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UltraNearFieldJock
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Madness: 17,000! Who asks for more?
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Today is exactly 40th anniversary of CD in EU/US. Is that a reason to celebrate? How many have you collected? And how do you store your treasures?
- Thread starter UltraNearFieldJock
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OP
UltraNearFieldJock
Active Member
- Thread Starter
- #42
I really like this stylish arrangement of cd's. Can I see well, some cd's are in special extra bags?
Galliardist
Major Contributor
Well, now you can celebrate a second time! Maybe even more - I don't know the release date for CD in Australia...You're too late.
I threw my giant CD party on October 1st last year on the 40th anniversary of the actual release in Japan. Had a pinata filled with old LPs to smash up, a inflatable bouncy castle and a CDP-101 cake with forty candles on it.
It was a blast. Played Thriller and a bunch of incredibly rare 1st generation demonstration discs into the wee hours.
OP
UltraNearFieldJock
Active Member
- Thread Starter
- #44
For this purpose, I still have an Audiolab CD player and a Denon DVD player in my living room system.
I use: AudioLab cd transport, optical cable to RME-DAC, balanced xlr cables to Genelec powered smart speakers. I have +600 cds mostly acoustic jazz and choral music( recorded in cathedrals and chapels).
restorer-john
Grand Contributor
People who really wanted them, brought them back from Japan in October 1982. There was a thriving business with the HiFi stores air-freighting 1st gen players over to Australia for demo and sale.
The export model Sony CDP-101s came with an inbuilt carry handle on the carton for duty-free travellers. I think I've posted pics of mine here on ASR or was it AK, someplace.
Tatr76
Member
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Still buying to this day, mainly charity/thrift stores and a few from bandcamp. Fun finding them on days out, you can tell a lot about town by what cd's are in their charity shops also really cheap way to build music libary. Rip then store most but have a few hundred of favourites out for playback.
Galliardist
Major Contributor
Just checking - our collection is somewhere around 800 not including the SACDs (25th anniversary May 21 2024, I believe - how about a wake?)
I buy CDs at small scale classical concerts mainly, these days. This is still the best way for artists to actually make money from recordings.
My use of CD dates back to 1990 when someone gave me a no-name player with broken mechanics - it only needed some replacement foam pads in the suspension and a good clean. I didn't really convert until arriving in Australia a decade later, and the turntable went out of the living room in 2005 when it did for its third motor in a couple of years.
CD sounded better - but LPs were more available to me for a long time. Most of mine are in boxes ("ripped" and "not ripped yet"). My partner prefers to use discs to yet another touchscreen so I've continued with a player, and it's the only piece of electronic stuff in the house she doesn't curse regularly, so I still play some of mine. Her discs are in a small rack.
To the followup question - I have a Marantz SA-10, or the "oligarchdeck" as I think of it these days, after the kind comments on Amir's review.
I buy CDs at small scale classical concerts mainly, these days. This is still the best way for artists to actually make money from recordings.
My use of CD dates back to 1990 when someone gave me a no-name player with broken mechanics - it only needed some replacement foam pads in the suspension and a good clean. I didn't really convert until arriving in Australia a decade later, and the turntable went out of the living room in 2005 when it did for its third motor in a couple of years.
CD sounded better - but LPs were more available to me for a long time. Most of mine are in boxes ("ripped" and "not ripped yet"). My partner prefers to use discs to yet another touchscreen so I've continued with a player, and it's the only piece of electronic stuff in the house she doesn't curse regularly, so I still play some of mine. Her discs are in a small rack.
To the followup question - I have a Marantz SA-10, or the "oligarchdeck" as I think of it these days, after the kind comments on Amir's review.
MRC01
Major Contributor
I started with LPs before CDs came out. Then CDs. I've kept most of them over the years, have about 1500 discs, about 75% CD and 25% DVD-A that I burned myself from high-res FLAC files. All of them are backed up to disk in FLAC, but I play the optical discs.
When CDs came out, the SNR was amazing, no more LP surface noise. It was a revolution for sure. Especially for low end and mid-fi systems. But on a high quality system, CDs often sounded flat or dead compared to a good vinyl setup. That got better over the years. Now it's gotten so good I would never go back to vinyl.
Just a few years ago I finally got rid of all my LPs and the turntable & related equipment. But I don't entirely trust the internet and streaming, they sometimes go down and availability on streaming can change, so I prefer to have the music I like on some kind of physical media, whether hard disc or optical disc.
When CDs came out, the SNR was amazing, no more LP surface noise. It was a revolution for sure. Especially for low end and mid-fi systems. But on a high quality system, CDs often sounded flat or dead compared to a good vinyl setup. That got better over the years. Now it's gotten so good I would never go back to vinyl.
Just a few years ago I finally got rid of all my LPs and the turntable & related equipment. But I don't entirely trust the internet and streaming, they sometimes go down and availability on streaming can change, so I prefer to have the music I like on some kind of physical media, whether hard disc or optical disc.
My CDs are in stackable plastic tubs in the basement. Hundreds definitely, maybe 1000-2000 total, but I don't know. My CD player was stolen along with all my stereo gear at one point. (I still miss that Technics SL-520, adored the cue wheel, thought it was a terrific UI innovation. If they were $50 on Ebay I'd replace it, but they are $200, no remote. Not worth it for pure nostalgia.)
I'd sell my CDs, but since I'd want to keep the Flacs that'd technically make me a pirate. I also started the ripping process when storage was quite dear, so I have a lot of high bitrate MP3s. It was once quite impressive that I'd made a terabyte RAID with 8 drives to hold my music. So there's a big re-rip in my future, possibly.
I do still buy CDs, especially used, but only if they are cheaper than buying the Flac or if I can't buy the Flac. I bring another half dozen CDs down to the basement to be archived every few months.
I'd sell my CDs, but since I'd want to keep the Flacs that'd technically make me a pirate. I also started the ripping process when storage was quite dear, so I have a lot of high bitrate MP3s. It was once quite impressive that I'd made a terabyte RAID with 8 drives to hold my music. So there's a big re-rip in my future, possibly.
I do still buy CDs, especially used, but only if they are cheaper than buying the Flac or if I can't buy the Flac. I bring another half dozen CDs down to the basement to be archived every few months.
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Oh....let me tell you the ways...
First they just feel cheap in the hand.
They look cheap.
Teeny artwork and liner notes.
They feel flimsy and ready to break at any moment just opening and closing them. And in fact they often tended to break.
They seem designed to pop apart if dropped from even a modest height, never to be put back together again.
Then there are the awful attempts at double, triple, quadruple CD cases. Any CD where you had to flip a plastic holder to get to the next one was always
in danger of breaking (which they often did). Worse were the ones that would have a little plastic "lift" for one or more of the CDs, which ALWAYS broke, often within a few uses. (I hate that rattling sound of broken plastic in a CD case).
Even the cheap little plastic "pop" when trying to yank a resistant CD out of it's center holder in a CD case...
Really, just every damn thing about them physically I don't like. That's why they are kept away in a dark place, like Pet Cemetery's Zelda.
Hey...you asked...
(The one thing I DID like during the CD revolution was the increased interest in liner notes. Booklets especially allowed a richer source of information.
I'm a soundtrack fan so there was a lot if info often provided in liner notes about the provenance and restoration of the album).
restorer-john
Grand Contributor
Oh....let me tell you the ways...
First they just feel cheap in the hand.
They look cheap.
Teeny artwork and liner notes.
They feel flimsy and ready to break at any moment just opening and closing them. And in fact they often tended to break.
They seem designed to pop apart if dropped from even a modest height, never to be put back together again.
Then there are the awful attempts at double, triple, quadruple CD cases. Any CD where you had to flip a plastic holder to get to the next one was always
in danger of breaking (which they often did). Worse were the ones that would have a little plastic "lift" for one or more of the CDs, which ALWAYS broke, often within a few uses. (I hate that rattling sound of broken plastic in a CD case).
Even the cheap little plastic "pop" when trying to yank a resistant CD out of it's center holder in a CD case...
Really, just every damn thing about them physically I don't like. That's why they are kept away in a dark place, like Pet Cemetery's Zelda.
Hey...you asked...
(The one thing I DID like during the CD revolution was the increased interest in liner notes. Booklets especially allowed a richer source of information.
I'm a soundtrack fan so there was a lot if info often provided in liner notes about the provenance and restoration of the album).
No disrespect, but some people just break stuff more than others. Most of what you said is funny to me as I still have all my first discs from 1983 onwards and they are perfect, cases, discs and books.
For 2nd hand/thrift discs, I have a huge supply of cases, trays etc and always ensure the correct casework/tray is used for the plant/label/era when I get damaged ones.
jsrtheta
Addicted to Fun and Learning
I had Tower Records one block down the street from me in Chicago in those years. Heaven.
I’ve got 900+/- in boxes in my garage. I ripped them all to FLAC years ago. Planning a garage sale at the end of the month; I think I’ll try to get rid of them then. The only time I buy CDs anymore is when it’s some obscure release that’s not available on a streaming service. Then I buy used on eBay and immediately rip them.
Martin
Martin
restorer-john
Grand Contributor
Aww. After 40 years of loyalty too. Always there for you, whether it was happy or sad songs you needed. Soundtrack to part of your life and they'll get put out at a garage sale to be picked over by strangers and sold for nothing.
rationaltime
Member
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I am happy we can be nostalgic about our experience with music
on CDs.
I regularly do live music. At the shows the musicians/bands
often sell CDs and other merchandise. Though we record the
shows and post videos on youtube, I buy the CDs of my favorites
to take the music home and support the musicians. CDs are
still popular as way for musicians to distribute their music and
make money.
on CDs.
I regularly do live music. At the shows the musicians/bands
often sell CDs and other merchandise. Though we record the
shows and post videos on youtube, I buy the CDs of my favorites
to take the music home and support the musicians. CDs are
still popular as way for musicians to distribute their music and
make money.
Oh....let me tell you the ways...
First they just feel cheap in the hand.
They look cheap.
Teeny artwork and liner notes.
They feel flimsy and ready to break at any moment just opening and closing them. And in fact they often tended to break.
They seem designed to pop apart if dropped from even a modest height, never to be put back together again.
Then there are the awful attempts at double, triple, quadruple CD cases. Any CD where you had to flip a plastic holder to get to the next one was always
in danger of breaking (which they often did). Worse were the ones that would have a little plastic "lift" for one or more of the CDs, which ALWAYS broke, often within a few uses. (I hate that rattling sound of broken plastic in a CD case).
Even the cheap little plastic "pop" when trying to yank a resistant CD out of it's center holder in a CD case...
Really, just every damn thing about them physically I don't like. That's why they are kept away in a dark place, like Pet Cemetery's Zelda.
Hey...you asked...
(The one thing I DID like during the CD revolution was the increased interest in liner notes. Booklets especially allowed a richer source of information.
I'm a soundtrack fan so there was a lot if info often provided in liner notes about the provenance and restoration of the album).
Talking about durablity, I do agree that CDs are rather fragile, easily scratched and crack etc... Back then, I remember some drives require the disc to be placed in a caddy. The caddy was pretty good way to keep the discs. Unfortunatley, it never became popular and caddy loading drives faded away. If it could ahcieve wide adoption, it will pretty much solve this issue. CDs can even be permanently placed in the caddy. IT will also make the CD look alot more premium.
Caddy (hardware) - Wikipedia
Galliardist
Major Contributor
I had to use a caddy drive as part of my job - twenty years ago now. The caddies broke.Talking about durablity, I do agree that CDs are rather fragile, easily scratched and crack etc... Back then, I remember some drives require the disc to be placed in a caddy. The caddy was pretty good way to keep the discs. Unfortunatley, it never became popular and caddy loading drives faded away. If it could ahcieve wide adoption, it will pretty much solve this issue. CDs can even be permanently placed in the caddy. IT will also make the CD look alot more premium.
Caddy (hardware) - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org
The CD was a fine thing. I have something like 2500 mostly in boxes upstairs under my bed. All ripped to FLAC on my NAS. I don't have a working CD player any more but I can play one in my blu-ray player in a pinch. I'll probably get rid of them at some point but it's 20km to the nearest 2nd hand record store that will buy them and I don't have a car. So they remain under the bed.
While the CD itself was a pinnacle of industrial design, the creator of the 'jewel case' should be roasted alive over hot coals. A dreadful design.
While the CD itself was a pinnacle of industrial design, the creator of the 'jewel case' should be roasted alive over hot coals. A dreadful design.