Do you miss the album art/liner notes which accompanied vinyl/cassette but not digital download and rarely CD?

"the day the music died...."

I remember going to a friend’s house to play one day back when I was about 7 years old and heard my first CDs. I remember they were Tear's For Fear's Songs From The Big Chair and Bruce Springsteen's Born In The USA. They had a great system and the music sounded remarkable. Before too long I was buying CDs, the first ones we're the Beatles and Prince as I set about collecting all their albums.. Soon it was Jesus & Mary Chain, REM, Velvet Underground, Smiths, Stone Roses and Joy Division and the rest is history...

Sometimes people ask “why does music not seem as important as it used to be?" Well this is quite a debatable point, as music is very important to our lives. But for the sake of an argument, let’s say that something is missing, and I believe it has to do with CDs, lets face it they are cold and impersonal compared to how warm and inviting Vinyl records are. CDs are all top end and Vinyl's bottom end is clearly felt when you listen to it. I love the way certain voices sounded while analog recorded, and feel something is missing when these same artists record digitally.. And MP3s are even worse...

I loved spending hours losing myself in the liner notes and artwork on albums, I loved the b-sides discovered on 12inch singles, I collected vinyl pretty regularly until my terrific turntable was smashed during an earthquake one year.. Sigh.. Anyways, I thought it was a terrific question Simone, and I wanted to answer it in the best way I could!

MQ: yes

MQ2: I wish I could find Neil Young’s quote about his feelings about digital recording,,,

MQ3: interesting question because that’s about what the lasers are reading when it plays a stupid CD

MQ4: yes, and those were some of the happiest hours I ever spent

Most of my CDs either come with a booklet or sometimes even a poster with all thei liner art/notes/lyrics/personal thanks and stuff on there. I really enjoy those all the time.

I don't really care about it with downloads because all the downloads that I get are for free and I sometimes end up buying a physical copy of the album. There's actually some albums on iTunes that come with a digital booklet

MQ: Not really

MQ2: I still like collecting 7" records

MQ3: The time-traveling code from Futurama

MQ4: I've always wanted to, but there's no local record stores. I always spend as much time as I can in Best Buys with a good selection of CDs and Vinyls and I like looking at the load of 7" records at my local Hot Topic. I was about to buy some, but I was in a hurry the last time I went there.

Hello Simone :)

I *love* album art and sleeve notes ~ always have!

But I guess this is because I was fortunate enough to have access to my parents vinyl albums, complete with lyrics and notes.

I was very happy when Jethro Tull and Fleetwood Mac re-released several of their CD albums, complete with full lyrics *and* interesting notes about the albums {Ian Anderson wrote his own, but the FM notes were by other people}.

But I have been disappointed with other CDs I've bought that don't bother to include the lyrics {and these were studio albums, not compilations}.

MQ : Yes, I do :(

I still love album art, and I'd very much like to design for people.

MQ2 : No!

I still buy the majority of my music as CD, and really only download individual songs.

MQ3 : Ummm... binary was never my thing, but... 00100100100

MQ4 : It was only an hour or so, and it was over 10 years ago...

*********

Punch :

Ah... b-sides! And EPs and 'extended mixes' {aka 12" vinyl}...

I remember buying some old GN'R vinyl EPs and singles, which contained b-sides.

I even bought the occasional cassette single with a b-side track...

My aunt bought me Michael Jackson's Thriller cassette for Christmas 1985. I then got Duran Duran's Rio. I only listened to those two for a while. In December 1988 and January 1989, I began listening to pop radio. Back then every thing from new wave pop to heavy metal was played on pop radio. I became addicted to glam metal (hairbands). They were really big back then. I bought Guns N' Roses, Bon Jovi, Poison, Cinderella, Skid Row, and many others. In 1989, me and my sisters joined the Columbia House music club. 12 cassettes for a penny. We split it up three ways. I stayed a cassette buyer until Christmas 1992 when I got my first cd player. I got Metallica's And Justice For All, and Garage Days Re-Revisited. I never got into vinyl. I was never around for the 8 track craze,,,,but my parents had many. Thanks for letting me tell you this, LOL. I have fond memories of 1989. I still think it's the best era of music. There was so many styles of music on the pop charts then. People really did have more of an open mind back then. When's the last time you've heard heavy metal on pop radio? Pretty crazy. Not too mention even the classic rockers like the Rolling Stones were on the charts in 1989 with a song called "Mixed Emotions". Pretty cool to see so many styles be accepted. We need to get back to that mentality of having an open mind.

No, because I don't download digital music. For some fool reason most likely to do with a desire to physically possess things that some adman on Madison Ave has ingrained in me in my youth, I still actually buy albums.

1: So that would be a no.

2: Not at all. I'm an analog dude, I hang onto old technology long past the time when everyone else has traded up.

Examples:

Walkman

Old school Nintendo (The 16 bit one) Anyone up for Duck Hunt?

VCR

3: 101, it's very pleasing.

4: Not so much the vinyl, but its smaller shinier cousin.

------------

Uh, I meant the 8 bit Nintendo.

I do miss the packaging. It let me look at the band as people, instead of musicians.

Personally, I cant afford all the music I want to buy, so in my group of friends we share our music. I do admit most of the things that I do get put on my computer and onto an iPod, but I see it as preserving the disc itself, from scratches maybe.

MQ: Maybe. I don't know.

MQ2: No, I do care. I think I tunes is a ripoff for what you get, but Im not a Vinyl extremist. I think CDS are just fine, and have helped music as a whole. But its always cool to have an album that was actually released in Vinyl back in the day..

MQ4: Maybe at Garage Sales, We don't really have a record store.

Yes, I love the liner notes, pictures, and cover art LPs have. It's too bad that they're shrunk down when made into CDs. Or non existing in some CDs and all downloads.

MQ: Nope, I still love vinyl, but if I download something yes.

MQ2: No

MQ3:0110000101101110011000010110110001101111011001110010000001100110011011110111001001100101011101100110010101110010

MQ4: Not a day, but a good long time.

(Since it didn't print the whole binary, it says "analog forever" :p)

I've only known CDs -- I've obviously seen vinyl LPs and my mom owns a fair amount of cassettes, but my life as a music fan has been all about the compact disc -- but I always love it when a CD includes extensive liner notes. It's fun reading the thank-you's and such. Though minimal or abstract liner notes also have an appeal -- such Radiohead's Kid A, with all the vaguely apocalyptic artwork.

And on a related note, I refuse to pay $9.99 for a bunch of MP3s. Sure, I rip every CD I buy and listen to music mostly on an iPod, but I still love having the physical product on the shelf. It's just more comforting and "pure" than paying for encoded songs which only exist abstractly on a harddrive.

No, I don't miss it all that much. When I was younger I enjoyed doing what you described, but my interest in that has waned over the years.

MQ2- I do love the digital age of music, but I also like to own the hardcopies

MQ3-I'd have to say the Silver Apples album I downloaded

MQ4- Many, many days. But not for vinyl, just for cd's

I do like like them / miss them when they're not there. I think record companies are missing an opportunity here. They are busy suing college kids over downloading instead of focusing on the tactile value of their product. More notes... more photos of the recording sessions ...provide mini biographies. They would do well to develop these things.

Q1-yup

Q2-meh...bit of both

Q3-100 100 1 S.O.S.

100 100 1 in distress

Q4-dusty fingers, often.