Forum Home Forum Home > Other music related lounges > General Music Discussions
  New Posts New Posts RSS Feed - Will a new physical music format appear?
  FAQ FAQ  Forum Search   Events   Register Register  Login Login

Topic ClosedWill a new physical music format appear?
 Post Reply Post Reply Page  <12
Author
Message
  Topic Search Topic Search  Topic Options Topic Options
Finnforest View Drop Down
Special Collaborator
Special Collaborator
Avatar
Honorary Collaborator

Joined: February 03 2007
Location: .
Status: Offline
Points: 16913 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: July 21 2014 at 13:49
Awesome guys, thanks.  I'm copying these comments into a folder I'll call "Solutions for my impending audiofan nervous breakdown". 

Back to Top
bloodnarfer View Drop Down
Forum Senior Member
Forum Senior Member
Avatar

Joined: April 15 2010
Location: Austin, TX
Status: Offline
Points: 2162 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: July 21 2014 at 14:01
Love hearing about custom solutions using Raspberry Pi's. Definitely a versatile little device.


Another (more expensive) solution is to build an HTPC (which is great if you don't pay for cable and stream all your shows anyway)  You can access your music hard drive over the local network and you can use whatever streaming services you want.  You just get the benefits of whatever your desktop would do.
www.last.fm/user/ramza1316
https://open.spotify.com/user/1211221845
Back to Top
Catcher10 View Drop Down
Forum Senior Member
Forum Senior Member
Avatar
VIP Member

Joined: December 23 2009
Location: Emerald City
Status: Offline
Points: 17488 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: July 21 2014 at 15:34
Originally posted by Finnforest Finnforest wrote:

Awesome guys, thanks.  I'm copying these comments into a folder I'll call "Solutions for my impending audiofan nervous breakdown". 


LOL!!!!

Your not kidding.....The digital world has thrown out so many options from the music side of things, its hard to keep up. Seems every couple months some new fangled digital device comes out that bests the other digital music device.

I don't stream, on occasion I will stream from Xbox Marketplace but I never have streamed from Spotify or any of those services.

If I needed to stream to my home system I would probably be happy with a device like this, a wireless DAC, I think it runs like $200. Only issue with these things is the site line between transmitter and receiver needs to be pretty clear and within like 15m. Then you have to worry about other devices that may cause interference....but I hear they work fairly well to get music from your laptop to your system.

Regards,
Back to Top
Gerinski View Drop Down
Prog Reviewer
Prog Reviewer
Avatar

Joined: February 10 2010
Location: Barcelona Spain
Status: Online
Points: 5091 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: July 22 2014 at 01:32
Originally posted by Finnforest Finnforest wrote:

Thanks Dean....could you expand a bit more (in simplest language) how the streaming gets pumped through to your floor speakers?  The receiver/amp is still driving them?  How can the stream be amplified...do you have to purchase a new receiver to do this?
Dean was assuming that you will be streaming from a phone or tablet, but if you do from a desktop (or laptop on a desk Wink) the cable solution is the easiest assuming your computer and Hi-Fi receiver / amp are not too far from each other.
That's what I have at home, computer, Hi-Fi and TV are all located in the living room so both the desktop and the TV have their audio 3.5 mm outputs (line out better than headphones if available) connected by simple cable to the Hi-Fi amp inputs (3.5 mm to RCA cables). And if the computer you use is a wi-fi laptop then you can just place it close to the amp only when needed so the cable doesn't need to be very long.
Back to Top
Dean View Drop Down
Special Collaborator
Special Collaborator
Avatar
Retired Admin and Amateur Layabout

Joined: May 13 2007
Location: Europe
Status: Offline
Points: 37575 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: July 22 2014 at 01:38
Originally posted by Gerinski Gerinski wrote:

Originally posted by Finnforest Finnforest wrote:

Thanks Dean....could you expand a bit more (in simplest language) how the streaming gets pumped through to your floor speakers?  The receiver/amp is still driving them?  How can the stream be amplified...do you have to purchase a new receiver to do this?
Dean was assuming that you will be streaming from a phone or tablet, but if you do from a desktop (or laptop on a desk Wink) the cable solution is the easiest assuming your computer and Hi-Fi receiver / amp are not too far from each other.
That's what I have at home, computer, Hi-Fi and TV are all located in the living room so both the desktop and the TV have their audio 3.5 mm outputs (line out better than headphones if available) connected by simple cable to the Hi-Fi amp inputs (3.5 mm to RCA cables). And if the computer you use is a wi-fi laptop then you can just place it close to the amp only when needed so the cable doesn't need to be very long.
ORLY?
Originally posted by Dean Dean wrote:

By far the simplest way is to connect your phone or tablet to your HiFi Amp with just a 3.5mm stereo Jack to RCA phono cable. Of course that's not wireless but it does allow you to connect to online streaming and pump it out through your hifi. However, it is cheap and very reliable (if you're not interested in OFC Monster type cables you can pick up a suitable cable from Amazon for less than ten bucks - I have one in my office that's 5 metres long and cost me £7.99 to connect my PC to my modest office sound system [CD player, turntable, 4 channel stereo mixer and a small 15W tube amp] - it's only there for ambience while I work really so I'm not after stunning sound quality or wall-paper stripping volume, but I digress).

Wink
What?
Back to Top
richardh View Drop Down
Prog Reviewer
Prog Reviewer
Avatar

Joined: February 18 2004
Location: United Kingdom
Status: Offline
Points: 26107 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: July 22 2014 at 01:49
I've already discovered that I can transfer my music onto a flash drive and play it via a Samsung DVD player. Apparently Samsung is the only brand that uses 'Allshare' software. You can also do this with any modern Samsung TV . The only problem is that the MP3 format has to be a particular one and for me that means creating it through Amazon's Cloud Player and not via I-Tunes. I stumbled across this by accident but its quite nice as you can select music as normal using the remote control and the TV will show the album artwork in most cases. I realise this is not essentially any different to streaming the music from a laptop or playing music from an I-Pod but I thought its worth sharing all the same. Its meant at least I have not had to shell out £200 for a new I-pod to contain all my music in MP3 format and instead paid about £20 for a decent flash drive to do the job. (also my laptop has insufficent space so that would need replacing, although eventually I will)

Edited by richardh - July 22 2014 at 01:50
Back to Top
Gerinski View Drop Down
Prog Reviewer
Prog Reviewer
Avatar

Joined: February 10 2010
Location: Barcelona Spain
Status: Online
Points: 5091 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: July 22 2014 at 03:02
Originally posted by Dean Dean wrote:

 
ORLY?

Wink
Well I guess it was obvious that your reply included mine about a fixed computer too, but I wanted to clarify that because your sentence

"The next level is a direct wireless link from your phone or tablet using a stand-alone Bluetooth receiver that plugs into your HiFi amp using RCA phono cables, well-known manufactures such as QED and Arcam make such units but I'm not an expert on them by any means and could never recommend any single brand or product. Essentially this is the same as option 1 except you are no longer tied to the HiFi by a length of cable"

seemed to assume that the streaming device is a mobile one, I just simply clarified that needs not be the case.
Back to Top
Dean View Drop Down
Special Collaborator
Special Collaborator
Avatar
Retired Admin and Amateur Layabout

Joined: May 13 2007
Location: Europe
Status: Offline
Points: 37575 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: July 22 2014 at 04:02
Originally posted by Gerinski Gerinski wrote:

Originally posted by Dean Dean wrote:

 
ORLY?

Wink
Well I guess it was obvious that your reply included mine about a fixed computer too, but I wanted to clarify that because your sentence

"The next level is a direct wireless link from your phone or tablet using a stand-alone Bluetooth receiver that plugs into your HiFi amp using RCA phono cables, well-known manufactures such as QED and Arcam make such units but I'm not an expert on them by any means and could never recommend any single brand or product. Essentially this is the same as option 1 except you are no longer tied to the HiFi by a length of cable"

seemed to assume that the streaming device is a mobile one, I just simply clarified that needs not be the case.

While some laptops have Bluetooth and you can buy a USB Bluetooth dongle for a few Euros it is a seldom used connection method for PCs so I didn't mention it specifically there. There are a multitude of ways of interconnecting various devices and platforms that would allow music and video to be streamed. Direct cable connection between a PC and external speaker/amplifier/hifi is so commonplace I felt it only needed to be mentioned en passant. 

However you have reminded me that we didn't directly answer Jim's question of how you connect the audio out from any of these devices directly to your HiFi Amplifier (regardless of brand or age), though I did mentioned that in passing too. 

Whether you are directly cabling a PC to an amp or from a 'phone, tablet, PC or mp3-player via a dedicated Bluetooth or WiFi audio receiver the final connection to the amp is usually by RCA phono cable pair. 

In an earlier post Jim asked "Do they now have inputs that allow a computer to plug into them?"

The answer to that really depends on what inputs the amplifier has and whether any of them are spare or unused. 

Generally any device can be plugged into any input channel of an amplifier except the "PHONO" channel (not that modern amps have a phono input any more) - the AUX, TUNER, CD or TAPE inputs can each be used as a auxiliary audio input if the are not being used for their stated purpose. As I said [since I no longer use a Cassette deck] I usually use the TAPE input, I also use the TAPE output to take audio off the HiFi onto my PC so it is a kinda logical connection to use.

If, like in the example of my small 15W tube amp set-up, there are a limited number of audio inputs (that Amp has two "CD" and "AUX") you may need to have a secondary input switch of some kind to allow more than two devices to be connected. I use a small 4-channel stereo mixer which essentially increases the count to 5 input devices. While thesemixers are readily available for a modest outlay they are aimed at the home-studio/DJ market so have XLR or ¼" Jack inputs but RCA Phono adapters are cheap enough. They ain't audophile and are seldom "pretty" but ...

I find a mixer to be more convenient than a selector switch and I was fortunate in already having an old mixer that came equipped with a dedicated RIAA equalised PHONO channel so I could plug my turntable into that without using a separate preamp (such as the Behringer PP400 or one of the more expensive solutions from Rega, Arcam or Pro-Ject)



Edited by Dean - July 22 2014 at 04:03
What?
Back to Top
Dean View Drop Down
Special Collaborator
Special Collaborator
Avatar
Retired Admin and Amateur Layabout

Joined: May 13 2007
Location: Europe
Status: Offline
Points: 37575 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: July 22 2014 at 12:05
This is interesting:

Originally posted by Amazon email Amazon email wrote:

We're sorry to announce that CreateSpace will no longer distribute MP3s as of October 15, 2014. We are constantly evaluating our service catalog and have decided to discontinue support for MP3 as we work to provide our customers with the most cost effective and valuable services.
 Distribution will continue until October 15, when all MP3 titles will be removed from the Amazon Digital Music Store and CreateSpace. You will continue to have access to your account, title information and royalty reports. Payment for any remaining MP3 royalties, regardless of threshold, will be issued within the regular MP3 payment timeline.

 Other distributors can list your content in the Amazon Digital Music Store, scroll down to see the list under "Digital Music Store."

 You can find more information in our Help Pages.

 We'd like to thank you for using CreateSpace and wish you great success in the future.

 Kind Regards,
The CreateSpace Team

For those that don't know CreateSpace is an Amazon service were independent artists can distribute there music through the Amazon system. Using CreateSpace you can sell your albums as a Manufacture on Demand CD-R or as an MP3 download. Basically this email says - if you want to sell your album as a download go elsewhere. I wonder how much longer the Manufacture on Demand CD-R service will last?
What?
Back to Top
Dean View Drop Down
Special Collaborator
Special Collaborator
Avatar
Retired Admin and Amateur Layabout

Joined: May 13 2007
Location: Europe
Status: Offline
Points: 37575 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: July 22 2014 at 13:46
Martin (Alucard) just shared this on Facebook and I think it's worth linking it here:


... and we can add other niche genres to that, such as Progressive Rock to some extent, and not just streaming services, as many will already know - I don't believe that Soundcloud and Bandcamp are the god-sent saviours of the niche market genres. Some depressing reading there, and this quote in particular sounds all to familiar:

He’s very familiar with the pressure to give art away. “We were always told you need to get as many audiences as possible … With the exposure argument, you’re told, ‘You could become the next Lady Gaga!’ It’s like playing Lotto — buy dollar tickets, and you could hit it big. In jazz, keep buying dollar tickets so you can win a dollar fifty.”




Edited by Dean - July 22 2014 at 13:49
What?
Back to Top
Gerinski View Drop Down
Prog Reviewer
Prog Reviewer
Avatar

Joined: February 10 2010
Location: Barcelona Spain
Status: Online
Points: 5091 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: July 22 2014 at 14:23
Tx for posting that, although it's all too esoteric from my oldfashioned physical CD culture. So, is it likely that sometime in the near future several of our beloved obscure albums may not be available anymore, not physical, neither online, because their demand is just too small? Shocked
Back to Top
chopper View Drop Down
Special Collaborator
Special Collaborator
Avatar
Honorary Collaborator

Joined: July 13 2005
Location: Essex, UK
Status: Offline
Points: 19942 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: July 22 2014 at 14:36
Originally posted by Dean Dean wrote:

Martin (Alucard) just shared this on Facebook and I think it's worth linking it here:


... and we can add other niche genres to that, such as Progressive Rock to some extent, and not just streaming services, as many will already know - I don't believe that Soundcloud and Bandcamp are the god-sent saviours of the niche market genres. Some depressing reading there, and this quote in particular sounds all to familiar:

He’s very familiar with the pressure to give art away. “We were always told you need to get as many audiences as possible … With the exposure argument, you’re told, ‘You could become the next Lady Gaga!’ It’s like playing Lotto — buy dollar tickets, and you could hit it big. In jazz, keep buying dollar tickets so you can win a dollar fifty.”

"More than 400,000 Spotify streams earned her $1,764; almost 2 million YouTube views generated $1,248"

I must admit I hadn't realised payments from streaming services were quite that low.
Back to Top
addictedtoprog View Drop Down
Forum Senior Member
Forum Senior Member
Avatar

Joined: July 16 2014
Location: india
Status: Offline
Points: 1422 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: July 23 2014 at 23:09
I hardly see that happening...
Back to Top
 Post Reply Post Reply Page  <12

Forum Jump Forum Permissions View Drop Down



This page was generated in 0.146 seconds.
Donate monthly and keep PA fast-loading and ad-free forever.