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Topic: iTunes special release of Music of the Spheres< Next Oldest | Next Newest >
Thomas Höögh Offline




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Posted: Mar. 13 2008, 10:41

who wants to buy a fysical CD these days? Ok, I understand your point of view. But personaly I dont care, I hate those ugly cds and stuffed shelves with cds in random order och discs thats not in its cover. And the great work af changing an album in the stereo. No, for me its all digital and stored where I cant see it.

iTunes dont sell MP3, they sell there audio files in AAC which has slightly better sound quality compared to an MP3 of the same size.


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Crazy, terrible, wonderful, perfect!!!!

I just love Tubular Bells |||
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3Wheeler Offline




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Posted: Mar. 13 2008, 11:36

I Would buy a LP or CD  as long as it was the genuine article over any Music File any Day of the Week.. Why !! Well a Music File is Worthless for starters... At least a Cd is some sort of Investment.. Ive got a Few Cds at Home that have quite a Value yet the Same tunes or Albums cost pennies on download sites... So really youre getting no Value!!  Ok not every Cd is worth much but Id still rather have the thing than a file anyday.. :cool:

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We're Flying Aeroflot, We've Got Reservations.
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Ugo Offline




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Posted: Mar. 13 2008, 16:26

Quote (Thomas Höögh @ Mar. 13 2008, 16:41)
who wants to buy a fysical CD these days? Ok, I understand your point of view. But personaly I dont care, I hate those ugly cds [...]

Well, Thomas, call me old-fashioned, but I actually love "those ugly CDs" and I hate digital downloads in general. Regarding M.O. I only download mp3s, AACs and such things when the track I'm looking for isn't available any longer [which is the case for some old 45-RPM a-sides and b-sides,  which are out of print... sometimes I may find some of these, like Take 4, on eil.com, but more often I'm not that lucky!! :)], and when it isn't available in any other form than a digital download - which, unfortunately, is the case for "Spheres". I love CDs because I like to have 'em in my hands, because I love to browse through the booklets (a booklet you print by yourself doesn't really have the same effect as a factory-printed one, at least for me...), and because I can listen to 'em in my car and whenever else I want - an iPod's sound quality, IMHO, is generally very lower than a CD's. So, all in all, I don't think I will buy/download this edition of MotS from iTunes - I will content myself with just the studio version of MotS, when it is released. ;)

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Ugo C. - a devoted Amarokian
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Velodynamic Offline




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Posted: Mar. 13 2008, 17:24

I don't really understand what could there be to watch?
Mike sitting on a chair with his glasses on reading notes...yeah right, cool?  :p  :zzz:
iTunes is fine for those who doesn't have any other options or doesn't want to have hundreds of discs at home.
What it can't do is giving the music a decent live feeling.
To achieve that they have to make a DVD or Blu-Ray with multi channel sound.
For studio recordings I admire folks like e.g. Dave Gahan who still have the guts to release vinyl albums, although they are limited editions.  ;)
CD's are boring when there're so many other options for a release today but I have to choose them when digital downloads are the only option.


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"...I've never seen a connection between music and politics.
It's like trying to connect football with croquet." -M.O.
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Bassman Offline




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Posted: Mar. 13 2008, 19:28

Owning a CD doesn't require any memory on my PC.  Files can be accidentally erased.  CD's offer better sound quality than even the highest bitrate mp3.  Mp3's are handy for people who like their music on the go, or have killer speakers hooked up to their PC's-their's no question about that.  But true audiophiles are somewhat more dogmatic in their listening habits... a strange breed of creatures that will actually sit in front of their hi-fi's and listen.  I like having 10 MO albums on one mp3 disc for the car as much as the next guy, but mp3's are just too damn disposable for me to take seriously.

As for iTunes... they have this lovely habit of selling you a song for a buck, but if the track in question approaches or exceeds 10 minutes in length, it's "album only"-meaning you can only get the track by purchasing the whole album.  How much do you want to bet they will do that with the live MOTS performance-just to confound those of us that already own the CD?  Not to mention the fact that after all this time they STILL have on their site that STUPID bogus Tubular Bells recording that they say is by MO, but in fact ISN'T!  Grrrrr!
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Korgscrew Offline




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Posted: Mar. 13 2008, 20:16

Quote (Bassman @ Mar. 14 2008, 00:28)
As for iTunes... they have this lovely habit of selling you a song for a buck, but if the track in question approaches or exceeds 10 minutes in length, it's "album only"-meaning you can only get the track by purchasing the whole album.  How much do you want to bet they will do that with the live MOTS performance-just to confound those of us that already own the CD?

I get the impression that this will only be available as a complete package - i.e. you get the live recording 'free' when you buy the studio album. I may be wrong, but that was how I understood it.
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Velodynamic Offline




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Posted: Mar. 14 2008, 03:57

Quote (Bassman @ Mar. 14 2008, 01:28)
I like having 10 MO albums on one mp3 disc for the car as much as the next guy

I fully agree on that. However there is a funny thing with iTunes though. They have their very own ACC format so if you have managed to burn those files on a CD, they will most likely not play on the major part of CD players on the market...even if they play wma or mp3's. If you don't have the ability to hook up a shitty iPod with a cord
or radio wave transmitter to the car stereo, you're pretty screwed.


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"...I've never seen a connection between music and politics.
It's like trying to connect football with croquet." -M.O.
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Bassman Offline




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Posted: Mar. 14 2008, 10:37

Here's what a twit I am.  I periodically take the latest batch of iTunes that I've purchased, burn them onto a rewritable disc, then rip them BACK into my PC into the proper folders as wma files for other burning projects down the line.  If that's not a case of having too much time on one's hands, I don't know what it!
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Bassman Offline




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Posted: Mar. 14 2008, 10:38

I meant to say, "...I don't know what IS".  LOL :/
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BTH Offline




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Posted: Mar. 14 2008, 11:03

Well, I have the CD case in my hand right now and the CD itself spinning on my stereo - Sounds great! Im picking up a lot more detail and depth than on the leaked mp3s already - especially on the quieter passages.
Unfortunately I had to hunt for the CD - it wasn't on display in the new release section of either HMV or the local music store here. Encouragingly though one of the shop assistants remarked that she thought there must only be a couple of copies left at this stage to her colleague who served me - obviously the few thay have gotten in are flying out the door...
The package is very basic - plain black CD with the title circling the centre. The front cover looks great but inside it's a bit shoddy - 5 pages of writing and credits then two of adverts for mikeoldfield.com, universal classics & Jazz and really tackily the back cover of the inner sleeve -ie the first thing you see whn you open the case - is a crappy ad for "official Mike Oldfield ringtones"... Very cheap n nasty.

Its whats on the CD that matters though - and my word it does sound fabulous! Shabda is so much better, the harshness of the voices crescendo is gone and Im just into The Tempest which is so uch more clearly defined and precise sounding.... Glorious..

Im still going to rip it to my ipod but I'll be doing it at the maximum bitrate - in fact I might even do it with FLAC lossless - massive filesize but it really is as good as CD quality. And I have to say, ipod sound routed through really good speakers or headphones is as good as any CD listening experience for me (provided the files havent been compressed into crap...).


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Tá mé an amadán ag cheoil...
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Blue Dolphin Offline




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Posted: Mar. 14 2008, 11:52

That's a coincidence! I just received an email from play.com that they shipped my copy of MOTS. I didn't expect to receive it so early (then again, I have to wait if it will arrive at all... my previous shipment from play.com still hasn't arrived!!!!!;).

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-The mark of a good musician is to play one note and mean it-

Mike Oldfield - 1980
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Korgscrew Offline




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Posted: Mar. 14 2008, 12:33

I'm told the price of the iTunes edition will probably be about £12 (UKP), though it's apparently up to Apple rather than Universal, so the emphasis here is on the 'probably'!
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Burning Fish Offline




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Posted: Mar. 14 2008, 12:47

Quote (BTH @ Mar. 14 2008, 17:03)
Well, I have the CD case in my hand right now and the CD itself spinning on my stereo - Sounds great! Im picking up a lot more detail and depth than on the leaked mp3s already - especially on the quieter passages.
Unfortunately I had to hunt for the CD - it wasn't on display in the new release section of either HMV or the local music store here. Encouragingly though one of the shop assistants remarked that she thought there must only be a couple of copies left at this stage to her colleague who served me - obviously the few thay have gotten in are flying out the door...
The package is very basic - plain black CD with the title circling the centre. The front cover looks great but inside it's a bit shoddy - 5 pages of writing and credits then two of adverts for mikeoldfield.com, universal classics & Jazz and really tackily the back cover of the inner sleeve -ie the first thing you see whn you open the case - is a crappy ad for "official Mike Oldfield ringtones"... Very cheap n nasty.

Its whats on the CD that matters though - and my word it does sound fabulous! Shabda is so much better, the harshness of the voices crescendo is gone and Im just into The Tempest which is so uch more clearly defined and precise sounding.... Glorious..

Im still going to rip it to my ipod but I'll be doing it at the maximum bitrate - in fact I might even do it with FLAC lossless - massive filesize but it really is as good as CD quality. And I have to say, ipod sound routed through really good speakers or headphones is as good as any CD listening experience for me (provided the files havent been compressed into crap...).

I work at a CD distribution warehouse and I got a copy in my hand on tuesday. It was really one copy between a bunch of other CD's and I was expecting a couple of hundred of these to come in. It was also quite early.
Good to hear there's a difference between the promo and final version. I loved the promo, but I still thought it needed some "additional mastering".


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Bassman Offline




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Posted: Mar. 14 2008, 13:43

@ BTH & Burning Fish:

Apart from the packaging, are their any differences between the promo and the "real"?  I mean in the actual music-remixing, rearranging, etc.?
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Burning Fish Offline




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Posted: Mar. 14 2008, 16:23

Quote (Bassman @ Mar. 14 2008, 19:43)
@ BTH & Burning Fish:

Apart from the packaging, are their any differences between the promo and the "real"?  I mean in the actual music-remixing, rearranging, etc.?

Sadly I haven't heard the final version yet. I'm still eagerly waiting for my copy, just like all of you... well, most of you (envying eyes to BTH). ;)

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"Lemon curry?"
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BTH Offline




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Posted: Mar. 14 2008, 16:53

New albums are always released on the Friday before they are released everywhere else here in Ireland! It's great when you are impatient to get your hands on something...

No difference in the actual music as far as I can hear but there is a noticeable improvement in sound quality from the promo to the actual CD - an added sparkle to the sound that really improves some tracks.

The live performance however will sound quite different in places mainly because the massed choir was much more prominent on many of the pieces - I'm really looking forward to hearing the recording on Monday...

Strangely when I put the cd in my computer the title it found was "Music of the Spheres (2007 promo edition)" so maybe a more lavish package is planned for later in the year.


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Tá mé an amadán ag cheoil...
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captainjjb Offline




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Posted: Mar. 14 2008, 17:06

well, I ordered my copy of MOTS from Amazon back in the late 80's (or so it feels like) and will wait to see what the official product sounds like before I indulge in anything like this.
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Sweetpea Offline




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Posted: Mar. 14 2008, 17:42

Quote (Thomas Höögh @ Mar. 13 2008, 10:41)
who wants to buy a fysical CD these days?

*raises hand* I do! I do! I'm materialistic; I like having things.

Quote
I hate those ugly cds and stuffed shelves with cds in random order och discs thats not in its cover. And the great work af changing an album in the stereo. No, for me its all digital and stored where I cant see it.

Well, it's true that sometimes I let my CD collection get messed up and out of order, but one of the great joys of owning a collection is organizing and rearranging it. Plus, it's nice to have my MO on display just so I can hear people say, in shocked tones, "Ohmygawd, you've got a lot of this Oldfield dude". It's almost as much fun as hearing people say "Ohmygawd, you've got a lot of Hello Kitty stuff".


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"I'm no physicist, but technically couldn't Mike both be with the horse and be flying through space at the same time? (On account of the earth's orbit around the Sun and all that). So it seems he never had to make the choice after all. I bet he's kicking himself now." - clotty
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The Big BellEnd Offline




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Posted: Mar. 14 2008, 18:08

I have the latest Goldfrapp cd, Seventh Tree, in front of me now, the cd case is the box type made of heavy duty card. The texture of the card is similar to portrait canvas, inside the case there are two disc's in seperate picture cover's. One is the album the other a dvd, also in the box are four picture postcard's of Allison Goldfrapp, a set of sleave notes in a small book much like a school exercise book. One thing not in the cover case any more is the poster of Goldfapp which is now pinned on the bedroom wall, all in all the kind of ugly mess I'm more than happy to cope with.

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I, ON THE OTHER HAND. AM A VICTIM OF YOUR CARNIVOUROUS LUNAR ACTIVITY.
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conny_a Offline




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Posted: Mar. 15 2008, 10:08

Quote (Sweetpea @ Mar. 14 2008, 17:42)
Quote (Thomas Höögh @ Mar. 13 2008, 10:41)
who wants to buy a fysical CD these days?

*raises hand* I do! I do! I'm materialistic; I like having things.


I buy SACD:s, CD:s and LP:s. I have not bought any mp3:s and will probably never do that. The sound quality of CD:s are often quite bad for various reasons. MP3:s are terrible. The good old LP:s can sound excellent surpassing both CD and SACD.

So, why do I buy LP:s?
- Soundstage - live feeling.
- Excellent recordings, good mastering,
- Large photos, text, retro feeling, perfect 20+20 min play time
- Investment

Why do I buy CD:s/SACD:s?
- Convenient handling
- Pretty good sound quality
- Investment

Why don't I buy mp3:s?
- No soundstage at all
- Terrible sound quality
- No investment

Will I buy Blueray discs or similar?
- Probably, if good recording techniques are practised again.

Will I buy downloads?
- Probably when the downloads are in much higher quality.
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