I'm Starting to Miss Tangible Media
-
There used to be a time when a new album was a big deal. There was a simple pleasure in saving up some cash from your first job, walking down to the music store and musing over the vinyl, tapes and those new-fangled CDs. You could bring your new purchase home and listen to the snapping as you tore back the plastic packaging and anticipated that new-music smell. Sometimes your favorite band would use a funky paper, or a unique packaging technique, or they had some tactile feature stamped into the printed paper that you could feel, you could actually feel it. Some bands would give you the lyrics, others still would write out chord progressions. It was awesome. I have friends who would spend hours reading every liner note while trying not to de-crease any of the folds in the booklets, memorizing the guest-bassist or the production managers of their favorite bands. I used to listen to the album straight-through, at least once, and pick the songs I would eventually feature in my mix tapes that I would listen to with my friends over the stereo. Now, kids don't save up cash, they use mom or dad's credit card, pre-programmed into iTunes. They don't walk to the store; they don't even have to leave their bedroom. You don't pick up albums or feel them in your hands and you don't talk to the store clerk to find out when the new album is coming in from your favorite band. You don't pull back packaging or run your fingers over the embossed surface of the cover art. Liner notes are lost. Mix tapes are playlists. Earphones have made music private. I miss the smell of new plastic. I guess I'm getting old.
My Latest: Google Maps in ASP.NET MVC 3 with Razor Tech blog: They Call me Mister James
Life is change.
-
I had some that lasted a long time, don't have anymore but got to where I couldn't find needles and belts for them. I had quite a few LP's until my divorce so needless to say I no longer have use for a player.
If you keep doing what you been doing you'll keep getting what you been getting http://www.hq4thmarinescomm.com[^] [My Site]
-
My solution was to purchase a USB turntable and transfer the vinyls to disk, clicks, pops and hisses (just like my breakfast cereal.) It's still viable for just listening too.
I'm not a programmer but I play one at the office
I've transferred vinyl to tape but lost all before I could get them to disk. A shame I had a bootleg Hendrix album I would have loved to transfer. Oh well! Never heard of a USB turntable...hmmm! There are apps like Cakewalk to remove a lot of the noise.
If you are cross-eyed and have dyslexia, can you read all right? http://www.hq4thmarinescomm.com[^] [My Site]
-
There used to be a time when a new album was a big deal. There was a simple pleasure in saving up some cash from your first job, walking down to the music store and musing over the vinyl, tapes and those new-fangled CDs. You could bring your new purchase home and listen to the snapping as you tore back the plastic packaging and anticipated that new-music smell. Sometimes your favorite band would use a funky paper, or a unique packaging technique, or they had some tactile feature stamped into the printed paper that you could feel, you could actually feel it. Some bands would give you the lyrics, others still would write out chord progressions. It was awesome. I have friends who would spend hours reading every liner note while trying not to de-crease any of the folds in the booklets, memorizing the guest-bassist or the production managers of their favorite bands. I used to listen to the album straight-through, at least once, and pick the songs I would eventually feature in my mix tapes that I would listen to with my friends over the stereo. Now, kids don't save up cash, they use mom or dad's credit card, pre-programmed into iTunes. They don't walk to the store; they don't even have to leave their bedroom. You don't pick up albums or feel them in your hands and you don't talk to the store clerk to find out when the new album is coming in from your favorite band. You don't pull back packaging or run your fingers over the embossed surface of the cover art. Liner notes are lost. Mix tapes are playlists. Earphones have made music private. I miss the smell of new plastic. I guess I'm getting old.
My Latest: Google Maps in ASP.NET MVC 3 with Razor Tech blog: They Call me Mister James
-
One more rant, the pick and choosing of individual songs to download has killed the idea of a concept album, or even a continual themed album. I love listening to my CD's straight through. I feel like most pop music now just through a few singles on an album and fluff the rest out.
wizardzz wrote:
killed the idea of a concept album
Yes, I thought of that too. But isn't that really just due to the laziness of today's artists who only want pop singles people can download and eventually throw away? You can still make a concept album and those who want the full story can download the album and the others who just want the pop hits can do that too. Seems like it worked for "American Idiot" for lack of a better recent example. I miss LPs and their packaging. I still have some old vinyl just to have the art. When I was in high school a guy turned me on to WBZ in Boston. I'd lay on my bed up in the converted attic at night and listen through the static that sometimes was cleared up by careful tuning on my new FM radio to those wonderful new artists and songs from England that I would not be able to buy for months. It took that long for them to make their way from the coast to the heartland where I lived. Before that in the late 50s it was an old AM radio without a case - warm glowing tubes on a board with wires instead of printed circuits - that my brother used to listen to rockabilly and real rock and roll from some station in Nashville. We couldn't afford a record player and LPs back then. Downloadable songs sure are missing a lot ...
-
stiphy31 wrote:
Great food on an all you can eat buffet isn't as good as having to choose a meal and savor it.
Here, here. Amen.
My Latest: Google Maps in ASP.NET MVC 3 with Razor Tech blog: They Call me Mister James
TheyCallMeMrJames wrote:
stiphy31 wrote: Great food on an all you can eat buffet isn't as good as having to choose a meal and savor it.
Hear, hear ... There, there.
-
TheyCallMeMrJames wrote:
stiphy31 wrote: Great food on an all you can eat buffet isn't as good as having to choose a meal and savor it.
Hear, hear ... There, there.
lol..doh! :-O :doh:
My Latest: Google Maps in ASP.NET MVC 3 with Razor Tech blog: They Call me Mister James
-
...and I want money for nothin'.
My Latest: Google Maps in ASP.NET MVC 3 with Razor Tech blog: They Call me Mister James
-
I'm with you 1,000%. I buy the CD whenever possible but it's nothing like the vinyl was. I do however; rip them to my IPod for listening to at work and the gym. Now it's on to digital books. The same thing holds true here. There’s nothing like the smell of opening a new book when you crack the spine for the first time. With the closing of book stores on the rise, I am finding myself comparing the Kendal to the Nook. Somehow, searching books online is not the same as wondering through the book store with a coffee for hours on end. Technology can be great, but it can also be depressing. As you said, "I guess I'm getting old." X|
Battlehammer wrote:
Technology can be great, but it can also be depressing. As you said, "I guess I'm getting old."
The technology we are getting leads us to get things over with quickly and don't bother with trying to really appreciate it and save it for the future. It didn't take long to get the "content" so it's not appreciated and savored for a long time. Artists and songs last for a minute and they're forgotten. Who's the last new artist who we'll still be listening to and appreciating fifty years from now? I was watching American Idol the other night and they were doing Beatles songs. One guy said he'd never even heard a Beatles song before. All I could think was "Yes, you have. You just didn't know it."
-
wizardzz wrote:
killed the idea of a concept album
Yes, I thought of that too. But isn't that really just due to the laziness of today's artists who only want pop singles people can download and eventually throw away? You can still make a concept album and those who want the full story can download the album and the others who just want the pop hits can do that too. Seems like it worked for "American Idiot" for lack of a better recent example. I miss LPs and their packaging. I still have some old vinyl just to have the art. When I was in high school a guy turned me on to WBZ in Boston. I'd lay on my bed up in the converted attic at night and listen through the static that sometimes was cleared up by careful tuning on my new FM radio to those wonderful new artists and songs from England that I would not be able to buy for months. It took that long for them to make their way from the coast to the heartland where I lived. Before that in the late 50s it was an old AM radio without a case - warm glowing tubes on a board with wires instead of printed circuits - that my brother used to listen to rockabilly and real rock and roll from some station in Nashville. We couldn't afford a record player and LPs back then. Downloadable songs sure are missing a lot ...
Earl Truss wrote:
Seems like it worked for "American Idiot" for lack of a better recent example.
Haven't listened to anything more than what is on the radio from that album. But yes, artists can and do still make concept albums, just less frequently. I love listening to one song flow into another, sometimes with notes, feedback, or reverb carrying over into the next track.
Earl Truss wrote:
Before that in the late 50s it was an old AM radio without a case - warm glowing tubes on a board with wires instead of printed circuits
A few years back, at an estate sale, my girlfriend and I picked up an old German console stereo with converted power supply and tube amps. It has the warmest sound and incredible fidelity and can really turn up to a high volume maintaining clarity. I use it for all of my radio listening at home.
Earl Truss wrote:
Downloadable songs sure are missing a lot
Once again, I get saddened that I'm almost 30 and feel like I'm on the young end of this school of thought.
-
Earl Truss wrote:
Seems like it worked for "American Idiot" for lack of a better recent example.
Haven't listened to anything more than what is on the radio from that album. But yes, artists can and do still make concept albums, just less frequently. I love listening to one song flow into another, sometimes with notes, feedback, or reverb carrying over into the next track.
Earl Truss wrote:
Before that in the late 50s it was an old AM radio without a case - warm glowing tubes on a board with wires instead of printed circuits
A few years back, at an estate sale, my girlfriend and I picked up an old German console stereo with converted power supply and tube amps. It has the warmest sound and incredible fidelity and can really turn up to a high volume maintaining clarity. I use it for all of my radio listening at home.
Earl Truss wrote:
Downloadable songs sure are missing a lot
Once again, I get saddened that I'm almost 30 and feel like I'm on the young end of this school of thought.
wizardzz wrote:
Once again, I get saddened that I'm almost 30 and feel like I'm on the young end of this school of thought.
I suppose that's another by-product of the speed of change in life today. I mean - that a person less than thirty years old can appreciate that feeling of loss of connection to the past.
-
There used to be a time when a new album was a big deal. There was a simple pleasure in saving up some cash from your first job, walking down to the music store and musing over the vinyl, tapes and those new-fangled CDs. You could bring your new purchase home and listen to the snapping as you tore back the plastic packaging and anticipated that new-music smell. Sometimes your favorite band would use a funky paper, or a unique packaging technique, or they had some tactile feature stamped into the printed paper that you could feel, you could actually feel it. Some bands would give you the lyrics, others still would write out chord progressions. It was awesome. I have friends who would spend hours reading every liner note while trying not to de-crease any of the folds in the booklets, memorizing the guest-bassist or the production managers of their favorite bands. I used to listen to the album straight-through, at least once, and pick the songs I would eventually feature in my mix tapes that I would listen to with my friends over the stereo. Now, kids don't save up cash, they use mom or dad's credit card, pre-programmed into iTunes. They don't walk to the store; they don't even have to leave their bedroom. You don't pick up albums or feel them in your hands and you don't talk to the store clerk to find out when the new album is coming in from your favorite band. You don't pull back packaging or run your fingers over the embossed surface of the cover art. Liner notes are lost. Mix tapes are playlists. Earphones have made music private. I miss the smell of new plastic. I guess I'm getting old.
My Latest: Google Maps in ASP.NET MVC 3 with Razor Tech blog: They Call me Mister James
I'm just short of 24 years old. But I must say that I agree in every possible way. However, I don't really go back as far as vinyl, though I remember cassette tapes quite well. Yes, I remember the days of going to the music store, though I never was into music back then enough to go to the music store and pick up an album. My brother, on the other hand, worked a fast food job and I remember tagging along on trips to the local music stores. I did still enjoy the trip and looking at the largely unique packaging used for various works. I am now an independent music producer/aspiring artist. The digital age has made it so easy for me, as I am able to promote my music, provide free downloads, etc., with very little effort. However, if I ever release some sort of album (or similar work) I would much rather put it on store shelves. I appreciate how much more efficient it is to promote and sell work online. But even though I am not very old at all, I still think back on days when everything was special in so many ways. You don't get any special "Oh, cool! Shiny!" when you download an album online, for example. I still like to kick it "old school". :)
-
One more rant, the pick and choosing of individual songs to download has killed the idea of a concept album, or even a continual themed album. I love listening to my CD's straight through. I feel like most pop music now just through a few singles on an album and fluff the rest out.
Not true. Check out The Deformation Of Strickland Banks by Plan B. A true concept album receiving paludits and full of cracking tunes. (And I'm not on the pay list). I agree about the loss of vinyl but just think FORWARD 20 years. Music downloaded straight into your cortex (brain thingy)? 1Tb on a devicve the size of an ant? Too much, too small, too easy.
