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Do you still use Ipods/MP3 player/Walkman etc

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135

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  • Options
    #62
    Tork
    Registered Users Posts: 3,261 ✭✭✭Tork


    I put Rockbox on mine and didn't like it so I switched back. Why would your phone's battery be dead in an hour if you listened to music on it?


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    #63
    wally1990
    Registered Users Posts: 1,222 ✭✭✭wally1990


    Genuine question

    Is it true that mp3 format is 'worse' sound quality than CDs disk ?

    I remember that being said when mp3 starting becoming a thing

    I personally don't even notice a difference(but I'm not a expert by any means on sound quality )

    but a good quality pair of over the ear headphones v cheaper in ear or cheaper headphones is the world of difference


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    #64
    retalivity
    Registered Users Posts: 14,000 ✭✭✭✭retalivity


    PTH2009 wrote: »
    Limewire

    jesus those were the days, remember another service starting with a K (cant think of the name). Some stressful time putting artwork/sorting tracks and then the bloody computer viruses

    Kazaa


  • Options
    #65
    cena
    Registered Users Posts: 9,964 ✭✭✭cena


    Yes. I have an ipod. Love the thing. I am not a fan of putting music on m phone taking up space


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    #66
    Tork
    Registered Users Posts: 3,261 ✭✭✭Tork


    wally1990 wrote: »
    Genuine question

    Is it true that mp3 format is 'worse' sound quality than CDs disk ?

    I remember that being said when mp3 starting becoming a thing

    I personally don't even notice a difference(but I'm not a expert by any means on sound quality )

    but a good quality pair of over the ear headphones v cheaper in ear or cheaper headphones is the world of difference

    Yes. If you were to take out a CD and rip a song from it as a wav file (which is lossless), you'd be looking at a file that could be 40-50MB in size. As a rule of thumb, a minute of music is about 10MB. That is why mp3s came to exist. They are much smaller because a load of audio data is stripped out of the files when an mp3 is being made. In theory, most of this is at frequencies that the human ear can't hear anyway but there are times when the limitations come to the fore. Play mp3s on better audio equipment or turn the music up high and you'll hear the difference. For want of a better description, the music will sound a bit buzzy and kind of unclear. The bitrates that the mp3s were ripped at make a difference too. Music ripped at low bitrates (i.e. 96/128kbps) sounds fecking awful.


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    #67
    machiavellianme
    Registered Users Posts: 12,400 ✭✭✭✭machiavellianme


    I still use my Sony NW-HD5 daily since 2004. I have upgraded it a little over the years from the meagre 20GB it started out with, but I have no intention of letting it go. If anything ever happened to it, I've picked up 3 spares from ebay and a host of parts.

    Yes it's an MP3 player and yes it's ancient, just like me, but I'm pretty sure that the tech hit a peak around that time and little has progressed since.


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    #68
    NewbridgeIR
    Registered Users Posts: 3,713 ✭✭✭NewbridgeIR


    wally1990 wrote: »
    Genuine question

    Is it true that mp3 format is 'worse' sound quality than CDs disk ?

    I remember that being said when mp3 starting becoming a thing

    I personally don't even notice a difference(but I'm not a expert by any means on sound quality )

    but a good quality pair of over the ear headphones v cheaper in ear or cheaper headphones is the world of difference

    Definitely

    I rip to iTunes at 320 kbps purely because of file size. They sound fine in headphones while walking but if I rip those MP3s to a CDR and play it on my stereo, then the difference is noticeable.

    DJs who play MP3s over a club system are short-changing punters - it's very evident then.


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    #69
    scruff monkey
    Registered Users Posts: 4,907 ✭✭✭scruff monkey
    Snarky Snark Snark


    still have multiple iPods on the go.

    1. 256Gb iPod touch lives on home office desk
    2. iPod nano (3rd gen fatty) for the car, still going strong
    3. 160Gb iPod Classic (6th Gen) which gets used occasionally and is going strong
    4. 7th Gen iPod nano which used to be my gym buddy, likely to be retired from there as have moved to apple watch for podcasts

    I don't subscribe to streaming services, still prefer to buy my music, I store it all as apple lossless (or flac if I get it from bandcamp) and then transcode it to 320 kbps vbr aac, been buying music for 35+ years, i want to hear it in decent quality without adverts hence sticking with the puppies above.

    (I do also have a borked and non borked pair of 4th or 5 gen iPod classics which i really should convert to solid state and my firewire based 3nd Gen still works (doesn't hold a charge worth a flying fcuk but still works fine))


    3rd gen image for those who cannot remember them

    ipod-3rd-gen.png


    (forgot to mention that i've also tarted about with a Sony digital walkman and a Fiio high res player, both were ... meh ..., sounded great but the UI was super sluggish and annoying on them)


  • Options
    #70
    Extra user.
    Closed Accounts Posts: 39 ✭Extra user.


    machiavellianme wrote: »
    I still use my Sony NW-HD5 daily since 2004. I have upgraded it a little over the years from the meagre 20GB it started out with, but I have no intention of letting it go. If anything ever happened to it, I've picked up 3 spares from ebay and a host of parts.

    Yes it's an MP3 player and yes it's ancient, just like me, but I'm pretty sure that the tech hit a peak around that time and little has progressed since.

    Hmm.. when you say a host of parts

    What are we talking lol


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    #71
    murpho999
    Registered Users Posts: 28,391 ✭✭✭✭murpho999


    sxt wrote: »
    Your not a music fan if your best source of listening to music is a phone and phone earphones

    Total elitist statement and ignores people circumstances.

    I have to admit I find audiophiles to be a very annoying bunch who just stick to a certain mantra and that's it.

    As for me I use Apple Music for streaming, great for in the car with Car Play and when at home I use Amazon Echo speakers paired for stereo or Sony MX1000xm3 headphones for a very good experience.

    No interest in going back to having piles of vinyls or Cds around for ridiculous costs and lack of options.

    I just love the idea of streaming of having the whole world of music at your fingertips.


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    #72
    Tork
    Registered Users Posts: 3,261 ✭✭✭Tork


    Apparently, it isn't possible to enjoy listening to music on nice equipment at home and to use mp3s/streaming audio when you're out and about.


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    #73
    Tony EH
    Registered Users Posts: 18,910 ✭✭✭✭Tony EH


    Tork wrote: »
    I put Rockbox on mine and didn't like it so I switched back. Why would your phone's battery be dead in an hour if you listened to music on it?

    The batteries on phones are generally shite.


  • Options
    #74
    Tony EH
    Registered Users Posts: 18,910 ✭✭✭✭Tony EH


    wally1990 wrote: »
    Genuine question

    Is it true that mp3 format is 'worse' sound quality than CDs disk ?


    It depends on what bitrate you use in the MP3. At a high enough bitrate, you won't notice the difference.


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    #75
    Tork
    Registered Users Posts: 3,261 ✭✭✭Tork


    Tony EH wrote: »
    The batteries on phones are generally shite.
    Not on modern day phones. The battery life is pretty decent on newer phones.


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    #76
    NewbridgeIR
    Registered Users Posts: 3,713 ✭✭✭NewbridgeIR


    murpho999 wrote: »
    Total elitist statement and ignores people circumstances.

    I have to admit I find audiophiles to be a very annoying bunch who just stick to a certain mantra and that's it.

    As for me I use Apple Music for streaming, great for in the car with Car Play and when at home I use Amazon Echo speakers paired for stereo or Sony MX1000xm3 headphones for a very good experience.

    No interest in going back to having piles of vinyls or Cds around for ridiculous costs and lack of options.

    I just love the idea of streaming of having the whole world of music at your fingertips.

    There's a happy medium and it isn't either / or. Streaming is fine when I am walking, commuting etc. Or if I am in kitchen, upstairs or at my parents house.

    It's great for accessing a wide range but to me, it feels like renting and it doesn't have everything - and some very common tracks have slipped through the cracks. For example, the single mix of David Gray's Babylon - that was played everywhere in 1999/2000. But it's nowhere to be found on Spotify and the White Ladder 20th anniversary set ignored it and quite a few other B-sides, remixes etc. The album version is lot sparser and lacks something. So if I want to hear that single mix, I have to dig out the CD single or stick on Now 47.

    It's also annoying the way certain tracks come and go on Spotify while there are swathes of Irish artists not represented (and that's not always down to the Big Bad Record Companies). So for me, having a collection of records and CDs is great and they get used every day.


  • Options
    #77
    Gremlinertia
    Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators, Social & Fun Moderators, Regional West Moderators Posts: 59,730 Mod ✭✭✭✭Gremlinertia


    Still use a sony 'digital media player' NWZ-X1060
    Yes i had to read that off the back of it.. I just like my seperates to be seperate


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    #78
    Extra user.
    Closed Accounts Posts: 39 ✭Extra user.


    Gremlinertia wrote: »
    Still use a sony 'digital media player' NWZ-X1060
    Yes i had to read that off the back of it.. I just like my seperates to be seperate

    I've said this myself many times

    In the electrical field I work in and many areas ,separates is usually better


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    #79
    riclad
    Registered Users Posts: 8,184 ✭✭✭riclad


    I still use an mp3 player , the battery lasts about 10 hours,
    It has an fm tuner.
    Re sound quality it depends on the encoding rate,
    Eg you can get music encoded 320 or 128k bitrate
    High bitrate equals more storage space
    And I just charge it by using a USB cable plugged into
    a pc

    My phone lasts about one day if I leave it on
    Depends on the battery mode
    I think cd is maybe better than most mp3s but I never
    tested it
    I mostly listen to podcasts or the radio
    Who plays cds anymore
    As you can rip em once put songs on an sdcard
    or mp3 player
    If you are only getting 3 hours battery life than you need
    to buy a new phone
    I think most people rip cds once and put em in a drawer
    Do young people still buy cds anymore
    There's maybe 20 year old music fans who have never
    bought a Cd disc maybe just used online files maybe itunes
    or spotify


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    #80
    jimbobaloobob
    Registered Users Posts: 5,153 ✭✭✭jimbobaloobob


    I still use an ipod nano and a sony minidisc regularly


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    #81
    Kopparberg Strawberry and Lime
    Registered Users Posts: 3,964 ✭✭✭Kopparberg Strawberry and Lime


    I've a phone that has no Aux jack. But my car has Aux input.

    So I bought one of those things off amazon that splits the usb c port to both usb c and Aux.. it lasted just over a month before breaking.

    So I grabbed one of my old phones that still works perfectly with an Aux port. Formatted it, reset it and downloaded a tonne of music into it. It's plugged into the car permanently and rarely needs charging. And when it does it's usb c too so there's a car charger for it !

    Unfortunate the car doesn't have bluetooth and unfortunate my everyday phone has no 3.5mm jack !


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    #82
    machiavellianme
    Registered Users Posts: 12,400 ✭✭✭✭machiavellianme


    Extra user. wrote: »
    Hmm.. when you say a host of parts

    What are we talking lol

    Let's just say I've the makings of about 10 MP3 players. The irony is that apart from swapping out the hard drives for bigger capacity and replacing the battery once, nothing has failed in 16 years despite numerous drops. This MP3 player will out live me.


  • Options
    #83
    NewbridgeIR
    Registered Users Posts: 3,713 ✭✭✭NewbridgeIR


    riclad wrote: »
    I still use an mp3 player , the battery lasts about 10 hours,
    It has an fm tuner.
    Re sound quality it depends on the encoding rate,
    Eg you can get music encoded 320 or 128k bitrate
    High bitrate equals more storage space
    And I just charge it by using a USB cable plugged into
    a pc

    My phone lasts about one day if I leave it on
    Depends on the battery mode
    I think cd is maybe better than most mp3s but I never
    tested it
    I mostly listen to podcasts or the radio
    Who plays cds anymore
    As you can rip em once put songs on an sdcard
    or mp3 player
    If you are only getting 3 hours battery life than you need
    to buy a new phone
    I think most people rip cds once and put em in a drawer
    Do young people still buy cds anymore
    There's maybe 20 year old music fans who have never
    bought a Cd disc maybe just used online files maybe itunes
    or spotify

    In terms of sales, here are the 2020 figures
    UK
    Vinyl : 4.8 million units generating £110 million. 17% share.
    CDs : 23.5 million units generating £156.2 million. 83% share.

    US
    Vinyl: 22.9 million units generating $619.6 million. 42% share.
    CDs: 31.6 million units generating $483.3 million. 58% share.

    Share refers to percentage of total unit sales.

    The US vinyl sales are impressive when compared with 1993 figures (the format's lowest ebb) - back then 300,000 new LPs were sold.


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    #84
    sydthebeat
    Subscribers Posts: 40,993 ✭✭✭✭sydthebeat


    My best present ever was an 80gd ipod back about 14 years ago.

    For 10 years it was always with me, and held my whole music collection.

    Nowadays though with BT ear buds, streaming etc, it's not used as much, but I'll never get rid of it


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    #85
    jester77
    Registered Users Posts: 11,262 ✭✭✭✭jester77


    Still have my mixed tapes, Atlantic 252 on one side and 2FM on the other, with DJs talking over the start and ends of the songs and last 30 seconds missing on others.


  • Options
    #86
    jester77
    Registered Users Posts: 11,262 ✭✭✭✭jester77


    wally1990 wrote: »
    Genuine question

    Is it true that mp3 format is 'worse' sound quality than CDs disk ?

    I remember that being said when mp3 starting becoming a thing

    I personally don't even notice a difference(but I'm not a expert by any means on sound quality )

    but a good quality pair of over the ear headphones v cheaper in ear or cheaper headphones is the world of difference

    Yes and no. Technically yes, the quality is better being lossless. But 99% of people won't notice the difference between lossless and 320 kbps encodings (what most services that stream music offer) given their hearing and the equipment they use for listening. You can do a test here and see how far you get: https://abx.digitalfeed.net/spotify-hq.html


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    #87
    murpho999
    Registered Users Posts: 28,391 ✭✭✭✭murpho999


    NewbridgeIR wrote: »
    There's a happy medium and it isn't either / or. Streaming is fine when I am walking, commuting etc. Or if I am in kitchen, upstairs or at my parents house.

    It's great for accessing a wide range but to me, it feels like renting and it doesn't have everything - and some very common tracks have slipped through the cracks. For example, the single mix of David Gray's Babylon - that was played everywhere in 1999/2000. But it's nowhere to be found on Spotify and the White Ladder 20th anniversary set ignored it and quite a few other B-sides, remixes etc. The album version is lot sparser and lacks something. So if I want to hear that single mix, I have to dig out the CD single or stick on Now 47.

    It's also annoying the way certain tracks come and go on Spotify while there are swathes of Irish artists not represented (and that's not always down to the Big Bad Record Companies). So for me, having a collection of records and CDs is great and they get used every day.

    You know there's more than streaming service that compete with Spotify?
    Apple Music, Deezer, Tidal? May have what you're looking for.

    Also, streaming is a service, if you want to own the music you talk about it you can still buy it off the likes of Itunes and other sites, legally, you own it and you can add to your library.
    So you don't need to have a CD or record.

    I know vinyl is popular but I much prefer the convenience of digital and being able to access playlists or create your own, depending on the mood you're in which you just can't do with physical media.


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    #88
    NewbridgeIR
    Registered Users Posts: 3,713 ✭✭✭NewbridgeIR


    murpho999 wrote: »
    You know there's more than streaming service that compete with Spotify?
    Apple Music, Deezer, Tidal? May have what you're looking for.

    Also, streaming is a service, if you want to own the music you talk about it you can still buy it off the likes of Itunes and other sites, legally, you own it and you can add to your library.
    So you don't need to have a CD or record.

    I know vinyl is popular but I much prefer the convenience of digital and being able to access playlists or create your own, depending on the mood you're in which you just can't do with physical media.

    I am happy to pay for Spotify and it’s fine; I create plenty of my own playlists. Have looked at Tidal and Deezer too but one streaming service is enough for me when it’s not my preferred way of listening.

    Missing artists and lack of certain single versions is a common problem across streaming & download platforms.

    That’s why it’s handy to have physical media to fall back on. I grew up buying vinyl and CDs; I like the look of them on the shelves. Occasionally I will buy downloads but it’s the exception.


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    #89
    scruff monkey
    Registered Users Posts: 4,907 ✭✭✭scruff monkey
    Snarky Snark Snark


    murpho999 wrote: »
    You know there's more than streaming service that compete with Spotify?
    Apple Music, Deezer, Tidal? May have what you're looking for.

    There's a lot of choice or you can pay for what you want once and it's there for ever.
    The streaming services for music are getting as bad as the movie/tv streaming services, they're like bloody pokemon at this point (gotta catchem all etc...)
    murpho999 wrote: »
    I know vinyl is popular but I much prefer the convenience of digital and being able to access playlists or create your own

    The great thing now is pretty much all the vinyl I've bought over the last few years has come with a digital download of the album in pretty reasonable quality (usually 320kb mp3 or lossless from bandcamp purchases).


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    #90
    Neames
    Registered Users Posts: 951 ✭✭✭Neames


    Back in the day I spent €200 on a dock for my Creative mp3.

    Now everything is on my phone with Spotify and apart from a Sonos speaker...echo dots provide the sound around the house now.


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    #91
    beauf
    Closed Accounts Posts: 22,651 ✭✭✭✭beauf


    We use our old MP3 players for audio books for the kids. Switched to a family streaming service for music.

    Still have a couple of iPod shuffles because I love the sound quality. Still use a lot of mp3s on my phone.


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