Anyone using Napster?
 

"Larry" wrote in message
...
Harry Krause wrote in news:4nsl1gFbtlj5U1
@individual.net:

There are many problems with music downloaded via "binary" newsgroups,
not the least of which is... low-fi.


Horse****. There isn't any difference between 44.1Kbps and 44.1Kbps.

For you audiofools, there are even FLAC newsgroups where uncompressing a
FLAC file gets you the same bits as was on the original disk, but you
can't tell the difference. Music is all sampled at 44.1Kbps.

SNIP

The one variable to cannot control is the user on the other end, and how
he/she has the software set up during the ripping process. In my previous
band, the guitarist handed out CDs containing the initial list of songs we
were going to perform. They sounded nasty on my REAL stereo, or high quality
headphones. I noticed the file sizes were sometimes 1/10th of what I got if
I ripped the same songs from the original artist's CDs. For reasons he could
never explain*, he'd set up his software for maximum compression.

Don't claim that it's impossible or unlikely to receive music whose quality
doesn't suit your purposes.

*Probably didn't realize he'd done it. Or, he was trying to save money on
CDs

Anyone using Napster?
 

Don't be so cheap.

I'm not being cheap. Rather, I often look for music that's quite obscure,
and I usually need it NOW, for various reasons. No time to post a request
in a newsgroup and hope someone lights up and offers the music 4 days
later.


Unless you have a warehouse full of records, or live in a
very large city & don't mind driving around to all the
2nd-hand music stores to hunt thru their bins, there's no
reliable way to find obscure music.

The internet makes it somwhat easier, but not that much really.



There are many problems with music downloaded via "binary" newsgroups, not
the least of which is... low-fi.


That depends very much on what you get... the luck of the
draw. I downloaded quite a bit a few days ago. Some was so
lo-fi it wasn't worth keeping, some had big skips, some was
listenable, some was great.

Among the stuff I downloaded off a binary newsgroup was a
lot of Bach preludes & fuges, they sounded awesome.

At this point, I still haven't converted all my CDs to mp3
files, so I have plenty to do without hunting for more
stuff; but what I downloaded was mostly pretty good, worth
adding to the mix. I'm not going to complain about low
fidelity because it didn't cost me anything but time, and
not much of that.

Regards
Doug King

Anyone using Napster?
 

That depends very much on what you get... the luck of the
draw. I downloaded quite a bit a few days ago. Some was so
lo-fi it wasn't worth keeping, some had big skips, some was
listenable, some was great.


Shortwave Sportfishing wrote:
When you are down loading, do you pay attention to the bit rate off
the binary groups?


Yes, it helps weed out the ones not worth even the time to
download/decode.


Because I'm interested in techno/dance and "world" music (meaning
performers and music indigenous to cultures or social groups) I haunt
some of those binary groups. I almost never download anything that
isn't 128 bps or higher because the fidelity at lower bit rates just
doesn't make it worthwhile.

And when I upload something, I always convert at a minimum of 128.

Actually 128 can sound pretty good if it's done right. Some
of the stuff I've downloaded at much higher bitrates has
sounded awful... muddy, scratchy, possibly recorded from a
record player... for stuff that's so obscure it's not
available on CD, maybe worth fooling with.

I downloaded a lot of Yes albums that sounded terrible, had
big skips, mixed chunks of different songs, etc etc. They
were supposedly at 320bps, I trashcanned all of it. CDs
aren't that expensive ;)

DSK

Anyone using Napster?
 

wrote in message
...
On Tue, 26 Sep 2006 13:19:42 GMT, "JoeSpareBedroom"
wrote:

For reasons he could
never explain*, he'd set up his software for maximum compression.

Don't claim that it's impossible or unlikely to receive music whose
quality
doesn't suit your purposes.


Guys who post bad sounding stuff usually get their ass flamed off.
There are plenty of discriminationg ears on ABSM newsgroups who demand
quality rips. I, on the other hand, spent so much time in computer
rooms that "FM quality" is fine with me. My suggestion is to try it
and if you don't like it buy the CD or pay the Russian mob to rip you
one you will be happy with.

Virtually all the music I listen to is heard on a real stereo, and for
reasons I can't explain, there is a certain point in the compression scheme
where I can hear the music developing sort of an "edge" in the higher
frequencies. The only time I crank up the compression is if I'm emailing it
to another musician, along with the question "This is the version I'm
talking about - have you heard it?" In those instances, it's assumed that if
he wants a permanent version, he'll go find it.