Paul's Posts — 15 February 2012
By Paul McGowan
Remember the Monty Python skit of the fat guy exploding after eating one more thin mint? When it comes to music, do we ever have enough?
When I look at my shelves full of physical media (CD’s and albums) my first thought isn’t that I need more – in fact my first thought is that I have lots and lots of music – where to even begin?
But when I open the iPad and click on my music collection and see all the wonderful music available, I want more. Why is that?
I think part of the answer may be a human trait and the other the beginning of a new dynamic.
I think the first part is simple and I’ll give you a food analogy to explain it. When I sit down to a meal I look at it and my first reaction is that’s perfect and plenty and it usually is. But if I discover something on my plate that is surprisingly delightful my first reaction is “I want more” that was really good! I think the same process unfolds when I listen to music. I start with something I like but then if it surprises and delights me, I dig around for more of the same.
The new dynamic is what interests me more. When I look at my physical media collection the last thing I want to do is root around and see what’s in there I’ve forgotten – the exact opposite is true when I open my iPad and look at my music collection.
On my iPad collection there in front of me are hundreds of choices and each choice leads to another delicious treat just waiting – in fact so many surprisingly delightful choices that I begin to get nervous that should I want something I don’t have I’ll be disappointed - so I get more just to make sure my every musical whim can be satisfied should the trail lead me there.
This new dynamic is unfolding in a wonderful way and brings me to want more, not less.
Sometimes it’s ok to have just one more thin mint.
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Soundminded
One more leads to another which leads to another which leads to another…..where does it end? No matter how large a house I live in, I and those who live with me seem to explore its physical limits sooner than later. But in cyber space there are no limits, you can build on and on forever and it gets cheaper all the time. I added a 2 TB hard drive to my computer last year for only $100.
“Sometimes it’s ok to have just one more thin mint.” And one more potato chip. Remember the ad that said “bet you can’t eat just one?” Well that’s what happened to me. My doctor said lose wait or die. She wasn’t kidding and I know she was right. I’m following that advice.
On many discs there are only one or two selections that I like. Recently I discovered Medtner. I also discovered I have a lot of recordings of his music. But the one I’m looking for is Fairy Tale Opus 20 No. 1. I’ll probably acquire the recording made by Tozer who specializes in Medtner. I think the trick is to be selective. Find out what you want first and then acquire just that. I’ve inherited and acquired a lot of discs I can’t stand. I think I’ll take a pile of them down to Princeton Record Exchange one day and see if I can trade for something I actually would value and enjoy instead. I won’t miss them. I think a lot of recordings of mediocre music are made by famous performers knowing that the psychology of some who admire something else they did is to buy everything they do no matter how mediocre just to have a complete selection. Even the greatest composers wrote plenty of junk you’d never want to listen to.
Terry Franklin
Bad music? Everybody has a crap load of it. When I was a DJ at the University of Kansas (1969), due to the fact that we had a British DJ, we obtained a copy of the Beatle’s Get Back before it was supposed to be released in the US. We played it first in America, and thought we were so cool. The song became a hit. I thought then and still do now that it was a piece of polyunsaturated excrement. I imagined that John and Paul were laughing all the way to the bank. Interestingly enough, I just discovered Medtner also.
I will say this: I do not want to complicate my relaxation. I used to be heavy into IT as it related to the Environment. I have had enough of it. I really don’t want to organize my music. I want to play it. I am so Old Skule, that I think an SACD is the best thing since the invention of night baseball.
Bloody Ban
Paul – What’s you’re favorite digital music format? FLAC, WAV, AAC? Given the cost of storage, I’m thinking about going back through my entire library and making uncompressed copies of all my music and doing a little more thoughtful data tagging.
Paul McGowan
Because I am a MAC guy I stick with ALAC. If I had any choice in the matter being platform agnostic I’d stay with FLAC. On my big library I have both.
Bloody Ban
I’ve looked into FLAC, of course the problem is playback on an iDevice. I’m not a huge fan of Flac Player getting the files onto an iDevice is clunky. I guess that’s where ALAC shines. Easy-breazy, rip and forget about it (until you try to find a composer in your library, right?). Thanks for your thoughts on this and other subjects. I’m still thinking about the high end audio reseller business model!