Digitalism

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

I will come clean right from the off and say that yes, this is background research for work. But I will just be absorbing the info myself and not giving any of it directly to THE MAN.

[Poll #940984]

I'm also rly interested in thoughts on digital music and its marketing and pricing in general, especially FORMAT - which appeal more to buyers? Single? Album? Either with lyrics/videos/art bundled up? Single plus a free B-Side? 4-song EP package? "Subscription" to new/work-in-progress artist tracks? (Much mooted this, rarely-actually done?) I get the feeling that the major labels' thinking is still VERY tied to what they're used to in terms of physical sales.

Anyway this is the future of pop distribution and access, so let's talk about it!

Comments

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

Well, yes, I definitely do! It depends what kind of song to an extent, I guess if you're into acoustic music you won't notice (and it'll already be clear you don't care WHAT crap goes into your ears) but being into hyper-modernist r&b and the bobbins, things like crispness of beats and deepness of bass are V V V V IMPORTANT.

[blue-russian.livejournal.com]

I have to say, skeptical though I was previously, I have been somewhat converted recently after having the opportunity to compare 128kpbs, 192kbps, and CDs on a real normal stereo. 128 is pointless for anything more than test drive; 192 is the absolute minimum, but I have begun to regret the fact that I haven't yet bought CDs for certain things I really like.

[chezghost.livejournal.com]

I guess people were so tolerant of 128kbps 7 years ago because of the general excitement regarding the compression scale. It was touted as 'FM quality' and 'near CD quality' at the time. I still have so many mp3s of this bitrate on my PC it's ridiculous although the purge is well under way and the majority of my CD collection (not actually that big) is now encoded or re-encoded at 256 or higher.

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

Yeah even *I*, master of the shonky CD, am trying to avoid 128.

I have quite a few MP3s at 96 hanging around :(

[chezghost.livejournal.com]

i have ripped about 40 of Alix's CDs to my laptop today - all at 256. i've now used up a third of the hard drive (although there was aready some large video clips on there too) :)

[atommickbrane.livejournal.com]

Ha ha - I have some things at 64!!