synkrotron

bitflipper
 
But I'm willing to give PT another chance. What album would fans suggest to a skeptic?

Hmmm... Good question...
 
My starting point was In Absentia.
 
But I think that perhaps Deadwing would be better...

Agree on Deadwing - Lazarus and Mellotron Scratch as good or better than anything Steven Wilson has done solo since. Also Arriving Somewhere but not Here....
Good stuff.

I looked up Deadwing on Amazon. Is this a rare out-of-print album? One seller is asking $50 for the CD, another is asking $120. WTF? I prefer to buy CDs and rip them as FLACs for my portable player, but I'm used to paying ten bucks for them.
 
At least I'm not looking for vinyl, they want $1,400 for that!

bitflipper
I looked up Deadwing on Amazon. Is this a rare out-of-print album? One seller is asking $50 for the CD, another is asking $120. WTF? I prefer to buy CDs and rip them as FLACs for my portable player, but I'm used to paying ten bucks for them.
 
At least I'm not looking for vinyl, they want $1,400 for that!

Amazing...
 
On amazon.co.uk I can get the mp3 album for £8
 
Or, even better, flac for £6 from Burning Shed:-
 
https://burningshed.com/pt_deadwing_flac?filter_name=deadwing&filter_sub_category=true
 
 

That's insane. I purchased Deadwing a few years ago from Amazon.ca for $16-18ish Cdn. This morning it's $60. 
Looks like it's consistently priced high everywhere - 
Porcupine Tree compilations are all over the place - the band has not been together in years but there are still newer releases and compilations. Oh to be Steven Wilson.

Maybe it's a sign of things to come. CDs will become prohibitively expensive, allowing the price of MP3s to rise to what used to be normal for hard media.
 
Thanks for that Burning Shed link, synkrotron. I've been put off by the high prices charged for hi-fi downloads. This one appears to be legit, but I suspect that some of them are outright ripoffs. I mean, when you see a 96 KHz 24-bit offering for $30 you have to wonder: what was the source? Were they all copied from original masters? Or did somebody just rip a CD to take advantage of gullible audiophiles?

Hi bit,
 
I can vouch for Burning Shed and I've bought CD's off them before.
 
One of the founders of that label is Tim Bowness who is a friend of Steve Wilson. They also act as a store front for bands like King Crimson... And there is another connection there in that Steve Wilson is a massive fan of Fripp.
 
So, yeah, Burning Shed, despite the strange name, can be trusted.
 
cheers
 
andy 
 
 

+1 for Burning Shed, Big Big Train sell their stuff through that site and I recently bought the CIRCU5 album there.

Yes, Burning Shed are legit.