listentomusicanywhere

How we used to do it

December 29, 2008 · by listentomusicanywhere

I think the first mass produced music records were the 10 inch 78 rpm discs. I can just recall my paternal grandfather’s joy as he obtained a new one, and lovingly placed it on his huge radiogram, hearing a performance perhaps for the first time, appearing magically in his own front room.

I believe microgroove vinyl records first appeared round about 1950, and it was with the advent of these 45s and LPs the thing really took off. However, you were still stuck to a stationary record player. On the other hand, it was a splendid plesasure to get a new LP, wonder at the artwork of the cover, read such blurb as there might be; and then carefully extract the disc, place it on the turntable, start it spinning, and gently lower the stylus until the sound of that reassuring click as diamond hit plastic.

Round about 1970 two competing media appeared, being respectively the 8 track stereo cartridge and the cassette tape; the latter won.

The turning point came a few years later, with the amazing Sony Walkman. This miraculous device was compact and light, and enabled you to listen to cassette tapes on the move!

LPs, singles, and cassettes coexisted happily for a couple of decades, but by 1990 the CD had become the medium of choice. This gave a cleaner sound, but lacked the charm of the 12 inch LP and the warmth of the analogue signal. At least there was still a physical entity.

Now, of course, we have downloads…

mp3 files on CD

December 24, 2008 · by listentomusicanywhere

I should make it clear that I also burn mp3 files onto CD from time to time, largely because since 2004 my hi-fi has included a machine that will play such discs, on a random basis if desired. More of these in due course.

Meanwhile, Happy Christmas to all!

Picnic: a breath of fresh air

December 23, 2008 · by listentomusicanywhere

In much the same way as “Nice enough to eat”(see Post 2), the next project I embarked on after the Box sets (see Post 3) was Picnic, the 1970 EMI Harvest label double LP sampler. This featured 19 artists, including Pink Floyd, Deep Purple, and Syd Barrett. I came out with 48 hours of material here, i.e. 2 CDs, which are named “Picnic Primary” and “Picnic Secondary” respectively.

iPods

December 22, 2008 · by listentomusicanywhere

I do not have, and have never had, an iPod, though I do have some broadly comparable gadgets. Each of the other 3 members of my family (all of whom are female) does have an iPod. What I dislike about iPods is the default autosynch function of the iTunes software, which seems to me tyrannical when compared with the flexibility of mp3, wma, and atrac-3 systems. While it remains my case that the best bet is atrac-3 files burned onto CDs, that does throw up in, say, 1 per 1000, a duff track. Conversely, mp3 files, being only half the compression of atrac-3 or wma, have proved in my experience to be wholly reliable.

Box Sets

December 19, 2008 · by listentomusicanywhere

The next 4 discs I made were called, imaginatively enough, Box 1, Box 2, Box 3, and Box 4. These were all compiled from box sets, Box 1 comprising Disc 1 from each set, and so on. Obviously the sets did not all have 4 discs, so Box 4 did not include all the box sets, but did feature more than one disc from some. Notably, “Fleetwood Mac – The Blue Horizon Years”, had 6 discs, so discs 4, 5, and 6 from that set are on Box 4.

Nice enough to eat

December 17, 2008 · by listentomusicanywhere

The first disc I ever did was based on the second 1969 UK Island label sampler “Nice enough to eat”. This featured Jethro Tull, Fairport Convention, Nick Drake, etc, but only sampled 11 albums, whereas the disc will take about 30. I therefore included other linked albums e.g. as well as “Stand Up” for Jethro Tull, also “This Was” and “Benefit”, being the immediate predecessor and successor. I have this year redone this, taking out the Ian Anderson interview on the expanded “Aqualung”, and using the super expanded versions of the CDs that came out over the subsequent years.

Listening to music these days

December 16, 2008 · by listentomusicanywhere

Music on the go has come a long way recently, with ever more capacity on ever smaller units. For the true audiophile, however, I believe that Sony Atrac3 CDs are ideal.

I first acquired a portable unit to play these in 2004, since when I have created over 90 units, each holding 24 hours of music. I set the machine to shuffle all, and off we go, usually dog-walking.

I intend to give details of some of these CDs, and current projects, in the course of these blogs.

Meanwhile, happy listening!

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