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May 17, 2006 - 8:17am
#1
Finally Gone To the DarkSide
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Jim,
I am becoming a bit concerned for you. If my timeline is correct, in the last week you have
Of course you tried an iTunes download. Who hasn't? I suspect you've also tried a McDonald's burger - once. The test for you is how long it will take for you (should you like what you downloaded) to dump the download from your files and buy the CD. The iTunes store is just today's replacement for those little booths in music stores where you could sample some music before buying it. (Some who will read this won't recognize what I'm referring to, but I'm sure you do.)
As for the force not being with you - Baloney! You've revealed a bit too much of who you are to sell that one.
Cheers,
Clifton,
I do have a U2 model for a year and a half. I just loaded wav files into it to try and keep my minimal standing in the "club" intact. But, now that I have listened to MP3 files and done the "dirty deed" (downloading that is) I know I am going to be banished to the "Pointless Forest" with Obleo from "The Point".
"The Point" is an animated story with music by Harry Nilsson. My kids loved it. The songs are great and the story is pretty amazing. The Point
I just reload my IPod with over a days worth of music wav files 353 songs, 18.5 gigs. Music from Count Basie lp transfer, Bob James, David Benoit This Side Up lp transfer, Parahia, Rubinstein, Horowitz, Van Cliburn, Belle and Sebastian, Michelle Featherstone, Mike Longo, Ellington lp transfer, Silverman, Diana Krall, Jane Monheit, Beatles One, Carole King Tapestry lp transfer, Warren Bernhardt, Michel Camilo, 3 mp3s from a very nice turntable, Michael Buble, James Taylor, Ax/Zuckerman, Billy Joel Fantasies and Delusions, Stereophile Test CDs 1 and 2 & Editors Choice, and Susan Tedeschi, and a Nat King Cole lp transfer from a Giants of Jazz 1940 trio recordings. 6 songs total are mp3's, the other 3 were from ITunes. Some artists have more than one album loaded. Using a dual stereo mini cord through my car cd player's aux setting it is much easier than carrying 25 cds. At age 59 with my level of hearing loss on my Grados it is pretty nice. My late Father would be very impressed, even discounting having Stan Kenton play in our livingroom once for him.
Regards,
Hey, Jim -- that was Cliff, not Clifton. But it's such a nice evening that I'll stop and chat with one of the nicest guys I know. You're WAY past me. I can't even get my goddam computer to scratch my ass, and you've got YOURS on multiple foreplay. Damn. I always knew it would come to this. Just as I learn to type "http://www" all this OTHER stuff becomes de rigeur . It took me two days to hook up my new HDTV, for crissakes, and the jerk at DirecTV laughed at me when I didn't have the receiver turned on! Man, I am so lost. I think I'll go twirl the knobs on my stereo. Yours, from the depths of technoidiot hell, Clifton.
Hi Jim,
Oh the shame. How can I ever forgive you. Seriously, Jim, my problems with iTunes and the other online pay per download services have to do with issues of DRM, quality and poor selection rather than some of the other issues people may have.
DRM (digital right management, or the spawn of SATAN, as I like to call it) is a major drag when it comes to pay per download services. These DRM schemes really cripple ones ability to use the music one just paid for in the way that one choses. Sorry but if I paid for it, it should be mine to use as I please.
Quality: the sound quality of the various music download services are all over the map. MusicGiants claims to offer CD quality lossless downloads but because of DRM issues I can't get the damn thing to work on any computer I have access to so they are useless. iTunes encodes in the lossy Apple codec at a crappy bit rate so iTunes is also quite useless. Any service which uses real audio is to be avoided like the plague and that leaves those services which encode into MP3. I don't mind MP3s as long as they are encoded at a bit rate of 192 or higher using the latest Fraunhofer MP3 codec. Most music download services may tell the bit rate the music is encoded at but not how the file was encoded nor how the file was tagged. The MP3 encoder used and the bit rate used do make a very big difference in the sound of the MP3 file.
Selection: Try doing a search for Cecil Taylor and see what you can find. Don't bother, I'll tell you, almost nothing. Now whether or not you like Cecil Taylor is not the point. Taylor is one of the most important figures in modern jazz of the past half century and yet these bozos who run these music service don't even know his name. But they have very piece of trash recorded by the teen queen du jour, plus the remixes.
Okay, enough venting. Look at the bright side, if you do find that you like downloading from these online music services, I suggest that you switch to a Windows Media Player compatible one so that you can than buy a Burwen Bobcat and listen to the "analog master tapes".
Don't feel bad as I am just doing my best not to get "old" even though the guy in the mirror just laughs and says, "Nice Try!".
It took me a while to learn to type in what I want as in "cubs" and hit control and enter and I do not need www. .com
There are other tricks, but something this old dog just want to lay there. I used to laugh at my Grandfather for falling a sleep in front of the TV, but some days I am HIM. Of course when we would turn it off he would immediately wake up and shout, "Hey, I was watching that!". Really. Right through the old eyelids.
Regards as always,
Jazzfan,
I am with you all the way. I hate computer intrusion. My wife went to check the movies yesterday at IWon and she got so much crap after doing it, it was awful. I took my 11 year old son, Nick, to see Over The Hedge this afternoon. Pretty neet kids flick. The animation is scarry great these days from Pixar and others.
I am not sure how much I will download as, you are right, the quality is not there. I went there to get a 99 cent sample of Belle and Sebastian from the current "Phile" recommendation which I did and really liked. I downloaded the two free picks of the day becuase they were, well, free! Michelle Featherstone is worth keeping an eye one.
I hate to think of the music industry coming down to just downloads, but 10 years from now, who knows? It would be something if Michael Fremer was right to buy the Continuum as the best available software could be 180-200 gram virgin vinyl from less that 24 companies. Would that be a hoot if it came full circle to that.
Just like in "Eight Men Out", "Say it ain't so, Joe".
Regards,