completely digital unless I have to. I enjoy having the physical albums. I only recently got an ipod.