Submit to the Bits


2011 is the year I came to terms with the inevitable decline of physical media.  I’m behind the curve on this, but my worship of audio fidelity, physical portability and consumer freedom have held me back. Three factors have changed my curmudgeonly, compact disc hoarding ways: Bandcamp, Google Music and cheap hard disk space.

I’m never going to pay money for compressed music; it’s as simple as that.  You’ll never get me to pay a cent for an MP3 file.  I listen to music in four discrete scenarios: in Hi-Fi on the home stereo, on a portable digital music player while commuting, in the car, and at work.  If I buy music, I expect to own it in the highest possible fidelity.  Bandcamp enables this by selling music in the open source, lossless FLAC format.  With a FLAC version of an album, I can burn it to CD with no loss of quality (covering the home and car scenarios, for the time being).  I can also convert FLAC to any compressed format I desire without the usual cross-encoding degradation.  I’m a big fan of the open source Ogg Vorbis format, so my portable music player (iAudio 7, at the moment) is filled up with those files. FLAC makes my music collection future-proof.


Google Music has drastically changed my listening habits at work.  Instead of being stuck with the same set of albums on my portable device all day, I have my entire music collection in front of me.  For all intents and purposes, Google Music looks exactly like my CD racks.  Google Music did, however, force me to convert all of my music to 320 kbps MP3 files.  Since I already had my music in FLAC, this was a triviality of CPU horsepower and disk space.


Sure, I still like to sit and admire the loaded, looming CD racks in my living room.  But my house isn’t getting any bigger, and my hard drives are.  Despite the best efforts of flooding in Thailand, hard drive space is still ridiculously cheap.  I’m now able to store my entire music collection in three formats and back it all up correctly.  Yes, I’m a bit loony.

Somewhere in the confluence of these factors, I made a mental leap.  I started to regard my “music collection” as something greater than the physical shelves of CDs.  The bits are ubiquitous enough to have changed my idea of ownership.  I now feel just as comfortable buying an album from Bandcamp as I do purchasing a CD.

I’m never going to get rid of my CD collection, and I certainly won’t stop buying them; I probably just won’t buy quite as many.  Now the rest of the record labels just need to get a clue and sell music through Bandcamp; my dollars are waiting.

As an aside, this excellent blog is an incredibly useful, ongoing summation of all the metal to be found on Bandcamp.

Comments

  1. Excellent write up (and thanks for the plug).

    Flac also helped me make the mental leap you talk about. With mp3's I had the nagging feeling that there's something missing.

    Bandcamp also makes it so damn easy. Click click click and there's more metal on your harddrive. There's also the warm fuzzy feeling that at least 85% of your purchase goes straight to the artist (or Profound Lore, The Flenser, 20 Buck Spin etc).

    All of that wouldn't matter if there wasn't any good metal on Bandcamp, but that is certainly not the case. I know of a few more labels that are considering a Bandcamp page, so 2012 looks good so far.

    ReplyDelete
  2. i still find it so hard to give in. i have that latent tactile bias yet to overcome. unless it's in my hands it just doesn't feel real to me. and i'm such a nerd i'm the kind that reads thank you lists and stares at album art while listening to stuff. i'd really hate to give that up.

    that said, i know my days are numbered. you're exactly right. it's a change that needs to happen and it's only curmudgeons like me holding out at this point.

    ReplyDelete
  3. To be an asshole, I've heard the difference between an mp3 at 320kbps and FLAC is not discernible to the human ear. I think this is a long standing argument in many forms of media (refresh rates are another for visual quality).But the fact of the matter is, I don't wanna store FLAC files (what like a GB an album?) as the point of electronic media is ease.

    HOWEVER, I do agree with you. I find myself adverse to CDs 1. because they're usually cheaply packaged, and 2.if I'm to spend 10-15 on a cd, I'll spend the extra 5 or so for the record. But the physical>intangible.

    As a recent graduate with a part time job and internship, I simply don't have the cash to buy everything I listen to and I'll openly admit I download a lot of music "illegally."

    I think our age differences can also factor into the discussion as I did grow up with a tape player, but by 12 I was downloading on Kazaa and Napster (boy was that a mess).

    ReplyDelete
  4. ALSO (sorry, I hope I'm not Bombarding) each year I think the only positive financially speaking in the music industry is the sale of Vinyl (up 25% or so this year I believe).

    ReplyDelete
  5. You're absolutely right about FLAC/320 kbps. I'm pretty sure anyone who claims they can hear a difference is lying. But I don't actually listen to FLAC (at the moment); I use it for archival purposes. And I agree; the point is ease. So if a new, smaller, better format comes out (just like OGG sounds much better than a similarly encoded MP3, to which I will attest), I'd like to be able to utilize that format. If I bought MP3s, I'd be stuck with MP3s forever. With FLAC I can cross-encode to any lossy format in the future with no penalty. This is all about being future-proof, and anal, for sure.

    As for vinyl, I purposely left it out of the conversation. I do not partake, but I can appreciate the allures. But in the end vinyl is neither easy nor future-proof, and feels oddly un-utilitarian to me. But I applaud folks who are willing to shell out in the name of aesthetics and aural enjoyment.

    Lastly, I don't think there's a person in the universe who doesn't utilize the vagaries of the interhole to conjure up "free" music. But I make a sharp distinction there, at least in my head. That shit's not a part of my "collection". Again, anal, but if I dig it I'll eventually buy it, one way or another.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Fantastic article. Very interesting and I can understand the love for CDs. I still want to 'properly' own music by bands, despite all the free streams, Spotify and Bandcamp. When I have the free time to have a proper digital collection and system to download and backup, I would consider going all-digital. But for now I prefer to keep buying CDs, rip them for my mobile phone and then know I will always own the music coz of the CD on the shelf.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Labels

3 Inches of Blood1 7 Degrees Records1 A Storm of Light1 Abbath2 Absu1 Abyssal Vacuum1 Acephalix2 aftermath music1 Agalloch1 Agrath1 Altar of Plagues4 ambient1 Amon Amarth4 Amorphis1 Anarkhon1 Ancient Wound1 Ancst1 Anhedonist1 Animals as Leaders1 Aosoth2 Apostasy Records1 Arsis1 Assück2 astrogrind1 At The Gates1 Atakke2 Ataraxy1 Augury1 Aural Music1 Australia1 Autopsy2 Avantgarde Music1 Backslider1 Bandcamp4 Bandit1 Baroness5 Barren Earth1 Basilysk1 Batillus2 Be'lakor2 Beansidhe2 Beaten To Death3 Belgium1 Berlin1 Bindrune Recordings3 Black Anvil10 Black Cobra1 Black Metal73 Blender Theater3 Blood Harvest4 Blood Incantation1 Blood Music1 Bloody Panda1 Blue Bedroom Records1 Blue Record1 Blut aus Nord2 Bolt Thrower2 Bosse-de-Nage1 Botanist1 Bowery Ballroom1 Buckshot Facelift1 Burning World1 Burst4 Cake Shop2 Canada1 Candlelight1 Cannibal Corpse2 Captain Cleanoff1 Carcariass1 Carcass4 Castevet8 cats1 Century Media1 Chepang1 Chronicles of Chaos1 Chuck Schuldiner1 Cicada the Burrower1 claustrum1 Cloud Rat2 Cobalt2 Code6661 Coffinworm1 Concussion1 Coney Island High2 Converge1 Convulse1 Convulsing1 Creator-Destructor Records1 Crom Dubh1 Crucifist1 crust4 Cryptic Shift1 Curandera2 Cynd1 Cynic1 d-beat1 Dååth1 Dark Descent Records6 Dark Tranquillity1 Darkane1 Darkthrone2 Deafest5 Death2 Death Angel1 death metal79 Death Toll 80K1 Deathspell Omega1 Debemur Morti2 Decibel2 Decrepit Birth2 Defeated Sanity1 Defeatist8 Demilich1 Denmark2 Dephosphorus2 Desecresy1 Disappearer1 Discordance Axis1 diSEMBOWELMENT1 Disma3 Disrotted1 Dissection2 Don't Give a Fuck1 doom33 Down2 Dream Theater2 drone1 Drown1 Drugs of Faith1 Dry Cough1 Dunkelheit Produktionen1 Duplicate Records1 Dying Fetus1 Dystrophy1 Earache4 Eight Bells1 Eluveitie1 Emperor1 Enslaved3 Entombed2 Epoch2 Europa3 Exhumed2 Explosions In The Sky1 Falls of Rauros1 Fen4 FLAC1 Flaming Tusk4 Flourishing6 flowing downwards1 folk1 folk metal2 France1 From Exile1 Fuck the Facts5 funeral doom6 Funeral Moth2 Fuoco Fatuo1 Gattaca1 Gaza1 Germany1 GetOverHere1 Gigan1 Gilead Media4 God Dethroned2 Gojira5 Google Music1 Google music beta1 Gorephilia1 Gorguts3 Gorod2 Gramercy Theater2 Grand Ballroom1 Grave Miasma1 Graveyard Hill Records1 Grind and Punishment1 grindcore35 Grindcore Karaoke1 Guns N' Roses1 Gustavo Santaolalla1 Gwynbleidd1 Gygax1 Haftvad Records1 Halo of Flies1 Handshake Inc.1 hardcore11 Heaving Earth2 heavy metal2 Heavydeath1 Hells Headbangers2 Hellthrasher Productions2 High Command1 High Water Media1 Highline Ballroom1 Hivelords1 Holy Grail1 Hooded Menace2 Horrendous3 Horror Pain Gore Death Productions2 Howls of Ebb2 Hreilia1 Human Remains1 Humanity Falls2 Hybreed Chaos1 I1 I Abhor1 I Voidhanger Records2 Ill Omen1 Imbroglio2 Immolation8 Immortal4 Impiety1 In Flames2 Incantation4 industrial2 Inexorum1 Infernal Stronghold1 Infestus1 Ingrowing1 Inquisition2 Interviews1 Intronaut2 Inverloch1 Invertia1 Invictus Productions2 Ipsissimus2 Irkallian Oracle1 Iron Bonehead1 Iron Bonehead Productions1 Iron Maiden4 Irving Plaza4 Isis1 Katatonia3 Khthoniik Cerviiks3 King Giant1 Krallice10 Kreator4 Krypts4 Kylesa4 Lamb of God2 Landmine Marathon4 Last Rites1 Laster1 Latitudes1 Lavadome productions2 Lay Down Rotten2 Legion1 Lifeforce Records1 Listenable Records1 Lit Lounge1 Ludicra4 Lychgate2 Madison1 Madison Square Garden1 Magrudergrind2 Man's Gin1 Manipulator1 Marduk1 Mare Cognitum1 Martikor1 Marty Friedman1 Martyrdöd1 Maruta1 Maryland Deathfest2 Mas-Kina Recordings2 Masonic Temple1 Mass Grave1 Massachusetts1 Mastodon6 Megadeth1 melodic death metal5 Melvins2 Metal Bandcamp7 Metallica1 Mikael Åkerfeldt1 Milwaukee Metalfest1 Mind Mold1 Mirovia1 Misery's Omen1 Mithras2 Mitochondrion1 Moksha1 Mollusk1 Mono2 Moonsorrow1 Morbid Angel1 Morbus Chron1 Mortal Incarnation1 Mortician1 Mortiferum1 Motörhead1 Mournful Congregation1 Music Hall of Williamsburgh1 Mutant Supremacy5 Mutiny Within1 My Dying Bride4 Nachtreich2 Naisian1 Napalm Death5 Nasum1 Necrophobic1 Necrosemen1 Necrot2 Necrowretch1 neo-classical1 Nephelium1 Nerve Altar2 Neuraxis3 Neurisis1 New Zealand1 Nile2 Nirvana1 No Fashion Records1 noise3 Nokia Theater1 Nordvis2 Nuclear Blast3 Nuclear War Now!1 Nucleus2 NWOBHM2 obituary1 Obscura4 Obsequiae2 Ogg Vorbis1 Olympia1 Opeth5 Order of Orias1 Osmose Productions1 Owen Hart1 P.L.F.1 Pact Ink Records2 Pagan Records1 Pallbearer1 Pantera1 Paroxsihzem2 Peaceville4 Pelican6 Phantom Glue1 Pharmacist1 Phil Anselmo1 Pinnacle of Bedlam1 pirate metal1 Plebeian Grandstand2 Poland1 Polluted Inheritance1 Portal1 post-metal2 post-rock2 PRC music1 Priapus1 Prisoner of War1 Profound Lore10 prog11 Prosthetic2 Psychic Limb3 Pulverised Records1 punk1 Qrixkuor2 Quorthon1 Radiation Blackbody1 random playlist3 Red Album1 reissue1 Relapse8 Revocation5 Ritual Chamber1 Robert Johnson1 Ruins of Beverast1 Sabre1 Saint Vitus Bar1 Sarcasm1 Sarpanitum1 Satan1 Scion1 Scrotum Jus Records1 Selfmadegod Records1 Sentient Ruin1 Seraphic Entombment1 Sesecresy1 Setentia2 Seventh Rule1 Severnaya1 Shadow Kingdom Records1 Shea Stadium1 Siberian Hell Sounds1 Skeletonwitch6 Slough Feg1 Sludge21 Slugdge1 Social Distortion1 Soilwork3 Solar Asceticists Productions1 Soulseller Records1 Southern Lord3 Spectral Lore3 speed metal1 StarGazer1 Stockholm1 Streetwalker1 Suffering Hour1 Suffocation5 Sulaco1 Summer Slaughter1 surf1 Swallow the Sun2 Swashbuckle3 Sweden1 Swedish Death Metal1 Swimming1 Swords of Chaos1 Sydney1 Symphony X1 Taake1 technical death metal7 Temple of Abandonment1 Temple of Void1 Thantifaxath1 The Absence1 The Acheron3 The Ajna Offensive1 The Binary Code1 The Bowery Electric2 The Chance4 The Charleston2 The Communion1 The Faceless4 The Fucking Champs2 The Knitting Factory3 The Ominous Circle1 The Path Less Traveled Records7 The Rolling Stones1 The Ruins of Beverast1 The Secret2 The Studio at Webster Hall5 Thou1 thrash13 Thrawsunblat1 Throatruiner Records1 Throne Records1 Tiger Flowers3 Toad's Place1 Tombs6 Triptykon1 Union Pool2 Unmen1 Unrest Records1 Unspeakable Axe Records1 Urfaust1 Vancouver1 Velnias1 Vendetta Records1 Vex1 Via Nocturna1 Vic records1 viking2 Vile Creature1 Vit1 Vitriol Records1 Vore1 W.T.C Productions1 Wadge1 Wake2 Warbringer2 Washington1 Weakling3 Weapon1 Weedeater1 What We All Come To Need1 Willowtip4 Wisconsin1 Withered5 WITTR1 Woe3 Wolves In The Throne Room5 Woods of Ypres4 Wormrot9 Writhing Mass1 Xaddax1 Xantam1 Xenoblight1 Xibalba1 Year of the Knife1 year-end list9 year-end-list1 Yellow Eyes1 YHDARL1 Yith1 Zhrine1 Zosimus1
Show more