Albums,Tapes,or CD's vs. MP3's

[defdave]

Hey everybody. Just wanted to talk about the differences between when we grew up listening to vinyl records (or tapes & cd's) compared to the mp3's I assume most of us listen to now.

Yaknow....I love mp3's. I really do. I mean, for one thing it's made my job as a club dj much easier as all I gotta do is load up a certain song from my library and there it is, ready to play (with my cue points set, etc).

But when listening to music in the comfort of my own home....I've noticed something. When we listen to mp3 playlists, we lose something. We lose the artist's intent when they make an album. When we go from album to album, juggling and shufflin' between tracks from different eras and albums, we lose something.

For example....go and listen to your MJ playlist consisting of all MJ songs. You'll hear 'I'll Be There' then you'll hear 'Someone Put Your Hand Out' then you'll hear 'Unbreakable'. It's cool in one way, but then it's different...and in my opinion it's not as good as it should be.

Try this....make a playlist of one of Mike's albums and have the tracks play in the original order they were on the original lp (or cassette or cd) release. I'm telling you....it makes a big, big difference.

For example, I'm listening to Dangerous right now (I know a lot of folks here are younger and they loooove Dangerous so listen up lol).....I've heard Jam, followed by Why You Wanna Trip On Me, followed by In The Closet, and now I'm listening to She Drives Me Wild. It feels like back in the early 90's when I first got this on tape. It's awesome to listen to this the way MJ originally meant it to be listened to rather than listening to random MJ songs.

It's like each album is a story book. Just like a book collection, you wouldn't jump from chapter 14 of one book and then grab another book and start reading chapter 2. These albums were meant to be listened to the way we USED to when we were younger.

I'm just sayin'.....for your own satisfaction....one of these days you gotta try listening to these albums the way you used to. It makes a big difference and like me, you'll find yourself remembering what song comes up next and you'll get transported back to when you first heard that album you're listening to.

Try it. You'll like it.



EDIT:

One more thing I want to say here. Another thing we've lost with mp3's is cover art (I know we can get cover art for mp3's, but it's different...it's not tangible...it's temporary....it doesn't feel 'real').

Especially when it comes to vinyl lp's (record albums)....I remember the cover art (and the back) was such a big part of the experience for me. For example, having a tangible cassette tape of Thriller in my hand back in '83 that I would stare at while listening to the album....or the tangible Bad album I would cling to when I bought it on vinyl back in '87. I'd stare at that thing and study the lyrics inside for hours and hours. It was a HUGE part of the experience. Not as much for tapes, but when it came to vinyl...it was awesome.

How many of yall remember buying Thriller or Bad on vinyl back in the 80's? It was totally different than downloading songs off itunes, wasn't it? It was a totally different experience, I'm telling you. Sound quality was one thing, but the ENTIRE experience was much different....and much preferable in my opinion.

Anybody else?

 

[shiiki]

Interesting topic. I still buy CDs but only to convert them to MP3s lol. I don't have a CD Player and it's much easier if I'm archiving all my CDs on my computer.

When we listen to mp3 playlists, we lose something. We lose the artist's intent when they make an album. When we go from album to album, juggling and shufflin' between tracks from different eras and albums, we lose something.

For example....go and listen to your MJ playlist consisting of all MJ songs. You'll hear 'I'll Be There' then you'll hear 'Someone Put Your Hand Out' then you'll hear 'Unbreakable'. It's cool in one way, but then it's different...and in my opinion it's not as good as it should be.

I personally prefer listening to tracks in their original order as on the album. I only shuffle my whole library when I'm not in the mood to listen to a certain artist. But I agree with you that we lose something if we listen to the songs in a random order.

 

[PlatinumMJFan]

Yeah I know what you saying, I feel the same way. Even now I still buy the physical CDs, and if I do put songs on my ipod its usually the whole album. I think alot of real music lovers feel the same. I just hope that because of MP3 players now, they don't end CDs. It just doesnt seem the same anymore with music because of MP3s.

 

[StaceyMJ]

I totally agree with you! I'm actually really passionate about my music collection and I make a point of buying the CD's, to get like you said, the whole experience! I feel like I can't really connect with an album unless I've seen the artwork, I've read through the booklet you get with it. The same with the order of songs. I play CD's when I'm in my house on my sound system, even though it has a dock for my ipod. Don't get me wrong sometimes I love shuffle as well, but sometimes it really is a good experience to listen from beginning to end.

 

[defdave]

I totally agree with you! I'm actually really passionate about my music collection and I make a point of buying the CD's, to get like you said, the whole experience! I feel like I can't really connect with an album unless I've seen the artwork, I've read through the booklet you get with it. The same with the order of songs. I play CD's when I'm in my house on my sound system, even though it has a dock for my ipod. Don't get me wrong sometimes I love shuffle as well, but sometimes it really is a good experience to listen from beginning to end.

Exactly. You feel me. I appreciate your post and the others as well. I just hope more people can appreciate the ALBUMS more than the tracks. The albums are meant to be consumed as they were produced, unlike the majority of artists today, who create tracks first, then they create filler to create albums they never really wanted to create in the first place.

As MJ fans....I implore you to listen the albums the way they were meant to be heard.....track by track.....and in addition...please get the complete 'I Just Can't Stop Loving You" with the intro....If you want the whole 1987 experience like many of us had it...please listen to the entire Bad album in track order including the IJCSLY intro.

 

[LoveBen]

Hey everybody. Just wanted to talk about the differences between when we grew up listening to vinyl records (or tapes & cd's) compared to the mp3's I assume most of us listen to now.

Yaknow....I love mp3's. I really do. I mean, for one thing it's made my job as a club dj much easier as all I gotta do is load up a certain song from my library and there it is, ready to play (with my cue points set, etc).

But when listening to music in the comfort of my own home....I've noticed something. When we listen to mp3 playlists, we lose something. We lose the artist's intent when they make an album. When we go from album to album, juggling and shufflin' between tracks from different eras and albums, we lose something.

For example....go and listen to your MJ playlist consisting of all MJ songs. You'll hear 'I'll Be There' then you'll hear 'Someone Put Your Hand Out' then you'll hear 'Unbreakable'. It's cool in one way, but then it's different...and in my opinion it's not as good as it should be.

Try this....make a playlist of one of Mike's albums and have the tracks play in the original order they were on the original lp (or cassette or cd) release. I'm telling you....it makes a big, big difference.

For example, I'm listening to Dangerous right now (I know a lot of folks here are younger and they loooove Dangerous so listen up lol).....I've heard Jam, followed by Why You Wanna Trip On Me, followed by In The Closet, and now I'm listening to She Drives Me Wild. It feels like back in the early 90's when I first got this on tape. It's awesome to listen to this the way MJ originally meant it to be listened to rather than listening to random MJ songs.

It's like each album is a story book. Just like a book collection, you wouldn't jump from chapter 14 of one book and then grab another book and start reading chapter 2. These albums were meant to be listened to the way we USED to when we were younger.

I'm just sayin'.....for your own satisfaction....one of these days you gotta try listening to these albums the way you used to. It makes a big difference and like me, you'll find yourself remembering what song comes up next and you'll get transported back to when you first heard that album you're listening to.

Try it. You'll like it.



EDIT:

One more thing I want to say here. Another thing we've lost with mp3's is cover art (I know we can get cover art for mp3's, but it's different...it's not tangible...it's temporary....it doesn't feel 'real').

Especially when it comes to vinyl lp's (record albums)....I remember the cover art (and the back) was such a big part of the experience for me. For example, having a tangible cassette tape of Thriller in my hand back in '83 that I would stare at while listening to the album....or the tangible Bad album I would cling to when I bought it on vinyl back in '87. I'd stare at that thing and study the lyrics inside for hours and hours. It was a HUGE part of the experience. Not as much for tapes, but when it came to vinyl...it was awesome.

How many of yall remember buying Thriller or Bad on vinyl back in the 80's? It was totally different than downloading songs off itunes, wasn't it? It was a totally different experience, I'm telling you. Sound quality was one thing, but the ENTIRE experience was much different....and much preferable in my opinion.

Anybody else?

I'm a huge supporter of the album.
Yes, I agree with everything said. Artists put songs in certain order to tell a story.

Most importantly, recent research has shown that the sound actually fades on an MP3/digital copy (so this includes CDs)...where as on records the sound will last.

I'm 19 yrs old, and prefer records, and can assure you that many more of my age range prefer it as well. It is making a comeback.

 

[Earth_Song1]

I really miss LP's!! But I LOVE the compact disc!!

 

[MusaedJackson]

I totally understand what you're saying, And have an explanation, when you make a playlist of songs from different albums such as dangerous and invincible, for example ''Heal the world'' & ''Unbreakable'', of course you will not enjoy them as if you listen to the original tracking order, because michael's songs are many types, there you can find the sad ones, the angry ones, happy ones, powerful ones, and fast songs ..
so if you make a playlist from such a different albums but the same type, such as ''we've had enough'' & ''earth song'' you will not notice anything wrong, try make full angry songs playlist, and so on, then tell me how did it go, Thanks(;

 

[Earth_Song1]

Exactly. You feel me. I appreciate your post and the others as well. I just hope more people can appreciate the ALBUMS more than the tracks. The albums are meant to be consumed as they were produced, unlike the majority of artists today, who create tracks first, then they create filler to create albums they never really wanted to create in the first place.

As MJ fans....I implore you to listen the albums the way they were meant to be heard.....track by track.....and in addition...please get the complete 'I Just Can't Stop Loving You" with the intro....If you want the whole 1987 experience like many of us had it...please listen to the entire Bad album in track order including the IJCSLY intro.

I will do that again, defdave! I was fortunate enough to be a J5/MJ fan since the 1970's!

 

[defdave]

Cool, Earthy. I'm listening to "Bad" right now in track order. When listening to it like this, it takes me back to my living room as a kid back in '87 when I'd lay the record down on the turntable, then carefully place the needle on the record and jam out to the whole record, from front to back. Good stuff.

EDIT: You were a J5 fan in the 70's? Nice. I wish I could've been around more in the 70's. I was born in '78. I first got caught up in "Michael Mania" during the Thriller hey-day in late '82-early '83.

When I first told my parents how cool this Michael Jackson guy was, they laughed and said something like "We know. We used to listen to him in the 60's."

I was young. I didn't know MJ had been around before Thriller. lol So they bought me a record called "Michael Jackson & the Jackson 5's Original Greatest Hits". It had songs like "I Want You Back", "ABC", "Rockin' Robin", etc. I liked those songs a LOT, but my favorite songs on that album were esp. "Dancin' Machine" & "One Day In Your Life" because Mike's voice had changed so he sounded more like the MJ I was watching in the new videos from the Thriller album (and the songs I was hearing repeatedly on the radio from Thriller).

But yeah....I became a J5 fan at the same time as becoming an MJ fan. I was all about MJ back in the early 80's thanks to the magic of the Thriller era. So I wanted to hear EVERYTHING that Michael had ever done. And I'm thankful to my parents for buying that 60's/70's Motown compilation and eventually Thriller in late '83 or so.

 

[Earth_Song1]

Cool, Earthy. I'm listening to "Bad" right now in track order. When listening to it like this, it takes me back to my living room as a kid back in '87 when I'd lay the record down on the turntable, then carefully place the needle on the record and jam out to the whole record, from front to back. Good stuff.

I miss my turntable!! I remember when you could by the 12inch LP's, mixes, etc. AWESOME!!

 

[defdave]

I miss my turntable!! I remember when you could by the 12inch LP's, mixes, etc. AWESOME!!

Ah yeah....me too, Earthy. And I remember when I used to mow the lawn or do chores around the house and get a few bucks in allowance money and then go to Wal-Mart (we had them here in the 70's and 80's.....the company started in this region) and buy 45 (rpm) record singles. That was a BIG deal to me back then lol.

Nowadays any of us can just go download a song with a click of a button, but back in the day, buying one song on a little 'mini-record' was a big deal. It sounds insignificant now, but back then I loved it. I'd buy one song on 45 and listen to it (and the B-side.....many times it was the instrumental) all day long over and over.

I miss my old turntable too. I have one now, but it doesn't work well. It plays right for a minute, but then slows waaaay down. I want to buy a new one. I have a copy of Bad sitting here next to me on LP and I'd love to put a needle on it and bask in the warmth of the vinyl sound again.

EDIT: By the way, Earthy....I added a response to your J5 comment in my post above.

 

[Earth_Song1]

Ah yeah....me too, Earthy. And I remember when I used to mow the lawn or do chores around the house and get a few bucks in allowance money and then go to Wal-Mart (we had them here in the 70's and 80's.....the company started in this region) and buy 45 (rpm) record singles. That was a BIG deal to me back then lol.

Nowadays any of us can just go download a song with a click of a button, but back in the day, buying one song on a little 'mini-record' was a big deal. It sounds insignificant now, but back then I loved it. I'd buy one song on 45 and listen to it (and the B-side.....many times it was the instrumental) all day long over and over.

I miss my old turntable too. I have one now, but it doesn't work well. It plays right for a minute, but then slows waaaay down. I want to buy a new one. I have a copy of Bad sitting here next to me on LP and I'd love to put a needle on it and bask in the warmth of the vinyl sound again.

EDIT: By the way, Earthy....I added a response to your J5 comment in my post above.

I had a lot of 45rpm's!! After I got married and moved out, my mom got rid of ALL my albums!! I was like, "Huh?" I was mad to say the least. LOL! Now I have stuff on CD, but dang, would have liked to have had the old collection to look though, even though I don't have anything to play them on. LOL! Between my husband and I, we have a lot of CD's, and our musical tastes differ, but I have my late grandparents to thank for my music taste.

About the 12 inch LP's, I have Madonna's Dress You Up. That song went on forever, as it was a remix and I think on the back, it was instrumental.

 

[Tenacious D]

Most importantly, recent research has shown that the sound actually fades on an MP3/digital copy (so this includes CDs)...where as on records the sound will last.

This doesn't make sense, what you are saying is opposite.

A file on your computer doens't "fade"

Vinyl however does over time (those crackles and pops you hear on a old record)


Vinyl still has a following, alot of people collect vinyl, im starting to get into it, i know this may sound weird but listening to a record i usually don't do something else, like when im on the comp i put on music and go on websites and stuff. But if i put on a record i just sit and listen to it, theres a whole experience to it.

 

[LoveBen]

This doesn't make sense, what you are saying is opposite.

A file on your computer doens't "fade"

Vinyl however does over time (those crackles and pops you hear on a old record)


Vinyl still has a following, alot of people collect vinyl, im starting to get into it, i know this may sound weird but listening to a record i usually don't do something else, like when im on the comp i put on music and go on websites and stuff. But if i put on a record i just sit and listen to it, theres a whole experience to it.

Ermm..my bad. I worded my point incorrectly. MP3 encoding omits certain sound frequencies (the ones are brain and ear are naturally turned into)..but eventually your ear will decipher the lack of sound...so the sound does technically fade.

Vinyl has a full range of sound.

Sorry for the brevity in the original explanation!!

 

[krism]

i thought i would miss records but you know, i dont. they were large bulky and took up lots of room. and i dont have a record player. i havent had one for years so the records sit in boxes. i dont miss tapes either. i used to listen to tapes regularly but the twin tape deck on my stereo stopped working years ago. not sure why. maybe old age? cds i like but truthfully i prefer mp3s. they are so great. easily to access, store, and the quality is great. i know many say that mp3s arent great quality and prefer flac files but 320k in mp3file is nice quality i think.