Musicheads wants to know: What's your music media preference?

I still prefer CD for a couple reasons.

1. I really like having a physical medium associated with my music - there's something so exciting about unwrapping a new CD and sticking it in the player for a the first listen. Double-clicking an mp3 for the first time? Not really much fun. Plus, who doesn't love that new-cd smell!
2. I believe in the album (sorry Mark Wheat).
3. JPEGs and PDFs are poor substitutes for physical album-art and liner notes.
4. A collection of CDs on a shelf is a much cooler personal statement than a glimpse at someone's iTunes album cover stream!

That being said, I do always rip my CDs to MP3 for flexibility of listening, and my favorite way to listen to music is on vinyl. So . . . hmmmmm.

I'm with you Ryan!

Maybe Tori would've been better served to call this new release a double album. Usually if a disc goes much past 12 or 13 tracks, some get lost in the shuffle.

One of my favorite things to do when I was in college, was to get a big cup of coffee on a Saturday morning, then go and spend a few hours in a music store checking out all their listening stations. After browsing a dozen or so discs, I'd pick two. It was an event; something to look forward to.

I'd echo a lot of Ryan's comments, there's something about the CD collection sitting on a shelf; you can stand back and admire it and think about the investment you've got there.

However you can't deny the immediacy of being able to download a new recording (or even just the one song you like from it) and listen to it minutes later. The compression used to cram all this audio into a little mp3 does sacrifice some audio quality, but my ears can't detect it.

The biggest problem with mp3's is the fact that with them I can't seem to remember titles or their order on the disc; back in the day when I was buying CDs all the time I could tell you track titles and where they fell on the disc...maybe I should turn 'shuffle' off on my ol' iPod.

My two cents,
Avery

Hey Avery, think I might try your method of buying CD's one of these days!

anything except cassette! god I hated cassette.

Hey Frank....I didn't like them much either, but it sure was fun making mixed cassettes and trading th em with friends!

when I was younger I would spend hours sitting by the radio and whenever a song I liked came on I wuold press record. mixed tapes like those are classic!

I agree with everything Ryan H. said (especially the belief in the album, I rarely ever listen to music other than albums front to back).

That said, CDs take up a lot of space, and are a pain to move. Meanwhile all my music is on my laptop and iPod. It's because of mp3s that I can have all my music where ever I want, when ever I want. Based on that fact alone, mp3s defeat CDs. I do often miss the tactile nature of CDs, though, and still love going to the Fetus or Cheapo and picking up a couple of discs.

Craig

I buy CDs the most, and I, also, must agree with Ryan. Vinyl is my favorite to listen to, though, because it's more like an activity (i.e. flipping the record, dusting off the record) and it doesn't feel awkward to sit in a big comfy chair with some headphones on, as it might feel while listening to a CD player or iPod. I also love the sound that comes from the needle riding on the vinyl - beautiful.

Overall, I usually buy CDs for current releases, since vinyl is a bit pricy, but for old or used albums, I try to buy vinyl. And I WILL NOT buy from iTunes.

I still buy CD's...I like to have the case, and the liner notes..There are a few Vinyl records I still own..and the age of vinyl was pretty cool in rock history..the size of the album cover..the sound on a good turn table..and the 30 min or so a side format..I want to buy some new records...the mp3 or i pod looks great...I am just behind on that technology. I think the i pod is a great idea..that may save music, while ruining, and or transforming the music industry..all at the same time..my computer works again..might have to try some new formats..

I buy my cds used usually at Cheapo or on Amazon's used listings. Buying music digitally is like a donation. And I refuse to give money to Itunes, if for no other reason, but the garbage M4A file formats they sell the files at. Also the fact, mp3's are compressed. If the people selling music digitally will ever get a clue, they'll start selling at-the-lowest price, files that are FLAC and/or WAV file formats, that are LOSSLESS.

I friend of mine recently said, "Great music is being made faster than we can buy it." Close, but I disagree...

Great music is being made faster than we can AFFORD to buy it.

I've always been quasi-computer-illiterate, and only recently have I figured out how to take advantage of all this free music online that everybody else has figured out years ago!

I'm very much like Tim M. I love holding the CD in my hand, with all the liner notes and artwork that truly complete the concept of "an album." And I love showing off my huge collection! I have hundreds (possibly a thousand) CDs in my shelf, and it really looks great! And much of it has been ripped to my computer (with all info hand-typed!), making it a 40-gig jukebox. I can put it on shuffle and just let it play for days...

But dammit!! It's just getting too expensive!! A few weeks ago I mentioned how I went to Cheapo to finally get the new Decemberists album, and it cost $18.99.

WTF?? That's WAY too much for a CD.

I've switched to a program called "Soulseek," and I love it! I can find anything and put it into my iTunes. I still get the album covers, so I still feel like I'm building my collection. Sure, I don't have the liner notes and artwork, but as I get older I realize it doesn't matter that much to me. Meanwhile, I can keep up with the amount of great music being made.

If I had more money, I would buy more CDs. But I don't, and it's just one more reason why I've basically become a socialist and an advocate for the Labor Movement.

Higher wages = higher record sales.

See? In politics, everything becomes intertwined!

that is SO TRUE! if I had more dough I would buy cds too. maybe the rise of mp3s is another sign that people are getting screwed. I hear that man.

Ultimately I still LOVE CD's! If I really like an album just getting it from i-tunes isn't enough. I want the physical product with artwork & liner notes. I still love CD shopping for music at a brick and mortar store as well!

Second-hand CDs are cheaper - reissue CDs, extra tracks! I still buy CDs but after ripping the songs to my hard drive, I only take them off the shelf for long trips in the car. I love Windows Media - it's the gigantic jukebox I'd always dreamed of... as stated above, I can set it on my 5 star tracks and let it play for hours.

Moving (changing residences) is never easy. But it usually forces you to throw out your old junk. On my last move I felt awful about all the vcr and cassette tapes that had to get pitched. The environmental impact of all this discarded media has to be significant.
So now i'm thinking maybe downloading music is the green thing to do. Maybe they should get away from the compressed files. If people could get a high quality download, great quality art work, and put it on like a Kindle type of thing and be able to sync it to their car or home stereo. It could be musics green future. I think were already heading that direction.

I prefer mp3s. I don't like having lots of extra stuff around, and I rarely read liner notes. I like that the album cover shows on my pod.

I thought it was awesome when I finally got a CD Walkman, and I'd pick out which CDs I wanted to listen to on the bus each day. I'd bring a little stack. Sometimes, I'd drop a CD on the bus floor while doing a change-out. That really pissed me off.

I love my Napster subscription, it's like having a jukebox with 6 million songs on it. I listen to the Current and Sirius, jot down songs on a Google Doc or record a voice memo on my cell and then download them onto the computer and my mp3 when I get home. CD's are not in the budget now that I'm married. Hopefully the artists are getting paid by Napster with my $15 subscription.