How do you buy music? (isues, quality, quantity)

[Dmada]

If possible, I order directly from the artist.

Otherwise, usually online, unless its something I must have right away, then I will hit borders or some other large retail outlet to get it.

 

I prefer to have the actual CD and dont really buy digital copies or itunes stuff.

Unless I have a buzz and the immediate need to hear some Billy Idol.

[tinnitus photography]

i'm way too much of a collector geek, and while 'completist' means different things to different people (to rabid fans, that would include owning a physical copy of everything single, LP/CD, promo, compilation, etc that that particular band has been involved with), i definitely fall under the spell of some bands too much.

 

bands of whom I am a hardcore completist:

 

Sun City Girls

Hood

Guided By Voices

all vinyl from the Flying Nun label

Kurt Vile

Grails

Jack Rose/Pelt

Six Organs of Admittance

Tar

 

bands that i have a lot, though not nearly complete, discography of:

Sonic Youth

Billy Childish

Sun Ra

Pavement

Robyn Hitchcock/Soft Boys

The Church

Sebadoh

Songs Ohia

Wilco

The Dead C

Yo La Tengo

 

and there's a bunch of others I'm missing

[dtram]

I'm am still strictly CD for all purchases. I just don't see the point in paying for MP3's when I can buy the higher quality CD for around the same price, get the artwork and then rip to MP3 anyway if I wan't to. I'll buy an MP3 in the rare instance when I specificallly only want one song by an artist but this maybe has happened 5 times ever. When I want to listen to sepcific CD, I just pull it off of the rack.

 

I did get my first ipod last month for one reason; with all the shows I've been downloading lately, it just got to be way too cumbersome to transfer all of them from Flac to CD, especially the Dead shows which ineveitably take 3 cds. Then when your listening you have to load all of the CD's in the changer, pain in the ass. Obviously not up there with the bigger problems in the world but it was driving me nuts. The ipod is a great solution to this, download the show>put it in winamp>convert to mp3> add to itunes> sync ipod> done and done.

[welch79]

i very rarely buy digital only. I prefer to have cd's for the liner notes, art, etc., and also it just feels more like an investment. I also like the backup potential of just pulling a cd off the shelf and ripping it again (even though i time machine).

 

there are times where i sample music from torrents, and grab live shows esp., and if i like the digital stuff i d/l, i throw dollars at it, and purchase the full cd.

 

i really dislike the "itunes a la carte" approach to music, but i'm glad that we have bands that still give thought to sequencing, to thematic elements, and to album creation as art.

 

i am only a completist with wilco, the national and ryan adams (whiskeytown, cardinals and solo).

[Vacant Horizon]

Take out Pat Methany and Neil Young and even the artists are the same for me. (I should say I'd like to own every Neil Young album, but it's simply never going to happen). And when I was into mp3's I would NEVER buy one song by an artist. I always bought the album. And if I don't like at least 75% of that album, the artist is done for me. Ruins the rest of the music.

 

I just want to say that I love threads like these because they make me feel like less of a freak. Around here I'm just a normal music lover. In fact, my music knowledge/passion probably doesn't even compare to many of you. In may day to day life the people I know just don't get it. Some are amazed by me (that can be positive or negative). At least one person has implied that as an adult with a job I shouldn't be spending my time on the stuff. Most are simply disinterested in the subject. As a female, the worst are the men who assume I have nothing to say on the subject.

 

yes, pat metheny is a guilty pleasure however, neil young is probably the only artist i can honestly say i'm a true completist about. i even love is shit albums (landing on water).

 

i am the exact same way about albums! one song wont due. and if the album sux, that's really frustrating. especially with a lot of cool songs from the 70s. i've tried making massive comps, but that doesn't work. sometimes i take it one step further. most of the catalog must be great for me to get into. this is my issue with mark kozelek. the first three RHP albums i can't get into, but the sun kil moon stuff i love. i might even take it one step further than that. if i like jeff tweedy, for example, then i must LOVE jay farrar, son volt, loose fur, golden smog (which leads to jayhawks), etc. just ridiculous rules. this is why i'm trying to get back to getting one album at a time and diggin on that rather than a bunch of shit at once.

 

i'm way too much of a collector geek, and while 'completist' means different things to different people (to rabid fans, that would include owning a physical copy of everything single, LP/CD, promo, compilation, etc that that particular band has been involved with), i definitely fall under the spell of some bands too much.

 

bands of whom I am a hardcore completist:

 

Sun City Girls

Hood

Guided By Voices

all vinyl from the Flying Nun label

Kurt Vile

Grails

Jack Rose/Pelt

Six Organs of Admittance

Tar

 

bands that i have a lot, though not nearly complete, discography of:

Sonic Youth

Billy Childish

Sun Ra

Pavement

Robyn Hitchcock/Soft Boys

The Church

Sebadoh

Songs Ohia

Wilco

The Dead C

Yo La Tengo

 

and there's a bunch of others I'm missing

 

sorry about the GBV bug. that's a rough one

[Moss]

Vinyl still seems to be growing in popularity:

 

Billboard reports that according to Nielsen Soundscan, this year's Record Store Day marked the biggest single day for vinyl sales in the history of Soundscan, which started counting things in 1991. According to Billboard, RSD's co-founder, the Music Monitor Network's Michael Kurtz, also reports that stores including New York City's Other Music, Seattle's Sonic Boom, and New Jersey's Vintage Vinyl, had their most successful days ever. And sales were up all across the board.

[LouieB]

Pat Metheny?

 

I buy CDs and LPs only. Never download.

 

Record day has been great. As the convo usually goes, this is a good time and probably a unique time for LP sales, since those who collected LPs back when they were the major format are now dying and so there is alot on the market for collectors. Meanwhile I don't think this temporary resurgance should be any indication that LPs are here to stay. Having said that I still buy alot of em, both used and sometimes new.

 

LouieB

[Rusty Shackleford]

I buy CDs for any band I know I like, but I'll still buy cheap MP3s for someone I'm iffy about. Amazon's daily deals and monthly $5 MP3 albums still get me here and there.

 

As a result, I've got tons of cheap MP3s on the iPod and computer that I'll likely never listen to, plus CDs from about 10 bands that rotate in and out of my car.

[Mr. Heartbreak]

I do that a lot too. I've rationalized that it's OK to copy those since it's really my tax dollars that bought it in the first place. No replies are needed from you bubble bursters out there.

I second this, especially with classic jazz. Do I really need to purchase every single Miles Davis disc? For what, to benefit his grandchildren? Nah, if the library has it, I can enjoy it anytime for free. No one complains about authors being ripped off by library patrons not buying their books.

[brianjeremy]

I usually buy most of my CDs used and LPs new or used. I will also buy new cds if they're under $10 or the ever so important $7.99. I rarely, if ever, buy digitally. I am fairly cheap and refuse to pay high prices for music. I look for bargains.

 

99.9% of my digital purchases have been via I-Tunes gift cards I receive because people think that's what a music lover wants. I guess I would much rather have a gift certificate to my favorite record store.

[Vacant Horizon]

Vinyl still seems to be growing in popularity:

 

well, this is good to hear. i think things will probably even out in the near future. CDs, downloads, and vinyl will be the norm and record stores will stop closing...at least those in big metropolitan areas. however, the days of big record stores are gone. and i bet we'll see more stuff go out of print.

 

Pat Metheny?

 

I buy CDs and LPs only. Never download.

 

Record day has been great. As the convo usually goes, this is a good time and probably a unique time for LP sales, since those who collected LPs back when they were the major format are now dying and so there is alot on the market for collectors. Meanwhile I don't think this temporary resurgance should be any indication that LPs are here to stay. Having said that I still buy alot of em, both used and sometimes new.

 

LouieB

 

 

Yes! Pat Metheny

 

I buy CDs for any band I know I like, but I'll still buy cheap MP3s for someone I'm iffy about. Amazon's daily deals and monthly $5 MP3 albums still get me here and there.

 

As a result, I've got tons of cheap MP3s on the iPod and computer that I'll likely never listen to, plus CDs from about 10 bands that rotate in and out of my car.

 

so who are those ten artists? just curious. everyone seems to have a cannon.

[Moss]

I still buy tons of CD's but am also buying more vinyl lately because I finally got my needle replaced. It's tough because the only independent record store nearby charges way more than Amazon on just about everything. But I still end up buying from them because they are so damn cool and knowledgeable and obviously huge music geeks, and I hate the thought of them not being around. They have been there since I was a wee lad. I figure I'm paying for the convenience of not having to wait for stuff, their recommendations, the smell of the place, the ability to paw through their vast vinyl stacks hoping for that gem, etc...

[LouieB]

 

 

Yes! Pat Metheny

I saw Pat when he was a young pup with the Gary Burton group.

 

LouieB

[Analogman]

Vinyl still seems to be growing in popularity:

 

There are articles posted around here somewhere about that very thing. I think I read in one of them that there were several million albums sold last year.

 

Do all stores participate in Soundscan? I am curious about that. The only way I buy music now is to order it online. I could never really stand most of the sort of people you find working in records stores anyhow.

[Moss]

There are articles posted around here somewhere about that very thing. I think I read in one of them that there were several million albums sold last year.

 

Do all stores participate in Soundscan? I am curious about that. The only way I buy music now is to order it online. I could never really stand most of the sort of people you find working in records stores anyhow.

 

 

Yeah, I don't know how that Soundscan works. Since the only places that really sell vinyl are the few remaining indy record stores they must be tied in somehow. I know best buy has a few but they would not have been part of record store day. I realize they are only measuring sales of new vinyl so it makes you wonder how much used vinyl is being sold these days since I assume most of that is sold at flea markets and garage sales still.

 

The guys at the place I go to are super nice and helpful. The place is the size of a closet with just random stacks of stuff everywhere. It's right across the street from the Fox Theatre so they have tons of signed stuff on all the walls from the bands that come through town.

[Analogman]

Yeah, I don't know how that Soundscan works. Since the only places that really sell vinyl are the few remaining indy record stores they must be tied in somehow. I know best buy has a few but they would not have been part of record store day. I realize they are only measuring sales of new vinyl so it makes you wonder how much used vinyl is being sold these days since I assume most of that is sold at flea markets and garage sales still.

 

The guys at the place I go to are super nice and helpful. The place is the size of a closet with just random stacks of stuff everywhere. It's right across the street from the Fox Theatre so they have tons of signed stuff on all the walls from the bands that come through town.

 

That reminds me of a place in Pittsburgh that is no longer there. They had photos on the wall of Bruce Springsteen hanging out in the record store. Which was pretty funny, due to the fact that they sold Bruce bootlegs there.

[Vacant Horizon]

I saw Pat when he was a young pup with the Gary Burton group.

 

LouieB

 

very cool. ECM was cool in the 70s i think.

[bobfrombob]

I am still old school in that I need the physical thing. I had lots of LPs at one time. For a number of reasons, I got away from listening to them but held on to a lot of them. So when it appeared that CD was the way to go, I started to buy not only new music but also CDs of stuff I already had on vinyl. Now I'm getting back into playing the viynl and wondering why I bought the CD back ups.

 

I hardly ever buy CDs new. It's a little harder to get them as cheap in Canada as you seem to be picking them up in the US but $10 seems to be my iimit. If someething comes out on viynl now, that's my go to. Although I rarely pay more that $10 for a CD, I don't seem to hesitate to pay $15 or $20 for an lp.

[Vacant Horizon]

i think i'm totally going back to cds.

[froggie]

I am still old school in that I need the physical thing.

 

 

same here. even with CDs, the disk disappears in the player and the music starts. with a tape or record, you're in control and see how its working.

 

last time i lent a CD to my friend, she said "i'll put it on my iTunes" - why not just burn a copy?!

[The High Heat]

last time i lent a CD to my friend, she said "i'll put it on my iTunes" - why not just burn a copy?!

I do both when I borrow a cd from somebody else.

 

I'm sticking with the cd. I'm not screwing around with needles and scratches and such. In 20 years of cd collecting I've only lost 2 to scratching, and one broke (But whose Wilco Book cd didn't break?).

 

I buy most of the catalog of my favorite artists. I don't need every nugget released, like The Beatles cd of #1 hits. I can make that myself. I learned from getting burned on such things as paying $60 each for Elvis' Gold and Platinum box sets. They're basically the same thing, so I paid for most of these songs twice; and, of course, rarely play them. Music buying is expensive enough, I'm not about to start buying different formats of the same tunes. I buy cds, put them on iTunes, and listen to both formats.

[Analogman]

(But whose Wilco Book cd didn't break?).

 

I've only ever listened to that cd once - the day I received the book. I recall people had a problem with it breaking.

[LouieB]

very cool. ECM was cool in the 70s i think.

Yea, we occasionally talk about ECM in the jazz thread. I think there is some very cool stuff on ECM from the 70s and 80s.

 

LouieB

[Vacant Horizon]

Yea, we occasionally talk about ECM in the jazz thread. I think there is some very cool stuff on ECM from the 70s and 80s.

 

LouieB

 

yes, it's big sound, yet very warm. love gateway, pat metheny, and some others from late 70s early 80s ECM. their catalog is overwhelming.

[Sir Stewart]

But I think if you listen to The Full Bug, you may feel better.