Vote

I buy about an equal amount of cds and lps.

Re-issue SACDs are in better quality in genral even listening to its DSD layer due to better masters are used

Currently taking advantage of iTunes/Pepsi promotion. It's free. It's legal. It's more music for me.

I tend to buy older, reissued material rather than new things, but, to be fair, the latest CD I bought was Jeff Parker's The Relatives on Thrill Jockey. I'm a sucker for anything out of the Tortoise/Isotope 217/Chicago Underground axis.

Released last week: The Mars Volta's Frances the Mute. Incredible, screamingly high-energy, progressive rock.

No high-rez at my house. As this week's Soap-Boxer put it, I'm not living out on the bleeding edge. I bought the remastered Words & Music John Mellencamp best-of two CD set. Well worth it, great sonics.

Janos Starker's Bach's Cello's Sonatas. But I have also purchased CDs of the Emerson Quartet's Meldelssohn string quartets.

Mapleshade recording Midnite and both releases by a little SKA band out of New Orleans called SAARABA!

Eric Dolphy: Here and Now from eMusic. VBR MP3—decent sound quality. New download, old jazz.

iTunes download: 'When the President Talks to God' by Bright Eyes.

My two most recent purchases (on the same day, so I'm counting them as one) are the new Beethoven 4th and 5th symphonies by the Minnesota Orchestra, conducted by Osmo Vanska; and the RCA Living Stereo reissue of Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition by the Chicago Symphony, conducted by Fritz Reiner. More and more of these classical hybrid discs are hitting the market at reasonable prices ($11. 98 for the Living Stereo discs). I'm sure that a lot of cautious buyers of classical music who have held off from investing in the new formats are beginning to think seriously about an SACD or universal player, especially now that you don't have to pay a $10+ premium per disc. If the software is built right (i.e. backward-compatible), at prices no higher than that of a regular CD, and with a wide selection of first-rate titles, they (i.e. we) will come to the hardware.

Isabel I, Reina de Ccastilla, recorded in March of 2004. It is a collection of songs and dances from 15th century Spain, collected and conducted by Jordi Savall and his Hesperion XXI outfit. This is one CD among many in an ongoing series of Renaissance and Baroque programs recorded by different ensembles under Savall's direction. I own them all, because they are all extremely well-recorded and flawlessy performed. The series has everything from San Martin to Rameau, from Lully to Bach. A stunning window into the past. Many are now becoming available in SACD and I have a few of these, but the regular CDs sound just as good and are two bucks less. Alia Vox is the lable. I prefer vinyl, but the Red Book catalog of ancient music on "authentic period instruments" has grown huge since the days of Hogwood, and I will continue to take advantage of this modern miracle. It's what CD does best (ie,provide an enormous variety of selections for all music lovers, composed on a continuum that spans from ancient times to this morning).

The soundtrack from Shall we dance. Every time I listen to this CD, I imagine myself in the ballroom, dancing

John Coltrane: Blue Train Wow!

Nice Hits Nice Bits by The Nice. Released in 2000.

I bought Queensryche's Empire on DVD-Audio. I really enjoy DVD-Audio and SACDs. I wish the recording companies would get off their asses and push one of these new and better formats. There is no comparing these formats to a regular CD. Unfortuanetly there can only be one format for the masses and it will be the cheapest and most musicaly degrading format out there. My system does double duty for music and movies (blasphemous, I know, but that's the way most people do it). Then they go out and buy a $150 DVD-Audio and SACD player and think it's the greatest thing on earth that they've ever heard. I tried to get the best of both worlds by buying a Marantz SR7400, and the Marantz DV7500. This is mid-priced equipment that I believe for the money performs very well. I don't care which format they choose, Just choose one!

Rush: Vapour Trails. I don't buy many CDs

MTT and the SFS playing Mahler's Symphony #2. The disc is an SACD, but I own a CD-only player, so the fact that it's a high-rez disc didn't affect my purchase. I believe it was recorded in June and released in November, so it's pretty recent.

Aha Shake Heartbreak by Kings of Leon. Ruder,cruder, and even weirder than their first—highly recommended! Even reading the lyrics printed in the booklet, you still can't understand a word Caleb is, uh, screaming.

I just wish I could get more SACD's as they are the best real-world format we have. (ie. they can be played in the car, at work, in other rooms of the house, etc.

New purchase / new recording: an LP by Air, Talkie Walkie from EMI. I was very disappointed. It's one of the worst quality pressings I've ever bought. It's so noisy I went out and bought the CD! New purchase / older recording: a used Japanese Verve pressing of Jazz Samba by Stan Getz and Charlie Byrd. I picked it up at PDQ Records in Tucson, AZ. Very quiet. I feel much better now!

I am torn between two smooth Jazz CDs. Bony James: Pure and Mindi Abair: It Just Happens That Way. I'm driving my kids crazy listening to these over and over.

Same as the oldest recording I listen to: Meet the Beatles, Capitol Albums Vol. 1. Fab, just fab.

I just bought a CD of an old Ella Fitzgerald album. There is a captivating sexiness to those well done old recordings that simply cannot be reproduced.

I bought about 60 LPs at an indoor flea market. On the second floor, a lady has at least 50,000 used albums. I've been there five times for about 2.5 hours each time and have gone through maybe 2/3 of the collection. Have found some really interesting and nice stuff there. BTW got all 60 LPs for $35.

Everything I acquire is a download these days.

New CD by jazz singer Tomoko Miyata. Great arranger of jazz standerds. Check out samples at tomokomiyata.com

Though not new in terms of when it was written or originally recorded, on a whim of nostalgia I purchased a twin-disc set of Ennio Morricone's film score music A Fistful of Music. A very interesting composer and very interesting music. Brought back many childhood memories of a young Clint Eastwood chomping on a tiny cigar getting ready for a gunfight in some spaghetti western. Actually, quite compelling music. Silly? I suppose so. But at least half the cuts are quite different and well worth the effort.

Whoo wee, this is border-line embarassing. The latest recording I am listening to is Gwen Stefani's solo album. It is frikin' catchy and she is rather sexy when she wants to be. The most embarrassing part? It is a burned CD of the album that was downloaded in iTunes, that I didn't buy! On the flipside, I did recently buy the excellent Legacy edition ofof Jeff Buckley's Grace. Excellent!

Kings of Leon: Aha Shake Heartbreak. Kick ass alternative punk band.