5 ms·

I bought my first CDs in 1984, and played them on the world's first CD player - the Sony CDP-101. Of the hundreds of discs in my collection, I had maybe 3-4 fr

by chiph 10y ago

I bought my first CDs in 1984, and played them on the world's first CD player - the Sony CDP-101. Of the hundreds of discs in my collection, I had maybe 3-4 from that decade go bad. What worked for me was storing them in the jewel boxes on edge (not laying flat), indoors away from sunlight. So far as "Disc Rot", as a former LaserDisc owner, I'm very familiar with it. On the 12" platters the glue between sides could fail and sometimes lift the aluminum recording surface off the plastic. Or the edge seal would fail and oxygen would turn the aluminum into aluminum oxide. Both would make a $70 movie (in 1988 dollars!) unplayable. I'm sad to see CDs go. As has been told, they're the first recording format that was replaced by one with inferior sound. I never had many LPs, and don't have the storage space for them, but I get that they get the listener more involved - you have to consider which album to listen to and set aside 50 minutes (including the side flip). You can't just hit "random play" and walk away. So it's nice to see them make a comeback.

BrailleHunting 10y ago
I still have a German-made The Doors - The Doors CD with orange silkscreening and uncommon metal layer from edge-to-edge with a date of 1982.
- pmlnr 10y ago
  Helloween - Keeper of the Seven Keys, 1987, original, 1987 disc. If thought it was a cheap ripoff when I bought it in ~2003, because the inlay is full of CD specs and things about CDs, only to realize the date in the disc is actually the real thing. Still working, and I used to listen to that a lot. German as well.
ssharp 10y ago
> As has been told, they're the first recording format that was replaced by one with inferior sound. What about records largely getting replaced by 8-tracks and cassette tapes? In the long-run streaming services will move towards higher fidelity audio as bandwidth costs decline on both sides. Tidal already offers the option. I also suspect the vast majority of listeners can't even tell the difference between 320 Spotify, 256 Apple, and lossless Tidal, let alone care enough about the differences to switch services.
- chiph 10y ago
  I don't think tapes replaced LPs so much as supplemented them. With the exception of the car-mounted record player that was an option on some Chryslers[1], the advantages of 8-track and cassette were their ability to take your music with you on the road. I still listen for the "clunk" of the 8-track player changing tracks in the middle of Rush's YYZ.. I think the bandwidth problem of providing high-quality streaming music could be solved by a peer-to-peer system (put your already-downloaded library online for others to listen to). But the record companies would strenuously object -- with good reason, even even if access were controlled via encrypted subscription. [1] http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/news/2014/04/record-players-were-the-infotainment-systems-of-the-1950s-and-60s/index.htm http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/news/2014/04/record-playe...
rangibaby 10y ago
CDs had a big problem with mastering. They either have a bad sound from CD being a new format (Zappa 80s CDs suffered from this) or since the mid-late 90s are brickwalled to hell thanks to the loudness war. Obviously there are plenty of fine CD versions of albums out there, but I heard enough poorly mastered CDs and spent enough time searching 2nd hand stores for known good versions to not be worried about the format going away.
- chiph 10y ago
  > CDs had a big problem with mastering. You are correct. Lots of the early releases once the goldrush started still had their RIAA equalization on them (aka "shovelware"). Even those that used original sources simply didn't sound all that good because of the mastering engineer's inexperience (first release of The Wall, I'm looking at you). There were still gems made though, like Brothers in Arms Because of the loudness war, I've started looking for earlier releases on discogs.com. Anything listed as "Remastered" is viewed with suspicion. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loudness_war https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loudness_war

by chiph 10y ago

BrailleHunting 10y ago

I still have a German-made The Doors - The Doors CD with orange silkscreening and uncommon metal layer from edge-to-edge with a date of 1982.

pmlnr 10y ago
Helloween - Keeper of the Seven Keys, 1987, original, 1987 disc. If thought it was a cheap ripoff when I bought it in ~2003, because the inlay is full of CD specs and things about CDs, only to realize the date in the disc is actually the real thing. Still working, and I used to listen to that a lot. German as well.

ssharp 10y ago

> As has been told, they're the first recording format that was replaced by one with inferior sound. What about records largely getting replaced by 8-tracks and cassette tapes? In the long-run streaming services will move towards higher fidelity audio as bandwidth costs decline on both sides. Tidal already offers the option. I also suspect the vast majority of listeners can't even tell the difference between 320 Spotify, 256 Apple, and lossless Tidal, let alone care enough about the differences to switch services.

chiph 10y ago
I don't think tapes replaced LPs so much as supplemented them. With the exception of the car-mounted record player that was an option on some Chryslers[1], the advantages of 8-track and cassette were their ability to take your music with you on the road. I still listen for the "clunk" of the 8-track player changing tracks in the middle of Rush's YYZ.. I think the bandwidth problem of providing high-quality streaming music could be solved by a peer-to-peer system (put your already-downloaded library online for others to listen to). But the record companies would strenuously object -- with good reason, even even if access were controlled via encrypted subscription. [1] http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/news/2014/04/record-players-were-the-infotainment-systems-of-the-1950s-and-60s/index.htm http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/news/2014/04/record-playe...

rangibaby 10y ago

CDs had a big problem with mastering. They either have a bad sound from CD being a new format (Zappa 80s CDs suffered from this) or since the mid-late 90s are brickwalled to hell thanks to the loudness war. Obviously there are plenty of fine CD versions of albums out there, but I heard enough poorly mastered CDs and spent enough time searching 2nd hand stores for known good versions to not be worried about the format going away.

chiph 10y ago
> CDs had a big problem with mastering. You are correct. Lots of the early releases once the goldrush started still had their RIAA equalization on them (aka "shovelware"). Even those that used original sources simply didn't sound all that good because of the mastering engineer's inexperience (first release of The Wall, I'm looking at you). There were still gems made though, like Brothers in Arms Because of the loudness war, I've started looking for earlier releases on discogs.com. Anything listed as "Remastered" is viewed with suspicion. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loudness_war https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loudness_war