Random thoughts.... [Tech Edition]

Found a 20 year old CD-R with MP3s... it still reads fine despite being stored haphazardly for two decades... Can't say the quality of the files was good to begin with..
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Thats so 90s. Like ‘if I compress it to 96kbs’ I can fit 200 songs on one CD zomgwtfbbq!!!

I remember old cd players not being able to read that far and just said it had 99 songs on it.
 
Before I got the aux connection set up in the Mazda I made an MP3 CD just so I had something to listen to, felt very unusual. Turns out this USB Blu-ray drive is really fucking slow when it comes to burning CDs too.

I made sure I put an old 48x CD burner in the 1995 Dell Optiplex I bought earlier in the year, I haven't tried it but I bet it's faster.
 
Remember all of the places that sold mp3s that tried to claim 128kb/s was "CD quality"? Or when a device would say you could store "up to 100 CD-quality songs*", and then you read the bullet points and they counted 128 as acD quality??

The very first time I experimented with ripping my own CDs, I could see if I could notice a difference, and even my teenager self could. 256 was my absolute minimum and only did that when I was running out of space, otherwise 320 was my default for ripping my own CDs, or from the library. I wouldn't even bother downloading many things if there wasn't a 192 or higher version on Napster.

"CD-quality 128"...*pfsh* get the hell outta here with that bullcrap. ?
 
Depends really. With headphones I could hear the difference between 256 and 320.

In the car, with the engine on, rain falling, other traffic….not so much. I never went lower than 192 though
 
In the car, with the engine on, rain falling, other traffic….not so much. I never went lower than 192 though
I think that was part of the logic why Tesla thought for years that Spotify at 96kbps was somehow acceptable ?‍♂️ Ofc no way for the customer to change that.
 
Before I got the aux connection set up in the Mazda I made an MP3 CD just so I had something to listen to, felt very unusual. Turns out this USB Blu-ray drive is really fucking slow when it comes to burning CDs too.

I made sure I put an old 48x CD burner in the 1995 Dell Optiplex I bought earlier in the year, I haven't tried it but I bet it's faster.

I remember the days before Burnproof when you couldn't touch the computer while the CD was burning. Blank CDs were expensive too so you didn't want to make a "coaster" as it was called. I remember ordering blanks from nierle.de with my friends and receiving a box that was so big it barely fit in the back of my Volvo 850 estate.

And the race to make faster and faster CD drives. "48X MAX" that didn't actually ever reach 48x unless conditions were perfect. A CD that was slightly off balance shook the entire ATX tower. Having 48X MAX written on the front of your PC meant bragging rights though.
 
I think that was part of the logic why Tesla thought for years that Spotify at 96kbps was somehow acceptable Ofc no way for the customer to change that.

That’s just silly. An EV is whisper quiet so you can hear everything. If you’d have a big rattly diesel engine (as I had, RIP the 2.2 DTI Astra), you’d be none the wiser
 
That’s just silly. An EV is whisper quiet so you can hear everything. If you’d have a big rattly diesel engine (as I had, RIP the 2.2 DTI Astra), you’d be none the wiser
exactly. it's super dumb, also considering they're advertising "premium audio" and a bazillion speakers and stuff. Even on the autobahn with the horrible sound-deadening of my early model 3 spotify is still noticeably bad quality... so ofc people were complaining a lot. I'm actually not even sure whether they changed it or not (and tbh I don't care anymore), but it definitely took way too long (especially considering they're now selling "premium connectivity" for 10€/month).
 
I remember buying vinyl albums, CDs, and cassette tapes with prerecorded music on them. We would then make cassette tapes compilations. /Old guy
 
In my first car I had 6 CDs and about 15 MDs, and I knew exactly which one was which so I could change discs without reading the labels.
Aftermarket MiniDisc player in the car? I've never used or even handled a MiniDisc but thanks to Techmoan I know a lot about them. I went directly from CDs to MP3s, my Sony PSP being my first music player.
 
I keep my CDs, vinyl records and also the old mp3 I have on disc from 25 years ago. Why? Because they're originals. Unaltered originals. As things are going today, new releases or even re-releases of already existing music gets treated with Autotune. I hate Autotune. I know some cannot hear it but I can. I just learned that the record company even autotuned Freddy Mercury for a video release on YouTube. I mean, what the f***?

That's also a reason why I listen to my CD's rather than Spotify.
 
Ok boomer.

sorry, that had to be done. At least the some streaming services are embracing high quality streaming now and oftentimes do have the original albums in their library somewhere (admittedly with whatever their standard algorithm does to them). So far I’m happy with what I’m being served. Also the new and remastered stuff is there too, usually much more prominently. 3d Audio atoms super mega duper ABCDEFG whatever is also getting mixed in now… that I don’t get. I only have two ears, what are you trying to do here?
 
I understand the want to have physical media, I now buy as many Blu-rays (especially UHD) as I can because it's the best way to get consistent high video quality and I know I have them for as long as they will play.

Not as critical for music in my eyes and I much prefer the chance to stumble across new music and be able to just listen to it without buying a CD and waiting, or pirating the FLAC version. I do like to buy some vinyl records though because they feel special, I don't feel like they sound better.
 
I have several questions. Why/How would you go about autotuning a voice that has practically limitless range? Aside from spoiling the original, which is bad enough, where would you improve it?
 
In my first car I had 6 CDs and about 15 MDs, and I knew exactly which one was which so I could change discs without reading the labels.

This sounds very familiar. A 1990 Ford Sierra has a cubby above the stereo perfectly sized for a stack of CDs without cases. I had CD-R's of course. I knew what was on all of them so I could swap them without thinking. About ten years later I was given a ride by a kid around 20 with a USB car stereo and a handful of USB drives dangling from the mirror in lanyards. He swapped drives in and out like I did cdr's, like he'd done nothing else in life. He knew what was on all of them.

Re: autotuning Freddie Mercury. Is nothing sacred anymore?
 
I have several questions. Why/How would you go about autotuning a voice that has practically limitless range? Aside from spoiling the original, which is bad enough, where would you improve it?
My guess? They do it because they can. Because they have a computer to play around with. And maybe because nearly everybody is doing it these days. Autotune and pitch correction have become so common today that it might be even considered mandatory to use it in certain circles.

Here's a video for reference:

 
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