Money for nothing
May 28, 2015 12:06 PM Subscribe
Thirty years ago this month, Dire Straits released their fifth album, Brothers in Arms... For the first time, an album sold more on compact disc than on vinyl and passed the 1m mark. How the compact disc lost its shine - the rise and fall of the CD
Brothers in Arms by Dire Straits and Nevermind by Nirvana were the first compact discs I ever purchased for myself with my own money and not as a gift or anything like that. Brothers in Arms is such a great album.
posted by Fizz at 12:17 PM on May 28, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by Fizz at 12:17 PM on May 28, 2015 [2 favorites]
> It's hard to remember exactly why I was *so* into them, though...
That raspy voice? That 80s vibe?
(Still love BiA; still love the Money for Nothing compilation.)
posted by RedOrGreen at 12:18 PM on May 28, 2015 [1 favorite]
That raspy voice? That 80s vibe?
(Still love BiA; still love the Money for Nothing compilation.)
posted by RedOrGreen at 12:18 PM on May 28, 2015 [1 favorite]
I heard a song I liked. I looked up who performed it, and it was Dire Straits. Then I heard another song I liked. I looked up who performed it, and it was Dire Straits. Then I heard yet another song I liked. I looked up who performed it, and it was Dire Straits.
At that point I realized I liked Dire Straits.
posted by Faint of Butt at 12:21 PM on May 28, 2015 [12 favorites]
At that point I realized I liked Dire Straits.
posted by Faint of Butt at 12:21 PM on May 28, 2015 [12 favorites]
I actually had BiA on vinyl. I was a bit of a hipster luddite even as a kid.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 12:22 PM on May 28, 2015 [4 favorites]
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 12:22 PM on May 28, 2015 [4 favorites]
The first compact disc I ever purchased for myself - and indeed, the first one I had ever handled - was The Quality Of Mercy Is Not Strenen by the Mekons, an expensive import reissue. I do still have it...in fact, I think I still have virtually all my CDs.
The truth is, I listen to less music now because I hate dealing with MP3s. Also, I really miss making mix CDs for people. I admit that I do enjoy being able to hear just about anything via the internet, but I loathe loathe loathe messing around with iTunes and Amazon and the fact the I have to keep my old old laptop with the CD port in running condition because my new laptop does not do CDs, and the fact that I can't just add music to my little iPod (now itself rather old, a freebie with another purchase) but instead have to sync it to one laptop, so I can't put music from Old Laptop onto the iPod and add music from New Laptop, and I can't seem to port the damn stuff over from Old Laptop...god, I hate MP3s.
posted by Frowner at 12:22 PM on May 28, 2015 [7 favorites]
The truth is, I listen to less music now because I hate dealing with MP3s. Also, I really miss making mix CDs for people. I admit that I do enjoy being able to hear just about anything via the internet, but I loathe loathe loathe messing around with iTunes and Amazon and the fact the I have to keep my old old laptop with the CD port in running condition because my new laptop does not do CDs, and the fact that I can't just add music to my little iPod (now itself rather old, a freebie with another purchase) but instead have to sync it to one laptop, so I can't put music from Old Laptop onto the iPod and add music from New Laptop, and I can't seem to port the damn stuff over from Old Laptop...god, I hate MP3s.
posted by Frowner at 12:22 PM on May 28, 2015 [7 favorites]
Oh, and from TFA, I had no idea that Neil Young has been on his grumpy trip for quite so long!
While analogue loyalists such as Neil Young and Steve Albini railed against translating music into soulless binary code, some high-profile audiophiles felt that this was how music was meant to be heard. On first hearing a CD, the great Austrian conductor Herbert von Karajan memorably declared: “Everything else is gaslight.”
Oh, Neil.
posted by RedOrGreen at 12:24 PM on May 28, 2015 [1 favorite]
While analogue loyalists such as Neil Young and Steve Albini railed against translating music into soulless binary code, some high-profile audiophiles felt that this was how music was meant to be heard. On first hearing a CD, the great Austrian conductor Herbert von Karajan memorably declared: “Everything else is gaslight.”
Oh, Neil.
posted by RedOrGreen at 12:24 PM on May 28, 2015 [1 favorite]
My first CD was Life's Too Good by the Sugarcubes. I bought it before the CD player I mail-ordered arrived at my apartment, so I had to just stare at it for a few days and hope they would play "Motorcrash" again on the radio like the first time I heard it and my mind was blown.
posted by matildaben at 12:33 PM on May 28, 2015 [5 favorites]
posted by matildaben at 12:33 PM on May 28, 2015 [5 favorites]
My uncle was the first person I remember who had a CD player; I remember being totally entranced when I first held a CD up to the light and saw that cool rainbow effect play across it...an anecdote that now sounds like someone talking about seeing a magic lantern for the first time in the 17th century.
Anyway, when my family finally got a CD player a few years later I was basically the industry's dream consumer because I immediately replaced as many of my tapes as I could afford to with CDs, which I assumed a) were perfect, and b) would last forever, because that's what the commercials said (and they were unquestionably a step up from tapes). I'll always have a soft spot for the format because of the time a cute girl oohed and aahed over my rigorously curated and lovingly displayed collection and then made out with me, which was and always will be the highlight of my life as a music nerd.
posted by The Card Cheat at 12:34 PM on May 28, 2015 [30 favorites]
Anyway, when my family finally got a CD player a few years later I was basically the industry's dream consumer because I immediately replaced as many of my tapes as I could afford to with CDs, which I assumed a) were perfect, and b) would last forever, because that's what the commercials said (and they were unquestionably a step up from tapes). I'll always have a soft spot for the format because of the time a cute girl oohed and aahed over my rigorously curated and lovingly displayed collection and then made out with me, which was and always will be the highlight of my life as a music nerd.
posted by The Card Cheat at 12:34 PM on May 28, 2015 [30 favorites]
Oh, Card Cheat...you lived the dream, for all of us...
posted by Captain l'escalier at 12:37 PM on May 28, 2015 [14 favorites]
posted by Captain l'escalier at 12:37 PM on May 28, 2015 [14 favorites]
“Once you had the iPod, the CD was an inferior good. It could get cracked or lost, whereas MP3 files lasted.”
I'm not sure if that piece isn't as much wishful thinking as were the dreams of mid-'90s record execs. Through drive failure or obsolescence, I've probably lost more mp3s over the last 15 years than I've ever damaged or lost cds. And the insistence on death of the cd sounds a lot like the predicted deaths of cassettes and vinyl. More likely, I think, is a future where many different formats exist to satisfy many different markets with none of them dominating in the way cds or vinyl once did.
I actually bought Brothers In Arms for my college roommate when it came out. As albums go I can take it or leave it—tho "Money For Nothing" remains eminently hummable—but it was definitely on the late '80s soundtrack.
posted by octobersurprise at 12:40 PM on May 28, 2015 [2 favorites]
I'm not sure if that piece isn't as much wishful thinking as were the dreams of mid-'90s record execs. Through drive failure or obsolescence, I've probably lost more mp3s over the last 15 years than I've ever damaged or lost cds. And the insistence on death of the cd sounds a lot like the predicted deaths of cassettes and vinyl. More likely, I think, is a future where many different formats exist to satisfy many different markets with none of them dominating in the way cds or vinyl once did.
I actually bought Brothers In Arms for my college roommate when it came out. As albums go I can take it or leave it—tho "Money For Nothing" remains eminently hummable—but it was definitely on the late '80s soundtrack.
posted by octobersurprise at 12:40 PM on May 28, 2015 [2 favorites]
My first CD was Life's Too Good by the Sugarcubes
Mine too! I had my local record store order it, and eagerly snagged mine from the case of longboxes as soon as the clerk tore it open. If you could wear out a CD, I wore that one out.
Side note: the record store kept its cassettes behind a clear plastic wall, and when you picked the one you wanted they somehow made it fall onto a conveyor belt which ran it up to the clerk. Theft prevention, I guess, which seems really quaint now.
posted by schoolgirl report at 12:42 PM on May 28, 2015
Mine too! I had my local record store order it, and eagerly snagged mine from the case of longboxes as soon as the clerk tore it open. If you could wear out a CD, I wore that one out.
Side note: the record store kept its cassettes behind a clear plastic wall, and when you picked the one you wanted they somehow made it fall onto a conveyor belt which ran it up to the clerk. Theft prevention, I guess, which seems really quaint now.
posted by schoolgirl report at 12:42 PM on May 28, 2015
Oh, boy, I wore that CD out. And all my other Dire Straits CDs, too. Also a big Mark Knopfler fan ever since. Of course, I prove the link's point as all those CDs were ripped long ago to my iTunes collection.
I remember the very first time I ever listened to music on lightweight portable headphones -- amazing! Like having the band in my head! -- and the first time I ever saw or listened to a CD, which was almost as jaw dropping at the time. So lightweight! Such super clean crisp sound! I still have my ginormous CD collection, but all the music is now ripped.
posted by bearwife at 12:44 PM on May 28, 2015 [1 favorite]
I remember the very first time I ever listened to music on lightweight portable headphones -- amazing! Like having the band in my head! -- and the first time I ever saw or listened to a CD, which was almost as jaw dropping at the time. So lightweight! Such super clean crisp sound! I still have my ginormous CD collection, but all the music is now ripped.
posted by bearwife at 12:44 PM on May 28, 2015 [1 favorite]
The first time I heard "Money for Nothing" I was driving home down Town Line Road on a beautiful summer day with the volume knob on the radio twisted all the way around a couple of times. I never did buy it on vinyl or CD or cassette, though. I worked in a record store when CDs started to overtake vinyl and cassettes, but I resisted buying a CD player for a long time. CDs just seemed like too much of an extravagance, too pricey compared to vinyl, and I was already well invested in vinyl. And I liked my little car radio. I liked gaslight.
posted by pracowity at 12:50 PM on May 28, 2015
posted by pracowity at 12:50 PM on May 28, 2015
A friend brought over a CD to play this weekend and I didn't really have an easy way to play it. I don't have a stereo and none none of my computers has an optical drive. I have a USB DVD drive that I could have used but we didn't have time for me to rummage around the house to find it, plug it into my windows computer and then figure out what music player will work with it.
posted by octothorpe at 12:51 PM on May 28, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by octothorpe at 12:51 PM on May 28, 2015 [1 favorite]
> I've probably lost more mp3s over the last 15 years...
I have at least three friends who lost their entire MP3 libraries due to viruses/crashes on hard drives that weren't properly backed up.
posted by The Card Cheat at 12:52 PM on May 28, 2015 [2 favorites]
I have at least three friends who lost their entire MP3 libraries due to viruses/crashes on hard drives that weren't properly backed up.
posted by The Card Cheat at 12:52 PM on May 28, 2015 [2 favorites]
The truth is, I listen to less music now because I hate dealing with MP3s. Also, I really miss making mix CDs for people.
I'm the opposite Frowner. If anything, the fact that I have access to unlimited amounts of mp3s/iTunes/torrents/youtube/etc. I find myself listening to more music from artists I wouldn't have had access to when only limited to physical stores & CDs.
posted by Fizz at 12:53 PM on May 28, 2015 [9 favorites]
I'm the opposite Frowner. If anything, the fact that I have access to unlimited amounts of mp3s/iTunes/torrents/youtube/etc. I find myself listening to more music from artists I wouldn't have had access to when only limited to physical stores & CDs.
posted by Fizz at 12:53 PM on May 28, 2015 [9 favorites]
We didn't have a CD player until late 1992 or later -- I distinctly remember being unable to listen to my visiting cousin's CD single of "Baby Got Back," which must have been the summer of 1992. I had never even seen a CD, in fact, until then, and I'm not even sure that I'd heard of them. I listened to a ton of tapes, of course, and the odd record, but CDs weren't even on the radar.
We have a little Fisher Price "CD player" for the baby--really a toy with a mouth you can feed plastic discs into while it makes vaguely pornographic noises--and were discussing the other day that it's very likely she will never actually play a CD. There's nothing sexy about the medium the way there is with vinyl records, there's no reason for it to continue (then again, kids are releasing music on cassettes these days because it's "cool," so what do I know).
posted by uncleozzy at 12:55 PM on May 28, 2015
We have a little Fisher Price "CD player" for the baby--really a toy with a mouth you can feed plastic discs into while it makes vaguely pornographic noises--and were discussing the other day that it's very likely she will never actually play a CD. There's nothing sexy about the medium the way there is with vinyl records, there's no reason for it to continue (then again, kids are releasing music on cassettes these days because it's "cool," so what do I know).
posted by uncleozzy at 12:55 PM on May 28, 2015
Well, now I know what I'm listening to on the drive home tonight. Thanks, MetaFilter!
The Man's Too Strong is criminally overlooked on this album.
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 12:57 PM on May 28, 2015 [11 favorites]
The Man's Too Strong is criminally overlooked on this album.
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 12:57 PM on May 28, 2015 [11 favorites]
My music consumption is mostly vinyl and streaming these days. I've got something like 42 days' worth of MP3s on my laptop, but I really hate iTunes so the only time I use it to listen to music is if I can't find something on Spotify or Hoopla or whatever.
posted by The Card Cheat at 12:57 PM on May 28, 2015
posted by The Card Cheat at 12:57 PM on May 28, 2015
I had Brothers in Arms on cassette at the time. The album surely doesn't bear up to listening 30 years later. But as a period piece... Wow.
Sting (Sting!) whining on about MTV! Meaninglessly! With the most explodey drums ever!
posted by colie at 12:59 PM on May 28, 2015 [2 favorites]
Sting (Sting!) whining on about MTV! Meaninglessly! With the most explodey drums ever!
posted by colie at 12:59 PM on May 28, 2015 [2 favorites]
It's hard to remember exactly why I was *so* into them...
'You play the guitar on the MTV.'
posted by fairmettle at 1:03 PM on May 28, 2015 [1 favorite]
'You play the guitar on the MTV.'
posted by fairmettle at 1:03 PM on May 28, 2015 [1 favorite]
The video for which foretold Minecraft, a few decades ahead of its time.
posted by Wordshore at 1:07 PM on May 28, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by Wordshore at 1:07 PM on May 28, 2015 [1 favorite]
Miami Vice is how I fell in love with Dire Straits.
posted by Roger Dodger at 1:09 PM on May 28, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by Roger Dodger at 1:09 PM on May 28, 2015 [1 favorite]
I believe my first CD might have been the Jazz Butcher Conspiracy's A Scandal in Bohemia. Tested it on a Denon CD player. Liked the sound.
I do remember Dire Straits being popular but it wasn't for me.
posted by juiceCake at 1:10 PM on May 28, 2015
I do remember Dire Straits being popular but it wasn't for me.
posted by juiceCake at 1:10 PM on May 28, 2015
The truth is, I listen to less music now because I hate dealing with MP3s.
For me, mp3s have always been the format of last resort, what I choose because the music isn't (yet) available on any other format. Right now that tends to be lots of mixes which then sit in my drive until I burn them to cd and listen to them.
I'm not sure what was the first cd I bought. Might have been The Indestructible Beat of Soweto or Professor Longhair's Rock n' Roll Gumbo. Might also have been Tubular Bells. There was a lot of "Hey, I wonder what this would sound like on cd?" in those early days.
posted by octobersurprise at 1:12 PM on May 28, 2015
For me, mp3s have always been the format of last resort, what I choose because the music isn't (yet) available on any other format. Right now that tends to be lots of mixes which then sit in my drive until I burn them to cd and listen to them.
I'm not sure what was the first cd I bought. Might have been The Indestructible Beat of Soweto or Professor Longhair's Rock n' Roll Gumbo. Might also have been Tubular Bells. There was a lot of "Hey, I wonder what this would sound like on cd?" in those early days.
posted by octobersurprise at 1:12 PM on May 28, 2015
The problem with mp3s is that no one wants to deal with data management. Converting, tagging, transferring, backup...
Next up is pure listening rights with high availability.
posted by mantecol at 1:20 PM on May 28, 2015
Next up is pure listening rights with high availability.
posted by mantecol at 1:20 PM on May 28, 2015
I didn't buy the the CD at the time because Money for Nothing was played 4,000 times a day for months on every radio station I had access to. And I was quite happy to listen to that song that often. Volume way up! A few years later I saw Mark Knopfler in concert with Eric Clapton and they played it as part of the encore.
posted by ThatCanadianGirl at 1:21 PM on May 28, 2015
posted by ThatCanadianGirl at 1:21 PM on May 28, 2015
the format’s alleged indestructibility
Retailers used to pretty much replace CDs, no questions asked, early on, in service of propagating this myth. If I recall correctly. Which, you know, I may not.
posted by thelonius at 1:23 PM on May 28, 2015
Retailers used to pretty much replace CDs, no questions asked, early on, in service of propagating this myth. If I recall correctly. Which, you know, I may not.
posted by thelonius at 1:23 PM on May 28, 2015
My fave part of Tubular Bells, btw, has always been the part where Viv Stanshall says "glockenspiel." My college roommates and I used to shout "Glockenspiel!" along with him whenever we played that.
posted by octobersurprise at 1:29 PM on May 28, 2015 [4 favorites]
posted by octobersurprise at 1:29 PM on May 28, 2015 [4 favorites]
Slightly unreleated (different album and all) but I absolutely love this Sultans of Swing cover.
posted by downtohisturtles at 1:30 PM on May 28, 2015 [3 favorites]
posted by downtohisturtles at 1:30 PM on May 28, 2015 [3 favorites]
That cd sold so many crappy Fischer stereos... Sting would sing "I want my MTVvvvvvvvvvvv...." and then I would slowly dial up the volume while those rambling compressed drums rolled into that thumping bass beat, customers would jump back in shocked delight, then the credit card flies out.
That cd sold so many crappy Emerson cd players.... I would throw the disc around the room like a frisbee, toss it into the tray and hit play, then the credit card flies out.
posted by CynicalKnight at 1:38 PM on May 28, 2015 [2 favorites]
That cd sold so many crappy Emerson cd players.... I would throw the disc around the room like a frisbee, toss it into the tray and hit play, then the credit card flies out.
posted by CynicalKnight at 1:38 PM on May 28, 2015 [2 favorites]
Side 2 of the Brothers in Arms album is still a masterpiece.
posted by ReeMonster at 1:45 PM on May 28, 2015 [4 favorites]
posted by ReeMonster at 1:45 PM on May 28, 2015 [4 favorites]
My first CD was DJ Jazzy Jeff & the Fresh Prince's Summertime. My first CD player was a rackmount thing. Of course, I didn't have a stereo system, so I had to listen on headphones. There's this high-pitched beeping in the song Summertime that I've always associated with Pure Clean Digital Sound.
posted by dirigibleman at 1:58 PM on May 28, 2015
posted by dirigibleman at 1:58 PM on May 28, 2015
Sine we are playing the "First CD" game: Squeeze, Singles--45s and Under.
Still holds up.
posted by librosegretti at 2:08 PM on May 28, 2015 [4 favorites]
Still holds up.
posted by librosegretti at 2:08 PM on May 28, 2015 [4 favorites]
As someone who listens to music primarily while driving, for the longest time I would have to burn mix cds to play in the car. Let me tell you, being able to plug my phone in and have access to my whole music collection is fucking magic.
posted by juv3nal at 2:09 PM on May 28, 2015
posted by juv3nal at 2:09 PM on May 28, 2015
I only got a CD player relatively late - mid 90s (I'm going with 1995), in part because my parents were not fussy and cassettes and a walkman with FM would do fine (not to mention, cheaper) and my brother didn't care for music. Considering how I disliked the sound of the early-mid 90s that made the charts played in the weekly chart show and what everyone else in school listened (still bored with metal and poodle rock, just can stomach some grunge now), it took me to the late 90s (cable TV installed) and early 00s (internet) to actually search for music I liked with some interest. And by then, MP3s were already a thing, and spent quite some time on Audiogalaxy trying to find something new to listen. It took me until 2006 or 2007, when I had some disposable income and knew what stuff I actuallly liked to start buying music regularly - cheap used CDs from Amazon and bargain bins, new vinyl from a store downtown, not to mention the monthly crawls from all record stores for old vinyl and CDs. Last record I bought was MBV (well, being out of work for a long time makes that happen), but I really miss talking to the clerks, ordering a new vinyl and return home with something else they suggested. Mostly vinyl for a reason: I do my listening from MP3s, either downloaded with a code, or ripped from the CD, or from some V0 torrent, and the price difference from new CDs to new Vinyl was negligible (€2 or €3, IIRC), and for that, I'd rather have the best package... and CD packaging is mostly dull - small artwork, 7pt lyrics. So why not purchase a better product?
Right now, I have a pile of new cassette tapes waiting to get a working tape recorder and transfer my album there to sell. It will have a Bandcamp code, color cover,etc, and I got more people (well, 3) interested in purchasing the more expensive tape (after shipping) and weren't that interested in the downloadable. At this point, I'm even considered buying old cassetes, doing a neat cover with a leaflet, then removing the tape reel and put a sticker with the bandcap code inside it. Why? People still like the object, and tapes (both plan A and B) are cheap.
As for Brother in Arms? Pure 80s, both in good and bad. I think the video was one of my primers for being interested in CG graphics.
posted by lmfsilva at 2:12 PM on May 28, 2015
Right now, I have a pile of new cassette tapes waiting to get a working tape recorder and transfer my album there to sell. It will have a Bandcamp code, color cover,etc, and I got more people (well, 3) interested in purchasing the more expensive tape (after shipping) and weren't that interested in the downloadable. At this point, I'm even considered buying old cassetes, doing a neat cover with a leaflet, then removing the tape reel and put a sticker with the bandcap code inside it. Why? People still like the object, and tapes (both plan A and B) are cheap.
As for Brother in Arms? Pure 80s, both in good and bad. I think the video was one of my primers for being interested in CG graphics.
posted by lmfsilva at 2:12 PM on May 28, 2015
I still remember putting Special Beat Service in my brand new Discman player (graduation present) and being blown away.
Had no idea at the time, now the disc is considered pretty legendary for it's audio quality. I still drop it in once in a while to remember how great this shit sounded before the record companies turned all the knobs to 11.
posted by JoeZydeco at 2:19 PM on May 28, 2015
Had no idea at the time, now the disc is considered pretty legendary for it's audio quality. I still drop it in once in a while to remember how great this shit sounded before the record companies turned all the knobs to 11.
posted by JoeZydeco at 2:19 PM on May 28, 2015
Music for Yuppies yt
which is exactly what Dire Straits were. Not bad per say. There were far worse albums kicking around than Brothers in Arms, but there was a certain kind of person's CD/record collection where you would always find it, right next to Phil Collins' Face Value, Roxy Music's Avalon, Joe Jackson's Night and Day, and probably something by the Police and Huey Lewis + The News. What can I say? The Minutemen were better.
posted by philip-random at 2:20 PM on May 28, 2015 [2 favorites]
which is exactly what Dire Straits were. Not bad per say. There were far worse albums kicking around than Brothers in Arms, but there was a certain kind of person's CD/record collection where you would always find it, right next to Phil Collins' Face Value, Roxy Music's Avalon, Joe Jackson's Night and Day, and probably something by the Police and Huey Lewis + The News. What can I say? The Minutemen were better.
posted by philip-random at 2:20 PM on May 28, 2015 [2 favorites]
Did someone say "yuppies" and "Huey Lewis and the News" ?
HEY, PAUL!
posted by lmfsilva at 2:26 PM on May 28, 2015 [2 favorites]
HEY, PAUL!
posted by lmfsilva at 2:26 PM on May 28, 2015 [2 favorites]
right next to Phil Collins' Face Value, Roxy Music's Avalon, Joe Jackson's Night and Day, and probably something by the Police and Huey Lewis + The News.
/me raises hand in shame, having owned all of those on cassette
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 2:27 PM on May 28, 2015 [2 favorites]
/me raises hand in shame, having owned all of those on cassette
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 2:27 PM on May 28, 2015 [2 favorites]
My first CD was Steve Reich's The Desert Music. I had the album and a cassette deck, but couldn't find tapes with a long enough length to allow taping it to listen to it as a continuous piece.
My second CD was Mike Oldfield's Ommadawn, because I'd worn out five copies on vinyl by that time.
I'd picked up a dozen or so discs by the time I was able to get a CD player, some months later in mid-1986. Brothers in Arms was disc #11.
I still prefer to buy music on CD, because it doesn't degrade with every play like vinyl or cassette. Degrading before it's played due to poor mastering/the Loudness War, that's another story, likewise bitrot but I haven't had much problem with the latter, knock wood. I've no problem ripping it myself and dumping it to a Sansa mp3 player for portability; the discs will still be there if the hard drive dies or mp3 player gets lost or damaged. I don't have to worry about it going out of print, or being deleted from Amazon or iTunes due to lack of interest or changes in the political winds (hello, Dixie Chicks), or no longer being able to hear it on the radio because the station's format changed. I can lend a disc to a friend and it will play for them, no DRM to worry about.
The frequency response on my hearing as I age, however....
posted by a person of few words at 2:32 PM on May 28, 2015 [2 favorites]
My second CD was Mike Oldfield's Ommadawn, because I'd worn out five copies on vinyl by that time.
I'd picked up a dozen or so discs by the time I was able to get a CD player, some months later in mid-1986. Brothers in Arms was disc #11.
I still prefer to buy music on CD, because it doesn't degrade with every play like vinyl or cassette. Degrading before it's played due to poor mastering/the Loudness War, that's another story, likewise bitrot but I haven't had much problem with the latter, knock wood. I've no problem ripping it myself and dumping it to a Sansa mp3 player for portability; the discs will still be there if the hard drive dies or mp3 player gets lost or damaged. I don't have to worry about it going out of print, or being deleted from Amazon or iTunes due to lack of interest or changes in the political winds (hello, Dixie Chicks), or no longer being able to hear it on the radio because the station's format changed. I can lend a disc to a friend and it will play for them, no DRM to worry about.
The frequency response on my hearing as I age, however....
posted by a person of few words at 2:32 PM on May 28, 2015 [2 favorites]
The Minutemen were better.
I knew plenty of yuppies with Minutemen albums. Still do for that matter.
posted by octobersurprise at 2:35 PM on May 28, 2015
I knew plenty of yuppies with Minutemen albums. Still do for that matter.
posted by octobersurprise at 2:35 PM on May 28, 2015
yuppies...right next to Phil Collins' Face Value, Roxy Music's Avalon, Joe Jackson's Night and Day, and probably something by the Police and Huey Lewis + The News.
well...you might've fount BIA there next that (mostly) dreck. communique? making movies?
I don't think Dire Straits means what you think it means.
posted by j_curiouser at 2:37 PM on May 28, 2015 [1 favorite]
well...you might've fount BIA there next that (mostly) dreck. communique? making movies?
I don't think Dire Straits means what you think it means.
posted by j_curiouser at 2:37 PM on May 28, 2015 [1 favorite]
Ah, reminiscing about musical formats. My parents weren't up on the newest music, let alone musical technology. We had a record player that was generally dormant, and a home stereo cassette deck. I recall a someone getting a CD in a longbox in 1991 or there-abouts, and pre-teen me was quite baffled about this thing (designed to fit two wide into a music store record shelf, being 12" tall, 6" wide, so Wikipedia tells me). Around that time, I stayed with some wealthy relatives, and their teenage or 20-something son had a bunch of longboxes in his room, which was even more amazing.
A few years later, in the early 1990s, I discovered BMG Music Club while in high school, but thinking CDs were over-rated or something, I opted to get cassettes instead of CDs. My first car, a family hand-me-down, only had a tape player, so I was happy. I even wore out two tapes: Bjork's Post and DJ Ellis Dee's Acidfest (MP3 online!! 128kbps MP3 is better than a warped tape, sadly). I got the latter from a college girl I met while going to community college one summer as a high school studen, and it was my real first experience with ravier electronic music.
My first CD was The Smashing Pumpkins Siamese Dream, but I had to borrow my little brother's portable CD player. I eventually got my own portable player, some time in the mid 1990s.
Then I got a MiniDisc, which I only used to play self-made copies of albums and compilations, until some stole it out of my lab space at college.
My first MP3 player was an iPod I got for free in a competition, and since then I've had a few iPods, small $20 Sansa players (4 GB capacity, doesn't play all MP3s for some reason, but reads as a USB storage device, and it's only $20), and smart phones and tablets.
Now I have a ridiculous collection of CDs, records, cassettes, and digital music, but I still hold value in CDs. Sure, they can scratch, but I like the general reliability of playing a CD in a device. Cars still have CD players, as do all the computers in my house at the moment. Plus, I'm terrible at managing my sprawling digital collection, which spans CDrs, back-up drives (one of which I dropped and still haven't tried to access in a different case), and a few computers. I still buy CDs, both used and new, as I also buy music. For me, it's the price point - $0.50 per track is good for MP3s of stuff I like but don't love. $10-$15 for a CD album I really enjoy. Much more for boxsets and other oddities that I love, or support for being odd.
But I won't be trying to buy Trevor Jackson's preposterous 12-format album sprawl (one track per format? You're just being a jerk) or anything that unwieldy, but I applaud people who play with formats, like Little Wings (?) who released one album in three versions on three formats, with the most raw demo-level production on a cassette, and different iterations on vinyl and CD.
posted by filthy light thief at 2:39 PM on May 28, 2015
A few years later, in the early 1990s, I discovered BMG Music Club while in high school, but thinking CDs were over-rated or something, I opted to get cassettes instead of CDs. My first car, a family hand-me-down, only had a tape player, so I was happy. I even wore out two tapes: Bjork's Post and DJ Ellis Dee's Acidfest (MP3 online!! 128kbps MP3 is better than a warped tape, sadly). I got the latter from a college girl I met while going to community college one summer as a high school studen, and it was my real first experience with ravier electronic music.
My first CD was The Smashing Pumpkins Siamese Dream, but I had to borrow my little brother's portable CD player. I eventually got my own portable player, some time in the mid 1990s.
Then I got a MiniDisc, which I only used to play self-made copies of albums and compilations, until some stole it out of my lab space at college.
My first MP3 player was an iPod I got for free in a competition, and since then I've had a few iPods, small $20 Sansa players (4 GB capacity, doesn't play all MP3s for some reason, but reads as a USB storage device, and it's only $20), and smart phones and tablets.
Now I have a ridiculous collection of CDs, records, cassettes, and digital music, but I still hold value in CDs. Sure, they can scratch, but I like the general reliability of playing a CD in a device. Cars still have CD players, as do all the computers in my house at the moment. Plus, I'm terrible at managing my sprawling digital collection, which spans CDrs, back-up drives (one of which I dropped and still haven't tried to access in a different case), and a few computers. I still buy CDs, both used and new, as I also buy music. For me, it's the price point - $0.50 per track is good for MP3s of stuff I like but don't love. $10-$15 for a CD album I really enjoy. Much more for boxsets and other oddities that I love, or support for being odd.
But I won't be trying to buy Trevor Jackson's preposterous 12-format album sprawl (one track per format? You're just being a jerk) or anything that unwieldy, but I applaud people who play with formats, like Little Wings (?) who released one album in three versions on three formats, with the most raw demo-level production on a cassette, and different iterations on vinyl and CD.
posted by filthy light thief at 2:39 PM on May 28, 2015
Also, apropos Huey Lewis, Bob Stanley devotes a page or so of Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! to denigrating poor Huey. Even to the degree of accusing him of having "the worst haircut in pop." You start to wonder if Huey kicked Bob's dog or something.
posted by octobersurprise at 2:51 PM on May 28, 2015
posted by octobersurprise at 2:51 PM on May 28, 2015
Ah, the CD. So significant in its time, so quickly eclipsed.
I just received a new CD from a dear friend, a really fantastic musician. This is a project many people have been working on for a couple of years, and he was excited to send me a copy and share this music--and I was excited to receive it!
Until the CD came in the mail and I realized that I no longer own any hardware that will read optical media. He and his team produced an anachronism while thinking they were mostly making new music.
posted by LooseFilter at 3:06 PM on May 28, 2015 [1 favorite]
I just received a new CD from a dear friend, a really fantastic musician. This is a project many people have been working on for a couple of years, and he was excited to send me a copy and share this music--and I was excited to receive it!
Until the CD came in the mail and I realized that I no longer own any hardware that will read optical media. He and his team produced an anachronism while thinking they were mostly making new music.
posted by LooseFilter at 3:06 PM on May 28, 2015 [1 favorite]
> The truth is, I listen to less music now because I hate dealing with MP3s.
With MP3s, or with the way Apple (or any other music software vendor) makes you deal with them? Since the day when MP3 players and earbuds first became a thing, all of my MP3 players have been no-name devices costing fifteen to thirty bucks, and adding MP3s to their on-board collection has been just a matter of treating the players like thumb drives and copying the music over--or browsing the players' filesystems just like any other filesystem and deleting stuff.
(N.b. I treat my camera the same way when moving recent photos over to my PC, even though the manual says don't do this, use our incredibly stupid and inconvenient in-camera photo management app. Never had any sort of problem.)
posted by jfuller at 3:17 PM on May 28, 2015 [3 favorites]
With MP3s, or with the way Apple (or any other music software vendor) makes you deal with them? Since the day when MP3 players and earbuds first became a thing, all of my MP3 players have been no-name devices costing fifteen to thirty bucks, and adding MP3s to their on-board collection has been just a matter of treating the players like thumb drives and copying the music over--or browsing the players' filesystems just like any other filesystem and deleting stuff.
(N.b. I treat my camera the same way when moving recent photos over to my PC, even though the manual says don't do this, use our incredibly stupid and inconvenient in-camera photo management app. Never had any sort of problem.)
posted by jfuller at 3:17 PM on May 28, 2015 [3 favorites]
you would always find it, right next to Phil Collins' Face Value, Roxy Music's Avalon, Joe Jackson's Night and Day, and probably something by the Police and Huey Lewis + The News.
I wasn't that kinda person as I neither owned nor liked any of those. I also have never much liked Money for Nothing but I am still today a DS/Knopfler fan.
posted by bearwife at 3:21 PM on May 28, 2015
I wasn't that kinda person as I neither owned nor liked any of those. I also have never much liked Money for Nothing but I am still today a DS/Knopfler fan.
posted by bearwife at 3:21 PM on May 28, 2015
My first cd player was multi format. I figured if compact disc became the next betamax, I could still use the player to watch movies on laser disc. My first cd was a Styx album. My first laser disc was a Tom Selleck cyberpunk flick with Gene Simmons. The title of either escape me. Sorry. : )
posted by Beholder at 3:30 PM on May 28, 2015
posted by Beholder at 3:30 PM on May 28, 2015
Pretty sure that the first CD I bought was The Byrds "Sweetheart of the Rodeo", probably around 1998 when I had started dating someone who had a CD player.
posted by octothorpe at 3:33 PM on May 28, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by octothorpe at 3:33 PM on May 28, 2015 [2 favorites]
The movie would have been "Runaway", Beholder.
posted by Nice Guy Mike at 3:35 PM on May 28, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by Nice Guy Mike at 3:35 PM on May 28, 2015 [1 favorite]
> But I won't be trying to buy Trevor Jackson's preposterous 12-format album sprawl
> (one track per format? You're just being a jerk) or anything that unwieldy,
This made me smile.
posted by jfuller at 3:38 PM on May 28, 2015
> (one track per format? You're just being a jerk) or anything that unwieldy,
This made me smile.
posted by jfuller at 3:38 PM on May 28, 2015
my first cd i ever bought for my cd-rom equipped computer - grateful dead, dick's picks, vol 1
i have a vinyl copy of brothers in arms and really can't say much about it - the first album was great, the next one a little too samey, making movies an good attempt to expand the sound, and love over gold a lot too long songwise, even though that solo on telegraph road is great - pick withers left the band and was replaced by terry williams who just seemed to emphasize the plodding nature of what the band was becoming - (real disappointing to me because he was just right for man)
and the dead? - they had many better nights, but the here comes sunshine on that is the best ever
posted by pyramid termite at 3:43 PM on May 28, 2015 [1 favorite]
i have a vinyl copy of brothers in arms and really can't say much about it - the first album was great, the next one a little too samey, making movies an good attempt to expand the sound, and love over gold a lot too long songwise, even though that solo on telegraph road is great - pick withers left the band and was replaced by terry williams who just seemed to emphasize the plodding nature of what the band was becoming - (real disappointing to me because he was just right for man)
and the dead? - they had many better nights, but the here comes sunshine on that is the best ever
posted by pyramid termite at 3:43 PM on May 28, 2015 [1 favorite]
When I was a kid, I won a CD boombox as the second prize in the county spelling bee. My folks told me I could pick out two CD's at the (K-Mart-type) store. I picked up and put down a lot of things, but finally settled on It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back and Paul's Boutique. No regrets.
posted by box at 4:14 PM on May 28, 2015 [6 favorites]
posted by box at 4:14 PM on May 28, 2015 [6 favorites]
Nobody should ever regret picking up Paul's Boutique.
posted by Faint of Butt at 4:49 PM on May 28, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by Faint of Butt at 4:49 PM on May 28, 2015 [2 favorites]
Yeah, that's pretty much the coolest answer I've ever heard to the "first album" question. I'm not sure what the first CD I bought was, but I'm almost positive the first album I bought with my own money was the Miami Vice soundtrack (on tape).
posted by The Card Cheat at 5:02 PM on May 28, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by The Card Cheat at 5:02 PM on May 28, 2015 [2 favorites]
Aging Audiophile here. I don't remember my first CD, I was late to the game because I was back in school when the format caught on. First player was a Denon and it must have been around '89. I don't know what the first disc was but I know I took out new memberships in Columbia House and RCA Music Club to finesse my collection. I could play those two for cheap music so well I could have taught a course.
Now my CD collection is somewhere around fourteen hundred and the vinyl collection is under a thousand. The system in my living room is entry level high end and I can easily detect the difference between a MP3 and a CD. On my office system, with small bookshelf speakers and a Yamaha bargain amp, when I play a MP3 file instead of a wav I have to strain to catch any difference. Nonetheless I prefer to download in FLAC or wav in case I ever play that music in the living room.
I am a member on two music forums and the members are a lot like me, enthusiasts that will accede to plugging in their phone to a car stereo or listen to music on a tablet while waiting at the dentist but continue to buy CDs or vinyl by the truckload. There was a conversation about Beethoven and one member confessed to having 12 different copies of the 9th Symphony. This was not met with derision. If nothing else, the niche market will endure.
So I think CDs will die but it will be a long slow death. The music industry is going to die along with it and while I would love to see those rats drown, you'll never pry my collection out of my cold dead fingers. I've got a lot of live shows and rarities backed up on a couple different external drives. My dream is to rip ALL of the CDs in a wav onto a 10g hard drive and put that in a bank safety deposit box. We're at the top of Tornado Alley and you can't get too careful.
Regarding Brothers in Arms, side two is the keeper, especially Ride Across the River.
posted by Ber at 5:10 PM on May 28, 2015
Now my CD collection is somewhere around fourteen hundred and the vinyl collection is under a thousand. The system in my living room is entry level high end and I can easily detect the difference between a MP3 and a CD. On my office system, with small bookshelf speakers and a Yamaha bargain amp, when I play a MP3 file instead of a wav I have to strain to catch any difference. Nonetheless I prefer to download in FLAC or wav in case I ever play that music in the living room.
I am a member on two music forums and the members are a lot like me, enthusiasts that will accede to plugging in their phone to a car stereo or listen to music on a tablet while waiting at the dentist but continue to buy CDs or vinyl by the truckload. There was a conversation about Beethoven and one member confessed to having 12 different copies of the 9th Symphony. This was not met with derision. If nothing else, the niche market will endure.
So I think CDs will die but it will be a long slow death. The music industry is going to die along with it and while I would love to see those rats drown, you'll never pry my collection out of my cold dead fingers. I've got a lot of live shows and rarities backed up on a couple different external drives. My dream is to rip ALL of the CDs in a wav onto a 10g hard drive and put that in a bank safety deposit box. We're at the top of Tornado Alley and you can't get too careful.
Regarding Brothers in Arms, side two is the keeper, especially Ride Across the River.
posted by Ber at 5:10 PM on May 28, 2015
For several years in the mid 80’s, CD’s were my life. In 1983, I went to work for WEA – the distribution arm of Warner Communications (later Time-Warner). I was working in accounting and finance at the time, but I was (and am) a huge music fan and I was thrilled to be working in the music business. For several years I worked in financial planning, but in late ’85 the higher ups pulled me out for a special project. CD sales were beginning to take off, and we had very limited capacity for production (in fact, WEA wasn’t producing any CD’s – it was all contracted out). They hooked me up with another mid-management guy, hired us a clerical person, and put us in charge of keeping track of what was going on with the CD’s. We got ASCII data from several sources, downloaded it to floppy discs, and crunched it all together in a giant Lotus spreadsheet. The full report took several hours to print on a dot matrix printer. From that we generated a weekly report which we then took to a meeting where the next week’s production was allocated between new releases, hit product, and catalog. It was a great experience to be in on the beginning of the wave. Now I mostly listed to mp3’s or streams.
posted by gteffertz at 5:52 PM on May 28, 2015 [3 favorites]
posted by gteffertz at 5:52 PM on May 28, 2015 [3 favorites]
(One more detail from my spelling bee story: the word I misspelled, which I don't believe I'd ever encountered before that day, was 'diphthong.' Fucking diphthongs.)
posted by box at 5:57 PM on May 28, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by box at 5:57 PM on May 28, 2015 [1 favorite]
There was a conversation about Beethoven and one member confessed to having 12 different copies of the 9th Symphony. This was not met with derision.
Different orchestras with different conductors, I presume? Because twelve copies of the same recording of the 9th Symphony would be kind of weird.
posted by Faint of Butt at 6:10 PM on May 28, 2015
Different orchestras with different conductors, I presume? Because twelve copies of the same recording of the 9th Symphony would be kind of weird.
posted by Faint of Butt at 6:10 PM on May 28, 2015
you would always find it, right next to Phil Collins' Face Value, Roxy Music's Avalon, Joe Jackson's Night and Day, and probably something by the Police and Huey Lewis + The News.
Never had much interest in the News, tho I concede their pop chops (and have no opinion on Huey's hair) and not much more interest in the Police (beyond a handful of songs), but I'll rep for Night and Day. Was and still am a big sophistipop fan (preferred Style Council to The Jam, +1 "Mary's Prayer"). And you can take my copy of Avalon when you pry it from my cold, dead hand.
posted by octobersurprise at 6:38 PM on May 28, 2015 [2 favorites]
Never had much interest in the News, tho I concede their pop chops (and have no opinion on Huey's hair) and not much more interest in the Police (beyond a handful of songs), but I'll rep for Night and Day. Was and still am a big sophistipop fan (preferred Style Council to The Jam, +1 "Mary's Prayer"). And you can take my copy of Avalon when you pry it from my cold, dead hand.
posted by octobersurprise at 6:38 PM on May 28, 2015 [2 favorites]
octothorpe: "Pretty sure that the first CD I bought was The Byrds "Sweetheart of the Rodeo", probably around 1998 when I had started dating someone who had a CD player."
Oops, meant 1988. By 1998 she was my ex-wife and had taken her CD player with her.
posted by octothorpe at 7:00 PM on May 28, 2015
Oops, meant 1988. By 1998 she was my ex-wife and had taken her CD player with her.
posted by octothorpe at 7:00 PM on May 28, 2015
"Just give up. On the whole thing."
I wouldn't worry about it. Romantic mixtapes were always kind of silly anyway. Start making mixtapes and the next thing you know you're John Cusak. (And if you must do it, just send her a link to your SoundCloud page.)
When was the last time you used a portable CD player? When was the last time you listened to a CD, anyway?
Today. And, um, right now, even as I am writing (MFM's Joan Biblioni comp. It's killer). But I am an old and wise in the ways of dead media platforms.
posted by octobersurprise at 7:04 PM on May 28, 2015
I wouldn't worry about it. Romantic mixtapes were always kind of silly anyway. Start making mixtapes and the next thing you know you're John Cusak. (And if you must do it, just send her a link to your SoundCloud page.)
When was the last time you used a portable CD player? When was the last time you listened to a CD, anyway?
Today. And, um, right now, even as I am writing (MFM's Joan Biblioni comp. It's killer). But I am an old and wise in the ways of dead media platforms.
posted by octobersurprise at 7:04 PM on May 28, 2015
Many of the complaints here about mp3s are actually specific to the Appleverse. Stop using iTunes, buy a drag and drop mp3 player like a Sansa Clip, and use an external USB DVD/CD writer to rip CDs - they're pretty cheap now. You'll be glad you did - I was.
posted by rfs at 7:19 PM on May 28, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by rfs at 7:19 PM on May 28, 2015 [1 favorite]
Related - BlackPebble's cover of Why Worry, on MeFi Music. Lovely.
posted by marguerite at 7:40 PM on May 28, 2015
posted by marguerite at 7:40 PM on May 28, 2015
octothorpe, at least you'll always have Sweetheart of the Rodeo.
Although, now that I typed that, I'm thinking I hope that album isn't ruined for you because that album is so good.
posted by saul wright at 7:43 PM on May 28, 2015 [1 favorite]
Although, now that I typed that, I'm thinking I hope that album isn't ruined for you because that album is so good.
posted by saul wright at 7:43 PM on May 28, 2015 [1 favorite]
DDD
posted by LastOfHisKind at 7:52 PM on May 28, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by LastOfHisKind at 7:52 PM on May 28, 2015 [1 favorite]
"What, is she just gonna sit in her car for seventy-four minutes just to listen to music?"
Last year, I made my wife a mix-cd for her car.
As her commute is about 7 minutes end to end, all of the songs are under 3:30 to maximize the chances of getting through one entire song before she gets to work.
posted by madajb at 8:03 PM on May 28, 2015
Last year, I made my wife a mix-cd for her car.
As her commute is about 7 minutes end to end, all of the songs are under 3:30 to maximize the chances of getting through one entire song before she gets to work.
posted by madajb at 8:03 PM on May 28, 2015
There's nothing sexy about the medium the way there is with vinyl records
Oh that is rich. Vinyl records were not sexy. They were black and bulky and ugly and easily scratched and needed new styli and fussy little dust brushes and maybe a quarter on the tone arm so it didn't skip and cleaning fluid and lintless cloths and even if you took the most exquisite care of them (and in those days, since they were not sexy at all, we didn't, not like vinyl worshippers today) they wore out a little bit every time you played them. You had to store them (gently, gently, don't scratch) inside their liners and jackets, and be careful not to let them warp. If you wanted to take them somewhere, it meant carrying a heavy crate. We kept hauling this dead weight around for a few years, into the early 90s, maybe, but most of them were unceremoniously dumped in the garbage when we just got fed up with the trouble of moving them to a new place.
But CDs? OMG! Shiny pretty prismatic little silver discs like rainbows you could hold in your hand. They came in jewel cases. Stick 'em in a tray or slot and play clean crisp perfect music - no snap-crackle-pop, no stylus, no fussy little dust brush, no setting the needle down oh-so-gently so you don't hurt it. Got schmutz on it? Wipe it on your pants, it's fine. Pop a dozen or so in a CD wallet and you've got a portable music library. Put 'em in a multi-disc changer and you have music for the entire length of the party without any further attention at all. And in the mid-to-late 90s, oh hey, you like this disc? Hang on, I'll burn you a copy.
(I worked for one of the earliest CD-Recordable companies, so I had the ability to create "test discs" of my favorite music in the late 80s when CD-R media cost $100 a pop and the machines required to produce them were the size of a washer and dryer.)
Ah, the CD. So significant in its time, so quickly eclipsed.
They came out in 1981 and only last year, 2014, was worldwide CD income finally surpassed by digital music revenues, and they are still being made. I would not call that (33 years) a quick eclipse. I would call that one of the most significant and long-lived music mediums of all time.
posted by caryatid at 8:05 PM on May 28, 2015 [7 favorites]
Oh that is rich. Vinyl records were not sexy. They were black and bulky and ugly and easily scratched and needed new styli and fussy little dust brushes and maybe a quarter on the tone arm so it didn't skip and cleaning fluid and lintless cloths and even if you took the most exquisite care of them (and in those days, since they were not sexy at all, we didn't, not like vinyl worshippers today) they wore out a little bit every time you played them. You had to store them (gently, gently, don't scratch) inside their liners and jackets, and be careful not to let them warp. If you wanted to take them somewhere, it meant carrying a heavy crate. We kept hauling this dead weight around for a few years, into the early 90s, maybe, but most of them were unceremoniously dumped in the garbage when we just got fed up with the trouble of moving them to a new place.
But CDs? OMG! Shiny pretty prismatic little silver discs like rainbows you could hold in your hand. They came in jewel cases. Stick 'em in a tray or slot and play clean crisp perfect music - no snap-crackle-pop, no stylus, no fussy little dust brush, no setting the needle down oh-so-gently so you don't hurt it. Got schmutz on it? Wipe it on your pants, it's fine. Pop a dozen or so in a CD wallet and you've got a portable music library. Put 'em in a multi-disc changer and you have music for the entire length of the party without any further attention at all. And in the mid-to-late 90s, oh hey, you like this disc? Hang on, I'll burn you a copy.
(I worked for one of the earliest CD-Recordable companies, so I had the ability to create "test discs" of my favorite music in the late 80s when CD-R media cost $100 a pop and the machines required to produce them were the size of a washer and dryer.)
Ah, the CD. So significant in its time, so quickly eclipsed.
They came out in 1981 and only last year, 2014, was worldwide CD income finally surpassed by digital music revenues, and they are still being made. I would not call that (33 years) a quick eclipse. I would call that one of the most significant and long-lived music mediums of all time.
posted by caryatid at 8:05 PM on May 28, 2015 [7 favorites]
MP3s are not the tiniest bit sexy, either.
posted by caryatid at 8:07 PM on May 28, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by caryatid at 8:07 PM on May 28, 2015 [2 favorites]
I remember a rich kid in school who came in one day with a portable CD player, very ostentatiously. I was jealous; I didn't buy one myself until many years later.
The truth is, I listen to less music now because I hate dealing with MP3s.
I listen to a lot more music these days, but it is all streaming. I actually deleted all my MP3s a while back because that allowed me to upgrade to a much smaller and lighter computer and not have to spend money on a bigger hard drive; I realized that I hadn't listened to any music off of my computer in a couple of years so that was a painless deletion. I still have a bunch of cassettes, lots of CDs, and some records, though I don't have a way to play the cassettes or records at the moment. I hold onto all of it out of nostalgia, but I'm not sure any of it is worth making another move. A lot of it is pretty much irreplaceable, small run pressings from random punk bands, things like that, so I keep carrying the boxes every time I move.
I didn't buy the the CD at the time because Money for Nothing was played 4,000 times a day for months on every radio station I had access to.
That fucking song is the very definition of smarmy 1980s yuppy entitlement to me, and I got so incredibly sick of hearing it on the radio at the time. It's interesting how much affection many people have for it. It's probably much better and more interesting than I give it credit for, but thirty years later I still have a visceral reaction to it.
posted by Dip Flash at 8:46 PM on May 28, 2015
The truth is, I listen to less music now because I hate dealing with MP3s.
I listen to a lot more music these days, but it is all streaming. I actually deleted all my MP3s a while back because that allowed me to upgrade to a much smaller and lighter computer and not have to spend money on a bigger hard drive; I realized that I hadn't listened to any music off of my computer in a couple of years so that was a painless deletion. I still have a bunch of cassettes, lots of CDs, and some records, though I don't have a way to play the cassettes or records at the moment. I hold onto all of it out of nostalgia, but I'm not sure any of it is worth making another move. A lot of it is pretty much irreplaceable, small run pressings from random punk bands, things like that, so I keep carrying the boxes every time I move.
I didn't buy the the CD at the time because Money for Nothing was played 4,000 times a day for months on every radio station I had access to.
That fucking song is the very definition of smarmy 1980s yuppy entitlement to me, and I got so incredibly sick of hearing it on the radio at the time. It's interesting how much affection many people have for it. It's probably much better and more interesting than I give it credit for, but thirty years later I still have a visceral reaction to it.
posted by Dip Flash at 8:46 PM on May 28, 2015
I'm kind of sad I don't remember my first cd. Among my first: Rhythm of the Saints, Eponymous, Steve Miller Band GH (don't ask). Got my first CD player in spring of 1990. Just recently pitched it, in fact.
posted by persona au gratin at 2:35 AM on May 29, 2015
posted by persona au gratin at 2:35 AM on May 29, 2015
Let me also say that I now spend far more on music than I did in the heyday of the cd-- $10/month (Beats) plus a few CDs and lps each year. After the way we were gouged in the 90s and early 2000s, I would be thrilled for the labels to be screwed out of cash with th new digital landscape. Unfortunately, it's the artists who are losing out.
posted by persona au gratin at 2:41 AM on May 29, 2015
posted by persona au gratin at 2:41 AM on May 29, 2015
I think that going forward most music will be streamed (a la Beats, Spotify, or Pandora), and people will own vinyl of they want a physical copy of the music. Now with iTunes Match and the like, there's little motivation to keep the actual MP3 file on your computer. Just stream it from the cloud. If you want the actual physical music token, get the pretty lp.
posted by persona au gratin at 2:58 AM on May 29, 2015
posted by persona au gratin at 2:58 AM on May 29, 2015
Last post: in 5 years you'll be able to stream FLAC versions of everything from Spotify et al., and there will be little reason for most to buy CDs. Plus, Spotify et al. will be much better at helping you decide what you want to hear.
posted by persona au gratin at 3:04 AM on May 29, 2015
posted by persona au gratin at 3:04 AM on May 29, 2015
The truth is, I listen to less music now because I hate dealing with MP3s.
I uploaded all of my mp3s to Google's Music thing and can listen to them via any device. Plus I subscribe to their music service so I can basically listen to anything. My 15 year old self would have been in so much heaven having all that music available.
posted by octothorpe at 3:58 AM on May 29, 2015 [1 favorite]
I uploaded all of my mp3s to Google's Music thing and can listen to them via any device. Plus I subscribe to their music service so I can basically listen to anything. My 15 year old self would have been in so much heaven having all that music available.
posted by octothorpe at 3:58 AM on May 29, 2015 [1 favorite]
Oh that is rich. Vinyl records were not sexy
No, they were not sexy, but they are sexy. Like CDs were digital in pure in a world of analog slop, vinyl is exotic and mysterious in a world that's become almost purely digital. CDs mostly duplicate the bits that are already available everywhere. Records are something else entirely.
Personally, I don't really have affection for any medium--music's music, so long as the fidelity is better than the system you're playing it back on--but people want vinyl right now. I do suspect the analog fetishism will wane as the last of the analog generations disappear, but I'm not so sure.
posted by uncleozzy at 4:27 AM on May 29, 2015
No, they were not sexy, but they are sexy. Like CDs were digital in pure in a world of analog slop, vinyl is exotic and mysterious in a world that's become almost purely digital. CDs mostly duplicate the bits that are already available everywhere. Records are something else entirely.
Personally, I don't really have affection for any medium--music's music, so long as the fidelity is better than the system you're playing it back on--but people want vinyl right now. I do suspect the analog fetishism will wane as the last of the analog generations disappear, but I'm not so sure.
posted by uncleozzy at 4:27 AM on May 29, 2015
MP3s are not the tiniest bit sexy, either
:(
posted by burnmp3s at 5:46 AM on May 29, 2015 [2 favorites]
:(
posted by burnmp3s at 5:46 AM on May 29, 2015 [2 favorites]
DDD is great, but AAA is great too.
I really enjoy haunting used record stores and finding weird old stuff that will never, ever be available in any other format because there's no significant market for it. Records of old political speeches, music from high school bands recorded decades ago, recordings of nightclub comedians from the 1950s, even spoken word poetry from the 60s. I love that such things exist and hearing them is a bit like poor man's time travel.
At the same time, I love how some inspired teenager in Ireland or Wyoming or whatever can put together some songs, maybe an EP, share it with the world, and maybe even make a few dollars from the iTunes Music Store.
It's just so cool that all this stuff exists. It's a golden age.
posted by LastOfHisKind at 6:25 AM on May 29, 2015
I really enjoy haunting used record stores and finding weird old stuff that will never, ever be available in any other format because there's no significant market for it. Records of old political speeches, music from high school bands recorded decades ago, recordings of nightclub comedians from the 1950s, even spoken word poetry from the 60s. I love that such things exist and hearing them is a bit like poor man's time travel.
At the same time, I love how some inspired teenager in Ireland or Wyoming or whatever can put together some songs, maybe an EP, share it with the world, and maybe even make a few dollars from the iTunes Music Store.
It's just so cool that all this stuff exists. It's a golden age.
posted by LastOfHisKind at 6:25 AM on May 29, 2015
When I was a teenager, you had to have the Rolling Stone Record guide or similar to even know what albums existed. And then if your local record store didn't have it, you'd have to order it and get it two weeks later if you were lucky. Or luck out in a used record store or cut-out bin. And they were expensive, a typical single-disk 12" album cost around $8 in 1978 which is about $30 dollars now. And for that you only got about 40 minutes of scratchy, skip-prone music.
posted by octothorpe at 7:05 AM on May 29, 2015
posted by octothorpe at 7:05 AM on May 29, 2015
"Money For Nothing" sounds fine, but Mark Knopfler going on about "the little faggot with the earring and the makeup" always bothered me, even as "satire."
posted by argybarg at 7:56 AM on May 29, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by argybarg at 7:56 AM on May 29, 2015 [2 favorites]
The problem many people have with iTunes is that they're used to managing their music collection in their file browser. iTunes abstracts all that and depends on having properly tagged files in order for it to work. This isn't the dark ages, we have metadata instead of non-standardized folder structures and file naming conventions.
posted by nathan_teske at 9:04 AM on May 29, 2015
posted by nathan_teske at 9:04 AM on May 29, 2015
Oh that is rich. Vinyl records were not sexy
No, they were not sexy, but they are sexy.
Trendy. The word is trendy. And like all trends, the popularity will fade.
posted by rocket88 at 10:28 AM on May 29, 2015 [1 favorite]
No, they were not sexy, but they are sexy.
Trendy. The word is trendy. And like all trends, the popularity will fade.
posted by rocket88 at 10:28 AM on May 29, 2015 [1 favorite]
I don't miss vinyl.
I don't miss CDs.
I want my Mp33333333333333----
I think my first CD was maybe a Yardbirds compilation? Or The Alan Parsons Project's "Stereotomy". Hell if I know, all those things are long gone in a hurricane. I still have most of the ones I ripped, but can only play them at home because Audion gave them weird headers when I ripped them as VBR and iTunes doesn't want to sync them to the cloud and let me play them on my phone. Every now and then I hunt up better rips of one album or another and go through the hassle of swapping the files. Some obscure things I will probably never be able to do that with.
Recently I was on a plane trip and wanted to listen to some music. It turned out that the only two albums I had on my phone were Camper Van Beethoven's "Our Beloved Revolutionary Sweetheart" and Genesis' "The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway", which I have had for a while and put off listening to forever because it kinda Demanded My Attention in a way I really rarely listen to music any more. It was like a flashback to the days when the only music I'd have on me was whatever eight CDs I'd stick in a little case in my backpack after plucking them from the purpose-built shelves. I don't miss those days at all.
(Really I don't listen to music on the go much any more. When I'm at home or in the studio, I have iTunes going pretty much constantly, wandering through my collection in random-by-album mode. When I leave I kinda want to savor outside sounds.)
posted by egypturnash at 12:21 PM on May 29, 2015
I don't miss CDs.
I want my Mp33333333333333----
I think my first CD was maybe a Yardbirds compilation? Or The Alan Parsons Project's "Stereotomy". Hell if I know, all those things are long gone in a hurricane. I still have most of the ones I ripped, but can only play them at home because Audion gave them weird headers when I ripped them as VBR and iTunes doesn't want to sync them to the cloud and let me play them on my phone. Every now and then I hunt up better rips of one album or another and go through the hassle of swapping the files. Some obscure things I will probably never be able to do that with.
Recently I was on a plane trip and wanted to listen to some music. It turned out that the only two albums I had on my phone were Camper Van Beethoven's "Our Beloved Revolutionary Sweetheart" and Genesis' "The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway", which I have had for a while and put off listening to forever because it kinda Demanded My Attention in a way I really rarely listen to music any more. It was like a flashback to the days when the only music I'd have on me was whatever eight CDs I'd stick in a little case in my backpack after plucking them from the purpose-built shelves. I don't miss those days at all.
(Really I don't listen to music on the go much any more. When I'm at home or in the studio, I have iTunes going pretty much constantly, wandering through my collection in random-by-album mode. When I leave I kinda want to savor outside sounds.)
posted by egypturnash at 12:21 PM on May 29, 2015
j_curiouser: "well...you might've fount BIA there next that (mostly) dreck. communique? making movies?
I don't think Dire Straits means what you think it means."
Maybe different people just like different music? Personally, I like the Police about 1000x more than Dire Straits.
First CD: Violent Femmes
posted by Chrysostom at 1:11 PM on May 29, 2015
I don't think Dire Straits means what you think it means."
Maybe different people just like different music? Personally, I like the Police about 1000x more than Dire Straits.
First CD: Violent Femmes
posted by Chrysostom at 1:11 PM on May 29, 2015
> I'm kind of sad I don't remember my first cd.
I remember mine. It was blank, and came free (just one of 'em) with my first CD burning device, circa 1989. I didn't even put music on it. I used it to back up GenBank data. (GenBank was on the *nix side of that long-ago machine, and it sho'nuff wasn't Linux, it was System V release 3.2 from ISC.)
posted by jfuller at 12:53 PM on May 31, 2015
I remember mine. It was blank, and came free (just one of 'em) with my first CD burning device, circa 1989. I didn't even put music on it. I used it to back up GenBank data. (GenBank was on the *nix side of that long-ago machine, and it sho'nuff wasn't Linux, it was System V release 3.2 from ISC.)
posted by jfuller at 12:53 PM on May 31, 2015
The truth is, I listen to less music now because I hate dealing with MP3s.
I am utterly, completely baffled by this position.
Dependence on physical media makes music less convenient and portable. I can't count the times I've wanted to hear something in the car, only to realize I'd taken the CD in the night before (or the other way around). Portable music for travel was a goddamn nightmare.
Even just playing music in the living room was materially less easy. Now, I open the Sonos app and dial up anything from my collection I want, and it plays immediately. I can chain together a dozen or a hundred or a thousand tracks to play in order without needing to spend half an hour reboxing and reshelving CDs the next morning, and most of that music is simultaneously available in my car -- or in my pocket. (Notwithstanding the music industry's ardent attempts to keep this from being true.)
CDs remain awesome as a delivery mechanism, and an archive tool, but even if I buy a CD now -- from a local band, say, or just because I want to deal with my record store and not iTunes -- it gets ripped before I listen to it. With a sufficiently robust rip and signal chain, you don't miss CD fidelity at all.
posted by uberchet at 9:28 AM on June 2, 2015 [1 favorite]
I am utterly, completely baffled by this position.
Dependence on physical media makes music less convenient and portable. I can't count the times I've wanted to hear something in the car, only to realize I'd taken the CD in the night before (or the other way around). Portable music for travel was a goddamn nightmare.
Even just playing music in the living room was materially less easy. Now, I open the Sonos app and dial up anything from my collection I want, and it plays immediately. I can chain together a dozen or a hundred or a thousand tracks to play in order without needing to spend half an hour reboxing and reshelving CDs the next morning, and most of that music is simultaneously available in my car -- or in my pocket. (Notwithstanding the music industry's ardent attempts to keep this from being true.)
CDs remain awesome as a delivery mechanism, and an archive tool, but even if I buy a CD now -- from a local band, say, or just because I want to deal with my record store and not iTunes -- it gets ripped before I listen to it. With a sufficiently robust rip and signal chain, you don't miss CD fidelity at all.
posted by uberchet at 9:28 AM on June 2, 2015 [1 favorite]
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posted by The Card Cheat at 12:13 PM on May 28, 2015