Steve Jobs, Neil Young, & an iPod

[gride]

According to Neil, he and jobs were working on a way to provide us with master quality tracks. Is it true that mp3's are only 5% of the master or vinyl? This is aimed at you David and Tim.

[EarmarkMarine]

gride,
Steve and Neil didn't include me in their conversations (imagine that) so this is the first time I have heard of the project. But it sounds like a fantastic idea. I am frustrated with the playback medium and also the music recording medium. Once upon a time they might have invested a million dollars in studio recording a new album where as today much of the music is mixed on a Mac laptop. And certainly the music revolution that began in the sixties has fallen off. Perhaps that was spurred in part by the social unrest and the social changes of that era. I think internet access to music and the pirating has eliminated much of the impetus for both the artists and the music business. I hope they can find a way to return us to high fidelity.
I am not as much concerned with the compressed files when listening to music at the end of a rope because of the noise competition and turbulent environment. But there are many other applications where I could enjoy better quality.
Presently I have converted my library of favorites into several different types of playlists using lossless Wave files.
Also, all ipods for example, are not created equal when it comes to playback quality. If you are concerned with quality this is a subject worth a little research too.
So since you called me on the carpet those are a few random thoughts on a subject where I am a bit out of my element.
I hope others know a bit more about it. I would definitely be a customer for that.

David
Earmark Marine

[gride]

Thanks. I just assumed you have the most musical knowledge as far as tech.

[east tx skier]

Presently I have converted my library of favorites into several different types of playlists using lossless Wave files.

For our purposes on the boat (and in a moving vehicle), this is pretty much the key. With wind noise, most of us are not enough of audiophiles to miss a few 1s and 0s. There are lossless formats (.shn or flac for example) that provide as good or close enough to cd quality audio. But unless you are in your living room or a parked car with the windows up and the engine off, the compressed format, assuming a high enough bitrate, will work.

Nothing beats Abbey Road on vinyl in my opinion. But I haven't heard the most recent remasters.

If you have enough drive space in the car or boat, rip the files at a high bitrate and they'll sound pretty good. That, or bring some CDs along.

[gride]

I still rock cd's. 99.9% of the time I'm on Sirius. I have a kenwood ddx7017. The iPod connect from kenwood sucks and I got it wet so it doesn't work. Any suggestions? Pretty sure I have an open audio/video source. And honestly, I almost hate listening to music in friends' cars. I'm the only one who redid everything and I'm still amazed how much it makes me not hate driving 5 years later. Flea market vinyl FTW.

[east tx skier]

What will that Kenwood read off the CD?

[gride]

Cd, mp3, wma, jpeg, Mpeg

[east tx skier]

We rip a bunch of high bitrate mp3s to a CD. Approximately 150 songs. Write "boat mix" on the CD, put it in the player and leave it in the boat. Works pretty well. We use the ipod hookup sometimes. But with a CD, I don't care if it gets wet, don't have to remember to take it with me, etc.

[gride]

Thanks. I'll give it a go tonight.

[EarmarkMarine]

gride,
Eventually there has to be a movement to return us to high fidelity. We have traded quality for convenience. From vinyl to CD to MP3 we have gradually lost the sole of the music. Nuances, depth, spacial imaging and much more have gradually disappeared. Try searching a couple of these terms.
codec
advanced audio coding
Apple lossless codec
Let us know if you discover anything that is new.

David
Earmark Marine

[gride]

I will. I've read about lossless codec before. I LOVE music so it's sad to learn I've been missing a lot of it. I don't mean crap music either. I mean guys who really play their instruments like Clapton, the bros., govt mule, phish, etc. dr. Dre was supposed to release a new album in Dolby 5.1 or thx certified, but that's been a rumor for years. Weren't the older iPods "chip" or similar component responsible for better audio?

[EarmarkMarine]

Anything that is a Dolby 5.1 mix just doesn't sound the same on two channel audio.

There are a few in depth Mac discussions that point out the audio bandwidth difference among various ipods and iphones based on which chip they contain.

David
Earmark Marine

[east tx skier]

I will. I've read about lossless codec before. I LOVE music so it's sad to learn I've been missing a lot of it. I don't mean crap music either. I mean guys who really play their instruments like Clapton, the bros., govt mule, phish, etc. dr. Dre was supposed to release a new album in Dolby 5.1 or thx certified, but that's been a rumor for years. Weren't the older iPods "chip" or similar component responsible for better audio?

Very similar music tastes here.

[NCH2oSki]

Very similar music tastes here.

Nothing like enjoying an extended jamb session on the lake after a ski set with the fam/friends and a beer....man I wish it was summertime.

[gride]

Agreed. While I admit to bumping some rap(not through the towers) I love playing some good tunes as loud as I want without filling anyone else's ears with obscenities while making the boat crew enjoy themselves thoroughly.