CD vs Downloads, promise to love & cherish till the day you die?

[BentonF]

I am struggling to make a decision and would value your reflections and thoughts. I was brought up in the CD era in late 80s and 90s. In recent years, my taste in music has swung almost completely to classical where I believe the loudness war has yet to spread and where I think studio engineers tend to be bit more judicious in their tweaking. I am in a bit of an ‘analysis paralysis’ about whether to continue to buy more CDs or to start on the new journey of downloading exclusively. I have explored a third avenue, by trying a number of streaming sites but they are very limited in the depth of classical music with the metadata often incomplete or incorrect. So for now, it’s a choice between CDs and FLAC downloads.

I make it a routine to rip all my CDs into FLAC 16/44.1 in case the house burnt down or a burglar of exquisite taste decided to relieve me of my music. The NAS then replicates to a second in a different town.

I like holding something physical in my hands but I can see the powerful argument for not using the earth’s resources excessively. Making a CD and shipping uses raw materials and energy. A download is in comparison eco friendly. Finally, going down the path of downloads also allows me to enjoy high resolution not because 24/96 really matters (see PHILIPS RED BOOK thread for reasons why...) but because not converting the studiomaster into redbook prevents someone from messing up the mix or tweaking it badly when doing that redbook change. This last concern is a minuscule concern I think. After I die, one of the kids might want to inherit and enjoy the music. Yes, that’s a very big IF.... Even if they did have my taste in music, it wouldn’t quite be the same handing over a memory stick or hard drive on my death bed or in my will versus them holding a CD I bought and enjoying it....Finally, when I hand over cash I get something physical in return yet with downloads i don’t get that feeling of satisfaction that humans have experienced for thousands of years. Digitisation is very much testing the physicality of our daily experience. Let me know what route you went down or what you’d do and why. CD ‘rot’ has been touted as a reason to go for downloads but I’ve yet to meet a soul who has experienced that. Perhaps there are technical arguments for and against each choice I’ve completely ignored or not considered.

 

[amirm]

I went through the switch about a year and half ago. It has been wonderful!

You preview the music on the site, click buy and a few minutes later you are enjoying it! The convenience is a huge value.

I used to have the same apprehension about digital vs CD. But it is the reverse now. The bits sit securely on multiple digital sources (computers and NAS) and they feel like ownership that is forever. I have gone back to my older CDs and some can't even be reliably ripped! And they took so much, so much space. I also lost a bunch of my CDs when I left Microsoft and forgot them there.

At the rate I was buying CDs, I was collecting them way faster than I could rip. Had to spend time catching up. Meanwhile I could not listen to that music.

The fact that there are choices of sample rates and resolutions is just a bonus.

With ultra-high-speed Internet access the time is now to go all in. I have maybe bought 2-3 CDs in the last 18 months compared to hundreds the previous year!

I only hitch you will run into is the consistent buying and downloading experiences. Some can be rather miserable. Start with HDTracks and Prostudiomasters even if they don't have everything you need. They have a good library and pick a few to get your feet wet, get the accounting out of the way and install their downloaders. Once there, you can expand to other sites, eventually the ones that want paypal and download one file at a time or zip.

One other thing is cost: Amazon sells CDs often below the cost of downloads. But I don't let it bother me. I just pay and get my music.

 

[Wombat]

I'm sticking with CDs because I don't wish to set up a parallel system. The thought of ripping my CD library is daunting. On Ebay new CDs can be inexpensive if you don't need the latest releases. Used can be even cheaper - searching for bargains is part of the fun. I also like the tactile experience of hard media.

Being a Luddite doesn't help. When I was younger I was an early adopter of new technology, now I am the opposite.

Having said the above, I am going to start streaming internet radio from my laptop to my stereo system via Chromecast Audio.

 

[Kal Rubinson]

Being a Luddite doesn't help. When I was younger I was an early adopter of new technology, now I am the opposite.

I am the opposite. When I was younger, I was cheap and conservative with my hobbies. Now, I am hungry for newer and better.

Having said the above, I am going to start streaming internet radio from my laptop to my stereo system via Chromecast Audio.

No streaming in multichannel, yet, so downloads and ripping are the current fare.

 

[Blumlein 88]

Ripping a large collection can be daunting. I think two approaches work in the beginning. One is rip a few now and again. Tell yourself your going to rip 5 discs each day or some such. Eventually it will get done. Actually this is probably the only sane approach. Just have some discipline and do a few each day. Even this can take awhile. 5 per day is 150 discs per month and many people have 1500 discs or more. So a ten month process.

The other is marathon ripping all at once. Or even a few marathon sessions. I initially did the latter somewhat by accident.

I had scheduled a vacation from my job and when the time came the weather was simply horrendous. Not fit for doing anything the first 5 days. I had been putting off doing the ripping. I had developed a method, decided on the software etc. So when my vacation was ruined by the weather I decided ripping CDs was my most useful activity. I setup three computers with drives and started ripping. Other than a couple meal breaks I ripped non-stop (while listening to some music) for nearly all of two days. Didn't quite finish. On the third day I finished ripping just before lunch. Spent the afternoon moving everything to one drive and organizing it some. Made a backup. The fourth day I listened to some of my rips while gathering album covers for the few that didn't get captured automatically. That was done finally. Since then if I get something I rip and add to a drive.

 

[Ron Party]

I can't even conceive of what I would do if I lost all of my music which has been ripped. I have my entire collection of over 15,000 albums in my office and at home and I have a third, back up copy which I take with me on road trips/vacations. If I had to start over, I don't think I would. I think I'd just go to more concerts.

 

[DonH56]

I have a small CD collection by most audiophile standards, around 800 or so, and it took me about two weeks of an hour or three in the evenings to rip to FLAC.

 

[BentonF]

I don’t have too many CDs so ripping isn’t a problem. Early days yet. I’m just split between whether to go down collecting CDs or collecting downloads and their respective psychological, technological and physical merits....

 

[BentonF]

Interesting article arguing for CDs.

https://koshermetal.wordpress.com/2013/09/30/six-reasons-why-cds-are-better-than-digital-files/

 

[amirm]

Not sure about his reasoning: 3. It’s technically two-for-one when you get a CD.

You can buy a digital version, copy it 100 times and it is a 100-1 offer then. And you can do that before the CD even gets prepped for shipping!

 

[RayDunzl]

Let me know what route you went down or what you’d do and why.

I still like to spin the little buggers. I buy maybe 20 discs a year, usually cheap, sometimes not.

About the only time I rip one is to look at it.

 

[Analog Scott]

I would think from an audiophile perspective this would not be an issue. IMO the issue is mastering. There can be significant differences between various releases of the same recording depending on the mastering and source material used. If one limits the media to downloads or CD then one limits the options.

 

[Thomas savage]

Why not just start downloading your music for a period of time , see how you feel about it and if you don’t like it carry on listening to your CD’s or maybe even do both?

 

[Wombat]

Elderliness. You now live with other family members or are in a care facility. Digital library and headphones is possibly the only option.

 

[Sal1950]

I was kind of forcibly dragged into the new world when I retired and was moving to new digs where the physical load of my CD/LP collection would have been too much.
I spent the last couple months up north ripping everything to my hard drive and keeping secure backups.
I don't have an interest in classical so I don't share your problems with metadata, etc.
Took me a while to get used to the streaming idea but I use a premium account at Spotify now to listen to the majority of that which I don't already own. When I run across something I really want to have in 16/44 sq I'll buy the CD used off ebay, rip it, then pass it on.
I do miss the old LP days of the beautiful artwork, having all the info contained inside the LP jacket to read, etc, etc. But I'd never go back to those days of Rice Krispie's and inconvenience. Thank God for the digital age.

 

[Vincent Kars]

Ripping a large collection can be daunting.

It is a simple 2 stage proces
Stage 1: you rip your entire collection
Stage 2: you re-rip your entire collection because now you know how to do it.

For me a well tagged collection is superior to CDs
In case of CDs you have only 1 way to store them
One day you buy a 3 CD set with all the string quartets by Brahms and by Schumann. Where to store? Under Brahms or under Schumann?
In practice you store it between the Mozarts as you was a bit drunk and spend half an hour searching for it the next time you wish to play it.
In case of computer audio you don't have that problem, just populate the composer tag and you can browse, filter, etc you collection by composer.
Your recent acquisitions? Just order them by date imported.
Etc.

 

[Palladium]

Oh, me and my same-aged and younger friends definitely have no trouble ripping physical media...Because we got no physical media to rip from.

The youngest guy I know of who has a 10+ disc collection is like 48 this year.

 

[Sal1950]

Stage 2: you re-rip your entire collection because now you know how to do it.

For me a well tagged collection is superior to CDs

Yep, kind of wish I could go back and do it again.
At the time I didn't think to include any info as to the release version. Things like label, catalog number, bar code, etc have been lost.
Only time I added anything like that was when the source was a Mobile Fidelity remaster or some special release like that.
I do now for everything I've collected in the last 5 years or so, along with posting it's dr14 data on the dynamic range database if it hasn't already be put up there.

 

[tim_j_thomas]

Ripping a large collection can be daunting.

It is a simple 2 stage proces
Stage 1: you rip your entire collection
Stage 2: you re-rip your entire collection because now you know how to do it.

For me a well tagged collection is superior to CDs
In case of CDs you have only 1 way to store them
One day you buy a 3 CD set with all the string quartets by Brahms and by Schumann. Where to store? Under Brahms or under Schumann?
In practice you store it between the Mozarts as you was a bit drunk and spend half an hour searching for it the next time you wish to play it.
In case of computer audio you don't have that problem, just populate the composer tag and you can browse, filter, etc you collection by composer.
Your recent acquisitions? Just order them by date imported.
Etc.

Ain't this the truth. I've ripped my collection twice now! I don't bother with ripping too much anymore; perhaps when I have more time. Now I simply prefer to listen to the music rather than deal with ripping, finding the best music player/interface,etc. Getting more into vinyl these days as I can find some good classical pretty cheap.

 

[bobhol]

I haven't got to my CD's yet. Maybe in the next life. Digitizing my heavy as hell LP collection is how I got into this whole mess. I've moved on an average every 9 years. My CD collection is still manageable. Before starting to digitize my LP's I had only 1 set of speakers, 1 turntable, 1 CD player and one Stereo receiver. Also nothing connected to my computer.