[Roy G. Biv]

@Rensek -- Ripping CD's to FLAC with metadata ain't hard. Ripping Cassettes and 8-Track tapes to FLAC with metadata is HARD!! I have an entire Columbia House Record Club collection I've been working on getting to disc for the last 20 years!!

Showing your age a little! I remember the Columbia Record House days. Sounded like the best deal ever when signing up then the worst deal ever when trying to get out. Kind of like trying to get out of your cable TV service. Good luck getting everything to digital!

 

[Ripper2860]

When I worked at Tower Records in the 90s, we were trained how to recognize Columbia House CDs so we could catch people returning them for a refund. (Scam: Buy CH CDs on the cheap, then buy Tower CDs at full price, then return the CH CDs with the Tower receipt.)

Sneaky. I just don't think like that. Not a devious bone in my body, I guess.

BTW -- Columbia House CDs were way after my dalliance with CHR. Cassettes and LPs were the thing in my day.


Interesting ...

https://music.avclub.com/four-columbia-house-insiders-explain-the-shady-math-beh-1798280580

 

[Roy G. Biv]

Interesting ...

https://music.avclub.com/four-columbia-house-insiders-explain-the-shady-math-beh-1798280580

A fun read. Thanks for posting it. I got in and back out as soon as possible. Fun thinking back of the 'stamps' that one would attach to the order form.

 

[Tim van der Leeuw]

Unrelated—has anybody tried the Ragnarok 2 as an headphone amp and compared it to the Jotunheim? I’m curious how Pivot Point compares to its bigger brother Nexus.

I have both, but haven't used the Ragnarok 2 as a headphone amp. So I can't compare yet, but I could set it up for you if you're (still) interested.

I have a Bifrost 2 as input for the Ragnarok 2, the Jotunheim has a D/S 4490 DAC built-in but I could set up both so that they use the Bifrost 2 for input. (One of them would have to get balanced and the other single-ended inputs, in that case).

I'm not sure when I'd get round to setting that up for comparison though, as the Jotunheim sits on my desk but the Ragnarok 2 below the TV and I'd need to move both together and also find a place to sit comfortably enough to listen, and swap the headphones between amps!

Anyway I'm kind of interested in the comparison anyway so I might do that one of these days.

(Headphone is a lowly Sennheiser HD59X Drop edition)

 

[565hunter]

Moon Audio does rent them. I would also let mine go relatively cheaply.

I’m interested in acquiring it!

 

[Rensek]

Interesting ...

https://music.avclub.com/four-columbia-house-insiders-explain-the-shady-math-beh-1798280580

A fun read. Thanks for posting it. I got in and back out as soon as possible. Fun thinking back of the 'stamps' that one would attach to the order form.

An excerpt taken from that article.

"it too was mirroring what has become a standardization on the internet. What you have is ways to buy crap that tries to pretend that it’s not just ways to buy crap."

Hmmmm does that remind anyone of something?

 

[bcowen]

I have an entire Columbia House Record Club collection I've been working on getting to disc for the last 20 years!!

You should probably take a week off, relax a bit, and then get back to it.

 

[valiant66]

The payback is turning the stereo on, opening Roon on the iPad, picking out an album and hitting 'play'. That, for me, is the best part about digital.

Running my finger along the spines of my CD rack while musing “what do I feel like listening to?” then going “Hey! I haven’t heard that in ages!” is, for me, the best part of physical.

I haven’t found anything digital that matches that experience.

There’s a system called Kaleidescape that improves on physical, but it’s only for movies and an installation is north of $10k. I wish wish wish there was a software that did something similar for music, but Kaleidescape has a lock on the interface.
.

 

[bcowen]

Yeah makes sense. I just have a bunch of old vinyl bought second hand. The TT is setup, I just put a record down and listen. Usually at night, with scotch mod. My take on vinyl is pure enjoyment. No nervosa allowed. Yet .

You don't mean you put a second-hand LP on the platter without first giving it a good 12 minute ultrasonic cleaning followed by a distilled water rinse and vacuum on the VPI? Oh, man, now *I* have nervosa just envisioning the horror. If I was your stylus I'd hate you.

 

[macdonjh]

I don't mind not having my CDs to browse through anymore. If I want to hear "forgotten tracks" I ask MediaCenter for songs I haven't played in X months and let it go.

I've been asking JRiver to create a flag or something in the software that would allow users to treat synching a DAP/ phone the same as playing a track. That way, whenever I synch a song to a DAP the "last played" date would get updated and I wouldn't see it in my "forgotten tracks" list for a while. The JRiver folks haven't taken up my idea yet.

 

[Rensek]

You don't mean you put a second-hand LP on the platter without first giving it a good 12 minute ultrasonic cleaning followed by a distilled water rinse and vacuum on the VPI? Oh, man, now *I* have nervosa just envisioning the horror. If I was your stylus I'd hate you.

Who hates who more? The record because of the stainless steel needle AND TIP that is creating new sounds as it carves away the old ones? Or the stylus, because my records are so full of Cheeto dust and dried coca cola that all the stylus can do is try to determine whether it was cheese or flaming hot flavored ?

 

[ev666il]

I have both, but haven't used the Ragnarok 2 as a headphone amp. So I can't compare yet, but I could set it up for you if you're (still) interested.

Very interested—more so knowing you'd be feeding both through a Bifrost 2, which is what I'd be using with the Jotunheim if I bought one. This comparison would determine whether I bought a Jot now or waited for a Jot Nexus, so ... no pressure

 

[valiant66]

It's not that difficult. When I go and buy used CD's, I'll usually come home with 20 - 50 of them and I'll just sit and rip them while watching TV, or listening to music and it usually only takes maybe a minute of actual "work" per CD on my part the rest is waiting for the CD to rip which can vary quite a bit. I've had some that will rip in under a minute while others can take up to10 minutes.

The ripping is not what takes the most time - it’s dealing with metadata. Sure, if you buy a popular mainstream CD everything including the cover art is there. But if you prefer older rarities, there’s a chance the metadata is garbled and there’s no cover. So now you choose between google/discogs versus scanning the booklet. Either way there’s photoshop (or equivalent) involved, and it all takes longer than ripping the actual CD.
.

 

[yonson]

Showing your age a little! I remember the Columbia Record House days. Sounded like the best deal ever when signing up then the worst deal ever when trying to get out. Kind of like trying to get out of your cable TV service. Good luck getting everything to digital!

Hehe, I used to have multiple accounts setup with both Columbia House and BMG. BMG was easy, you just needed to buy 1 CD and you were fulfilled. I'd then cancel that account and wait a couple months before signing up again. Columbia House was a little more difficult because I believe you had to buy 6 CD's to be fulfilled, but I'd do the same with them.

 

[yonson]

Sneaky. I just don't think like that. Not a devious bone in my body, I guess.

BTW -- Columbia House CDs were way after my dalliance with CHR. Cassettes and LPs were the thing in my day.


Interesting ...

https://music.avclub.com/four-columbia-house-insiders-explain-the-shady-math-beh-1798280580

Yeah, my Mom would have tanned my hide if I had tried something like that...

The ripping is not what takes the most time - it’s dealing with metadata. Sure, if you buy a popular mainstream CD everything including the cover art is there. But if you prefer older rarities, there’s a chance the metadata is garbled and there’s no cover. So now you choose between google/discogs versus scanning the booklet. Either way there’s photoshop (or equivalent) involved, and it all takes longer than ripping the actual CD. .

Yeah, most everything I've gotten has had metadata, the ones that don't I'm not worried about covers since the Oppo 205 doesn't use them, and it doesn't take long to type in the names etc...