For 99% of the time, MP3 CD-ROMs in the car that I burn on my computer periodically. I drive my car for an hour or two each day and never listen to the radio in it.
At home, I usually use my internet radio or Plex on my NOW TV box to access the MP3s on my computer. My TV is connected to a surround sound amp and decent speakers.
I have a few iPods, MP3 players, DAB radios, portable CD players and a separates hi-fi system, but they rarely see any use these days. I never listen to music on my phones.
For 99% of the time, MP3 CD-ROMs in the car that I burn on my computer periodically. I drive my car for an hour or two each day and never listen to the radio in it.
At home, I usually use my internet radio or Plex on my NOW TV box to access the MP3s on my computer. My TV is connected to a surround sound amp and decent speakers.
I have a few iPods, MP3 players, DAB radios, portable CD players and a separates hi-fi system, but they rarely see any use these days. I never listen to music on my phones.
The thought of the number of young people I see using phones always make me smile.
"You wouldn't think there were so many people still having to use old-fashioned deaf aids."
I was trying to find Bob Dylan's "Feel My Love" off Time Out Of Mind on YouTube yesterday to share on a forum. Could I find the original? Nowhere. Just pages and pages of wannabees' cover versions. Some artists/labels are super-fussy.
I know the frustration. I was trying to find the new version of Pencil Full of Lead when Paolo Nutini performed it at Glastonbury or at least T in the Park. I ended up just having to watch the version he did on Jools Holland's Hootenanny. I would love to get my hands on this. Just have to hope.
Back to the topic, I like to listen to my music either on my trusted iPod (I still like my iPod ) or via my iPad. I have over 3.000 songs so the only place where my entire collection lies is on my iPod. I also have a spotify account, where I will listen to new songs on the weekly playlist or songs I either don't have on itunes or like to listen to occasionally.
I'm also hoping to get an iPhone soon, so I guess......
Almost invariably when I listen to music I use my digital library of downloads and rips. The library is networked so accessible to all my connected devices and portions of it are copied locally to my portables (netbook, tablet, phone, mp3 player). The library is also uploaded to the cloud if I need it (which isn't often).
I donated my CDs after ripping them. Vinyl and cassettes went quite a while ago. I don't listen to music radio much any more. Similarly, after the initial novelty of Spotify wore off I rarely bother with pure music streaming although I use YouTube and Vevo for music videos.
I keep my mp3s and videos on a separate hard drive from my computer and duplicated on two memory sticks. I keep virtually nothing on my laptop that's confidential or important to me.
You can't be too careful.
With a memory stick, I have them first filed by genre, i.e. Jazz, Jazz Vocal, Motown & Soul, C&W, Vintage Pop, Contemporary Pop. Then by individual artist.
That way it's not hard to find them using the TV as the main files appear on the TV screen and there's no effort in paging through them.
Either way beats getting up and down changing CDs, as I never listen to one straight through. Paul Simon's Graceland has been highly rewarding lately.
I'm a 'shuffler' which is a great way to rediscover music if one's library has more content than one cares to remember. However, I do enjoy making a special effort occasionally to listen to a single album in the right track order.
I started of listening to music via radio and LPs. (round plastic things that produced sound via vibrations).
The I evolved to cassettes, via Ghettoblasters and Walkmans.
Then CDs.
Mp3s on computer, and MP3 CD Players.
And finally FLACs via an Fiio X1 and Dragonfly USB DAC.
Having the ability to store 10,000 + songs on a device no bigger than a match box is as good as it gets for me now.
So you've moved with the times, then. I wish I had had the good taste as a kid to prefer vinyl over cassettes. I must have been a mobile person favouring convenience, even back then.
So you've moved with the times, then. I wish I had had the good taste as a kid to prefer vinyl over cassettes. I must have been a mobile person favouring convenience, even back then.
I had a lot of vinyl, but it was no good in a Walkman.
For 99% of the time, MP3 CD-ROMs in the car that I burn on my computer periodically. I drive my car for an hour or two each day and never listen to the radio in it.
(Respectfully snipped)
Hi there. You've reminded me in the late 1990's when I got my first CD burner I went through a phase of compiling, "The Definitive Collection" CDs of my favourite artists. Making lofty pronouncements such as, "Scattered across Kid A and Amnesiac, there is one album of great songs and another album of gap-filling experimentation."
I've put about 3/4's of my music collection, (around 9,500 songs so far) onto iTunes and the ipod and so I listen pretty much exclusively via that these days. I want to get a really good quality docking station so I can listen without headphones, but haven't got round to researching the best one to get so far and (for the time being at least), if listening at home I'm happy to wander round the house with the headphones on. . I have freed up a huge amount of storage space by selling on and giving away all those CD's, but I sometimes look at where they used to be and think "good grief, that part of the room looks bare now!".
After reading through this thread and from what I hear elsewhere, I obviously need to research it more, but I do wonder/worry whether going the exclusive iTunes/ipod route I have chosen is actually a wise move in the long run. I'm sure I should probably have some sort of back up facility in place at the very least. I need to make the effort to learn but technology generally bores and confuses me.
There's a function on my Jukebox wall box/adapter/ipod/hi-fi system that allows for random play and intermittent play, but I don't use it.
My wall boxes, once connected to either a full size jukebox or a "hideway" (they were a space saver in small bars) the guts of a jukebox in a 3ft cube wooden cabinet in a back-room or a cellar, have 160 selections in each. But as it's no longer vinyl but mp3s, I don't have to have any naff "B sides."
At the moment I am just listening to music through my PC when watching Youtube videos or or just listening to itunes.
At this present moment I'm using the up-rated speakers I put in this, connected to my laptop, via a small stereo amplifier. It's nearly fifty years old. This one I otherwise just use as a telephone directory.
Well, I've taken the bull by the horns. Found that in fact I have 10GB or so free on the iPad even with all the tutorial videos on it. I put just a couple of albums on it which are exclusively today's listening while commuting and at work. FWIW: the albums are Jeff Tweedy's family recording Sukierae, and Thom Yorke's solo release Tomorrow's Modern Boxes. Tomorrow will include Chantal Acda's Let Your Hands Be My Guide. I'm going on the assumption that intentional listening will deliver its own kind of pleasure.
I've put about 3/4's of my music collection, (around 9,500 songs so far) onto iTunes and the ipod and so I listen pretty much exclusively via that these days. I want to get a really good quality docking station so I can listen without headphones, but haven't got round to researching the best one to get so far and (for the time being at least), if listening at home I'm happy to wander round the house with the headphones on. . I have freed up a huge amount of storage space by selling on and giving away all those CD's, but I sometimes look at where they used to be and think "good grief, that part of the room looks bare now!".
After reading through this thread and from what I hear elsewhere, I obviously need to research it more, but I do wonder/worry whether going the exclusive iTunes/ipod route I have chosen is actually a wise move in the long run. I'm sure I should probably have some sort of back up facility in place at the very least. I need to make the effort to learn but technology generally bores and confuses me.
Hi Torch81. Let us know how your thinking progresses. I think there's nothing unwise about going with iTunes for now, especially if you rip CDs. MP3s are transferable to any media player, or if you use Apple Lossless format (as I do) you can always re-encode to some other file type if Apple is not part of your future.
After reading through this thread and from what I hear elsewhere, I obviously need to research it more, but I do wonder/worry whether going the exclusive iTunes/ipod route I have chosen is actually a wise move in the long run. I'm sure I should probably have some sort of back up facility in place at the very least. I need to make the effort to learn but technology generally bores and confuses me.
Oh BTW Torch, there are some strong anti-iTunes voices in this thread. Worth reading just to have alongside your other research.
The good thing about it is anyone that gets in my car can play music/ calls through their phone too if they switch their Bluetooth on.
That's a useful social aspect to your setup.
The guy from Linn recordings (interview here) was suggesting a home setup using wifi rather than (or in addition to) bluetooth, so that everyone's devices can access a shared library and briefly log in to control what's playing, then switch off while the music keeps running. He pointed out that bluetooth is a useful point-to-point model, but it relies on the controlling device being switched on and broadcasting the signal continuously.
Have a trial with Qobuz which sounds very good but, like all the streaming services I've tried, is just not user-friendly or comprehensive enough to be my main source.
I would be interested to hear more about Qobuz. What styles of music is it offering that interested you in trialling it?
Comments
Yep, that's been said already, but it's still true.
The I evolved to cassettes, via Ghettoblasters and Walkmans.
Then CDs.
Mp3s on computer, and MP3 CD Players.
And finally FLACs via an Fiio X1 and Dragonfly USB DAC.
Having the ability to store 10,000 + songs on a device no bigger than a match box is as good as it gets for me now.
At home, I usually use my internet radio or Plex on my NOW TV box to access the MP3s on my computer. My TV is connected to a surround sound amp and decent speakers.
I have a few iPods, MP3 players, DAB radios, portable CD players and a separates hi-fi system, but they rarely see any use these days. I never listen to music on my phones.
The thought of the number of young people I see using phones always make me smile.
"You wouldn't think there were so many people still having to use old-fashioned deaf aids."
MP3
Streaming
CDs
Radio
And when the opportunity presents itself: LIVE! You can't beat live music
I know the frustration. I was trying to find the new version of Pencil Full of Lead when Paolo Nutini performed it at Glastonbury or at least T in the Park. I ended up just having to watch the version he did on Jools Holland's Hootenanny. I would love to get my hands on this. Just have to hope.
Back to the topic, I like to listen to my music either on my trusted iPod (I still like my iPod
I'm also hoping to get an iPhone soon, so I guess......
I donated my CDs after ripping them. Vinyl and cassettes went quite a while ago. I don't listen to music radio much any more. Similarly, after the initial novelty of Spotify wore off I rarely bother with pure music streaming although I use YouTube and Vevo for music videos.
You can't be too careful.
Sounds like a plan. Certainly better than autobiographical.
I'm a 'shuffler' which is a great way to rediscover music if one's library has more content than one cares to remember. However, I do enjoy making a special effort occasionally to listen to a single album in the right track order.
Strange, but true!
Don't forget your mind too. Otherwise, a tree might fall in the forest . . .
So you've moved with the times, then. I wish I had had the good taste as a kid to prefer vinyl over cassettes. I must have been a mobile person favouring convenience, even back then.
I had a lot of vinyl, but it was no good in a Walkman.
(Respectfully snipped)
Hi there. You've reminded me in the late 1990's when I got my first CD burner I went through a phase of compiling, "The Definitive Collection" CDs of my favourite artists. Making lofty pronouncements such as, "Scattered across Kid A and Amnesiac, there is one album of great songs and another album of gap-filling experimentation."
After reading through this thread and from what I hear elsewhere, I obviously need to research it more, but I do wonder/worry whether going the exclusive iTunes/ipod route I have chosen is actually a wise move in the long run. I'm sure I should probably have some sort of back up facility in place at the very least.
My wall boxes, once connected to either a full size jukebox or a "hideway" (they were a space saver in small bars) the guts of a jukebox in a 3ft cube wooden cabinet in a back-room or a cellar, have 160 selections in each. But as it's no longer vinyl but mp3s, I don't have to have any naff "B sides."
At this present moment I'm using the up-rated speakers I put in this, connected to my laptop, via a small stereo amplifier. It's nearly fifty years old. This one I otherwise just use as a telephone directory.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0EFV25tY0fc
These are "the real deal."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4bHPbhBrIXg
Yes, impractical.
Hi Torch81. Let us know how your thinking progresses. I think there's nothing unwise about going with iTunes for now, especially if you rip CDs. MP3s are transferable to any media player, or if you use Apple Lossless format (as I do) you can always re-encode to some other file type if Apple is not part of your future.
Oh BTW Torch, there are some strong anti-iTunes voices in this thread. Worth reading just to have alongside your other research.
http://forums.digitalspy.co.uk/showthread.php?t=2044693
That thread was actually the inspiration for starting this one, as I couldn't resist taking it off-topic!
Cheers for your post
That's a useful social aspect to your setup.
The guy from Linn recordings (interview here) was suggesting a home setup using wifi rather than (or in addition to) bluetooth, so that everyone's devices can access a shared library and briefly log in to control what's playing, then switch off while the music keeps running. He pointed out that bluetooth is a useful point-to-point model, but it relies on the controlling device being switched on and broadcasting the signal continuously.
I would be interested to hear more about Qobuz. What styles of music is it offering that interested you in trialling it?