Have you heard all your LP'S ?

[jadis]

I have listened to 90% of my LP collection. The 10% remains like a 'forced abstinence' kind of thing. I deliberately stall to play them so that I can always have 'new' albums to explore and prevent audio 'burn-out'. I constantly buy new materials and sell those that I feel that are not my music, and I had been doing this for the last 25 or so years. I feel 'heavy' just to watch a 5,000 LP collection and not playing them. My present collection is a 'streamlined' one and they number only about 500-600 but I always tell my friends that any one of those LPs I can pluck out and each would be one that satisfies my heart fully.

 

[Phelonious Ponk]

i've tried to give some of my Lps to a library, but they did not want them.

i have given some to Goodwill (which was the source of maybe 1000 of my Lps back in the day); and as i listen to my 'un-sorted' Lps i will give some more. but i also plan to 'set-up' my daughter and son-in-law and my son with Lp collections and 'starter tt's' when they have the space to enjoy them.

i'm just the current 'caretaker' of this music.

Tim, if you come to visit me sometime i'd be glad to offer a few dozen Lps to 'seed' an Lp collection for you.

That's very nice of you, Mike, but I was just kidding about the address. LPs would go unplayed in my house. I still own 100 or so, and no working TT. And I probably wouldn't use the old Thorens if I got it working. I'm afraid at this point that I'm hooked on the sound and the functionality of good digital. I like your plan for your kids. A few years ago I found myself with more guitars than I was playing, so I gave one to my son-in-law. I like to think that both of us, and the guitar, are much happier now.

Tim

 

[DaveyF]

Tim, excuse my naivete, why do you Buy CD's and then rip to hard drive, vs. download
Do you have a server based system What software are you using to rip to the drive
BTW, I would agree with you that digital has it all over analog in regards to convenience and in many instances background noise..( no groove hiss or grunge noise or other nasties that LP's can display).
OTOH, I still do not think that digital can portray the overall sound quality of good analog, IMHO

 

[amirm]

Tim, excuse my naivete, why do you Buy CD's and then rip to hard drive, vs. download

I will answer since I do the same .

To keep download time low, music services encode at 256Kbps or so (CD is 1.4 mbit/sec). Amazon for example offers that using MP3. At that compression level especially with MP3, you do not achieve transparency to the source.

So I buy CDs, rip them into WMA Lossless which gives me still 3:1 compression but with no loss in fidelity.

Do you have a server based system What software are you using to rip to the drive

Any PC today can rip music with no additional software needed. Standard media players in each OS (iTunes or Windows Media Player) have ripping built-in. That said, their ripping logic may not be as precise as specialty tools. For now though, if you want to get your feet wet, just put your CD in your PC, rip it and listen to it right there. You don't need anything new. Even your laptop will work just fine as a "server."

The kind of servers we talk about in other forums is for squeezing the last bit of fidelity out.

 

[DaveyF]

Thanks for that amir However, I guess I was trying to find out whether Tim is using something besides Windows Media or Itunes to do the ripping... Like you say, both of these programs are not that precise. Also, today one can download HD source and not even bother with the silver disc at all...
In my analog mind, it seems a little strange to buy CD's and then have to bother with ripping them to the hard drive; why not just load them into your transport and good to go
I know it doesn't give you quite the flexibility of a direct access to your server but

 

[Ron Party]

Davey, one reason is it is nice to have a back up (not that there aren't other means for so doing).

Another reason is that some ISPs invoke download limits which one might run up against if one happens to purchase a lot of music.

 

[Phelonious Ponk]

I will answer since I do the same .

To keep download time low, music services encode at 256Kbps or so (CD is 1.4 mbit/sec). Amazon for example offers that using MP3. At that compression level especially with MP3, you do not achieve transparency to the source.

So I buy CDs, rip them into WMA Lossless which gives me still 3:1 compression but with no loss in fidelity.


Any PC today can rip music with no additional software needed. Standard media players in each OS (iTunes or Windows Media Player) have ripping built-in. That said, their ripping logic may not be as precise as specialty tools. For now though, if you want to get your feet wet, just put your CD in your PC, rip it and listen to it right there. You don't need anything new. Even your laptop will work just fine as a "server."

The kind of servers we talk about in other forums is for squeezing the last bit of fidelity out.

What Amir said, though being an Apple user, I rip to Apple Lossless. I also buy CDs because many folks seem to be selling them off and there are lots of used CD store bargains on great music right now.

I have both MAX and iTunes for ripping, and while MAX is a little faster and more feature-laden, there is no difference in the resulting file and it is usually more convenient to just stick the disc in my MacBook where it is set to automatically copy any audio CD it sees to my external hard drive and spit the disc back out when finished. iTunes and MAX both are set to run error correction protocols that verify that the data on the hard drive is a match to the data on the original CD and re-read/write until it gets it right. Occasionally this even results in the software finding the data beneath a scratch, creating a perfect copy on my hard drive of a CD that consistently erred. That's pretty cool. "Hi fi" servers really can't do much that a hard drive and a computer can't do. What they attempt to do is things like simplifying the path and reducing processing activity, particularly HD reading/writing, to minimize electrical noise from the computer getting to the DAC and ultimately into the analog signal. I find the perfect galvanic isolation of an optical connection, paired with a DAC with an excellent optical receiver and jitter management, to be much simpler and more effective. And it avoids the decent into another endless cycle of tweaks and upgrades with a whole new category of hardware (the computer) which fits my goals. Lots of mileage varies on this, as in all things audio, and there are people who believe that the audio fidelity that comes from expensive dedicated servers is superior to what comes from a computer. All I can say is that, given a little care with the set-up of the computer system, there is absolutely no reason for that to be the case.

Tim

 

[garylkoh]

Hmmmm....... I might have to make a trip to the closest Goodwill store to North Bend

 

[Nightlord]

I have definitely listened to both my LPs. I've not gone through all the latest CDs I've bought. But I have definitely compensated by listening to a lot of records I don't have though Spotify.

 

[Bruce B]

Not even close!

 

[treitz3]

That would be an undisputed "no", Dave.

 

[rockitman]

I listen to every lp I buy before putting them away in the rack. Because my auto deske record cleaner has been in repairs for a month now, I have a back log of 150 records purchased over the last month that need to be cleaned and listened too.

 

[Shaffer]

I listen to every lp I buy before putting them away in the rack.

Same here.

I do my best to only buy what I'm in the mood for at that very moment. This really only works in brick and mortar stores, but it does help to curtail the number of LPs purchased because I just couldn't leave them there. CDs, OTOH, are a bit different. I buy ~75% from Amazon vendors for anywhere from $0.01 (literally, plus the usual $2.98 shipping) to ~$3 a pop. I hear something remotely interesting, find a used disc for less than a fin, and a few days later it's playing on my system. Cheap fun. Some of those were only played once, if in full.

 

[Bill Hart]

I still have almost all the records I bought as a teenager (but still can't find that early pressing of LZ II that I bought back in the day to see if it is an RL, so I bought another copy recently). I probably only had 300-400 records circa the early 80's but went on a buying binge once the CD was introduced. Since I was working like a demon as a young lawyer, I had very little time to listen, but kept buying. Sure, I'd make a few hours here and there, but not a lot of time available to listen. Every trip out of town, I would find a few minutes to track down the local record stores; trips to Europe, ditto. A good number of trips to Princeton back in the day. Visited Tower in NYC probably once a week, sometimes more, particularly after the records were relegated to the old annex. Bought a collection of approximately 3500-4000 records 10 years ago. And am still buying. From the usual internet sources, e-bay, the occasional brick and mortar dealer, etc.
Beginning in January, when I stepped down from the full-time partnership, after 31 years, I started to go through the stacks in earnest and finally had the time to start listening to stuff I have been acquiring for the last several decades. I figure I have roughly 7500 albums in the music room area, and I don't know how many still boxed. Many are dupes- I must have 15 copies of some albums, and in some cases, have never sorted through the best pressings. My records are not even well organized, so it's always a 'hunt' to find something- thus, I am always discovering 'new' stuff like old 6 eyes. It's fun, now that I have more time. But, I'm nowhere close to having listened to more than, say, 15% of what I own. There's also alot of crap in what I have, that will eventually get dumped, to make way for more.
My goal is to get it all nicely organized for my next room, and do a floor to ceiling wall with library ladder. I still haven't quite figured out the organizational system I'll use. In some cases, I've managed to lump a lot of the 70's EMI classical in one place, or the Lyritas, or the old MFSLs, bunches of old Mercurys and RCAs (mono and stereo). And some of the big sets of symphonies and operas are pretty easy to locate. But, i'm really looking forward to more discoveries among what I already own. I am a bit of a hoarder though, and am now at a stage in my life where I'm getting rid of stuff I don't really need. It's very liberating. I gave an entire Volvo station wagon full of car books and magazines to the teenage son of a friend. The record collection will get winnowed down, refined, and hopefully, filled in as I learn and listen more.
PS: one of the great things about this forum is the music discussions- folks like JazzDoc, Davey, Myles, MEP, Christian, Puro, John, Gary, Mike L., Andre and others have added immeasurably to my knowledge. It is a constant process of discovery, and that is the best part.

 

[treitz3]

I buy ~75% from Amazon vendors for anywhere from $0.01 (literally, plus the usual $2.98 shipping) to ~$3 a pop. I hear something remotely interesting, find a used disc for less than a fin, and a few days later it's playing on my system. Cheap fun. Some of those were only played once, if in full.

Hello, Shaffer. This is a bit off topic from the original post but I did just that the other day. Bought a CD for stupid silly cheap on Amazon. When I opened it up, it looked like it had never been played. While listening, I heard the potential within one song and went to look for the best recording/playback options possible. Ended up purchasing a OOP 24k DCC edition of the same album at exponential times the cost. While that particular album ended up "costing" me more money in the long run, I was able to afford said album without blinking due to not having to pay full price for the many other RB CD's I have purchased that wouldn't be worthy of an audiophile edition anyway.

Getting back on topic. My vinyl rig has been down for about two years now. I have had some gear on loan to friends while I have been working on other aspects of my audio journey. During this time, I have not stopped purchasing LP's. I must have a box full of new and exciting LP's to enjoy on the rig once the vinyl rig is back in action. Good things come to those who wait....at least that's what I keep telling myself. I do miss it and the time has come. Just have to wait until I get down to Atlanta sometime after the new year.

Tom

 

[Peter Breuninger]

I am sad to report that I have not listened to each and every of my lps. I have a 10,000 piece collection that for some reason grows little by little each year. I get gifted records from friends and then in turn I gift others, it's like a revolving gifting tree. Of course, I buy the gems at shows that catch my eye. My biggest problem is my passion for box sets. I wish I had the wherewithal to notate which record in each set has been played but at times my mind gets blurry during listening sessions (now how could that happen). I once tried keeping the booklet as a barrier to played vs. unplayed records but then in a tizzy I would flip the whole stack and not know one end from the other. Also, as a box set collector, I have the whole Vivaldi Phillips set and several Mozart sets, can you imagine paying every Vivaldi record? It's terms of voluntary mental hospital commitment! Not to mention each and every Franklin Mint box set...anyone for best of the 50s or Broadway shows for three weeks straight? MADNESS!

 

[daytona600]

..

must have about 5,000 + Lps myself , around a third probably never played in 20years Played nothing but vinyl for days now , 8/10hours per day. Nothing at all to do with santa getting me a Ikeda 9TT
Oh boy this a great cartridge , god knows what the Kai sounds like

 

[MylesBAstor]

Anyone want to come over and help?

 

[Johnny Vinyl]

Anyone want to come over and help?

I have a feeling that may require more than one person.

 

[MylesBAstor]

I have a feeling that may require more than one person.