[MD1032]

Hey everyone, I need a CD. Almost ALL of my music collection is derived from K-Lite, and for the most part, it's HORRIBLE quality. I'd like a Classic Rock CD with good quality and good songs. FYI, my artist likes include:

--Some Allman Brothers songs
--B.B.King and Eric Clapton duos (eg Riding with the King)
--A lot of Led Zeppelin
--A lot of Rolling Stones
--Some Beatles
--The Doors
--The Who

I'm just looking for a good CD with the best quality that can be had for Classic Rock. KIC (keep it cheap) please, no $200 box sets.

Media Player: I'm currently using Winamp 2.91 (Winamp 3 has a lot of crap and spyware from what I'm heard) with the MAD plug-in (a SICK 3rd party decoder -- definitely try it). I was just curious as to what media players you guys use. I use Musicmatch for burning, ripping, radio, etc. WMP9 I'd NEVER use to listen to music.

Currently listening to "I Can't Explain" by The Who

 

[averydonovan]

For media players, I'm using foobar2000. It is plain and boring, but it does its intended job well. My only gripe is that it doesn't support ID3v2 tags, which irritated me enough with just my Emusic collection, and is now bugging the heck out of me since I re-ripped my CD collection into MP3 (used to be MPC, and I'd use FLAC, but I'm short on disc space). I like foobar2000 since it is customizable and since you can set up a lot of hotkeys to use with it. And it has excellent sound quality, too. I have breached 3500 songs and am looking for a jukebox type player, but none of the ones out there are even worth using it seems.

 

[OriginalReaper]

Led Zeppelin's How the West was Won is one of the best live recordings I have ever heard. Some songs sound less dated than their album versions. The classic Stairway to Heaven is much improved. Everything about this compilation rocks. Best of all, you get 3 CDs with about 60 minutes of music each for $18.99-$21 (depending on where you go.)

The sound quality is great, too (for a live album.)

 

[blessingx]

Keep in mind the Stones are hard to find on compilations.

Since you're trying to keep it under budget, have you browsed Amazon's Bargain Box Sets section? Zeppelin, Who, Dead, Dylan, a million too many Phish collections, etc.

Fortunate enough to use OSX, but if I was on a PC, Foobar would most likely be my player choice.

 

[MD1032]

Hmmmm, can you guys give me some links? I'm sorry, but my classic rock collection has receded to only around 200 songs since I cleaned things out. That's only the best songs, though. I never keep any song I don't like. Led Zepp would be a good choice for me, I have some crappy quality live version's they've done, and although crappy, they're really a lelluva lot of fun simply due to the extra kick that live versions usually have in them. "Bring it on Home" is awesome in the live version but is boring in the studio version.

edit: Got that foobar media player. I'll try it out when I get my 50's back. These panasonic el cheapos I'm using right now (RP-HT16) are very painful to listen to. I'll use my speakers later once my family is awake.

edit2: From what I CAN tell, everything's about the same, except for the treble, which is not as colored as in winamp.

 

[averydonovan]

There's not going to be a dramatic difference between different media players for MP3 files. MP3 files have a standardized decoder, and only those decoders which aren't quite standard, like earlier versions of Winamp, will sound noticably different. I like foobar2000 because it plays almost anything and is lightweight, and once you get it setup, easy to use. The main things with it that will make a sound quality difference is whether you select wave out, direct sound out (if you don't use kernel streaming), or kernel streaming (preferred, except it can and will cause crashes) and also if you use the resampling DSP that comes with it (better than most sound cards built-in resampler).

 

[MD1032]

Well, I really like that MAD plug-in. It makes some details come out that you never knew were there. I still want links!

 

[fractus2]

Rolling Stones: Hot Rocks (1964-1971)

1. Time Is on My Side (Ragovoy) - 3:00
2. Heart of Stone (Jagger/Richards) - 2:51
3. Play With Fire (Jagger/Richards) - 2:16
4. (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction (Jagger/Richards) - 3:44
5. As Tears Go By (Jagger/Oldham/Richards) - 2:46
6. Get off of My Cloud (Jagger/Richards) - 2:56
7. Mother's Little Helper (Jagger/Richards) - 2:48
8. 19th Nervous Breakdown (Jagger/Richards) - 3:58
9. Paint It, Black (Jagger/Richards) - 3:24
10. Under My Thumb (Jagger/Richards) - 3:44
11. Ruby Tuesday (Jagger/Richards) - 3:18
12. Let's Spend the Night Together (Jagger/Richards) - 3:35
13. Jumpin' Jack Flash (Jagger/Richards) - 3:43
14. Street Fighting Man (Jagger/Richards) - 3:15
15. Sympathy for the Devil (Jagger/Richards) - 6:19
16. Honky Tonk Women (Jagger/Richards) - 3:02
17. Gimme Shelter (Jagger/Richards) - 4:32
18. Midnight Rambler [live] (Jagger/Richards) - 9:15
19. You Can't Always Get What You Want (Jagger/Richards) - 7:29
20. Brown Sugar (Jagger/Richards) - 3:50
21. Wild Horses (Jagger/Richards) - 5:42

*studio versions of songs. btw, does that link work?

 

[MD1032]

ARGH! That looks like a good album, but it isn't available. BTW, what's with this gold-plated CD or whatever it is in relation to regular CD's? I've never even heard of such a thing! I'd love some Led Zepp album with quality spoke of in that review. You sure you can't find anything? BTW, thanks for the links as they are. I have no idea what to buy and there's no way I'm going to blow 50 bucks on an el crappo quality CD.

edit: That box sets link is finally working and I've found this:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg...music&n=518646

I have some of the songs in that collection and I feel this will be an excellent choice, considering the positive reviews and the fact that I've liked ALL of the live Led Zepp better than the studio for some unknown reason. Whaddya think?

 

[fractus2]

Quote:

Originally posted by MD1032 ARGH! That looks like a good album, but it isn't available.

It's available: Hot Rocks. If the link does not work, do a search and hit the "new and used" button. I got my copy (good as new) from spun-dot-com, and s/he's still listed a little ways down the list of used. I rarely buy new CDs anymore. But I did just buy new "How the West Was Won" from discountDVD. Kept reading great reviews on the forum.

 

[MD1032]

All right, thanks a lot, I'll make sure to get those two albums!

 

[fractus2]

MD1032, Another Rolling Stones compilation, a companion to Hot Rocks is: More Hot Rocks (Big Hits and Fazed Cookies) [Bonus Tracks]. Have not [heard] this one yet though.

 

[TravelLite]

Quote:

Originally posted by MD1032 Media Player: I'm currently using Winamp 2.91 (Winamp 3 has a lot of crap and spyware from what I'm heard) with the MAD plug-in (a SICK 3rd party decoder -- definitely try it). I was just curious as to what media players you guys use. I use Musicmatch for burning, ripping, radio, etc. WMP9 I'd NEVER use to listen to music.

For those that haven't tried it, I like to suggest the Ozone for Winamp plugin. The registered version is $29.00, but a time-limited demo is available via the iZotope website.

TravelLite

 

[MD1032]

The MAD plug-in is simply an MP3 decoder, and makes a big difference in detail, but doesn't have options and stuff like this one does! OH MAN...you shouldn't have given me that link. I'm going to be downloading that trial now...thanks!