I prefer dedicated digital players over physical media, for instance, a FLAC player with a digital library over CDs, but I’m glad to see this trend catching up. Anything that gets people building their own collections, escaping algorithms and escaping DRM/streaming is a huge win in my book.
I’m curious as to why? CD’s are the ultimate form of audio purity, in my opinion. I’ve got a kickass stereo set-up with a CD and vinyl hook up; also a cassette, but she don’t work so good no more. I always rip my CD’s to FLAC so I can put it on my iPod.
Physical media scratches, rots, burns down, etc. They also require a lot of space, and you can’t have it all with you easily.
My FLAC library is got the same or better audio quality, I can backup and copy in seconds for myself or friends, I can carry everything, or just curated playlists, with the toggle of a button, and I can preserve them on any medium I find - mechanical HDs, SD cards, SSDs, etc.
I recently revived my record player and CD player and I’ve been enjoying three things:
You have to think about what to listen to,
the player is completely offline and separate from the devices you work and communicate on, so nothing will interrupt and you feel you’re doing something different, and
it means you listen to whole albums, not mixed up playlists, so you get deeper into it.
What I don’t enjoy is that records in particular are ridiculously expensive now. I don’t know who can afford them. So I’m stuck with the records and CDs of my youth and whatever I can find in bargain bins.
I do also use Qobuz and… other means of obtaining music.
But… those other storage mediums can also get damaged, burn, rot, etc
Sure can. You know what else they can do? Instantly and cleanly copy their data to any other storage device, they can even do so automatically every day!
Nothing a decent backup strategy can’t mitigate. Also less portable? Between the massive storage available on digital audio players and using jellyfin with something like symphonium digital audio is massively more portable.
I’m willing to bet my main SSD, my backup HDD, my FLAC player’s SD card, and my laptop SSD all carrying the same file are going to be more durable than a piece of plastic.
Sure, but that’s a lot of work and worry to keep all those backups going and syncd…ugh. I hate dealing with it. Takes hours of my life. Now, you’re probably an IT admin or programmer like most people on Lemmy, but I don’t have 13 hours to sit on a computer and troubleshoot why Borg won’t work on my restic fluffywhatever. I’m sure you’ll say “its easy, justtttt…” Yeah, its not easy, I’ve lived it.
And in the end, you have a computer hooked to your stereo, the one place I’m trying to escape the constant computing.
A CD works just fine and I can burn another physical copy if I want it.
I’m glad your setup works for you! I have a nas packed full of stuff as well but I rarely use it for the reasons listed. Its a hassle.
Sure, but that’s a lot of work and worry to keep all those backups going and syncd
I think it took me 15 minutes to first install SyncThing and Vorta? I literally haven’t worried about this for the last two years
Now, you’re probably an IT admin or programmer
I’m a biologist :) (though to be fair, mastering in bioinformatics, but this setup came first!)
And in the end, you have a computer hooked to your stereo, the one place I’m trying to escape the constant computing.
My stereo is a Gradiente from the 70s, no computers there. My portable player does connect to a computer to sync sometimes… but I do this when charging, so out of mind.
“Ooh I wanna listen to [song], let me just…find the CD…put the CD in the tray…find the track number…skip to that track…wait for CD player to scan and start…”
FLAC is everything good about CDs minus the headache. Sure you can’t physically hold the liner notes but it’s not like that hasn’t been digitized, too!
I only listen to albums all the way through when using CDs and vinyl, so track search doesn’t matter to me. CDs are the pinnacle of digital physical media for audio. Large enough, copyable, portable, not too big to store.
But the rest still applies so in what ways are a CD better than FLAC? Flash drives take up even less space and can hold hundreds of albums. Arguably even more “portable” because disc drives aren’t common anymore
Its much less user friendly. I hate the permeation of computers in every aspect of life. When i want to listen to music, I turn on my stereo stack with turntable, 5 disc changer, and reel to reel. So relaxing. Computers have too much going on, updates, notifications, crashes, hard drives dying, blargh. I deal with that all day long. A record or CD is the fastest way to enjoyment without distraction.
I should mention I don’t really listen to music outside my home as it will never sound as good as my home speakers. Dynamic music sounds like trash in cars and headphones will never be as good as speakers for spatial recognition. I don’t even have wireless earbuds.
I prefer dedicated digital players over physical media, for instance, a FLAC player with a digital library over CDs, but I’m glad to see this trend catching up. Anything that gets people building their own collections, escaping algorithms and escaping DRM/streaming is a huge win in my book.
I’m curious as to why? CD’s are the ultimate form of audio purity, in my opinion. I’ve got a kickass stereo set-up with a CD and vinyl hook up; also a cassette, but she don’t work so good no more. I always rip my CD’s to FLAC so I can put it on my iPod.
Physical media scratches, rots, burns down, etc. They also require a lot of space, and you can’t have it all with you easily.
My FLAC library is got the same or better audio quality, I can backup and copy in seconds for myself or friends, I can carry everything, or just curated playlists, with the toggle of a button, and I can preserve them on any medium I find - mechanical HDs, SD cards, SSDs, etc.
Though I am very curious about vinyl…
I recently revived my record player and CD player and I’ve been enjoying three things:
What I don’t enjoy is that records in particular are ridiculously expensive now. I don’t know who can afford them. So I’m stuck with the records and CDs of my youth and whatever I can find in bargain bins.
I do also use Qobuz and… other means of obtaining music.
But… those other storage mediums can also get damaged, burn, rot, etc and are also less portable (excluding the SD cards anyway).
You have a point except the portability. A single USB drive is infinitely more portable than a large cd collection.
Sure can. You know what else they can do? Instantly and cleanly copy their data to any other storage device, they can even do so automatically every day!
Nothing a decent backup strategy can’t mitigate. Also less portable? Between the massive storage available on digital audio players and using jellyfin with something like symphonium digital audio is massively more portable.
Your hard drive can be erased in many ways. And soon you wont be able to afford them or be allowed to own them.
Vinyl lasts forever. Its only damaged if you play it 😐
I’m willing to bet my main SSD, my backup HDD, my FLAC player’s SD card, and my laptop SSD all carrying the same file are going to be more durable than a piece of plastic.
Sure, but that’s a lot of work and worry to keep all those backups going and syncd…ugh. I hate dealing with it. Takes hours of my life. Now, you’re probably an IT admin or programmer like most people on Lemmy, but I don’t have 13 hours to sit on a computer and troubleshoot why Borg won’t work on my restic fluffywhatever. I’m sure you’ll say “its easy, justtttt…” Yeah, its not easy, I’ve lived it.
And in the end, you have a computer hooked to your stereo, the one place I’m trying to escape the constant computing.
A CD works just fine and I can burn another physical copy if I want it.
I’m glad your setup works for you! I have a nas packed full of stuff as well but I rarely use it for the reasons listed. Its a hassle.
I think it took me 15 minutes to first install SyncThing and Vorta? I literally haven’t worried about this for the last two years
I’m a biologist :) (though to be fair, mastering in bioinformatics, but this setup came first!)
My stereo is a Gradiente from the 70s, no computers there. My portable player does connect to a computer to sync sometimes… but I do this when charging, so out of mind.
“Ooh I wanna listen to [song], let me just…find the CD…put the CD in the tray…find the track number…skip to that track…wait for CD player to scan and start…”
FLAC is everything good about CDs minus the headache. Sure you can’t physically hold the liner notes but it’s not like that hasn’t been digitized, too!
I only listen to albums all the way through when using CDs and vinyl, so track search doesn’t matter to me. CDs are the pinnacle of digital physical media for audio. Large enough, copyable, portable, not too big to store.
But the rest still applies so in what ways are a CD better than FLAC? Flash drives take up even less space and can hold hundreds of albums. Arguably even more “portable” because disc drives aren’t common anymore
Its much less user friendly. I hate the permeation of computers in every aspect of life. When i want to listen to music, I turn on my stereo stack with turntable, 5 disc changer, and reel to reel. So relaxing. Computers have too much going on, updates, notifications, crashes, hard drives dying, blargh. I deal with that all day long. A record or CD is the fastest way to enjoyment without distraction.
I should mention I don’t really listen to music outside my home as it will never sound as good as my home speakers. Dynamic music sounds like trash in cars and headphones will never be as good as speakers for spatial recognition. I don’t even have wireless earbuds.
this is pretty much me, although I do listen to music outside of the house, but that’s through my iPod.
You don’t need a computer at all, there are dedicated media players (yes they’re still “computers” but not PCs with updates and other stuff on it)
True! Maybe someday I’ll get one. But I don’t need more devices