Vote

Only when I listen to audio samples before buying a CD. The sound is terrible but it gives you a rough idea.

Aside from speaker quality, another issue with listening via stock computer setup is the comfort issue. Speaker height, listeing position, etc, are all different, and fail to interest me in listening at or from computer sources.

I download some MP3s to get an idea of what a CD is like. If I like it, I go buy it. If I play MP3s on either of my stereo systems, the sound sucks. Usually, if I want music when I'm on the computer, I turn up the volume on my main audio system to a highish level so I can hear it from my computer room.

I use my computer virtually 100% of the time I'm in the office. I've tried playing CDs or live Internet radio broadcasts or MP3s, but I find it so distracting that it's impossible to concentrate on work when there's music playing. I sometimes have NPR or Byron's market program playing in the background, but music is out of the question. Unfortunately. I'm missing 40 or 50 hours a week when I could be listening to new stuff and finding new music I'd enjoy, but I just can't do it.

I might try it out, if it is good, then I will continue, if it is bad, then I will stop! By the way, will they make a portable model with headphones?

I listen to early releases only, i.e. if it's the only way I can hear new music from an artist.

Especially useful for listening on-line to samples of CDs I might buy.

I tried listening to CDs some time back while using my computer. While I have very inexpensive computer speakers, up close and personal at the computer screen, on some recordings I actually got what I would call a good sound from just the 2 speakers flanking the monitor (no sub-woofer). However, after a short time I found that I did not enjoy the experience. I feel that the problem is that watching the images (text, pictures, or whatever) on the screen detracts from the audio experience. I think this is the reason that I am not a big fan of the Home Theater (HT) experience. Unfortunately, most people now days seem to be taken with the "bombs bursting in mid-air" effect, as well represented in big HT set-ups, and that is were manufactures are concentrating their efforts to the detriment of choices and affordability in the audio only (stereo in particular) market.

I was working at home last night and, for the first time, tuned in a "classical radio station" to keep me company. A critical listening experience it wasn't, but as background noise it was acceptable. When the station shifted to atmospheric orchestral interpretations of the Beatles I turned it off. If I wanted "soft rock" I would have given myself a lobotomy and called it a night.

i've burned out enough cd-rom drives by just using them for software.

but only through my headphones when im online or using the computer. I dont do my critical listening unless its in front of my baby.

Just to pass the time-nothing serious!

On occasion, I listen to Internet radio while I'm working. I have no interest in listening to MP3s or CDs while using my computer.

Only when traveling. I hook up good headphones to my laptop, that is the only way to make the sound acceptable. The music I hear is only music I have transferred to the hard drive from CDs I own.

I am a Luddite gearhead, in that I want my (stereo only) audio system, my stereo TV with internal speakers only, and my Mac with no sound card to remain separate - the thought of putting these things in proximity to one another or cabling them together in a normal house simply makes me want to become Amish.

I'd love to use my computer for music, but the quality isn't acceptable. My computer still can't match my ten-year old Rotel CD player! Yet somehow nearly everyone under 20 seems to prefer their computer . . . .

One of the reasons that I have avoided using my computer to listen to music is simply that it is not logical for me to do so. Mostly due to the fact that neither the computer or audio system reside in the same room.

Once in a great while. Any more and I would be asking myself, why and how much did I spend on my stereo system.

All of my computers are hooked up to a LAN that currently offers a file server with tons of music. In the HT, office, and living room, I have computers hooked up with pretty good to very, very good systems. In fact, I can't think of what life was before the I installed the file servers. Next in the agenda will be 24/96 and net radio in our home intranet.

I belive MP-3s and MPEGs have terrible sound quality and my computer is too old to handle better formats.

I don't use the computer much to play music. What I do (and like) use the computer for is to record vinyl LPs to .wav files on one computer and send the .wav files over my home network to another computer. On this second computer, I edit out the large click and pops (only the large ones that are really distracting) manually (I usually zoom in on the few digital samples that ARE the click or pop and reduce their amplitude to a small value). Sound quaility-wise, this really works for me. Then I can burn a CD for casual use at home or in the car.

Just about every day I listen to Internet "radio" stations at work in my private office at low levels. I just use a Macintosh with a set of Apple speakers. Nothing fancy, but at the low levels required to get work done why get carried away?

Sounds awful. I'd rather put my money towards a dedicated 2-channel setup for the home office.

I listen to music on my PC if I'm working on it, my music system is in a different room. Is an standard system (multimedia speakers and mini subwoofer). The only special thing is that I use burn it with pink noise for many hours and use a headphone amp between the soundcard and the speakers. That makes a big diference. It is not audiophile quality but you can just enjoy the music while you are working on the PC.

If you haven't tried an external DAC with your sound card you don't know what your're missing! MP3s sound great through my Aureal Vortex PCI sound card (extreme budget model with coaxial s/pdif output that costs less than $20 on ebay) and an Audio Alchemy DTI to correct and reduce the jitter and then through some Cardas digital cable into an Audio Alchemy DAC In The Box into my vintage Marantz 2235 receiver. I tried my Theta Pro Prime and it does an even better job at decoding MP3 files but it's now connected to my Laser Disc/DVD player. I record most of my own frequently-played files at 256k sampling rate instead of the standard 128k. They sound too thin sampled at 128kb, but at 256kb they are surprizingly good! Using MusicMatch Jukebox makes mangaging my gigabytes of audio super easy! Someday, I'll upgrade to a Sound Blaster Audigy or even an older Sound Blaster Live. Either model with the external breakout box that mounts in a drive bay. It helps to have your PC by your stereo system to do all this, ya know! Everything is filtered by Monster Cable Surge Protectors and the PC itself is on a APC Back Ups PRO unit. I also use the location of the pc to be able to dump LP's and cassettes onto CD-R's using Sound Forge XP for recordings that'll never see the light of a laser beam. Using Monster Cables 1/8" PC audio cables to connect the sound card input to the Marantz receiver outputs makes the whole thing a snap to enjoy 'close to' audiophile sound from my PC. Just connecting the standard 1/8 inch audio oututs to a hi-fi system will not yield good results. Most sound cards are pretty sucky in the DAC area and for less than 20 bux you can get an Aureal Vortex or Turtle Beach and some Creative Labs sound cards that offer s/pdif outputs and that's where the fun begins...Try it...It's fun...

Genelec Studio Monitors make it a real pleasure

Internet radio is better than 99.9% of the standard brodcasts. I get to hear all kinds of wonderful music on-line that I can't hear anywhere else.

I listen to CDs at work on the PC as do other employees. I Never use the PC at home for music except to create CD-Rs for the car and the work PC.

Mainly I listen to CDs when I'm on the Internet or writing e-mails.

I plan to purchase a high quality sound card so I can migrate my LP collection to CD. The sound card coupled with the noise reduction software will allow me to enjoy my LP collection for many years to come. Davet