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Horrific Confession And Puzzling Questions

In what I hope is only a frenzy of interest, passion and enthusiasm, I often play many different CDs or DVDs in one sitting -- although not in their entirety -- which leaves me wondering:

1) Have any other members experienced an attention deficit disordered frenzy of playing different tracks or watching different scenes? I seem to annoy friends and girlfriends alike with this habit.

I know we audiophiles are often criticized for caring more about sound than music which can lead to a "listen to this!! ....and now this! ...and this!! ADD behaviour...

...but I love music -- I swear -- and I used to listen to albums, symphonies, operas straight through for HOURS -- blissfully. And now, as mentioned in another thread, I just jump around like some bleary eyed junkie trying to get some happiness and satisfaction.

These frenzies result in discs being scattered all over my floor, chair, or desk etc, and to be perfectly honest, I don't take very good care of them. Many of them are scuffed or scratched, despite my meticulous care of LPs and equipment. Which leads to my other question:

2) Does this really matter? Sometimes, if discs are badly scratched, they might not be read or they might skip, but they seem to endure surprisingly rough handling. Maybe my ears are tin, but it doesn't seem to really matter. Do those disc polishing cleaning thingys do anything? Do I need one?

Maybe this is all about digital..... Anyway, that's just one of the pressing concerns in the forefront of my brain today and I thank you for listening.
cwlondon
jameswei
795 posts
 
We started doing this in college when the record companies would put one or two hits on an album then load up the rest of it with crap. You know what you want to hear, play it, then go to another album. Perfectly rational.

Classical is a little more complicated, but the same principles apply. You know what passage you want to hear, play it, then go to another album.

Perhaps it would be good if you took better care of your digital media. The error correcting algorithms in many CD players can forgive minor scratches, fingerprints, dust, etc. I don't like the scratch remover devices. They seem to take out big scratches but replace them with a large number of small scratches that the error correction algorithms convince the CD player to ignore. If you do develop some big scratches though, I would urge you to try one of these scratch removers. They don't cost very much.

I always try to treat my equipment and media with respect. We share a fetish for vinyl and obsessive fastidiousness for our LPs. I have extended that to my digital media as well. After all, if I don't take care of my CDs, I won't have "perfect sound forever," eh?
ozfly
887 posts
 
When I am showing my system to someone new, I tend to play a lot of different CD's (listen to this bass! listen to where the instruments are in this recording! do you like these guys?) -- and yes, it does get messy. Alone, I tend to listen to entire CD's or -- and here is my recommendation --> on a 5 CD changer put on ramdom disc, random track. That way, I only need to have 5 CD's out at a time and I put them away before I put in the next five. Plus it minimizes handling. CD's do perform better with good care. I use a Cal Audio CL-10 with the Perpetual Technologies system and it sounds quite good. Option 2: Have you tried meditation? ;-) Seriously, enjoy the music in whatever manner you choose! But, take care of the source and the source will take care of you. Enjoy, and always remember ... Think with your ears!
onhwy61's avatar
onhwy61
4,163 posts
 
When vinyl was the primary format a record ran from 40 to 50 minutes. A typical CD now runs 65 minutes. In the pop/rock arena this translates to more mediocre music per disc. Realistically, how many pop/rock CDs are worth listening from start to finish?
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