A Rip In Time
Sunday, 9. March 2008, 23:11:38
For a year and a half I have been ripping my vinyl and tape to modernize my musical library. Today music is digital, consisting of a download in mp3 format or a WAV in CD format. So I am converting to both. I know that the MP3 is more modern, but I like a physical representation of my music. (Plus I haven't succumbed to buying a converter for my car so that I can listen to MP3 tracks on my car's sound system. I tend to think that the standard MP3 doesn't have the sound quality of a CD.)
It struck me today for not the first time, that I am listening to a slice of time when I rip my older musical library. It was vinyl, vinyl, vinyl for me and many others from the time we came of musical age until cassette tapes became ubiquitous. Those darn 8-tracks were an evolutionary dead-end, similar to the Neanderthal. I recall that cassettes became a viable medium sometime in the late 1970's. I bought a high-end cassette deck in 1978 I think. (1979?) But I continued to buy vinyl as my "music delivery system" until well into the 1980's. It wasn't until about 1985-1986 or so that I started to record every vinyl record onto tape when I listened to it. Even then, I still bought vinyl for several reasons: (1)used vinyl was one of my music sources and who ever bought used tape? (2)from 1986 through the mid 90's vinyl was discounted because consumers abandoned vinyl quicker than did the manufacturers of it. (3)Some of the music vendors were slow to adopt tape as a medium.
Last weekend I ripped four pieces of vinyl: The Who's Who's Next, Sugarloaf's debut album, Wendy Waldman's Strange Company,
and a greatest hits compilation for Blood, Sweat & Tears. The middle two were purchased "as it happened" and represent the fact that vinyl was ubiquitous in the 70's. I bought the other two as vinyl was being consigned to the remainder bins because no one wanted it anymore.
But mostly, in my collection when I look at the vinyl I'm looking at 1966 to 1980 or 1982. From that point on, if it isn't from some minor label, it's on cassette tape. And from 1991 to present, if it isn't on CD, than it represents a really good buy from some discounter or used music store.
Today I ripped David Bowie's retro band Tin Machine's first cassette tape, self-title (check it out if you liked Ziggy Stardust). And now I'm ripping The The's album Infected, again on cassette tape. They're both from the mid to late 80's.
It's weird how physical things can indicate time. Not so much like an old rocker indicates a long ago time, but how the medium on which your music resides indicates when it was purchased. I don't know--this is probably something of interest only to older persons such as myself.
It struck me today for not the first time, that I am listening to a slice of time when I rip my older musical library. It was vinyl, vinyl, vinyl for me and many others from the time we came of musical age until cassette tapes became ubiquitous. Those darn 8-tracks were an evolutionary dead-end, similar to the Neanderthal. I recall that cassettes became a viable medium sometime in the late 1970's. I bought a high-end cassette deck in 1978 I think. (1979?) But I continued to buy vinyl as my "music delivery system" until well into the 1980's. It wasn't until about 1985-1986 or so that I started to record every vinyl record onto tape when I listened to it. Even then, I still bought vinyl for several reasons: (1)used vinyl was one of my music sources and who ever bought used tape? (2)from 1986 through the mid 90's vinyl was discounted because consumers abandoned vinyl quicker than did the manufacturers of it. (3)Some of the music vendors were slow to adopt tape as a medium.
Last weekend I ripped four pieces of vinyl: The Who's Who's Next, Sugarloaf's debut album, Wendy Waldman's Strange Company,
and a greatest hits compilation for Blood, Sweat & Tears. The middle two were purchased "as it happened" and represent the fact that vinyl was ubiquitous in the 70's. I bought the other two as vinyl was being consigned to the remainder bins because no one wanted it anymore.But mostly, in my collection when I look at the vinyl I'm looking at 1966 to 1980 or 1982. From that point on, if it isn't from some minor label, it's on cassette tape. And from 1991 to present, if it isn't on CD, than it represents a really good buy from some discounter or used music store.
Today I ripped David Bowie's retro band Tin Machine's first cassette tape, self-title (check it out if you liked Ziggy Stardust). And now I'm ripping The The's album Infected, again on cassette tape. They're both from the mid to late 80's.
It's weird how physical things can indicate time. Not so much like an old rocker indicates a long ago time, but how the medium on which your music resides indicates when it was purchased. I don't know--this is probably something of interest only to older persons such as myself.
WIDGETIZE
Jon # 10. March 2008, 05:18
I found that some of the CD and DVD I had burned no longer were readable. I looked into it and found that the process by which lasers record onto the medium is not as permanent as I had assumed. There are several different chemical methods by which the data is put on to the media and some of them don't even last 4 years. The industry refers to it as 'burning' which sounds very permanent to me, but in some cases it is more like photography where light is used to change the reflectivity of a dye on the substrate. This is a chemical dye process, not a 'burning' process. That is why there is sometimes a warning notice on the disk package about not leaving the disks in the sunshine, nor writing on the disk with a permanent marker. Some the the chemicals in a marker can affect the media. Also, the layering is not perfect in some manufacturing processes and there is a thin layer of media exposed on the outside edge. This can absorb water and other chemicals and render the outer edge area unusable.
I was upset about it and have no way of knowing which of my disks will, at some point, become unreadable. It sounds as if you have a much greater investment in your library than I do. Take time to determine which disks are archival quality, and which are not. You will save yourself a lot of aggravation in the future.
And I know you don't like to be aggravated!
Allan # 10. March 2008, 07:56
I like listening to MP3s - even though I know it's a compressed format, therefore not perfect. If I listen to them if recorded as 192 kb/s or above, I simply cannot detect any flaws at all. So, I´m content.
By the way, it sounds like could have gone through similar musical stages back then - judging from the examples you're ripping at the moment
Ken # 10. March 2008, 11:06
I also am saving all of the labels that I'm creating. I enjoy the label creation process as much as hearing the music again. Some of the vinyl I haven't listened to in 15 to 20 years. I just hauled it around as I've moved back and forth across the country.
I convert the WAV's to MP3's using a variable bit rate that is virtually always above 192. I experimented with the rate until I couldn't hear a difference when I switched from original source to the MP3.
I like CDs as stated, but eventually I figure I'll be totally electronic. To do that, however, my vehicles must have an easy way to play MP3's (USB port or something like that), and I'll have to buy something to add into my primary sound system in the living room.
Jon # 10. March 2008, 12:49
No I don't have an iPhone, but my daughter loves hers.
Ken # 3. December 2009, 01:31