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The joys of vinyl still lives on despite the music download boom
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ireland
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11. March 2006 @ 00:19 |
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i agree,as a have a ton of vinyl and they sound 100% better then mp3..
The joys of vinyl still lives on despite the music download boom
Posted by Seán Byrne on 11 March 2006 - 02:41 - Source: Citizen-Times
Since the first Gramophones became available, the vinyl record has so far survived the longest and is unlikely going to disappear completely anytime soon. Apparently, LP sales still accounts for 0.5% of all music sales despite the majority of retail and online stores only selling CDs and music downloads only. The reason is that club DJ's, older generation of audiophiles and interestingly, some college students still insist on sticking with the vinyl, even though many also buy CDs and use online music download services.
There are several independent record labels that continue to release new LPs each year and many of the larger electronics stores still stock turntables. The main reason some stick with vinyl is that they claim that the sound reproduction with the proper equipment cannot be matched by CD, such as certain harmonics lost on CD that records preserve, which gives records a warmer sound.
Besides the sound quality, vinyl has a few other advantages that CDs and particularly digital music downloads lack. First comes the availably of a lot of early music that was released on vinyl, which never got re-released on CD or as music downloads. Next comes the cover art, particularly with 12" LPs. Finally, comes the actual playing of a record where one places the record on the table and then carefully moves the needle on to the record.
But why buy vinyl records? They must be handled with kid gloves, they’re not nearly as portable as an iPod or a compact disc and they require audio equipment that many of us threw out years ago.
There are four main reasons to love vinyl, in this order: sound quality, availability, aesthetics and nostalgia.
That analog sound
First, there’s the sound quality, and this presents a bone of contention among audio enthusiasts. Some argue that vinyl records sound better, that with the right equipment they produce a warmer, richer tone than their computerized counterparts.
Just listen to that baritone voice of Johnny Cash on one of those early Columbia LPs, Rhoden suggests: “That’s a natural sound. The CD just sounds thin in comparison.”
The full article can be read here.
In theory, a vinyl record can potentially hold a higher quality recording than a CD due to its continuous waveform analogue nature, particularly when played back with a very high quality turntable. So far, despite DVD-Audio and Super Audio CD promising to offer better sound quality than Audio CDs, these discs have failed to sell well and in their early days some leading record producers were disappointed with these claiming that they could hear the supposedly “inaudible” watermarks. As a result, with each media format properly prepared, the vinyl record may have held the highest quality, followed by the CD and finally followed by the downloadable compressed tracks from iTunes and most other music download stores, which will likely take over CD sales in the future.
Finally, while there may still be concerns about the watermarks in DVD-Audio and Super Audio CD, Vinyl Records don’t use watermarks, never mind any other form of copy protection technology! In my opinion, the one great advantage the vinyl record had like the cassette tape was the inability to support any form of restrictive DRM that causes compatibility issues, something the record labels have succeeded in applying to pretty much every digital medium sold, including CDs and downloadable tracks. Unfortunately, the record's main drawback is portability, since it is technically not possible to develop a turntable that plays 7” to 12” vinyl that fits in one’s pocket!
http://www.cdfreaks.com/news/13175
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ireland
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11. March 2006 @ 00:46 |
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Vinyl records are heading back in fashion with sales up 87%
Posted by Seán Byrne on 12 July 2005 - 19:15 - Source: ITV.com - News
Just while most thought the Vinyl record has been obsolete, apparently Vinyl is actually making a come-back with sales rising a whopping 87.3% between April and June, compared with the same three month period last year. In fact, 7" Vinyl has now had the best 12 month sales period since 1998. In just the twelve months up to March 31st 2005, 7" vinyl sales have reached 1.38 million.
Apparently while DJ's are the main vinyl users due to the ability to perform scratching, music fans are actually making the most of vinyl, especially those into British indie and rock acts. Some teenagers prefer vinyl due to the warmer tone such as from guitars and percussive musical instruments.
While CD single sales have fallen by 23% this year, overall sales including music downloads and vinyl have risen by 52.4% from ~7.25 million (April to June 2004) to 11.04 million sales (April to June 2005).
Vinyl was once seen as a dying format in the music industry, but according to sales figures it is now very much in fashion.
Sales of the seven inch have shot up by a massive 87.3 per cent compared to the same three-month period last year.
The British Phonographic Industry says annual sales of vinyl singles are now approaching 1.4 million. In the twelve months up to March 31 this year, sales of the seven inch hit the 1,380,000 mark.
This already represented a year-on-year improvement of 64 per cent, and the best 12 months for vinyl since 1998.
The figures released show that in the three months from April to June 2005, vinyl flew off the shelves even more rapidly.
They rose by 87.3 per cent from 154,216 sales during April to June 2004 to 288,780 for the same period this year.
I would wonder if the Vinyl sales increase has anything to do with what the music industry is doing with CD singles such as forcing a high price for just a few tracks. Then again, it is nice to see Vinyl making a come back, especially with teenagers who generally prefer to stick with the latest in technology. It will be interesting to see how well turntables are selling, especially since most Hi-Fi systems have not been equipped with a turntable since the late 1990's.
Vinyl did have one major advantage over CDs in that there was no way for the music industry to start messing about with the structure of the recording or medium itself to prevent copying. For example, the only way for a vinyl record not to play on a given turntable is if there is a fault with the turntable, arm or needle or if the record has been damaged in some way. In fact, if the CD (or any other digital version for music) was never invented, chances are that the music industry would still be putting up a major fuss about consumers taping from vinyl and not being able to do much about it.
http://www.cdfreaks.com/news/12097
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ireland
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11. March 2006 @ 00:48 |
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August 9, 2000
DVD-Audio Watermarking Fiasco Continues
By Richard Elen
"Watermark could reduce the perceived quality of DVD-A to somewhere betweena good MiniDisc and a below-average CD," says a leading classical recording engineer.
The record industry's search for a "watermarking" system that would make itpossible to trace the origin of digital audio recordings despite their processing through internet audio compression techniques such as MP3 (MPEG I Layer 3) and the copying of high-density digital media such as DVD-Audio discs, has run into another major problem.
In British tests, leading record producers were astonished to find that they could clearly hear the supposedly "inaudible" digital watermark, during replay demonstrations of the Verance (www.verance.com) watermarking system chosen by the record industry's Secure Digital Music Initiative (SDMI). The watermark must be robust enough to survive MP3 compression and similar Internet distribution techniques, while remaining inaudible to users of high-end DVD-Audio discs.
A growing number of industry pundits are coming to regard the goal of a robust, inaudible watermark as being impossible to achieve. Internet distribution techniques rely on "lossy" compression to minimize the file sizes and thus the download time for subscribers. They do this by using one of a number of psychoacoustically-optimized algorithms to determine which sounds in a recording are audible and which are not. Inaudible sounds may be masked by other sounds, or exist at frequencies to which the ear is insensitive. MP3 is the most popular such technique, but there are several others. The techniques are referred to as "lossy" because they throw "inaudible" data away - unlike the MLP (Meridian Lossless Packing) compression technique used on DVD-Audio discs, where all the data is meticulously preserved while still achieving significant data compression.
If a compression algorithm removes inaudible sounds, it can be argued that a watermark will be removed by such techniques - if the watermark is inaudible. If this is the case, it serves no purpose. However, if the watermark is not removed by lossy compression, it will be, by definition, audible. When this evident syllogism was raised by a subscriber to the "surround" internet surround-sound mailing list recently, Robert Stuart, head of leading British professional and consumer audio manufacturer Meridian and co-developer of the MLP compression system, replied, "This is indeed the core of the problem."
The watermarking system currently under consideration would affect equally both the DVD-Audio system (which uses high-sample-rate PCM - pulse code modulation, the most common digitization method used in digital audio systems for the past thirty years) and the competing Sony/Philips Super Audio CD system (which utilizes a bitstream approach called DSD - Direct Stream Digital). However the DVD camp has been considerably more insistent on watermarking than SACD licensees, with a consultant close to Philips noting recently that "Our stated position [on watermarking] as of the AES in Paris [in April this year] was that we would include it only if forced to by content owners."
The SDMI tests in Britain appear to have been very disappointing. The following comments by Tony Faulkner, one of the UK's top classical recording engineers, were posted on the Pro-Audio mailing list in the wake of the UK SDMI tests:
"...The watermark listening sessions themselves were pretty disappointing in my judgment. Poor unfamiliar dull source material, unfamiliar monitoring, limited value A/B/X test procedure...The only consistently usable track for me was (ironically) a 96k/24 transfer off an old analogue Petrushkha, because the differences were easier to identify...
"...with Petrushkha I scored 75% in identifying the watermarking - on two separate runs. It sounded like medium distance buzzing bees (high frequency ones) with a clogged stereo image when the Petrushkha got louder and more complex...
"...I have no doubts in my own mind now that the Verance watermark is clever enough and effectively unobtrusive enough for non-critical low-to mid-fi,... i.e. up to but excluding DVD-A, SACD and high-quality CD. The bad news is that it was audible on poor quality bandwidth limited archive analogue material to a 49 year old engineer with a cold and "747-Ears" the day after a 12 hour intercontinental flight. For audiophiles paying extra money for a new player and for new discs, judging by what I heard yesterday the watermark could reduce the perceived quality of DVD-A to somewhere between a good MiniDisc and a below average CD.
"The myth about the watermarking being optional is becoming very tiresome too. How will it be optional for listeners to major label output ? How is it optional for performers ? How will it be optional for producers and engineers generating regular releases for major international participating labels ? How will it be optional for DVD-A players and recorders manufacturers to choose not to build in and to pay for the technology ?
"I believe that the strategy of watermarking high-quality material on high-quality carriers is fundamentally flawed if the watermarking is audible on high-quality systems. Further I believe that the testing so far has been inadequate in terms of sample size and quality of test material and methods. If it is audible now with a 2bit copy management payload, how will it sound with a 72bit full identifier payload ?"
Faulkner also alludes to criticism of US tests of the system as representing too small of a sample to be statistically valid. Following a demonstration in Nashville, some concern was expressed by at least one attendee, engineer Chuck Ainlay, who said, according to an article in WebNoize "...the test was conducted impartially, but the only test music provided was a new recording by electric guitarist Mark Knopfler, not orchestral, jazz or other acoustic music with a wider dynamic range and more detail than pop music." However there are some apparent errors in the article, notably the spelling of Ainlay's name, and the failure to point out that Ainlay was the engineer on the Knopfler recording, so the quote may be misattributed. ("Audiophile Label, Engineers Question Verance Watermark", at http://news.webnoize.com/item.rs?ID=9648.)
Even so, it is evident that as it stands today, digital watermarking is in big trouble. After the UK demonstration, according to British science magazine New Scientist (July 22), an SDMI representative admitted, "We are starting all over again."
The significance here is that while DVD-audio players are now being shipped, the always hot topic of copyright protection is going to very possibly continue to delay DVD-Audio for the consumer. If handled improperly, this situation could result in poor sounding DVD-audio and or SACD formats. With billions of dollars in sales waiting for both the software and audio hard ware manufacturers, you can count on the industry doing every thing they can to create a more "inaudible" watermarking to avoid quality concerns much like those of CDs versus Vinyl in the early 1980's.
http://www.avrev.com/news/0800/09.dvdwatermark.shtml
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ireland
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11. March 2006 @ 00:51 |
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Music retail shops face challenge as CDs lose out to digital sales
Posted by Seán Byrne on 08 February 2006 - 00:42 - Source: Rocky Mountain News - Music
Until recently, the main contributor to falling CD sales according to the RIAA is piracy, which includes illegal file sharing. However, even though they are trying to encourage consumers to use legal services using its non-stop lawsuit campaign, this is actually going to have a devastating effect on CD sales, since once it comes to a time where most consumers buy music as a downloads, why purchase it again on CD?
Throughout 2005, 350 million songs were purchased as downloads; a 150% hike over 2004. Digital album sales also went up 194% over the same period. While 2005 seen music sales hit over 1 billion units for the first time, CD sales are falling; which is bad news for independent record stores that rely on physical CD sales. Besides the hike in digital download sales, there are several other factors involved also: The misuse of DRM anti-piracy measures on CDs only helps discourage consumers from buying CDs, due to iPod and CD player compatibility issues, not to mention installing unwanted software just to play the disc on a PC. Big retail stores including Best Buy and Wal-Mart can afford to sell CDs below cost as this brings consumers in their stores, but as independent record stores cannot do this, this drives away potential customers. With a wider range of radio stations becoming available over satellite as well as by streaming web radio, consumers are listening to more broadcasted music than ever before, thus reducing their dependency on their own collection. Finally, there are various other forms of entertainment including TV, movies and games which competes with music.
Back in January, we reported about half the number of small independent record stores closing their doors over the past 10 years. Now, Musicland which runs 7 retail CD stores across Colorado and 340 stores the nation has filed for bankruptcy. West Coast indie legends has also closed down and in Denver, Cheapo Discs closed off its two retail music shops. Some other retail stores aim to struggle on, despite the falling number of customers. One such store includes Capitol Hill music which is working on ways to bring in customers, such as selling iPods as these help bring in some sales. Loyalty schemes such as buy xx CDs and get one free also helps some stores out as this encourages customers to pick out some extra titles just to get a free disc and word about this gets passed on. Thanks to heystoopid for letting us know about the following news:
They're dropping like flies.
Musicland, the parent company of several music retailing chains, has filed for bankruptcy. Its MediaPlay stores were shuttered last month. Earlier this week, its Sam Goody chain announced the closure of seven CD stores across Colorado and more than 340 similar stores across the nation.
West Coast indie legends such as Rhino Records and Aron's recently have shut down. In Denver, Cheapo Discs has closed two stores.
Ironically, all this bad news follows reports that music sales in 2005 topped a billion units for the first time. But that figure counts every downloaded song with the same weight as a physical CD sale. So despite the record number of units, music industry revenues and CD sales are down.
But digital downloading of music off the Internet is exploding. In 2005, more than 350 million songs were downloaded, a 150 percent jump over 2004. Digital album sales soared by 194 percent.
Put simply: These are brutal days for many traditional music retailers.
The full, in-depth article can be read here.
As digital music stores is still in its infancy yet at just over 2 years since the iTunes launch, it is like looking at the sales of vinyl records two years after the launch of the Audio CD. With mobile phones and wireless Internet access methods rapidly improving year after year, in a couple of years it may come to the point where the average user can pull out their portable player, select or key in a song title they want to listen to and it either streams live or is downloaded from the music provider.
While some high end mobile phones support wireless music purchasing and downloading, at the moment the phones and music pricing is still too high to make it compete with digital download services using a PC, however this potentially change in the coming years. On the other hand, as ringtone prices often cost several times the cost of a digital download and these sell very well, chances are that digital music sales to mobiles will really take off as more compatible handsets enter the market even if the track pricing remains the same.
heystoopid added: This information, ties in with the nielsen sales figures of audio cd's falling from 652 million units in '04 to circa 602 million units in '05, whilst paid downloads for tracks climbed to approximately 350 million or so (it seems that record companies view one paid mp3 download track as one paid for cd (truly says something about the quality of product these days or lack there off)). I recall the Itunes breakdown, means the record companies receive a minimum of 79 cents, whereas the profits from the sale of telephone ring tones is far greater. Oh well, if the average punter is, not going to the picture theatre, to view the latest in hollywood's overpriced movie that purports to be a blockbuster, must be spending the hard earned cash on other alternatives like dvd's and on other venues, like live performances. Sigh, this year of 2006 , looks like we will be truly getting the full force the propaganda that piracy is killing both the music and the movie , and that all forms of p2p are truly evil, and should be outlawed and made illegal, never mind the legitimate users! Further, undoubtedly, both industries (movie/music) will be pushing to create some form of daily tax, fee or surcharge, to be applied to all internet users as a form of compensation to maintain their fat cat status! Time will tell all!
Feel free to discuss about online music services on our Music Download, Peer to Peer (P2P) & Legal Issues.
http://www.cdfreaks.com/news/13036
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11. March 2006 @ 00:53 |
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Consumers face incompatibility as digital technology moves on
Posted by Seán Byrne on 20 July 2005 - 00:02 - Source: Post Gazette - Business News
As content gradually moves from physical media to downloadable content, the advantage of a quick delivery is quickly overcome by the drawbacks of restrictions. Back in the days of analogue music up until CDs, music could easily be transferred from vinyl, CD or tape to tape. Recording to CDs is a bit trickier for novice users; however it does not take long to get the hang of it for CDs or Music services. However, as we are at a stage with digital music players, we run into compatibility issues, where music services require specific DRM compliant music players and copy-protected CDs cannot be transferred to the most music players. A good example is the iPod being locked to iTunes and vice versa.
When it comes to Video, copy-protection restrictions get worse. Copy-protection started back in the VHS stage and came to DVDs. As DVD copy-protection was broken, the movie industry is very strict when it comes to DRM with online movie downloads. Unlike music downloads, movies cannot be written to CD or DVD, can generally only be played on the PC they were downloaded from and almost every current movie service uses a DRM format incompatible with the others. Currently very few services even allow movies to be transferred to a compatible video device.
If we come back to physical video playback hardware, a similar scenario is happening, even before the launch of the next generation of DVD formats. The Sony PSP uses UMD's, their own proprietary disc format for movies, thus consumers who purchase movies for the PSP cannot play them elsewhere and vice versa (unless converted to MPEG4 and placed on a memory stick first). With the next generation of DVD, there will be HD DVD and Blu-ray worldwide as well as EVD and FVD in a few of the poorer countries, all incompatible with each other and requiring different playback hardware.
Take Apple. About 75 percent of digital music players sold in the U.S. are iPods, according to New York-based market-research firm NPD Group. And seven of every 10 songs sold online come from the iTunes music store, according to Nielsen SoundScan. When asked why his players aren't compatible with songs acquired from most other online music stores, or why songs bought on iTunes won't work with most other players, Apple Chief Executive Steve Jobs typically tells questioners that having control over the technology allows the company to innovate better.
Some competitors do seem determined to horn in on Apple's strategy. Last year, Seattle-based RealNetworks Inc. launched a technology called Harmony, which allows users to download songs on its music service and play them on an iPod. On July 29 of last year Apple issued a statement accusing RealNetworks of adopting the "tactics and ethics of a hacker." In the same release, Apple also threatened that future versions of iPods might not work with Harmony. So far, RealNetworks has managed to tweak its software to counter Apple's attempts at sabotaging Harmony on its newest iPods.
Microsoft Corp., meanwhile, is attempting to lessen the confusion. Last year, it launched "Plays for Sure," a marketing program that tries to make it clear to consumers which music players and providers are compatible. Under the program, participating companies -- those that license Windows Media compression and rights-management techniques -- label their products "Plays for Sure." The idea is that consumers should look for the slogan on both the players and the music they buy to be sure they will work together. But while a number of player makers -- such as Dell Inc. and iRiver Inc. -- and online music stores -- such as Yahoo Inc.'s MusicMatch and Napster -- are participating, the concept has been slow to catch on with consumers.
As devices addrietary disc, the Universal Media Device, or UMD, which works only on the PlayStation Portable. Just a few movies are currently available in the UMD format, and they cost around $20 each. A Sony spokeswoman says the company wanted to develop a small, light alternative to the DVD with more copy protection.
Read the full, rather lengthy article here.
As the article mentions, just as the entertainment industry are trying to fight casual copying for both online content and physical media, it is actually encouraging consumers to use file sharing networks to get around the restrictions. For example, one may say why pay a song or move to be locked to one system, when one can download it from a file sharing network and play or transfer it to almost any device or media?
However, when it comes to different types of incompatible hardware, either the consumers will purchase which ever one becomes most popular or shies away from it altogether. This likely explains why both iTunes and iPod has become so popular. If a consumer chooses another player, their iTunes music will not work, where as if they choose another music provider, their iPod will not be compatible. The same will likely happen when it comes to Blu-ray and HD DVD. Which ever side starts grabbing more of the market will likely end up permanently becoming the market leader.
Feel free to discuss about onlines music and movie services on our Music Download, Peer to Peer (P2P) & Legal Issues.
http://www.cdfreaks.com/news/12136
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aabbccdd
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24. March 2006 @ 22:23 |
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i agree i love the sound of vinyl its much warmer sounding by far ,being a X DJ i can atest to that
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