Listening to digital music files

[Suave]

Thanks for helping me jump-start this thread audit13 - it sounds like many of us on this forum are indeed listening to digital music files And as music fans, how could we not be enjoying the convenience? Especially now that quality has caught up...!

And as SoundGame says above, there's some new "digital audio" gear on the way to this house - all part of his digital music journey series of articles.

Here's a link to an assortment of high-resolution files: http://www.2l.no/hires/index.html

Thanks for posting this AlienTech - it looks like a great collection of stuff. I'm downloading some right now!

[AlienTech]

actually Audit posted that link but I don't mind taking the credit

[Mike Osadciw]

Beyond CD, my first experience with digital music "on the go" was with MiniDisc. When I was in university and had a car audio system booming away in my '89 Honda Accord (I was one of those guys 15 years ago - seemingly a dead art now), I didn't want to bring my CDs in the car. Scratching them wasn't what I was initially concerned about...it was more of a "dirt OCD" thing that I'm mostly over. Don't ask. Anyways, I wanted something high quality that I could take out of the house without messing up my original CDs, so I bought into MiniDisc. This was before these MP3 players were around, but soon there were MiniDiscs that were recording MP3s on them to compete with the $300 portable MP3 "sticks" (remember those?).

I bought a Yamaha MDX-793 full chassis MiniDisc home recorder and cartons of blanks...and started recording my CDs to MD to play back in the portable Sony MD in my car...and for a short while listen to when taking the city bus to school (I wanted to save on gas and I was already paying for a bus pass as part of tuition).

Anyways, that lasted only a few years. I graduated. Stopped caring. Started burning to blank CDs. But just prior to that, I was introduced to WinMX which was an incredibly superior software program when compared to Napster for downloading. I became obsessed and started looking for all of the rarities, bootlegs, etc. I didn't care about stuff I could get at the store on a CD. I figured if I really wanted to I could get those anywhere and anytime. Get the RARE STUFF!! So I started tapping into people's computer folders in Italy, Germany, Britain, etc., and found the most amazing stuff on artists I cared about. Being able to chat with those users about their files in real time felt so ahead of the game at the time. My computer HD started filling up so fast I went out and bought another hard drive. So my first computer digital music library comprised of 85% bootlegged studio work and live recordings. Anyone pick up those Pink Floyd Immersion Box Sets? The big sets that are $100 each? I bought them. Yawn. I already had a majority of rarities just from overseas bootlegs. Heck, even THE WALL Immersion set, those special CDs with just snippets of demos...I've got many of those in their entirety. The advantage of the box sets is that they are much higher quality that the sources of my MP3s, many which were from vinyl bootlegs and who knows what else.

When WinMX shut down, my bootleg craze ended. I focussed on buying current music on CD. And that was the end of MP3 for me. Until about 3 years ago. I started using iTunes radio...just for the radio...then bought my Sim USB DAC...and only until about 8 months ago did I start slowly throwing some CDs into my computer to rip to iTunes just for convenience to send to my Apple TV device connected to the Sim DAC. I only have maybe 20 albums or so ripped because I just can't justify spending 5 or so minutes a disc. Not only is it incredibly boring, but when I look outside and see the birds and trees, I feel like my life is passing by without any just reason...

And that's my story.

[wawaron]

HI all, I enjoy the digital music format for the ease of use it affords me except for one area from my computer to my Anthem MRX 700 receiver. This is the subject of my question. How do I get the music from my computer to play thru my 700? I use a HD and USB no problems but how do I access the music on my computer or the Internet stations thru my computer? Where can I find such info and directions.

The 700 is hard wired for Internet. What must I do and how do I proceed? I'm no computer geek so need step by step instructions.

Thanks,
wawaron

[Donnie]

I started listening to digital music (mp3s) after I got a free 1st gen ipod shuffle from Telus for signing up for internet. This replaced my discman for my bus rides to university. At home, though, I listened to just cds and vinyl. Now I mainly listen to vinyl, and some cds (through my ADL GT40 DAC). The visual aspect of albums and singles is inextricable from the music for me. I love the whole process of playing music from some type of physical media. At this point I find it hard bring myself to spend money on something as insubstantial as a digital download. I have only bought 2 digital songs so far.