Spotify

[raymac46]

US and many overseas users have been able to enjoy the Spotify music streaming service for many years - but Canada didn't have it available, sadly.

Now Spotify is testing its service in Canada and you can get on if you get a specific invitation code to download the Windows 7 client. I received one from a neighbor today. It works really nice in Windows so naturally I was hoping it cold be made to work on my Linux desktop. Turns out there is a Linux client you can get by adding the appropriate Spotify repo and public key:

 

https://www.spotify.com/ca-en/download/previews/

 

This is the Canadian website obviously, but it works great for me. Maybe you would like to try the Linux version on your machine if you use Spotify in Windows.

 

Right now I'm catching up on some Asia albums from 2008 and 2010 with the original lineup reunited.

[raymac46]

One thing I really like with Linux Mint is that the Spotify client integrates with the music tray applet the same way that the Banshee player does. A nice touch.

[V.T. Eric Layton]

Spotify always reminds me of dry cleaning for some reason or another.

[securitybreach]

Spotify always reminds me of dry cleaning for some reason or another.

 

I used spotify a few times over the years but I never really stuck with it. I have a massive audio collection but I usually end up just listening to Pandora (cli client)...

[zlim]

I prefer Songza (works on my computers and Android tablet) good in US and Canada

http://songza.com/

[raymac46]

I tried Songza as well, but what I really like about Spotify is that you can find and save an obscure album that is on vinyl but maybe hard to get on CD (an example would be Dave Mason's 1978 masterpiece Mariposa de Oro.) Then you can play the whole album end to end - just as you would have back when you first started listening to music. Many albums from the 1960s and 70s were designed as musical artworks, not just random song collections so it's worth it to listen to the whole thing.

[V.T. Eric Layton]

My online music sources are just GrooveShark and Youtube, for the most part.

[Capt.Crow]

Spotify got a big plug(interview) on BBC4 today what with S.Jobs mentioned . They are talking billions.

[raymac46]

Spotify is rather old school - doesn't work through the browser, has its own standalone client like an email program. You'd probably like it, Eric.

Doesn't have the Beatles though - that music is exclusive to Apple. Led Zeppelin has an exclusive deal with Spotify.

[securitybreach]

So how does the beatles and zeppelin have an exclusive deal if I can hear both of them on Pandora?

[V.T. Eric Layton]

Pandora should be paying licensing fees to whomever owns the rights to the Beatles' and Zeppelin's music. In the case of the Beatles, I think Sony Music owns the rights. Zeppelin I don't know about. Maybe the members of that band were wiser than the Beatles members in regards to controlling their copyrights.

[securitybreach]

True but then it is still not exclusive then. BTW Zeppelin is my all time favorite band of all time!

[Hedon James]

I thought Michael Jackson purchased the rights to the Beatles catalog? He and Paul McCartney were tight at one time (Ebony & Ivory...a great sentiment expressed in playground rhyme and crappy music; The Girl is Mine...just sugar-coated crappy music, IMO).

 

Curious enough to look it up...it seems VT, Raymac, and I are ALL correct to a degree, but I'm still not clear on who owns what...perhaps the lawyers like it that way?!

 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2394325/Sir-Paul-McCartney-set-win-rights-Beatles-catalogue.html

 

http://www.eonline.com/news/132304/who-owns-the-beatles-songs-now-that-m-j-s-dead

 

and allow me to apologize in advance to anyone who is offended by my "crappy" comments about "Sir Paul" and the "King of Pop": I like many Beatles tunes; I like Paul McCartney's music, especially the Wings era; and I like Michael Jackson's music (yes, even J5). But the McCartney/Jackson collaborations felt like an attempt at creativity for the sake of creation...they lacked soul and just felt like a money-grab...hence, "crappy." Just my opinion! I suspect millions of folks enjoyed those songs and still own them today. I'm glad you enjoyed those tunes by whatever criteria you judge them by...sincerely. By MY criteria, they were crappy and I was disappointed in the product. Just my opinion...

[Hedon James]

Back to the discussion regarding Spotify, Songza, Pandora, GrooveShark, and YouTube...these are all radio substitutes, IMO, with a slightly different content delivery system. Going back to my youth, I have always purchased music and converted to cassette tape, then cd, and now mp3, so that I can enjoy my favorite tunes everywhere I am. The quantity of my collection and the "random" feature allows me to be my own DJ of my own station, with "all killer, no filler" selections and ZERO corporate sponsors (no commercials/ads). I have over 6,300 songs by over 640 different artists covering a spectrum of variety on my hard drive that Banshee indicates will take 18 days to play in sequence with no repeats. I sync this collection to a NAS backup drive, a 2nd "music recording" computer, and an sd card for my hacked "android mp3 player" (my "aPod"). And EVERY song is a good one!

 

The only downside for me is a limited exposure to new music/artists, but I've gotten pretty good at googling for things that I hear in a commercial, or a movie, or Shazam song ID, and I buy a lot of CDs from local artists that impress me when I see them in a bar or festival somewhere. And YouTube is awesome for checking out new and random stuff.

 

I've never really enjoyed Radio and its mainstream offerings...I can't imagine I'll enjoy the web-centric version of the same thing. I'll stick with what I've always done...I'll spin my own! I'm a corporate sponsor's nightmare! LOL

[raymac46]

http://www.theguardi...reaming-mobiles

 

Looks like the entire Led Zep catalog is on Spotify with options to shuffle, sync, save on mobile. A few more options than you get with Grooveshark and Pandora.

Edited September 24, 2014 by raymac46

[raymac46]

@Hedon I do have an extensive CD and MP3 collection as well. I have a lot of vinyl that never got reproduced in CD format and it's a pain to remaster from vinyl. Spotify can help fill in the gaps.

[Hedon James]

@Hedon I do have an extensive CD and MP3 collection as well. I have a lot of vinyl that never got reproduced in CD format and it's a pain to remaster from vinyl. Spotify can help fill in the gaps.

 

Yeah, I've got over 200 vinyl lps, but I DID go through the process of conversion to mp3 and burning the mp3s to a cd as a backup. It took over a year, and it was a major PITA. Glad I did it, but equally glad that it's over and done with. My vinyl doesn't get touched anymore...it just sits in its plastic static sleeves, with many of my vinyl albums still in the plastic shrink wrap, with only a slit on one end to get the disc out. Maybe they'll be worth something someday...or maybe my kids will just look at them, laugh, and toss it in a dumpster upon my death.

[zlim]

Dave Mason's 1978 masterpiece Mariposa de Oro

I have two Dave Mason LP's but not that one.

 

One of these days, I will get something to convert all my vinyl to mp3 files.

 

I spent about a month doing all the cassette tapes and got rid of all the tapes when I was done.

[V.T. Eric Layton]

So, Sir Paul got his groove... er, rights back? I'm not a lawyer, so I couldn't quite understand all that legal gibberish about who bought what rights from whom.

 

Oooh! Vinyl... I have a library approaching 150 (LPs), plus another 50 or so 45s. I haven't actually played one in a decade or more, though. Heck, I don't even turn my stereo on these days. I have a nice Logitech sound system on this computer (and the one in my shop, too). I listen to music online more often than any other method these days. I don't even have a radio/stereo in my truck, just an empty hole in the dash where my old Pioneer SuperTuner used to be before it went bad on me.

[raymac46]

I have a fair collection of vinyl and can hook up an old amp and my turntable to the PC. Then I record the vinyl track as a WAV file and using a program called "Wave Repair" I can remove the clicks and pops. After I get the track clean enough I can then make an MP3 out of it. I only do this for albums I cannot or will never buy on CD. An example is "Buckingham-Nicks" which never came out on CD.

I have a complete collection of original Simon and Garfunkel from the 1960s on the heavyweight vinyl they used back then. However the whole shootin' match is available digitally remastered on CD. Same thing with some early Rolling Stones LPs.

[raymac46]

I have two Dave Mason LP's but not that one.

 

One of these days, I will get something to convert all my vinyl to mp3 files.

 

I spent about a month doing all the cassette tapes and got rid of all the tapes when I was done.

 

Mariposa de Oro is a truly great LP.

 

http://www.davemasonmusic.com/albums/mariposa-de-oro

 

My favorites on this album are "Bird on the Wind", "The Words", and the most beautiful cover of "Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow" I have ever heard.

[Hedon James]

One of these days, I will get something to convert all my vinyl to mp3 files.

 

I spent about a month doing all the cassette tapes and got rid of all the tapes when I was done.

 

Before I was a Linux user I purchased a small white box from Wal Mart for around $35, which included conversion software by Nero. It's Windows software, but I seem to remember you have WinXP machines, albeit no internet access anymore. FWIW, I was perfectly satisfied with the results of that cheap box and the software.

 

Alternatively, now that I use Linux, I can say that the Nero software is obviously based in great part on Audacious, with Nero adding its own tweaks. If you have a turntable, an amp, and a cable from the amp to your computer microphone input (rca out? to 3.5mm trs in), you could install Audacious and duplicate the Wal Mart/Nero solution almost perfectly. It really is that simple...very time consuming, as you can only convert in "real time"...but simple.

 

Conversely, you might be surprised how many folks have already done this for you and uploaded to YouTube. You could probably cruise YouTube and find many of your vinyl media already there (45s and lps!). Simply install a YouTube to mp3 downloader/converter extension to Firefox and you're good to go; I'm sure Chrome/Chromium has something similar. Added bonus...this is MUCH quicker, as you can download selections way faster than real time capture. Depending on your vinyl collection, you could probably shave weeks or months off the conversion process, saving the tedious real time conversions for those rare lps that you can only get from yourself.

 

I wish someone had told me this when I was initially embarking on my project. Coulda saved a lot of time that I'll never get back! Then again, it was kinda cool to listen to lps, ENTIRE LPS(!), that I hadn't heard in about 15-20 years!

[raymac46]

Half the fun in remastering a WAV file is using Wave Repair. You put on a set of earphones and listen for a click or pop. When you find it you can drill down to milliseconds on the track and see the actual musical waveform. The noise usually shows up as a spike of some sort. You can then replace the damaged section of the waveform with a variety of mathematical spectral waves or with the other side of the stereo track if the click is only in one channel.

I have cleaned up everything from minor clicks to huge "WHUMPS" on certain badly damaged tracks.

[zlim]

I have my means of downloading from YouTube. I've been doing this for years.

But I'd prefer to convert ALL the songs on all the LPs (I think at last count is was something like 212) and my 45's (not sure how many of those but I do have 2 cases filled) myself without resorting to using Nero.

 

I have an old gadget (ADS Tech Instant Music), I bought years ago that I could never get working properly with several Versions of Nero and perhaps the software that came with it. What I saw on the computer screen did not match the pamphlet. I went back and forth with emails to tech support and finally gave up because they were not offering any usable help.

 

I bought a Crosley device (similar to this http://www.crosleyradio.com/ProductDetail?Cat=2&pk=CR7002A&colorID=) that burned LPs directly to CDs (there was no option for USB nor sd cards) which worked then shot up errors but never at the same place on the LP. I was able to get a few complete CDs but decided wasting 4 or 5 CDs to get a good burn wasn't worth it. I took the unit back to the store and got my money back.

 

Last year I started looking into one of these units

http://www.ionaudio.com/products/turntables

One specifically that puts the files on a USB stick so you don't hook it up to a computer.

There are so many different models so I kept trying to keep track of good units and bad units.

 

One of these days, I will find something that works for my needs. Then I'll be busy getting all those songs in wav or mp3 On sticks or cards to archive.

[V.T. Eric Layton]

There's a longstanding debate between old school audiophiles and new digital age tech folks that music loses a lot of its richness and ambiance when converted from analog to digital formats. Neil Young (Crazy Horse, CSN&Y, etc.) was a very vocal member of the first group for many years. I don't know what his current stance on this is. For me, it doesn't make a difference. My hearing at 50+ with a damaged right ear drum isn't good enough to be able to discern a difference in the music quality.

[Capt.Crow]

There's a stack of old reel to reel tapes and a Sony reel unit here . I have the cable mentioned earlier. I'm glad I read this post and have just d/ldd Audacious and will now get Wave Repair.

 

Excellent info here

[raymac46]

A couple of interesting articles for the sound geeks:

 

http://www.chicagomasteringservice.com/loudness.html

 

http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/oct09/articles/beatlesremasters.htm

[raymac46]

It's been a while since I worked with Wave Repair and I don't know how well it'll work with the latest versions of Windows. It claims to be OK.

 

Here's the official site:

 

http://www.delback.co.uk/wavrep/index.shtml

[sunrat]

The ART USB Phono Plus is excellent to connect a turntable to computer. It has RIAA phono equalisation and headphone monitoring. $77 on Amazon. http://artproaudio.c..._phono_plus-ps/

 

I usually record with Audacity or mhWaveEdit then split with wavbreaker. Audacity can do a bit of cleanup, but is a bit rough if you need to do major salvage work. A mild amount of it's Noise Removal can be good though. And of course you can manually edit the waveform.

I highly recommend recording as WAV files and archiving as lossless FLAC so you always have the original quality recording available. You can always convert these to lower quality like mp3, aac or ogg but you can't convert lower quality back to high.

[raymac46]

BTW two LPs I spent a lot of time on with Wave Repair were John Hammond's "Big City Blues" and "So Many Roads." Didn't think I'd be able to get them again on CD. Of course they are available now and with a couple of clicks you can stream them on Spotify.