"However I never convert my classical CDs to mp3 because the dynamics are lost and there's such a difference in volume levels it doesn't work in the car."
 
one plus with itunes is volume levelling between tracks,especially when mixing new and old,especially considering the loudness wars.....
 
cheers 

I still have about 100 DDD Classical CD's sitting in a box waiting for me to someday get another "real" stereo and another jukebox...
 
@Dan - MediaMonkey can now do advanced criteria including using another playlist (smart or not) as its input, however, I just remembered that smart playlists are not available with their free product - they're only available to Gold members.

Generally speaking, classical music compresses better than some other things(for classical ensembles at least).
 
There is no correlation between the "seriousness" of music - or the pretentiousness of it's listeners - and how well it compresses. What matters is how effective what's there is at masking other stuff.
 
Also, mp3 doesn't really do dynamic compression, at least not on a macro scale. I think there's a lot of confusion regarding this because your average "civilian" off the street doesn't really quite understand what dynamic compression is, and thus easily confuses it with data compression when "overcompressed music" is being discussed.
 
And it doesn't help that some audio marketing folks perpetuate this by always bringing up dynamic compression and loudness wars whenever talking about mp3's vs. CD vs. higher res (or whatever they're selling). This is helpful to them because though we might understand that you can't fix an overcompressed recording once the damage is done, the general public might believe they can buy some doohickey to fix it, or that the problem is with the file format rather than the engineering and buying a more expensive "higher res" format is the only way to fix it even though it has absolutely nothing to do with the problem.

SteveStrummerUK
 
 
Does anyone else still sit and actually listen to an album anymore?
 
And if so, why would you then want to listen to an mp3?
 
I've only ever bought a handful of tracks in mp3 form, and that's only because there was no physical CD available. And I still like to set aside time to make listening to an album an 'event' - a bit like it used to be when going through the ritual of listening to an LP.
 
Don't get wrong, I'm not an audiophile snob by any stretch of the imagination, but playing a CD through my old Pioneer amplifier and TDK speakers seems eminently more rewarding and worthwhile than listening to lossy, compressed alternatives.
 
Surely it can't just be down to convenience, or to available 'space'. I'm guessing most of those here who are old enough had (or still have) large record collections? Agreed, a large 'physical' record collection isn't as portable or practical as an iPod stocked up with thousands of tracks, but that's sort of my point - if you listen to music on the go, then surely you're not really "listening"?
 
I may be way off here, but I can't understand why the sort of person who frequents an audio-related forums like here, and who more than likely has spent thousands on buying the best hardware and software to allow them to create high quality music, would then settle for poor quality compressed audio when CD (and CD quality or better) alternatives are easily available.
 
 

Yes, absolutely! Everything I am trying to do is related to Albums. When I use Spotify, mostly I listen to entire albums. All the music I put on my computer to play on my phone by Bluetooth is album format. Sometimes I will listen to a playlist or radio based on a song or artist on Spotify to maybe discover new stuff but it is appalling what they think is related to a song I choose.
What first and mostly got me started on this was that I could not get the Salisbury album on Spotify (or Beatle albums) but mostly Salisbury. They have some "radio edit" version but that would be like listening to the radio edit version of Innagaddadavida. Not happening. The title track of Salisbury was cut with the London Symphony Orchestra and is, IMHO, outstanding... so here we are.
As of now. The free 15GB OneDrive included in Windows 10 along with the PRO version of EDDY player for my iPhone is working nicely. Time will tell I guess but as for me, I almost always listen to albums.
J