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This article conflates digital/physical with ownership/rental. You can still collect music digitally! Buy CDs, rip them, tag them, keep them all in one big fold

by dTal 5y ago

This article conflates digital/physical with ownership/rental. You can still collect music digitally! Buy CDs, rip them, tag them, keep them all in one big folder and use a music player that lets you browse them. Download DRM-free mp3s. This was the standard model from 2000 to 2010 - remember Napster? how quickly we forget! Take back control!

amelius 5y ago
Some songs aren't even available on CD anymore. I've been thinking about writing a Spotify ripper.
- BiteCode_dev 5y ago
  I'm using audible, and I use a software to backup all books I paid for in a non DRM format. A spotify reaper would make tons of sense.
- artificialLimbs 5y ago
  eDonkey seemed to have the biggest collection of rare-ish music when I last used it years ago.
- sva_ 5y ago
  > I've been thinking about writing a Spotify ripper. https://github.com/pisto/oggify https://github.com/pisto/oggify
- willis936 5y ago
  And some songs aren't available from streaming services. OCRemix fan works come to mind, as does anything foreign. I paid 50 (50!) USD for an imported CD of Duke of Pianeet's Singularity.
- password4321 5y ago
  https://hn.algolia.com/?query=interviewfor.red&type=comment https://hn.algolia.com/?query=interviewfor.red&type=comment
xyzzy123 5y ago
I think the article misses why people collect. A sense of genuine scarcity, specialness or rarity. Things that others do not, or cannot have. Items that have a sense of historicity about them. Hidden gems, secrets or banned things that only the collector posesses. Things with their own stories. Physical collections have this interesting property that they tend to automatically become more unique and interesting over time as they accumulate history and comparable items are destroyed or lost. Arrangement, curation and the search for completeness within a chosen field can count for a lot. But I posit that hoarding commercially released, widely available digital files cannot really satisfy a true urge to collect. Producing and trading bootlegs is a lot closer. I suppose NFTs could fill some of the gap here but they seem like simulacra to me.
cainxinth 5y ago
As someone with a box of DVD-Rs filled with terabytes of carefully tagged MP3s that is collecting dust and probably slowly dying of disc rot, I’m much happier just paying my Spotify subscription.
- dTal 5y ago
  For not much more than the annual price of your Spotify subscription, you can fit the entire contents of that box in a shard of plastic the size of your thumbnail.
  - UncleMeat 5y ago
    I think that the lesson is more for people who haven't yet obtained TBs of music. The only legal way of doing this is going to cost you a lot of money.
- ferdowsi 5y ago
  I rediscovered the joy of my carefully tagged music collection with Plex. Turns out I really do prefer the media I gathered (whether for sentimental or quality reasons)
HelixEndeavor 5y ago
Unfortunately, in many cases, the digital release of an album sounds better than the CD, due to a longstanding trend in the CD industry of brickwalling and compressing the dynamic range to the point it becomes auditory sludge.
- nayuki 5y ago
  CDs are digital too. It's probably better to say "the online release" or "the downloadable release".
  - HelixEndeavor 5y ago
    You understood what I meant though. If the point was understood, then the language used has served its purpose.
    - LocalH 5y ago
      You should still strive to use accurate terminology, however. Yes, your point got across, I don't deny that.
bmarkovic 5y ago
I am perfectly content with how things are now. I still collect things I care about, I have tons of FLACs (some ripped from my CDs, some bought online) from artists that are meaningful to me and whose music is significant in my view. I'm still grateful for Youtube and Deezer (I hate Spotify's UX so I'm never there) for providing me access to music I wouldn't necessarily collect, but I'm now also not at will of some radio DJ when I want that kind of ephemeral music in my life.

by dTal 5y ago

amelius 5y ago

Some songs aren't even available on CD anymore. I've been thinking about writing a Spotify ripper.

BiteCode_dev 5y ago
I'm using audible, and I use a software to backup all books I paid for in a non DRM format. A spotify reaper would make tons of sense.
artificialLimbs 5y ago
eDonkey seemed to have the biggest collection of rare-ish music when I last used it years ago.
sva_ 5y ago
> I've been thinking about writing a Spotify ripper. https://github.com/pisto/oggify https://github.com/pisto/oggify
willis936 5y ago
And some songs aren't available from streaming services. OCRemix fan works come to mind, as does anything foreign. I paid 50 (50!) USD for an imported CD of Duke of Pianeet's Singularity.
password4321 5y ago
https://hn.algolia.com/?query=interviewfor.red&type=comment https://hn.algolia.com/?query=interviewfor.red&type=comment

xyzzy123 5y ago

I think the article misses why people collect. A sense of genuine scarcity, specialness or rarity. Things that others do not, or cannot have. Items that have a sense of historicity about them. Hidden gems, secrets or banned things that only the collector posesses. Things with their own stories. Physical collections have this interesting property that they tend to automatically become more unique and interesting over time as they accumulate history and comparable items are destroyed or lost. Arrangement, curation and the search for completeness within a chosen field can count for a lot. But I posit that hoarding commercially released, widely available digital files cannot really satisfy a true urge to collect. Producing and trading bootlegs is a lot closer. I suppose NFTs could fill some of the gap here but they seem like simulacra to me.

cainxinth 5y ago

As someone with a box of DVD-Rs filled with terabytes of carefully tagged MP3s that is collecting dust and probably slowly dying of disc rot, I’m much happier just paying my Spotify subscription.

dTal 5y ago
For not much more than the annual price of your Spotify subscription, you can fit the entire contents of that box in a shard of plastic the size of your thumbnail.
- UncleMeat 5y ago
  I think that the lesson is more for people who haven't yet obtained TBs of music. The only legal way of doing this is going to cost you a lot of money.
ferdowsi 5y ago
I rediscovered the joy of my carefully tagged music collection with Plex. Turns out I really do prefer the media I gathered (whether for sentimental or quality reasons)

HelixEndeavor 5y ago

Unfortunately, in many cases, the digital release of an album sounds better than the CD, due to a longstanding trend in the CD industry of brickwalling and compressing the dynamic range to the point it becomes auditory sludge.

nayuki 5y ago
CDs are digital too. It's probably better to say "the online release" or "the downloadable release".
- HelixEndeavor 5y ago
  You understood what I meant though. If the point was understood, then the language used has served its purpose.
  - LocalH 5y ago
    You should still strive to use accurate terminology, however. Yes, your point got across, I don't deny that.

bmarkovic 5y ago

I am perfectly content with how things are now. I still collect things I care about, I have tons of FLACs (some ripped from my CDs, some bought online) from artists that are meaningful to me and whose music is significant in my view. I'm still grateful for Youtube and Deezer (I hate Spotify's UX so I'm never there) for providing me access to music I wouldn't necessarily collect, but I'm now also not at will of some radio DJ when I want that kind of ephemeral music in my life.