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RoyY51
10-28-2012, 02:58 PM
James Darby of Stereomojo recently announced that he will no longer be reviewing cd players...I felt compelled to respond:

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10/23/12
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Roy Young
To publisher@stereomojo.com

I’m 61 years old…older than most, younger than some. For the last 10 years I have embraced the cd format, finally putting to rest my collection of record albums and cassette tapes. I know…only 10 years? Like many people my age, I am slow to adopt new technologies. When I did adopt the 5 inch disc, I did it with the expectation that this would be the last format change that I would have to endure. Granted, I don’t get the warmth and presence that vinyl afforded, but as time goes on my ears are becoming more tolerant of these shortcomings…or less discerning. Either way, I am content.



Now, computers have gone musical.



I am being told that my Nad C542 is obsolete. My computer can do it better. Even my recently purchased Oppo BDP-83 can’t hold a candle to what the new, ever-changing computer formats can provide. And the final nail in the coffin? Stereomojo declares that they will no longer review cd players, starting (I’m sure) a landslide of publications vowing to do the same thing. I will no longer be able to peruse the pages of audio rags, winnowing the wheat from the chaff, narrowing in on the next affordable cd player to set my sights on.



And why should this matter? BECAUSE I’M OLD, DAMMIT! I barely know how to “surf the web”, much less download an AFLAC file…did I get that right? Old people don’t “do” computers like the young’uns do. We need palpable items to connect, load and enjoy. Doesn’t sound as good? No problem. We can’t tell the difference!



I hope you will reconsider your ill-advised policy…we’re not getting any younger, ya know!



With Great Expectations,



Roy Young

JohnMichael
10-28-2012, 03:34 PM
Thank you for writing that letter. I doubt if I ever learn to download music to a computer. I do not know what equipment is available that might make it easier. I think I would need a laptop computer but I have no need for another computer. I guess I am not that interested because I am old.

RGA
10-28-2012, 04:27 PM
Dedicated CD player sales have dropped like a stone for years and there won't be a rebound. Computers can do it better only if the recordings are better - most still are not. It is convenient just as CD was convenient over LP. Better is another matter.

I am not sure why someone would no longer review a CD player - there are 200,000 albums and counting pretty much everything still comes out on CD - it's not even close to being "dead" - wait for it to "be dead" then stop reviewing CD players.

Feanor
10-28-2012, 05:11 PM
I'm an even older fart than Roy and I almost never use my CD player and expect never to buy another. All my CDs have been ripped to computer files and I only listen to them that way.

I'm a lazy old fart too, as I was a lazy mid-aged fart. One of the really big reasons I moved away from vinyl early was that I found the ergonomics of the LP a gigantic pain, and whereas CDs were a whole lot easier, handling them was still a pain. Now I just scroll, click, and listen.

So after all, I for one wouldn't bother to read a CDP review. accordingly I'm one less reason for a reviewer to write one.

RoyY51
10-28-2012, 05:35 PM
I congratulate you for your techno-expertise and I am envious. You have overcome the degradations of old age and are to be commended. Unfortunately, a lot of us "golden-yeared" music buffs are not so blessed. I am resigned to the fact that I will never be computer literate and will continue to depend on the Wifey to get me through the hard parts...like "cut" and "paste" and things like that...

Feanor
10-29-2012, 02:53 AM
I congratulate you for your techno-expertise and I am envious. You have overcome the degradations of old age and are to be commended. Unfortunately, a lot of us "golden-yeared" music buffs are not so blessed. I am resigned to the fact that I will never be computer literate and will continue to depend on the Wifey to get me through the hard parts...like "cut" and "paste" and things like that...
I've been a minor technophile most of my life. I introduced the first used of PCs and spreadsheets to my organization for financial reporting back in 1983 and used computers continuously at work. Today at home we have seven (7) computers for three people.

If you use computers at all, (and you obviously do), it's not hard to setup computer music playback.

Sir Terrence the Terrible
10-29-2012, 10:34 AM
I don't think I have purchased a CD in years. I have been downloading High Resolution tracks every since HDtracks opened, and just upgraded the house server to more than 50 tbs of storage. All music is accessed from that server, and there are no real music players(except Bluray players) in any room in the house. I am getting ready to have all my Bluray's done exactly the same way next year. This way all of my audio and video will be accessed from a single source that is backed up in my house daily, and in the cloud as well.

I keep all of my disc in a huge media room, all alphabetized and computer logged just in case I want to wax nostalgically and actually play a disc.

I love technology!

E-Stat
10-29-2012, 02:58 PM
We need palpable items to connect, load and enjoy. Doesn’t sound as good? No problem.
Change really can be difficult at first. The good news is that the convenience of having immediate access to your entire music library can be addictive.

My move was done in phases. You really need to let go of the concept of a player (DAC and transport) in a single box. Now, you have a DAC and a transport. No biggie. One more box and cable. DACs can be had for a song these days and any old CD or DVD player can be used as a transport so long as it has a digital out. Even my cheap Oppo DV 971H does that. You can use any old RCA cable to connect the transport to a DAC.

My next step was to get a cheap Sony 300 disk Jukebox CD. as a transport. While that enabled long play, it really didn't make it easy to pick any one track or randomly walk through the content.

Eventually, I ripped all my CDs to FLAC on my computer and bought a Squeezebox Touch. Translation: I used a free program called EAC (Exact Audio Copy) to copy the music tracks from my CDs on my computer to Free Lossless Audio Codec which automatically "tags" the files with all the information about each "song". The native WAV format of a CD lacks this useful feature Then I bought Touch players which are connected to your computer via network cable or Wi-Fi. The concept is really pretty straight forward.

Today, I prefer buying music via downloads although much of what I want can only be purchased via a CD that has to be "ripped". The great thing about downloads is that you have access to a new piece of music in minutes without having to go anywhere! The convenience of having all your music on a single source without having to change disks is pure magic. :)

Mr Peabody
11-09-2012, 10:01 PM
Although Roy has a few years on me I am with him on this, I still have LP's I acquired in high school, some of my CD's are 20+ years old, when you have that type of physical library it's difficult to imagine it on a hard drive, and I have a fear of what happens if the HD goes bad. I know there are Cloud storage but I don't want to pay for storage. Maybe it is just a mindset thing or habit but I don't see me changing.

JM, how do you like your JBL? I heard a pair of the Studio, LS and Array, I like what JBL is doing with horns, they are more refined than what some might think.

E-Stat
11-10-2012, 06:12 AM
...when you have that type of physical library it's difficult to imagine it on a hard drive, and I have a fear of what happens if the HD goes bad.
Having all your music in the palm of your hand can be a beautiful thing.

As for fault tolerance, the answer in IT remains maintaining data backups. One backup resides on an older computer and I have three inexpensive USB hard drives.

Perhaps I should knock on my desk as I say this, but I've never experienced a drive failure in the twenty years I've owned computers. Maybe Murphy understands that since I have multiple backups, he will have to find someone else to smite. :)

Mr Peabody
11-10-2012, 06:50 AM
Having the music at the push of a button does sound inviting, especially for music on LP's. Seems like a lot of work to transfer it all though. How much time did it take you?

E-Stat
11-10-2012, 06:59 AM
Having the music at the push of a button does sound inviting, especially for music on LP's. Seems like a lot of work to transfer it all though. How much time did it take you?
As of yet, I haven't converted my vinyl to digital. Indeed that will take more time because you will need to manually split the rip into tracks and provide all the tagging information. I would also need to buy a new sound card capable of at least 24/96 resolution.

As for my 500 odd CDs, I did the ripping over the course of about two weeks. EAC has the ability to compare the tracks with a database and automatically do all the tagging. For only a few odd recordings did I need to do that manually.

I think the effort was well worth it. Patience is required. You can't eat an Elephant all at once. :)

Feanor
11-10-2012, 07:42 AM
...
Perhaps I should knock on my desk as I say this, but I've never experienced a drive failure in the twenty years I've owned computers. Maybe Murphy understands that since I have multiple backups, he will have to find someone else to smite. :)
Don't knock, pound! I've had several hard disk failures over the years; my motto is, "All hard discs eventually fail". Like you I have multiple backups of everything including my music files, and I've had many occasions to resort from backup including erroneous updates and erasures.

E-Stat
11-10-2012, 08:00 AM
Don't knock, pound! I've had several hard disk failures over the years; my motto is, "All hard discs eventually fail".
We now use the last Dell desktop purchased in 2002 in a bedroom upstairs. It originally came with a 40 GB disk. A couple of years later, I bought a 120 GB model after starting to rip music and video. In about '08, I got a 300 GB drive since it was cheap. Since the 40 GB was essentially worthless, I opened it up and use it as a curio in my office. The 120 GB drive, like the 40 (before taking it apart) still work fine.

I've been a fan of Norton Utilities for a long time and periodically use their disk tools for optimization and analysis.

Feanor
11-10-2012, 12:31 PM
I've luckily not had an HD failure in a few years. Right now we have lots of capacity in the house: about 9-10TB in total more or less.

hifitommy
11-18-2012, 03:29 PM
its just another reason not to navigate to stereomojo. i might follow a link there but i wouldnt look to them for authority.

SOMEday i may convert to downloads but it will have to be WAY more affordable (for hi-rez) and ergonomic. turnkey if you will. meanwhile, used CDs for 3 bucks at amoeba, used LPs for a buck and up will do for me.

Mr Peabody
11-18-2012, 05:13 PM
Glad to know I am not the only hold out on streaming music files.

E-Stat
11-18-2012, 05:23 PM
SOMEday i may convert to downloads but it will have to be WAY more affordable (for hi-rez) and ergonomic. turnkey if you will.
While it has been recently discontinued (but still available), I cannot imagine a more affordable, user friendly and high rez capable player than the Squeezebox Touch. I have three. Unlike some solutions that require a dedicated computer with its OS stripped down to only essential services and special SSDs, the Squeezebox server requires none of that. Mine is the very computer i use for daily work that lives in my office. Via the router, it communicates to the Touch players via CAT6 cabling or Wi-Fi. The players have a nice touch screen UI for accessing the content. Most of the time, however, I use an iPhone app called iPeng to select content. It will play MP3, WAV, FLAC, MP4 at up to 24/96 resolution. With a third party product, it will go 24/192.


meanwhile, used CDs for 3 bucks at amoeba, used LPs for a buck and up will do for me.

Regardless of a digital source, you still need content. I too, buy used CDs and rip them to my server for playback. Having immediate access to your entire digital library is a beautiful thing.

Sir Terrence the Terrible
11-18-2012, 05:49 PM
Regardless of a digital source, you still need content. I too, buy used CDs and rip them to my server for playback. Having immediate access to your entire digital library is a beautiful thing.

Amen. And being able to access your entire library from any system within the house is also a beautiful thing.

emaidel
11-20-2012, 05:20 AM
I too am an "old fart," soon to turn 68. My medium of choice is the SACD, which, since my primary musical preference is classical, works out just fine. Long considered "dead," the SACD medium is still very much alive, though not likely prospering, but at least successful enough for a few labels to dedicate all their efforts for that medium - BIS being a perfect example. EMI is about to release a slew of re-mastered SACD's in January, so it's clearly a medium of interest to them too.

BIS offers downloads, but even their downloads don't sound as good as their discs on a good SACD player. Hopefully, Stereophile will continue to review SACD players, as they're not quite extinct yet, and likely won't be for at least a short while longer.

I will always regret the fact that the SACD medium was never fully endorsed by audiophiles or the industry, but that's the way it is, and there's nothing I can do to change that. Until it really and truly dies off, which, hopefully, is years in the future, SACD's will continue to be my primary source of music, and I look forward to every new purchase.