Yesterday, I put a post here that was largely inspired by the comment of a reader on an earlier rant. Before I even conclude the first paragraph, I thank all of you for commenting and the compliments on my article.

Yesterday’s rant had several good comments. One of them left by marc was, in my opinion, as good as my post. Thanks for the feedback marc. Marc, I agree with you almost entirely with the exception of your first point. (marc stated that he prefers CDs to MP3s)

I feel you are 100% correct in the assertion that CDs are higher quality audio. This is almost always the case. I have a collection of Beethoven’s complete symphonies on CD. I have yet to rip them to MP3 and doubt I ever will. I listen to them on my old Technics stereo. For Beethoven, I think it matters but if I am going to listen to some dude scream at the top of his lungs about how mad he is at an ex-lover accompanied by a guitarist whose trademark is an amp that goes to 11 and a drummer who smashes titanium laced drum skins does it really matter that much?

I, however, have few CDs remaining and, as quickly as I can, I am archiving my hundreds of cassettes to MP3. You are also right that it is about the music. For me, it is about the portability and accessibility of the music.

At one point in my life I used to buy between 5 and 20 albums per week. Most of what I bought was cassette. The reason being is that, at the time, I was an avid jogger and willing sacrificed the quality for portability. I think that is largely what is going on today with music sales. Heck, check out the new feature on this Volkswagen.

Ten years ago I had a wall lined with CDs and cassettes. When I wanted to listen to tune, I put the media in the player and switched the speakers to the appropriate room. Today, I have 10 gig of legal music on my hard drive. I also have a PC in every room in my loft except the bathroom. No need to goe anywhere except the appropriate folder on my hard drive. No wall of material, no clutter and yes, lower quality but, for me, prefered.

I also agree with you on the extras you get with a CD but I think that the very format of the CD, due to its size, has cheapened that. I remember in the old days of vinyl, putting headphones on, kicking back and reading all the album credits while enjoying the music. I am sorry marc, but the microprint on a CD jewel sleeve just doesn’t do it for me. Remember all of the kewl inserts that came with the Beatles "White Album"? (By the way all… I should put some of this into time perspective for you. I remember standing in line with my mother, six years old at the time, to get a copy of "Abbey Road" the day it was release… yeah, it was for me.)

My reasons for not desiring CDs have more to do with a political and economic choice. The last RIAA label CD I bought was Thomas Dolby’s "Astronuats and Heratics". I bought it the day it came out. (BTW, if any of you are into the MTV pop star he is touring the states. Also, Lumpy trivia tidbit, likely you are familiar with this artist. He may well be the sound you hear on your cell phone.)

My choice for podsafe and MP3 today is because I agree with Trent Razor and BNL. If I am paying 30-40 bucks for an album, it should be my right to make a personal copy and playing it on my PC should not corrupt my hard drive. (Furthermore reading the credits should not be more painful than a vision test.) To me buying a CD today makes about as much sense as popping a rufinol and entering a cage with a sex-deprive guerilla. I also agree that there are larger problems in the world but I am tired of being ripped off by an industry that rips off everyone but their executives. Heck, if it weren’t for the recording industry, would we even have the term "starving artist"?

I think today’s trends in music have more to do with portability and consumers disgruntled over price and DRM. Although CDs still out sell legal downloads, the trend is clearly going the other way now. As legal downloading becomes more popular, I would suspect that higher quality downloads will become more popular as well. Such as this.

Now marc, as far as your other three points… maybe I will use them for future writing motivation. Lastly, thanks for the well thought and penned comment marc. I hope you do not take anything I said in this post as offensive. I appreciate the conversation that you and others have created by commenting. Your comment alone gave me at least four specific items I can expand on. (Seriously, marc you drafted that comment well, you should think about writing here.)

Again, thanks for reading.

Tags: mp3, cd, cassette, music, copyright, piracy, riaa, opinion, drm