Best album of the 21st century?

[PAH]

The only CD I've bought recently was an ACDC compilation thing from 1985.

I've been getting digitally remastered versions of my older albums where available, including AC/DC, Led Zeppelin, etc.

Not sure what they do to make it sound better seeing as some say analogue is better than digital, but to me it sounds less muddy.

Maybe the original master wasn't so good even for the time, so they exploit technology to get a superior sound.

Just another avenue for them to encourage us to re-buy our favourite music when between new super-duper formats.

[gingerjedi]

Wave of Mutilation: Best of Pixies

Admittedly all the tracks are from the 80's and 90's but the album was only released in 2004, does that count?

[doodab]

I've been getting digitally remastered versions of my older albums where available, including AC/DC, Led Zeppelin, etc.

Not sure what they do to make it sound better seeing as some say analogue is better than digital, but to me it sounds less muddy.

Maybe the original master wasn't so good even for the time, so they exploit technology to get a superior sound.

Just another avenue for them to encourage us to re-buy our favourite music when between new super-duper formats.

The original master will be a much better quality recording than you could have bought on vinyl or cassette tape. Typically an analogue tape with a dynamic range of 70-80dB or possibly a digital recording depending on era. That will have been processed quite heavily to create the version that ended up on vinyl because of the technical constraints of the medium. With remastering for CD it's possible to take advantage of the increased dynamic range of CD and modern digital processing techniques so you can in theory have something much closer in quality to the original recording. Whether that's what you get is a different matter.

[PAH]

Ok, thanks.

So the limited edition vinyl version of the last album I bought (on CD) is not really worth getting for sound quality, only to collect bits of round plastic.

Don't think I'll bother seeing as it's 20 quid and the CD is under 8.

[doodab]

Ok, thanks.

So the limited edition vinyl version of the last album I bought (on CD) is not really worth getting for sound quality, only to collect bits of round plastic.

Don't think I'll bother seeing as it's 20 quid and the CD is under 8.

Well it depends, some people prefer the sound of vinyl, and like collecting things, and some CDs get horribly mangled during mastering, although those tend to be modern ones.

Personally I like CDs cos I can rip them and play them on the computer. I haven't owned a turntable or CD player for years. They seem like an anachronism these days.

[PAH]

I still have loads of old records in the loft but doubt I'll ever play them again, got most on CD or MP3 now.

I prefer buying CD over MP3 downloads as CD is a better source should I ever decide that typical MP3 bitrates (192 to 320) aren't good enough, so I can re-rip them all.

CDs can also usually be sourced cheaper than the iTunes/Amazon/Play.com digital download version, especially if not brand new.

Maybe there are cheaper yet legal ways of buying digital music?