Memo to the Recording Industry

[eregyrn]

In this day and age, I fail to see why record labels insist on bringing out only a "greatest hits" album from a given artist, instead of just releasing the artist's damned oeuvre and getting it over with. If the overhead on producing a CD and packaging it and selling it is truly that prohibitive when weighed against the expected audience who might possibly buy it, then FINE, but throw the MP4s or whatever the hell they are up on iTunes, because surely enough people will buy at least some of the tracks that it will make money.

This is by way of saying: I am adding "The Smothers Brothers: Live at the Purple Onion" as well as any decent compilation AT ALL of the hits of Frankie Lane to my growing list of "why the hell am I unable to obtain a digital copy of this?" LPs that I cannot find in any other format. (See also: the *original* recording of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat; the entire works of Allan Sherman and not just some damn Greatest Hits CD; etc.)

Actually, what I really need is to break down at some point and just buy one of those doohickeys that's a turntable with a USB plug that goes into your computer so you can digitize your LPs directly. (Your scratchy, old, probably warped by now LPs. *sigh*) Though with my luck, what do you want to bet it doesn't work with Macs?

Comments

[jenlev.livejournal.com]

I really do love the Smother's Brothers. They were willing to stand up and speak out in a very difficult time. Er....which doesn't feel that very different from these times come to think of it.

*hugs*

[lynxreign.livejournal.com]

I love them too and they're still doing it. They went on the O'Reilly factor to yell at him a few years ago.

[eregyrn.livejournal.com]

Aww, that's so heart-warming! God, they must be older than dirt by now. (Speaking of which, Tom Lehrer is turning 80 soon; possibly today?)

[lynxreign.livejournal.com]

You know Tommy's love of Yo-Yos? He brought one for O'Reilly to show him what he thought of the "No Spin Zone"

[jenlev.livejournal.com]

Good for them! :) I wish I'd seen that.

[eregyrn.livejournal.com]

Indeed. Yet more subversives whose work I was raised on. :) I just got to thinking about them recently and thinking, man, I want to hear those songs that ear-wormed their way into my brain at a young age.

[jenlev.livejournal.com]

You tube perhaps? I hope so, seems a shame that we can't all have cds.

PS. And hey, I like your new layout. :)

[katie-m.livejournal.com]

My downstairs neighbor is apparently busy digitizing her LPs. I could see if she's willing to take on a client...

[eregyrn.livejournal.com]

Hmmm!!!!

I would be willing to chip in some dough. I was thinking about that at one point: that what I need is to get together with a number of friends who also have some LPs they'd like digitized, and go in together to buy one of those turntables and then pass it around.

First, I'm going to check tonight to see if it's possible to *ahem* what I'm looking for. (Sometimes, though, it's so hard to tell. There are a skillion recorded versions of Joseph, for example, but they're usually actual stage musical versions, and I don't want those. But *ahem* sites often don't give enough detail to figure it out.)

[lynxreign.livejournal.com]

Or the Dave Clark Five.

I recently purchased a "dookickey" that plugs into a USB port and you plug your existing stereo into it through normal stereo cables. It cost around $15. I think. Much better, I think, than buying a whole new turntable.

[cityofbeige.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I was going to say the same... isn't there an RCA to USB converter? Or heck, back before USBs, I went to Radio Shack and got an RCA to 1/8" plug and plugged it directly into my soundcard.

Unless your current turntable is broken, there's not much point in buying one with a USB cable. The ones I've seen use Audacity for sound editing, which is open source anyway.

[lynxreign.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I just offered her one of those plugs.
And the RCA to USB converter I got was cheaper than a turntable too.

[eregyrn.livejournal.com]

See below: there's a problem with the "current turntable" assumption, there.

[eregyrn.livejournal.com]

Your final sentence assumes that I have a whole *old* turntable.

[lynxreign.livejournal.com]

True, and I think I got rid of 2 or 3 extras when I moved. I still have my new, high-end turntable and an old portable. But I think the portable is from the 1960s and has no output jacks.

[emilytheslayer.livejournal.com]

You know, she *does* live down the street from us, she could just use our equipment.

[lynxreign.livejournal.com]

Dun dun DUNNN!
This is true.

[lynxreign.livejournal.com]

And actually, now that I think about it, if you don't mind a slight loss of quality, you can use a simple audio splitter cable to achieve a similar capability. The difference is that instead of plugging it from the stereo to usb, you plug your stereo into your sound card. I have some of those cables that I'd be happy to give you.

[eregyrn.livejournal.com]

... Sound card? I have a Mac, remember?

Plus, I don't actually own a "stereo" of any sort. (Arguably, I haven't ever. I have only owned a succession of boom-boxes, and the last turntable I owned bit the dust when I moved to Boston from Philly.)

[lynxreign.livejournal.com]

Macs don't have sound cards? There's no place for audio input on those things?