Comment by einr | Hacker News Reader

Comment by einr | Hacker News Reader

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Seconded. I have an MP3 library of about 1000 ripped CD's, and also I occasionally buy MP3's on Bandcamp. A lot of this music is obscure and not available on any streaming service, and when it is, often it's a remastered/reissued/weird version I don't want. I care about getting the original CD master when possible because usually the "24-BIT DIGITAL REMASTERS" that Spotify have are ruined in terms of dynamic range.

So for me, Spotify is a hot mess with regards to what is there and what is not and what versions of the albums are available. Also, it wastes bandwidth which is a luxury for me (I live in the countryside and have only a 4G connection with a 100G data cap) and the kicker: it rips off artists by paying out rounding errors -- for most artists, orders of magnitudes less than they used to make from the conventional record industry, which itself was a total ripoff.

So when possible, I buy CD's directly from the artist/label and rip them, or I buy MP3's from Bandcamp. Then I play them in WinAmp.

> I care about getting the original CD master when possible because usually the "24-BIT DIGITAL REMASTERS" that Spotify have are ruined in terms of dynamic range.

This isn't exactly Spotify's fault. There are a lot of good remasters. It depends.

> So for me, Spotify is a hot mess with regards to what is there and what is not and what versions of the albums are available.

Very true. All that stuff that isn't available for streaming would leave huge gaps in my collection. And for people that rely on streaming exclusively, it might be getting worse: Licensing deals end, favorite albums might disappear suddenly. Then you paid all those years and might end up with very little to show for it. Just remember how Netflix' catalog started to shrink. Is Spotify going to produce originals when that happens? Renting music is a bad idea.

> So when possible, I buy CD's directly from the artist/label and rip them, or I buy MP3's from Bandcamp. Then I play them in WinAmp.

Great. However if you're already buying from bandcamp, why would you opt for the lossy MP3 versions of those releases?

This isn't exactly Spotify's fault. There are a lot of good remasters. It depends.

Point is, it doesn't let me choose. It arbitrarily selects one version of an album which is not necessarily the one I want.

Great. However if you're already buying from bandcamp, why would you opt for the lossy MP13 versions of those releases?

I can't hear the difference :) However, if I were to burn them out to CD-R, which I've done a couple of times, I would use the lossless version. I'm happy that I have the option.

> Point is, it doesn't let me choose. It arbitrarily selects one version of an album which is not necessarily the one I want.

True.

> I can't hear the difference.

That's ok. However a lossless version allows you to switch formats in the future, create lossless and lossy copies. Building a library with lossy audio is a choice you might regret at some point.

That's ok. However a lossless version allows you to switch formats in the future, create lossless and lossy copies. Building a library with lossy audio is a choice you might regret at some point.

The vast majority of my library is actual physical CD's, so I'm good there at least :)

Get those ripped to FLAC as soon as possible - CD rot is a thing. http://tedium.co/2017/02/02/disc-rot-phenomenon/

> Point is, it doesn't let me choose. It arbitrarily selects one version of an album which is not necessarily the one I want.

This is not spotify's fault btw. Some bands have original record and the remastered version available. It is decided by the label/band.

Some bands think the original version is flawed, hence why they remastered it. Others might have been forced a remaster on them by label, or simply know that fans value both versions.

He acknowledged that this may not be spotify's fault. Where the blame lies is completely orthogonal to whether or not it makes him not want to use the service.

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