Intrada Soundtrack Forum

Hey, guys - know you're super busy, so whenever you get the time to answer this is fine.

In this digital, iPod-age, I've been a bit curious as to whether you guys can differentiate between lossless digital tracks and lossy ones. I'm sure it's obvious that audio engineers can easily hear the differences, but I was merely curious whether that affects how you choose to listen to the music most of the time. I think I read once that Roger, for instance, doesn't import his CDs into iTunes via a lossless codec but rather with the default settings (ITunes Plus, 256kbps). Do you, Doug, simply stick with the audio CDs on a stereo... exclusively?

Again, thanks for taking the time to read my question.

That's interesting. If some of the obsessive consumers were in your position, they would probably strive to listen to direct 96/24 transfers from the master source, regardless of whether or not an audible difference can be heard.

Wow! I'm surprised you ever leave the house! Sounds wonderful!

_________________
Karl Morton IV

"Enjoy every sandwich."
-- Warren Zevon

Thank you, Roger and Doug. I appreciate the two of you taking the time to respond. I agree that while on the go, traveling and whatnot, there's really no need to go beyond lossy (256 kbps and above). I cannot hear any audible differences while listening with small earbuds and iPod hardware. How fantastic would it be though to listen to Goldsmith's score to First Blood or Basil's Red Dawn on the setup of which you, Doug, just described. Wow, I'm jealous.

Okay, my turn - a real turn.

Honestly, I originally brought this up - aside from just blunt curiosity - because I suppose I wanted to take a chance at living vicariously through those of whom I suspected would be practicing a lifestyle, in terms of listening to music more simply, that I am really beginning to miss.

It seems that life and all that comes with it (in this case, music) is moving extremely fast for me. Honestly, it was only yesterday that I can recall drinking hot chocolate on a cold slab of curled tile while my mother blew dust off her 45 of Conway Twitty's The Rose, asking me if I'd like place the needle onto the record. It was a great, musical moment. We may have only sat for three and a half minutes, but decades would come to pass, and I would find myself in a constant struggle to achieve that same affair with the music I could once feel myself growing to love. But never have I been able to attain that magic again. It was not the three and a half minutes mind you, but rather the entire evening - before and after The Rose - that imposed itself so residually. Of course, The Rose is what helped me to reidentify with the moment long down the line. I still love all the time it took for the moment to hit fruition. Not like now, where everyone seems so musically disconnected in terms of hearing the same thing at the same time.

And you know, I don't drink much hot chocolate anymore, but I do spend a lot of time listening to my fair share of songs these days; nothing so permanent to speak of, nothing of core value born of the experience.

Hey - maybe it's just sad, sappy nostalgia - something of which is bound to remain forever private, like a fever in one's foot. Nevertheless, I cannot help but spend my days trying to relive the past, so much in fact I've given up on most iPod-styled habits as of late and have gone back to listening to all my CDs and LPs on a stereo. It's not a stupid audio war I'm enslaved to either, but a rather drawn-out realization on how I, personally, cannot build ever-lasting experiences by compiling a bunch of various files to jump back and forth between while life pulls me into a various assortment of day-to-day responsibilities. I just hope it brings me back... to me. And I know I'm stepping back in terms of technological evolution, but I've seemingly grown out of a curious kid and into an exhaustive adult, one who shares his lack of energy with his modern-day, musical experiences. To be honest, it's as though I don't even want most of this technology to exist anymore. It's in my way. But hey, this is just me - I'm changing... or reverting... perhaps into something mainstream audiences may not feel a need to support. Its okay, though. I'll just continue to blow away the dust and hope it doesn't settle on anything I love.