[ultrarunner2018]

Hi all
Being this my first post, I would like to actually ask a serious question;
Where do I go to buy, and who should I avoid when buying my music on CD?
I like "classic Rock" and want the CD rather than streaming or buying from Amazon or iTunes.
As I write this, I am listening to Led Zeppelin's "In Through The Out Door" on CD which I am borrowing from my public library. While I know very well I could simply rip the CD I borrowed, I just don't feel right about doing this. Sure - Zep has made lots of money on their music, and probably don't need what little they get from my purchase, but it really is stealing if I just rip the borrowed CD, and I am not a thief.

That said, I am searching for the best price for this CD, and came across a bran-new Deluxe edition on Ebay for $4.99 from China. Now I know that China has been illegally copying Microsoft software for years, and probably this music CD too. So I don't want to buy the CD from China, even though it is the cheapest price on Ebay.

Next thought is to buy the CD used. But is that really any better than ripping the library copy? You know as well as I do that anyone can rip his CD's and then sell the media. So I want to buy a bran-new copy that is not pirated. How do I find the right sellers on Ebay?
If I buy the CD on Amazon or another retailer, how do I even know that they aren't selling me pirated copies?

Thanks for your input and helping out an honest guy!
Ultrarunner

 

[ProtegeManiac]

Where do I go to buy, and who should I avoid when buying my music on CD?
---
That said, I am searching for the best price for this CD, and came across a bran-new Deluxe edition on Ebay for $4.99 from China. Now I know that China has been illegally copying Microsoft software for years, and probably this music CD too. So I don't want to buy the CD from China, even though it is the cheapest price on Ebay.
---
How do I find the right sellers on Ebay?

Well first off, I wouldn't buy a CD from China.

Second, you can look up legit stores. Like Tower Records in NYC. Best Buy and Fry's also have CDs. Or heck, Amazon. Record labels sometimes have their own stores too, like Nuclear Blast for metal from Europe. There's also CD Baby for indie and old albums.

Next thought is to buy the CD used. But is that really any better than ripping the library copy? You know as well as I do that anyone can rip his CD's and then sell the media. So I want to buy a bran-new copy that is not pirated.

You're not the one doing the ripping and re-selling. Also, you really should rip the CDs to archive them. An HDD in a waterproof, shockproof case will survive a natural disaster more easily than your CD collection, unless you spend on a giant vault.

If I buy the CD on Amazon or another retailer, how do I even know that they aren't selling me pirated copies?

Check if it says "Sold by Amazon." Usually it will be Amazon Prime.

Other legit retailers can be the record labels themselves, or other authorized dealers like Tower Records.

 

[ProtegeManiac]

Where do I go to buy, and who should I avoid when buying my music on CD?
---
That said, I am searching for the best price for this CD, and came across a bran-new Deluxe edition on Ebay for $4.99 from China. Now I know that China has been illegally copying Microsoft software for years, and probably this music CD too. So I don't want to buy the CD from China, even though it is the cheapest price on Ebay.
---
How do I find the right sellers on Ebay?

Well first off, I wouldn't buy a CD from China.

Second, you can look up legit stores. Like Tower Records in NYC. Best Buy and Fry's also have CDs. Or heck, Amazon. Record labels sometimes have their own stores too, like Nuclear Blast for metal from Europe. There's also CD Baby for indie and old albums.

Next thought is to buy the CD used. But is that really any better than ripping the library copy? You know as well as I do that anyone can rip his CD's and then sell the media. So I want to buy a bran-new copy that is not pirated.

You're not the one doing the ripping and re-selling. Also, you really should rip the CDs to archive them. An HDD in a waterproof, shockproof case will survive a natural disaster more easily than your CD collection, unless you spend on a giant vault.

If I buy the CD on Amazon or another retailer, how do I even know that they aren't selling me pirated copies?

Check if it says "Sold by Amazon." Usually it will be Amazon Prime.

Other legit retailers can be the record labels themselves, or other authorized dealers like Tower Records.

 

[ultrarunner2018]

Thanks guys;
I thought of Tower Records, but wasn't sure if they were still in business - as so many retail record stores have gone away.
I read an article online which claims that one in four CD's sold on Amazon is counterfeit. But I guess if I make sure it is actually sold by Amazon I can be fairly confident that it is genuine.
I wouldn't even consider buying a CD from China, but I can see how they tempt people into buying with the ridiculous low prices.

I have been archiving all of my CD's to my HDD using EAC and the flac format. I may even use .flac on my Android phone, but may have to go to a high quality (320K) mp3 if it looks like I won't have enough space for the larger .flac files.
I was dismayed to find that two (so far) of my CD's cannot be ripped properly anymore. I am getting ticks and other rhythmic noises on them, no matter which player I use. When I load the tracks into Reaper, I can see the spikes or other abnormalities in the waveform. The CD's themselves are very clean and free of scratches, so I can't figure why I have the problems ripping them. I have to try the same CD's in a stand-alone player to get a better feel for what is going on.

So far as buying used CD's on Ebay; I suppose I shouldn't worry about whether or not the seller has removed any copies of the files from his hard drive, since I am the one who will now own the original media. But I still prefer bran-new and will go that way unless I cannot find what I want new.

What do you think about iTunes? I have been able to rip my iTunes library by burning to CDR first, but I am not convinced that the quality is equal to what I get from a CD. I guess the only way I can find out is to purchase a few tracks that I already have on CD, burn the tracks to CDR, then rip into .wav or .flac and compare them to the same tracks from the CD. I can usually hear very small differences when I lay the tracks in Reaper, make sure they are aligned, and solo them back and forth. That's when I'm listening on my PC, but on my phone I doubt I will be able to hear the difference.

Oh, btw: Just went online to find that Tower Records in NYC has been closed for 10 years now. I didn't think they were still around, but figured I would check. So I guess it's Best Buy, Amazon (sold by Amazon), Walmart, etc.

 

[buke9]

I usually buy my CD’s from Amazon. I have bought a few on eBay without too many problems had one that was definitely a copy as it would play but it would not allow me to rip it.

 

[ultrarunner2018]

Is there a way to tell by looking at a CD whether it is a counterfeit? Would it for example look more like a CDR than a pressed CD?

Now here's another question about copyright legalities:
If I own a CD that has become damaged, and cannot be played (or ripped), is it legal for me to pick up a copy of the same CD at my library (or a friend) and rip it so I now have a good copy?
I'm kind of leaning towards it being legal - since I did purchase the CD. But I haven't actually read the text of the "fair use act", so I won't make any assumptions.

 

[ultrarunner2018]

Funny thing about Amazon...
I just found some .mp3 albums I purchased there a while back. I didn't have the tracks anywhere, so I must have lost them when my hdd failed a while back - maybe I have backups somewhere too, but I just re-downloaded everything I purchased. Mp3 files, definitely not the quality of a CD, but decent.

 

[ProtegeManiac]

I thought of Tower Records, but wasn't sure if they were still in business - as so many retail record stores have gone away.

Blockbuster closed because they're doing rentals in the age of streaming, on top of which, in HT and video the formats really die off. Not so in audio when 1) 16/44.1 can hold the dynamic range humans can hear anyway and 2) vinyl is back and that's what's keeping many record stores afloat. Even Mission Impossible recently featured a vinyl store.

It's kind of like how the manufacturing of teflon produces toxic waste and teflon burns off the cookware, so now people are back on cast iron and carbon steel, with copper laughably far behind for any actual hardcore cooking like searing and general purpose "ooooops, burned that...no biggie, I can scrape off the carbon and then re-season this skillet."

I read an article online which claims that one in four CD's sold on Amazon is counterfeit. But I guess if I make sure it is actually sold by Amazon I can be fairly confident that it is genuine.

Look at one item and you can see Amazon selling it along with three other stores that have Amazon accounts. One of them is selling counterfeit, not Amazon.

I have been archiving all of my CD's to my HDD using EAC and the flac format. I may even use .flac on my Android phone, but may have to go to a high quality (320K) mp3 if it looks like I won't have enough space for the larger .flac files.

Use Spotify streaming for anything you don't mind on 320kbps anyway and have your favorites in FLAC.

I was dismayed to find that two (so far) of my CD's cannot be ripped properly anymore. I am getting ticks and other rhythmic noises on them, no matter which player I use. When I load the tracks into Reaper, I can see the spikes or other abnormalities in the waveform. The CD's themselves are very clean and free of scratches, so I can't figure why I have the problems ripping them. I have to try the same CD's in a stand-alone player to get a better feel for what is going on.

A computer while having worse vibration protection than a heavy CDP (and even then, not all CDPs - think Wadia, Marantz, Meridian, etc, and not slim, Walmart BluRay disc players) otherwise has better error correction than most dedicated CDPs. If your PC isn't having any trouble and you're not banging away on a keyboard nor making any movements on the desk while it's ripping, it's not likely to be any issue with the PC.

Also some disc players - mostly older units but sometimes even new ones - aren't compatible with newer CDs. These have some kind of Windows/OSX-accessible content and it's on the inner rings, and some CDPs see that and assume it's not an audio CD rather than check the outer rings. This is why I ditched dedicated disc players, on top of frequent breakdowns of the CD transport that I don't experience with solid state storage.

What do you think about iTunes? I have been able to rip my iTunes library by burning to CDR first, but I am not convinced that the quality is equal to what I get from a CD. I guess the only way I can find out is to purchase a few tracks that I already have on CD, burn the tracks to CDR, then rip into .wav or .flac and compare them to the same tracks from the CD. I can usually hear very small differences when I lay the tracks in Reaper, make sure they are aligned, and solo them back and forth. That's when I'm listening on my PC, but on my phone I doubt I will be able to hear the difference.

iTunes does not sell lossless copies. That would be like taking several exposures with a Nikon D800E (recording and mastering), post processing as HDR, but then converting it to a JPEG and then uploading it to Facebook (iTunes) which then decreases the resolution of the photo, downloading it and then resizing it on Paint (burning to CD-R), and expecting to end up with a RAW file that you can edit just like the files straight out of the Nikon D800E. It just does not work that way.

Oh, btw: Just went online to find that Tower Records in NYC has been closed for 10 years now. I didn't think they were still around, but figured I would check. So I guess it's Best Buy, Amazon (sold by Amazon), Walmart, etc.

It doesn't have to be Tower Records. I buy CDs from Fry's and Best Buy.

What do you think about iTunes? I have been able to rip my iTunes library by burning to CDR first, but I am not convinced that the quality is equal to what I get from a CD. I guess the only way I can find out is to purchase a few tracks that I already have on CD, burn the tracks to CDR, then rip into .wav or .flac and compare them to the same tracks from the CD. I can usually hear very small differences when I lay the tracks in Reaper, make sure they are aligned, and solo them back and forth. That's when I'm listening on my PC, but on my phone I doubt I will be able to hear the difference.

Oh, btw: Just went online to find that Tower Records in NYC has been closed for 10 years now. I didn't think they were still around, but figured I would check. So I guess it's Best Buy, Amazon (sold by Amazon), Walmart, etc.

 

[ultrarunner2018]

I don't want to get into streaming; especially not on my phone, as I don't have an unlimited data plan. Matter of fact, I am on TracFone and have very limited data. But my phone has 128GB SD card, so I can fit quite a lot of music on it. I may have to continue using .mp3 for the phone - but will do the conversion at 320Kb, and not the 192 I have been using. That said, if I can fit everything I want in .flac format, that is what I will use. But I doubt that I would be able to tell the difference between the .flac and a good .mp3 while out running, using the Koss SportaPro headphones. But at my PC where I have a pair of ATH-M50X and Behringer UMC202HD AI, I certainly can hear the difference between the 192K mp3's and the .flac. I don't know about 320K mp3, but I am using .flac on the PC for archival purposes, so that is what I listen to there.

Apparently, the .mp3's I purchased and downloaded from Amazon were encoded at a lower quality, as they don't sound all that good (compared to .flac). But I don't yet have the CD's for some of those tracks, so for now it's all I have.

 

[ultrarunner2018]

Update: I tried one of the damaged CD's in a stand-alone (Sony 5-CD changer - home unit) player, and heard the same noise on the music that I heard when I played it on my computer's DVD player. So at least I know that it is a damaged CD, and that I need to replace it.

 

[ProtegeManiac]

I don't want to get into streaming; especially not on my phone, as I don't have an unlimited data plan. Matter of fact, I am on TracFone and have very limited data. But my phone has 128GB SD card, so I can fit quite a lot of music on it. I may have to continue using .mp3 for the phone - but will do the conversion at 320Kb, and not the 192 I have been using. That said, if I can fit everything I want in .flac format, that is what I will use.

There's the Seagate portable wireless drive or some Kingston wireless thumb drives (smaller capacity but smaller) in case you need more than the 128gb SD card in the phone.

 

[ultrarunner2018]

I can get a 256GB card for the phone, but I think that what I can fit on the 128G will suffice -I can always create playlists in MusicBee to export only tracks I want to hear. The wireless "NAS" would be an idea, but kind of difficult to carry with me when I'm running...

 

[ProtegeManiac]

I can get a 256GB card for the phone, but I think that what I can fit on the 128G will suffice -I can always create playlists in MusicBee to export only tracks I want to hear. The wireless "NAS" would be an idea, but kind of difficult to carry with me when I'm running...

I meant put your favorite music and maybe if you have specific workout music on the 128gb microSD and then for everything else you can put them on the wireless drive and take them everywhere else. Unless you don't stop for weeks there's no way you can go through 128gb of music in one run.

 

[ultrarunner2018]

I meant put your favorite music and maybe if you have specific workout music on the 128gb microSD and then for everything else you can put them on the wireless drive and take them everywhere else. Unless you don't stop for weeks there's no way you can go through 128gb of music in one run.

OK. I hear you. Sometimes though, I just like the idea of having my entire music library in my phone. I can do that with the 192-210K mp3's I have been listening to, but if I decide to upgrade to higher quality format, I won't be able to have everything on the 128G uSD card.
I had been using the "good" quality variable bit-rate 192-210K but I think I'm going to start using something with higher quality. Perhaps I'll just upload the .flac files I have been ripping from my CD's, or perhaps use 320K mp3, or maybe .ogg. I'll have to experiment with formats, and what my ears can hear. On the PC, I am using .flac exclusively now, but I doubt that I will be able to tell the difference between a losless and high quality lossy format on the phone.
I believe the player I am using (PowerAmp) can play anything except the protected (iTunes) files.