The tyranny of the greatest hits/favorites compilation CD-R?

Rob Babcock · « **on:** 18 Dec 2004, 06:28 am »

Going back to my teen years I loved to make mix tapes. Half the fun of the music was picking just the right songs for your party tapes, depending on the mood. Not just the right songs, but the right flow...

Fast forwarding, when CD-R got practical, the first thing I used it for was making discs of my favorites. Very nice to lend out a CD-R instead of a precious (and sometimes rare) original, and if your CD-Rs get stolen from your car, well big deal.

But there's a downside to my mix discs- I so often listen to them that there are some albums I rarely listen to anymore. Especially once I ditched my changer. Since I hate to get up to change discs it seems I listen to my favorites CD-Rs even more. When you have definate favorites and some you don't really care for, it's so tempting to grab the copy.

It's even worse now that I have the Eximius software; I can hardly stand to listen to CDs after I listen to a "DVD-M." The DVD2One Audio Remaster is so effective that most of my listening is DVD-A and DVD-R. Since each disc must be made on my PC, and takes 1/2 hr or so, I'm always short of DVD-Rs. And to maximize the return on my time, I end up making...you guessed it, mix discs!

Does anyone here have an addiction to homemade faves CD-Rs? And does it keep you from sitting down and enjoying a whole album front to back?

Rocket · « **Reply #1 on:** 18 Dec 2004, 11:32 am »

Hi Rob,

Quote

It's even worse now that I have the Eximius software; I can hardly stand to listen to CDs after I listen to a "DVD-M." The DVD2One Audio Remaster is so effective that most of my listening is DVD-A and DVD-R. Since each disc must be made on my PC, and takes 1/2 hr or so, I'm always short of DVD-Rs. And to maximize the return on my time, I end up making...you guessed it, mix discs!

Could you explain what you are talking about as i don't have a clue. Is this technology available in australia?

Regards

Rod

Rob Babcock · « **Reply #2 on:** 18 Dec 2004, 11:38 am »

Eximius DVD2One Audio Remaster is a program that upsamples and "enhances" wav.files into a 24/96 file that can be burned to DVD-R. You need a burning utility to burn the file- I use Nero 6. Yes, it's available as a download, so you can certainly get it in Oz. If you click the link above you can download a trial version for free.

I love it, and so do most people who've had a chance to hear it. If you do a search of AC, there've been some discussions of it. You can also ask any question you might need to at their forum.

BTW, "DVD-M" is just my nickname. It's for "DVD- Music." It's just a lot shorter than saying the whole name each time!

Rocket · « **Reply #3 on:** 18 Dec 2004, 11:41 am »

Hi Rob,

Thanks for the information and i will check it out. I'm not technically inclined, i've just bought an mp3 player and i'm still trying to figure it out

.

Regards

Rocket

Tabascosauce · « **Reply #4 on:** 18 Dec 2004, 01:00 pm »

You should read Nick Hornby's "High Fidelity", which is THE treatise on mix tapes!!

Gordy · « **Reply #5 on:** 18 Dec 2004, 02:42 pm »

Even during it's heyday I mostly used cassette to make 'travel' copies more so than to make 'best of' tapes. Probably has a lot to due with having grown up in the age of LP's and experimental rock FM, the dj's in those days tended to play whole albums and so did I. I still see cd's as albums / a musical whole and so play them that way, as the artists and the gods intended

Should I eventually 'buy into' Reality Check, DVD-M or one of the other systems (this really intrigues me!), I very definitely would be using it for whole album transfers!

Cool thread, I'd love to hear more on others' attitudes...

Rob Babcock · « **Reply #6 on:** 18 Dec 2004, 08:44 pm »

I sometimes make a conscious effort to play the whole album, but I'm still a "greatest hits junkie" sometimes. I grew up in the AOR era, too. My favorite local FM station from back in the day, KSQY, played whole albums once per day. Hell, one night they played DsotM.

In the day of the programmable CD player, or taken to it's logical conclusion, the PC media server, is the day of listening to whole albums a thing of the past? Obviously with classical you'll usually want to hear whole peices, not just "bleeding chunks," but is that so with rock? Many years ago, music was singles. Only later were multisong albums in vogue. Is the favorites compilation diluting down the album experience or getting pop music back to it's roots?

electricbear · « **Reply #7 on:** 18 Dec 2004, 11:36 pm »

I make up compilations to use as demos in the store I manage . I usually put about 12 tracks on each disc, each track selected for a specific reason. Track 1 may be good vocals, 2 a good upright bass demo etc. I started doing this after losing many discs to the unscrupulous part of the population who seem to think that my discs are free to whoever has the largest pocket.

mca · « **Reply #8 on:** 19 Dec 2004, 02:16 am »

I make a ton of CD-Rs for that very reason, to get the cream of the crop songs from the bazillion CDs I own. My only problem is, I never mark the CDs, so I have all these blanks laying around and I never know what the heck is on them

When did the DVD2One software become available to download again? Last time I looked at the site, it was till "unavailable". Guess I should take the plunge and try it out for myself

Rob Babcock · « **Reply #9 on:** 19 Dec 2004, 02:21 am »

Here's the scoop- they were threatened with an infringment suit by Sonic. Apparently, the name "DVD+Audio" came too close to a trade name. About a month or two ago they tweaked the interface and renamed it "DVD2One Audio Remaster." You can now download it anytime.

BTW, I've got 10 "DVD-M's" with art crammed into a Priority Flat Rate envelope (stand back when you open it- I dunno how I stuffed em in!

). My folks are in town so I missed the cutoff for the Post (gotta take a package over 1 lb to the one downtown

), but your discs will go out Mon morn. Thanks for being patient with me. I didn't print the discs but I made some art for the boxes. Just band pictures, pics of half naked chicks, stuff like that.

Hope they play okay in your player. They all play flawlessly in my Pioneer...

mca · « **Reply #10 on:** 19 Dec 2004, 06:12 am »

10 disks? Dude, that will be worth the wait

I hope your not joking about the half nekkid chicks

Really Rob, thanks for going through all that

I'm looking forward to hearing them

Tonto Yoder · « **Reply #11 on:** 19 Dec 2004, 01:18 pm »

Quote from: Rob Babcock

In the day of the programmable CD player, or taken to it's[sic] logical conclusion, the PC media server, is the day of listening to whole albums a thing of the past?

My first CD player was a Magnavox CDB-473 (the budget audiophile choice back then) that offered a Favorite Track Selection feature: one programmed tracks, hit the "FTS" button, and the player stored the faves.
Each time the disc was inserted, I had the option of playing the whole disc or clicking "FTS." I really liked that feature, but I don't know that anyone still offers anything similar.

Rob Babcock · « **Reply #12 on:** 19 Dec 2004, 01:21 pm »

To put it another way, I guess what I'm asking is whether CD-r's, big HDs, iPods & megachangers are eroding the simple pleasure of sitting down to hear a whole album. Just like TV remotes made channel surfing more popular than watching whole shows, do we now snack on little bites of music instead of savoring a meal of if?

toobwacky · « **Reply #13 on:** 19 Dec 2004, 03:41 pm »

Quote from: Rob Babcock

do we now snack on little bites of music instead of savoring a meal of if?

In my case this is true. I've listened to compilations, almost exclusively, for years... going all the way back to the 1970s when I used to put together compilations on my reel to reel deck.

Taz13 · « **Reply #14 on:** 19 Dec 2004, 03:51 pm »

I guess it depends on how you learnt to listen to music. Being a Canuck, when I went album shopping with my very thin wallet, the best bang for the buck was the K'Tel brand which was always compilations of what ever artists they could buy the songs from.(1910 fruitgum company, the turtles etc)

A child of the sixties and hooked on radio describes my listening, with fm style whole album listening being the late night lets get into the music listening style and everywhere else being a mixed format of my own CDs.
I am now also in the process of building a music and media server for my home listening so it can be used as either a big random disc or play by albums.

Rick

Adarsh · « **Reply #15 on:** 7 Feb 2005, 07:47 am »

I agree with Rob about all these 'innovations' destroying the true meaning of enjoyment. How many times have you flicked channels in 30 mins without finding anything interesting to watch? The fact is that there is always good stuff to watch, we either have too much selection or just too little patientce to sit and watch one programme out of the hundreds for 5 minutes.

After moving my music collection to my PC. It's actually become more frustrating. There's stuff you just don't like listening to anymore/stuff that you want to listen...and simply just too much of it.

Unless I find the time to sit in front of my System I'll just resort to listening to music while surfing the internet - it's much easier - one click is all it takes to your favorite song.

I tried for a while to listen to full albums but the truth is: It's just not possible for all albums. Forget full albums, these days we might just listen to seconds of a song. Perhaps we've outgrown this stuff.

Time to find a new hobby folks

Adarsh · « **Reply #16 on:** 8 Feb 2005, 11:50 am »

Rob, I'd like to try out DVD2One but don't have a DVD-RW drive. Is it possible to re-master the tracks and then play them on my PC?
My PC has a regular 16 BIT sound card.

Thanks,

-A

Rob Babcock · « **Reply #17 on:** 8 Feb 2005, 12:02 pm »

Definately, Adarsh. You buy the software via download and key. You rip & remaster your CDs into files that can be burned by Nero, Roxio, etc. But your virtual DVD player (Roxio, Windows Media Player, etc) can play them right back on your PC. You'll need a reasonable computer rig to resolve the difference, but I find the improvement noticeable even playing it back on my midfi HP.