no surface noiseokay sure, if you didn't have a high-quality dubbing setup or whatever.
more durableno
portable but higher fidelity than cassette
I... guess?
able to be used in portable/car eqipment
cassettes do this
easy shipping to the track you wanted, programmable & repeat functions
okay yeah those were HUGE
― a dense custard of infinity (Shakey Mo Collier), Tuesday, 19 June 2012 23:54 (eleven years ago) link
Tapes used to store digits, but would be a pretty horrible way to store digitized sound, if you even had access to a digitizer at the time. (First one I saw was in 1988 or 89 on a Mac. MacRecorder, if memory serves.)
― Matt M., Tuesday, 19 June 2012 23:55 (eleven years ago) link
And sure, the sound quality of CDs was highly touted back in the day. Portability too, to some degree.
Forgot all about the shufflability. IIRC, some artists didn't like that because the user could rearrange track orders or *gasp* skip tracks. Nonlinear listening introduced to a big audience.
― Matt M., Tuesday, 19 June 2012 23:57 (eleven years ago) link
I'm a fetishist for chronology, especially other people's, so I'd like to know when most of you stopped buying tapes and switched exclusively to CD's.
I kept buying cassettes until I got my first iPod in 2004 or so. I was always more into portability and Discmans were far harder to fit in my pocket than Walkmans. Of course, after 2001 or so I was mostly buying used tapes, since they stopped putting a lot of things on cassette.
― President Keyes, Wednesday, 20 June 2012 00:06 (eleven years ago) link
i hoard sealed high bias cassettes like crazy. always on the lookout. still my duplication medium of chance. i have never burned a cd but i wouldn't mind if someone burned them all.
― scott seward, Wednesday, 20 June 2012 00:07 (eleven years ago) link
Bought my first CD in 1986 (lol Songs from Liquid Days) but they were so freaking expensive! I didn't really start accumulating them until 1992-1993, when I all but quit reading comics and had more money to spend on them. There was an intermediate time in the late 80s when I wasn't buying much music at all -- didn't want to buy vinyl because it seemed like the format was dying, wasn't whole hog invested in CDs yet.
― Biff Wellington (WmC), Wednesday, 20 June 2012 00:24 (eleven years ago) link
Bought Michael Penn's March on CD in early '90 -- a move that infuriated Mom. "A 15-year-old boy on your allowance has no reason to buy something this expensive!"
― a regina spektor is haunting europe (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 20 June 2012 00:26 (eleven years ago) link
Eric Harvey aka marathonpacks sez:
Seriously *shocked* that no one's pointed out yet that David Lowery's understanding of music copyright/economics is factually incorrect.
Asked for details, sez more will be forthcoming.
― Ned Raggett, Wednesday, 20 June 2012 00:29 (eleven years ago) link
I imagine the guys who did the friends theme song never had to work another day in their life
I think that song had a zillion co-writers though - one of whom ended up being part of The Matrix production group. I remember that R.E.M. and Natalie Merchant turned the song down.
― Elvis Telecom, Wednesday, 20 June 2012 00:34 (eleven years ago) link
I'm a fetishist for chronology, especially other people's, so I'd like to know when most of you stopped buying tapes and switched exclusively to CD's. I bought my last cassingle in 1999 and burned my first CD in early 2000. Keep in mind: when a friend burned a Bob Marley album for another in early '99 I had no idea what "burned" meant or how he got this technology.
Stopped buying LPs and went to CDs in 1987. Stopped buying CDs and went all-download a couple years ago.
― Elvis Telecom, Wednesday, 20 June 2012 00:37 (eleven years ago) link
i was looking at early 80s Billboards and every other article was about a special tax on blank cassettes or whatever.
Now in place: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Private_copying_levy
― Elvis Telecom, Wednesday, 20 June 2012 00:40 (eleven years ago) link
LPs to cassettes in '84 (i should say, my parents started buying me cassettes in '84)cassettes to CDs in '90began acquiring LPs again in '93the internet opened up music awhile ago and
http://www.geeksaresexy.net/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/webminutes.jpg
― omar little, Wednesday, 20 June 2012 00:41 (eleven years ago) link
Also in the news recently: http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20120601/07161319164/germany-increases-you-are-all-pirates-tax-solid-state-media-2000.shtml
― Elvis Telecom, Wednesday, 20 June 2012 00:45 (eleven years ago) link
This truly is the medium of the King of Kings.
― a regina spektor is haunting europe (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 20 June 2012 00:49 (eleven years ago) link
morrison def seems like he'd be a cooler dad than lowery
― da croupier, Wednesday, 20 June 2012 00:59 (eleven years ago) link
I'm starting to believe that a $100 piracy tax on all computers and mobile phones is worthy enough just so Lowery, Emily from NPR, Lefsetz, etc. etc. will stop writing opinion pieces.
― Elvis Telecom, Wednesday, 20 June 2012 01:05 (eleven years ago) link
― a regina spektor is haunting europe (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, June 19, 2012 7:51 PM (56 minutes ago) Bookmark
i drove a car with a tape deck and no CD player until 2005, so up until maybe a couple years before that i bought tapes occasionally, and all through that time and for a bit after i very frequently bought blank cassettes and made personalized mixtapes.
― here's my lumber, so jack me maybe (some dude), Wednesday, 20 June 2012 01:07 (eleven years ago) link
guys this debate is just obscuring the core issue, which is that the government should be paying for everybody's food, shelter, and healthcare.
― "Holy crap," I mutter, as he gently taps my area (silby), Wednesday, 20 June 2012 01:08 (eleven years ago) link
I mean I'm love vinyl but lets not ignore facts...at first, it's very possible, in the very early days, that production costs of a new optical disc technology would have been higher than vinyl or cassettes― wack nerd zinging in the dead of night (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Tuesday, June 19, 2012 4:52 PM (7 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
― wack nerd zinging in the dead of night (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Tuesday, June 19, 2012 4:52 PM (7 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
CDs were absolutely more expensive to make in the early 80s than were vinyl and cassette, mostly due to the lack of CD manufacturers at the time. But as the production costs became much cheaper (sometime in the early 90s) the CDs got more expensive; that and the decision to stop selling cd singles in the late 90s only sped up their inevitable demise.
― musicfanatic, Wednesday, 20 June 2012 01:10 (eleven years ago) link
xpost -- Don't be silly. I want YOU to pay for it. (I am simple.)
― Ned Raggett, Wednesday, 20 June 2012 01:11 (eleven years ago) link
I never did have a prerecorded cassettes phase. I think I bought one or two, and both of those were $1.99 cutout bin items. Mixtapes and taping borrowed albums, yeah, loads of those.
― Biff Wellington (WmC), Wednesday, 20 June 2012 01:18 (eleven years ago) link
Pretty much vinyl from birth on through the late eighties. I had a very small amount of cassettes as gifts, then I got my first CD player in 1988 after our family got on at the end of 1987 and I was off to the races, didn't buy another vinyl release at all since then, really. (The few exceptions have been limited press things that bands had at spots like Terrastock where I wanted to make sure the groups in question got some money from me somehow and didn't have anything other than vinyl to sell.)
― Ned Raggett, Wednesday, 20 June 2012 01:21 (eleven years ago) link
aww you guys can totally picture baby ned with his first fisher price turntable right
― here's my lumber, so jack me maybe (some dude), Wednesday, 20 June 2012 01:24 (eleven years ago) link
first one I played on mine was Mickey Mouse Disco
― a regina spektor is haunting europe (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 20 June 2012 01:28 (eleven years ago) link
I remember the prerecorded cassettes phase ('87-'94 for me) with fondness and then I turn one up in a drawer and I'm like what the hell am I supposed to do with this now and then I play it usually
― decrepit but free (underrated aerosmith bootlegs I have owned), Wednesday, 20 June 2012 01:39 (eleven years ago) link
I believe the last Terrastock was the last time I bought a new CD. I've bought a little bit of new vinyl since, but mostly if there is a code/coupon for electronic download versions.
― Elvis Telecom, Wednesday, 20 June 2012 01:40 (eleven years ago) link
That is in fact exactly what I had. (Early albums including something featuring Popeye, Peter and the Wolf/Sorcerer's Apprentice, several Sesame Street albums, Sing! and Free to Be...You And Me.)
― Ned Raggett, Wednesday, 20 June 2012 01:44 (eleven years ago) link
Really should've kept the turntable, it played 78s.
Oh and also this amazing thing, which I did finally rip some years ago.
http://recordrobot.blogspot.com/2008/12/excuse-me-your-excused.html
(Someone else did this entry -- mp3s no longer working, sadly.)
― Ned Raggett, Wednesday, 20 June 2012 01:46 (eleven years ago) link
Guy who did that was apparently the forgotten god of kiddie records in the mid-20th century:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Luther
― Ned Raggett, Wednesday, 20 June 2012 01:47 (eleven years ago) link
and who recorded 'happy the harmonica', which was covered by negativland, sworn enemies of the RIAA
full circle
― Milton Parker, Wednesday, 20 June 2012 02:01 (eleven years ago) link
Brilliant!
― Ned Raggett, Wednesday, 20 June 2012 02:02 (eleven years ago) link
Actually having just relistened to ol' Frank there, I have some questions. Sample lyrics:
When we breathe in germsFrom people who sneezeWhen we get soaked And wet to our kneesWhen we sit in draftsTill we're chilled and coldAnd we don't change our wet clothesAs soon as we're toldWhen we stay close to peopleWho sneeze and coughWhen we play out in the rainWith our rubbers offThat's how we can get a coldThat's how we can get a coldWhen we feel hotWhen we feel funnyWhen we sneeze and coughAnd our nose gets runnyWe remember what the doctor saidWe take off our clothes and go to bed!
When we sit in draftsTill we're chilled and coldAnd we don't change our wet clothesAs soon as we're told
When we stay close to peopleWho sneeze and coughWhen we play out in the rainWith our rubbers off
That's how we can get a coldThat's how we can get a cold
When we feel hotWhen we feel funnyWhen we sneeze and coughAnd our nose gets runny
We remember what the doctor saidWe take off our clothes and go to bed!
― Ned Raggett, Wednesday, 20 June 2012 02:29 (eleven years ago) link
Keep in mind this is all being cheerily sung by a guy with big band backing.
is William & Mary really the place where intelligent grinder kids go
not grindr
Bought my first record with my own money in 1986 (as opposed to being given Sesame St albums or asking for novelty song compilations or whatever) – first cassette later the same year.We got a CD player in 1989 and I only bought one cassette after that: either Raw Like Sushi or 3 Feet High And Rising; first CD was What’s That Noise?Last new pre-recorded cassette bought in any way was probably Fatboy Slim’s Beat Up The NME, on the cover of the Ladies & Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space ish in 1997 - had to get an import copy over the odds for this, as tapes weren't included on sea-shipped copies.Got a CD burner (external) in 2003. Was probably still buying blank cassettes for a year or two after that, for taping interviews and DJ mixes and concerts and sessions off the radio.2011 was, unless I’m forgetting something, the first year I’ve not bought a new vinyl record at all. (Haven’t had a turntable since September 2007, though – probably haven’t bought a second-hand record since 07 or even 06.)Still buy new and second-hand CDs, but have been actively trying to cut down for several years now – I have unlistened ones going back to 2002.
― the hat's filthy lesson (sic), Wednesday, 20 June 2012 03:19 (eleven years ago) link
I have unlistened ones going back to 2002.
i have unlistened-to vinyl dating back to '99 :( that was officially when i was buying way too many records
― tempus fuggerit (electricsound), Wednesday, 20 June 2012 03:21 (eleven years ago) link
oh yeah I probably have unlistened 2nd-hand vinyl from around then, the local-est second-hand shop had a 6 for $10 floor and yer Shadows and Koalas and Vadims and whatnot would get taken there on digging trips
"I'm sure I'd like to listen to this some decade in the future, better buy it on this cumbersome format now"
― the hat's filthy lesson (sic), Wednesday, 20 June 2012 03:44 (eleven years ago) link
I think the last new tape I bought was New Adventures In Hi-Fi
― da croupier, Wednesday, 20 June 2012 03:46 (eleven years ago) link
still dubbed stuff to tape well into 2002, 2003 though, 2004 is when I finally got a CD burner
― da croupier, Wednesday, 20 June 2012 03:47 (eleven years ago) link
i bought a new tape last week (6th this year) but that was the only way to get the download code
― tempus fuggerit (electricsound), Wednesday, 20 June 2012 03:54 (eleven years ago) link
Like how can there possibly be a creative class if people have to pay $500 for herpes medication― hot knives, wind was blowin' (Ówen P.), Tuesday, June 19, 2012
likely the most important, overlooked post on this whole thread
― Authorities don't know who shot the 50 Cent the goose. (forksclovetofu), Wednesday, 20 June 2012 03:59 (eleven years ago) link
One noteworthy milestone for CD duping, imo, was OS X and its multitasking ability. It was a pain to assemble tracks or dupe CDs up through System 9, when you couldn't burn a disc in the background.
― Biff Wellington (WmC), Wednesday, 20 June 2012 04:02 (eleven years ago) link
First CD I bought was Fear of a Black Planet
Converted to cds then, though did keep buying tapes, mostly radio stuff, because my car stereo was tapes
Been considering tracking down a cassette deck because of all this underground shit that comes out on tape now
― wack nerd zinging in the dead of night (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Wednesday, 20 June 2012 04:02 (eleven years ago) link
First tape I recorded at a friend's house (from her records): C-90-A Thriller, C-90-B 1984First 45 I bought: El DeBarge "Who's Johnny"First tape I bought: Heart - s/tFirst cd(s) I bought: Curve - Doppelganger, Cowboy Junkies - The Trinity Session, Shakespear's Sister - Hormonally Yours (all at the same time)
― Johnny Fever, Wednesday, 20 June 2012 06:14 (eleven years ago) link
I see ivy league college students trying to stroll into warehouse shows without paying the cover, or folks who "love this band" but spend more on their beer tab than they do at the merch table cuz they'll just download that shit later. that's not to say those ppl are disgusting savages, but maybe they just don't get the connection between that $5 cover or $10 CD and the $100 in gas the band needs to get to the next show. explaining those dependencies can sound patronizing or badgering, but it's as much of a reality as "tip your bartender"
seriously otm - i spent years dealing with this - i can't count how many nights i had variants of this conversation:
hat-wearing bearded guy: uh, hey, this is where (band name) is playing?me: yeah, we're asking a 5 dollar coverhat-wearing bearded guy: oh. uh, i don't have any moneyme: *looks at beer HWBG has in plastic bag from liquor store* Oh?HWBG: Yeah, I don't have any money.me: You have no money? None? HWBG: Well, uh, I have 3 bucks?me: I'll let you in for 3 bucks.
and it's not just the bands that this negatively affects but the greater economy that supports bands: venues, independent distros and labels, sound engineers, designers, promo people, etc.
One underground act that has been around for well over a decade and doing diy tours for that long is considering quitting doing tours longer than a few days because even performing live isn't making enough to recoup the basic costs of touring, let alone the touring-income-making-up-for-lost-record-sales-income thing that was supposedly "the new reality."
― sarahell, Wednesday, 20 June 2012 07:50 (eleven years ago) link
It's like any 'where the money is' meme.
It gets over-run like a pack of twenty geese towards one guy with a few slices of bread in a bag. Yesterday. And some Swans.
― Mark G, Wednesday, 20 June 2012 08:47 (eleven years ago) link
kenny g talking about stealing music
http://www.thewire.co.uk/articles/6445/
― Crackle Box, Wednesday, 20 June 2012 08:55 (eleven years ago) link
lol i was gonna say
― tempus fuggerit (electricsound), Wednesday, 20 June 2012 08:56 (eleven years ago) link
To which there was a long response by Chris Cutler which is what the Lowery piece reminded me of a lot
http://www.thewire.co.uk/articles/6715/
― gonna send him to outer space, to hug another face (NickB), Wednesday, 20 June 2012 09:00 (eleven years ago) link
oh yeah, I remember that Cutler piece - similar in tone too iirc
― sarahell, Wednesday, 20 June 2012 09:04 (eleven years ago) link