Want to invent something really useful?

[turbo]

I have a 400-CD carousel, and there are some songs that I have to hit "next" on every time. I have a couple of hundred other CDs, but the ones that are in the carousel are probably the best (at least some songs).

Music-lovers in this century can pick and choose which songs that they will listen to, but I actually like "album-cuts" and will gladly listen to them. I am a dinosaur (I still have 300-400 albums) but I'd really like a way to un-friend some songs on my carousel CD player.

 

[Topher925]

You do know its 2012 right? Get an mp3 player.

 

[wuliheron]

That's about 300gb of data you can store on a hard drive as mp3s and shuffle any way you want.

 

[AlephZero]

If you want a "technophobe" solution you could get one of these: http://www.brennan.co.uk/

But I don't really see the advantage over any other sort of mp3 player.

 

[dlgoff]

I'm thinking turbo doesn't want any reduction in quality.

When performing lossy audio encoding, such as creating an MP3 file, there is a trade-off between the amount of space used and the sound quality of the result. Typically, the creator is allowed to set a bit rate, which specifies how many kilobits the file may use per second of audio. The higher the bit rate, the larger the compressed file will be, and, generally, the closer it will sound to the original file.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MP3#Audio_quality

 

[turbo]

True. I'd love to stay with albums if possible.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

True. I'd love to stay with albums if possible.

Let me guess, you prefer tube amps to solid state?

 

[Moonbear]

I'm thinking turbo doesn't want any reduction in quality.



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MP3#Audio_quality

You can save them in other formats that aren't as lossy, but it comes at the expense of file size. Still, if you copy the songs in any format, you can delete any you don't like, or set a player to skip them, or play them less frequently.

Personally, I can't hear the differences audiophiles claim to hear, so I'm happy to buy mp3s as single songs rather than entire albums since I usually only like few songs on an album.

 

[dlgoff]

You can save them in other formats that aren't as lossy, but it comes at the expense of file size. Still, if you copy the songs in any format, you can delete any you don't like, or set a player to skip them, or play them less frequently.

Personally, I can't hear the differences audiophiles claim to hear, so I'm happy to buy mp3s as single songs rather than entire albums since I usually only like few songs on an album.

Well yea. But turbo is an audiophile.

 

[turbo]

Let me guess, you prefer tube amps to solid state?

As a musician, I can't bear to play guitar through to a solid-state amp. I have three amps, two of which are Fender Vibro-Champs that (combined) are older than anybody here.

I'm pretty picky about amplification and speakers. I'm not some nut that wants to spend $$$$$$$$ on a twee tube amp for my stereo, but I have thought long and hard about building a low-watt stereo tube amp.

 

[KingNothing]

Well yea. But turbo is an audiophile.

It doesn't really matter though. The lossless formats are indistinguishable from their physical counterparts. Of course some people claim they can tell, but I remember seeing a few blinds studies showing that no one can - even dedicated audiophiles.

 

[Moonbear]

It doesn't really matter though. The lossless formats are indistinguishable from their physical counterparts. Of course some people claim they can tell, but I remember seeing a few blinds studies showing that no one can - even dedicated audiophiles.

CDs are already a digital format so no reason to expect any difference. I can understand an argument that vinyl sounds different, because it does, though it's personal preference if that's better or worse. I don't hear it myself, but can appreciate some could hear a difference with different speaker types too. But there shouldn't be any difference between a CD and file of it saved in lossless format.

 

[OmCheeto]

It doesn't really matter though. The lossless formats are indistinguishable from their physical counterparts. Of course some people claim they can tell, but I remember seeing a few blinds studies showing that no one can - even dedicated audiophiles.

lossless format?

 

[PAllen]

Also, there are lossless compressed formats that take up a lot less space than the files on the CD (thought still a lot more than mp3). Disks are dirt cheap these days. A not so cheap way to go is that the largest ipod made will store and play about 400 cd's worth of lossless compressed music, allowing all the play freedom you want. Then, there are at least two technologies I know for wireless broadcast of music (any quality) from music server you could set up.

 

[Topher925]

If you're an audiophile and don't want to lose the sound quality then get a Cowon. They play just about every audio format including FLAC and WAV (the format used for CD's).

I have the S9 and I can most definitely tell the difference between a FLAC/WAV file and a mp3. If you're listeng from an ipod, then yeah ,you can't tell the difference but a media player with a good amp and ear buds can sometimes be night and day.

I recommend the iAudio 10 with some Klipsch S4's.

 

[PAllen]

If you're an audiophile and don't want to lose the sound quality then get a Cowon. They play just about every audio format including FLAC and WAV (the format used for CD's).

I have the S9 and I can most definitely tell the difference between a FLAC/WAV file and a mp3. If you're listeng from an ipod, then yeah ,you can't tell the difference but a media player with a good amp and ear buds can sometimes be night and day.

I recommend the iAudio 10 with some Klipsch S4's.

I can distinguish mp3 and lossless formats easily. I believe in mathematics, so I believe a truly lossless compression is just that. I have a high quality switch to run an ipod into my main amp (also have vinyl, cds, even reel-reel tapes - you know, dead basement tapes). I don't see detect any difference between lossless files on ipod and the original cd. I also notice plenty of difference between a high quality vinyl record and a cd.

 

[mege]

I have a 300 disk CD changer that I use as well. (I have all of my CDs ripped to my PC/ipod, but when at home my stereo takes over)

What I have done is create a 'master list' of music CDs that I would want on random. My disk-changer allows for a few groups, so I have a group which consists of nearly every CD (minus some comedy and off-beat stuff that would be weird mixed in with my classic rock, metal and the like). I thought that I could have an 'exclude' group, but for shuffle to work right it needs to be inclusive. I'm sure this functionality is totally dependent on your type of disk changer.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

As a musician, I can't bear to play guitar through to a solid-state amp. I have three amps, two of which are Fender Vibro-Champs that (combined) are older than anybody here.

I'm pretty picky about amplification and speakers. I'm not some nut that wants to spend $$$$$$$$ on a twee tube amp for my stereo, but I have thought long and hard about building a low-watt stereo tube amp.

I have a friend around our age whose father owned a TV repair shop and was also an electronics hobbiest. When dad died, they found boxes and boxes full of old tubes still in the original, unopened boxes. I don't know how many he had but it was in the thousands. Then he discovered that many of those tubes are hard to get and worth a good bit of money. He made a small fortune selling them. IIRC, he had a few that sold for ~ $500 each.

I asked because I have heard the same complaint about solid state from a number of friends who were or are musicians.

And remember: Never play an album more than once a day!

 

[jtbell]

Also, there are lossless compressed formats that take up a lot less space than the files on the CD (thought still a lot more than mp3).

I find that FLAC and Apple Lossless are about 40% to 50% the size of equivalent uncompressed files from CD (AIFF format on my Mac).

Disks are dirt cheap these days.

Not quite as cheap right at the moment, thanks to recent floods in Thailand which shut down the factories that make a lot of hard disks. Something that cost about $100 at Best Buy last summer now costs about $150. But this will pass.

I listen mostly to classical music and have a large enough collection that my wife and I joke about the CD racks that are scattered through three rooms of our house. About a year ago, I realized that I could in principle fit the entire collection (in Apple Lossless format) onto a 2TB hard disk with room to spare. So now my main playback source is iTunes on the Mac in my bedroom, which streams wirelessly to an Apple TV which feeds into the A/V receiver and speakers in the living room. I can select music using the Apple TV's interface on my TV.

It will take about ten years to rip all my CDs as I listen to them. By that time an even better playback solution will probably come along, but I'll worry about that when it arrives.

Another factor in making the switch was that several online dealers now sell a fairly large variety of classical-music labels as CD-quality FLAC files. Last year I bought about half of my new music that way, after years of buying only CDs.

 

[PAllen]

I find that FLAC and Apple Lossless are about 40% to 50% the size of equivalent uncompressed files from CD (AIFF format on my Mac).
Not quite as cheap right at the moment, thanks to recent floods in Thailand which shut down the factories that make a lot of hard disks. Something that cost about $100 at Best Buy last summer now costs about $150. But this will pass.

I listen mostly to classical music and have a large enough collection that my wife and I joke about the CD racks that are scattered through three rooms of our house. About a year ago, I realized that I could in principle fit the entire collection (in Apple Lossless format) onto a 2TB hard disk with room to spare. So now my main playback source is iTunes on the Mac in my bedroom, which streams wirelessly to an Apple TV which feeds into the A/V receiver and speakers in the living room. I can select music using the Apple TV's interface on my TV.

It will take about ten years to rip all my CDs as I listen to them. By that time an even better playback solution will probably come along, but I'll worry about that when it arrives.

Another factor in making the switch was that several online dealers now sell a fairly large variety of classical-music labels as CD-quality FLAC files. Last year I bought about half of my new music that way, after years of buying only CDs.

This is has a lot of overlap with my current strategy (I have a slightly different streaming strategy), except I've finished all the ripping (my cd collection was maller than yours). (Now I'm working on digitizing records with floating point sampling->16 bit wave->flac). Your file size experience is similar to mine (which explains that you can, indeed, fit 400 cd's worth of lossless compressed files on the largest ipod). As for disk prices, admittedly, cheap is relative ... if I spend for a Sumiko Blue cartridge, those disks look cheap.

I am very interested in the idea of buying FLAC files. I had no idea that was possible - Amazon and Itunes only sell compressed garbage (fine for my daughter ...). Can you give a hint how to find such sources?

[Edit: did a few searches, found plenty.]

 

[jtbell]

I still have a box of LPs in my closet that I haven't listened to since I got rid of my turntable over ten years ago. Most of them still haven't been reissued on CD, I think. I've been thinking of getting a decent turntable and preamp with a USB output so I can digitize them. The main holdup is clearing enough space off my desk for the turntable. The current A/V shelves in my living room don't accommodate a turntable.

For buying lossless FLACs, the two sites that I've been using the most are eclassical.com, a Swedish site which is affiliated with BIS, one of my favorite labels, and ariama.com which is affiliated with Sony but carries a wide selection of labels (most notably not including their major competitors the Universal labels: Decca, Philips and Deutsche Grammophon, at least not as downloads).

Just yesterday I downloaded from eclassical.com a gorgeous recording of the Mozart clarinet concerto and quintet by Martin Fröst:

http://www.eclassical.com/composers/mozart-wolfgang-amadeus/mozart-clarinet-concerto-quintet.html

and a new recording of the Sibelius 2nd and 5th symphonies by the Minnesota Orchestra:

http://www.eclassical.com/conductors/vanska-osmo/sibelius-symphonies-nos-2-5.html

 

[maverick_starstrider]

If they're already on CD I don't see the issue. It's in a digital format, just copy the WAV's. Though until I see a study that actually demonstrates that audiophiles can hear the difference between such things I'm inclined to say most of these distinctions are in the head. I still love that Monster Cables experiment with the stretched out coat hanger. I always wondered what would happen if you compared like a CD recording, an mp3 recording, a vinyl recording with the actual gold masters of the recording session if audiophiles would say the vinyl sounded better

 

[KrisOhn]

I recommend the iAudio 10

Ugh, if they only had 100gb+ version, I would buy it in a second. I have been searching for sooo long for a music player that can play FLAC.

 

[PAllen]

I still have a box of LPs in my closet that I haven't listened to since I got rid of my turntable over ten years ago. Most of them still haven't been reissued on CD, I think. I've been thinking of getting a decent turntable and preamp with a USB output so I can digitize them. The main holdup is clearing enough space off my desk for the turntable. The current A/V shelves in my living room don't accommodate a turntable.

For buying lossless FLACs, the two sites that I've been using the most are eclassical.com, a Swedish site which is affiliated with BIS, one of my favorite labels, and ariama.com which is affiliated with Sony but carries a wide selection of labels (most notably not including their major competitors the Universal labels: Decca, Philips and Deutsche Grammophon, at least not as downloads).

Just yesterday I downloaded from eclassical.com a gorgeous recording of the Mozart clarinet concerto and quintet by Martin Fröst:

http://www.eclassical.com/composers/mozart-wolfgang-amadeus/mozart-clarinet-concerto-quintet.html

and a new recording of the Sibelius 2nd and 5th symphonies by the Minnesota Orchestra:

http://www.eclassical.com/conductors/vanska-osmo/sibelius-symphonies-nos-2-5.html

Sumiko makes a turntable with USB output that is reasonably priced, and does not need a separate pre-amp. This is what I am using. I do about 1 record per week. Including track separating and labeling (and editing out gaps from starting, record turnover, and at the end), and format conversions (e.g. to apple lossless), I spend about 1.5 hours per record. I use Audacity open source software for digital sound editing, and producing 16 bit WAV from raw floating point sampling (which is what comes in from the turntable).

(I have a different turntable elsewhere for playing records).

 

[Topher925]

Ugh, if they only had 100gb+ version, I would buy it in a second. I have been searching for sooo long for a music player that can play FLAC.

Some of their models have expandable memory, but probably not 100GB. For that you need a hard drive and not solid state which kills battery life and reduces the life of the product.

 

[PAllen]

Some of their models have expandable memory, but probably not 100GB. For that you need a hard drive and not solid state which kills battery life and reduces the life of the product.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, the largest ipod is 160 gig, and will play apple lossless format, fitting about 400 cd of lossless music on it. It's pricey, though.

 

[Loren Booda]

What are some better brands of 400-CD players?

 

[turbo]

What are some better brands of 400-CD players?

I did some research before buying, and ended up with a Sony. It takes time to ID the disks, but If you are a good touch-typist, that time can be minimized. There is a PC-standard keyboard jack on the front of the unit, so you can use your computer's keyboard to enter the names of the performers and the CDs.

There may be better stuff out there by now. With the Sony, you have to be VERY careful to keep the player level when moving it around because the carousel doesn't properly capture the disks, and tipping the player will dislodge them and jam the drive. That means taking the sheet-metal housing off the player and manually reloading the disks. Not fun.

 

[KrisOhn]

As I mentioned in an earlier post, the largest ipod is 160 gig, and will play apple lossless format, fitting about 400 cd of lossless music on it. It's pricey, though.

Yeah, I have a 120gb zune that plays lossless .wav on it, but nearly all my music is in flac and its such a pain to convert

 

[rhody]

As I mentioned in an earlier post, the largest ipod is 160 gig, and will play apple lossless format, fitting about 400 cd of lossless music on it. It's pricey, though.

OP,

FYI. I have a Song Walkman player, got it as a Christmas gift, it is a 16GB model and will play most every type of music an iPod, iTouch, or iPhone will, a lot less expensive too, They can be had for about $180 US dollars online. Something to consider.

Rhody...