[philball1974]

Is it just me or are mp3 download cards a waste of paper?

I have an ibasso DX50 portable player and I like flacs on it. I never use the download card.

Keymasters - can we not have lossless downloads?

If anyone does like mp3 downloads maybe we should have a 'giveaway' thread, cos i have a few I will never use.

[siforster]

I've had this discussion with quite a few people and while I'm in the general minority on this, I'm happy to stand up and say that I rather like them.

Having said that...

I can understand why - where a digital option is available - CDs are preferable as a secondary medium. Presuming that usually CDs are produced in conjunction with a normal vinyl release (usually as the primary physical thing), they're then dead cheap to pop one in a record sleeve compared to arranging for a 3rd party to store and distribute (and charge for bandwidth of) a download version. And the other thing is that the better the download copy, the greater storage requirements and stress on servers etc. But, a CD that comes with a vinyl release will almost always only be used the once to rip to another storage device (computer, iPod etc) and then is simply a wasteful, useless blob of plastic.

I think the thing I like the most about download cards is that the potential is there to do something brilliant - as well as an almost limitless scope for additional content (an old trick - anyone who still owns a Dreamcast may/may not be aware of the "Omake" folders that come with their games), the cards themselves can (and SHOULD) be part of the overall art package. There's already evidence of this with some cards where a bit of thought has produced some really cool companions to the actual record, hopefully this will become more of the norm in time rather than the bland coded bits of paper that we usually get.
This side of things though is still in its infancy, and more efficient future generations of technology will make this a lot better (Neil Young's Pono might seem like an extravagant waste of memory space now, but is incredibly forward-thinking in the longterm) so this will change, and some labels already offer a choice of file formats to suit their customers' drive size. I do admit though that buying from Bandcamp can be a bit weird, when you get a download on purchase, plus another card on arrival - I find that these make ace little presents to fit in birthday cards as they not only spread the word of good music, they haven't technically cost me anything

[NathanLurker]

I like having the download link. it's just to have a portable version when I'm on the move. all music I listen to at home is usually on vinyl. when I'm on the move, I need a digital edition. the download link saves me the time I would have to put into copying from vinyl to mp3, or searching for a pirated download of my vinyl purchases. I usually go for the 320 kbps mp3, I don't really car for flac yet. don't have the storage space for building a flac collection and prefer to carry a lot of music on my 160 Gb iPod

[DrRhythm]

I like them - would have liked a download of Perfume Of The Woman In Black as it would be perfect for the remote Italian farmhouse I'll be staying at later in the year - might have to get the CD from Beat.

[djinnocide]

I think from a practical standpoint the download card is very important. To appreciate their importance, you need to realize how they effect the person/label/band selling them. With the resurgence of vinyl's popularity, a touring band would be crazy not to bring their album(s) with them on vinyl when they tour. Unfortunately, when compared to CDs, vinyl is heavy and takes up more space. Now, if the band can offer a digital version for their fans in the form of a download card inside the vinyl release, they're eliminating the need to travel with that extra media option while also doing the vinyl market a favor by eliminating CD sales.

Working in the manufacturing side of the music industry myself, I can attest that several active independent labels live by their download cards. It's not a large portion of the market when compared to the number of orders I see come through for releases without the download cards, but it's still significant and plenty of legitimate labels do it. I can attest that even our own Light In The Attic gets them printed for all their in-house releases.

On a side note, I've seen some interesting things done with download cards, from art design to physical presentation. I bought a download card from a band at a show one time where the download card was a plantable seed pack. The band went through Data Garden to get these done and I was really impressed with the idea, despite not planting the card myself.

http://datagarden.org

[Re-animated Cat]

If there isn't a lossless option, there's no point.

Personally, I never use download cards anyway. I just buy vinyl, then grab the FLACs from other sources. Simple.

[philball1974]

What he said ^^^

Some of the cards, especially the Milan ones do look nice.

This one I use as a bookmark.

[ninjaqutie]

I use the mp3's in my car. If I want to listen to music in my house, I'm going to put on vinyl. I don't mind if they plop CD's in there either, but my hamster-mobile stores mp3's, so I like that I can have a jukebox of songs at my fingertips.

[freshoj]

I am a big fan of the download cards. Offering lossless would be awesome, but I am quite happy with mp3s for my car, in airplanes etc.

Phil, I don't think my WeMe version of Valhalla Rising came with a download, so if you really aren't going to use it...

[philball1974]

@jmctodo
From me to you...

ZRZ9DCVN73

[Hardrain02]

i have been in the market for some flac files recently. Where does everyone get theirs from?

I didn't realise the difference it makes over mp3 until i got the last crosses EP and received the flac and mp3 of each track and the difference was night and day on that record.

I must admit that, like some have already said I like to get the cards so i can burn a cd for the drive to work (45 mins each way) where the bump in quality for flac would mostly be lost anyway due to road noise.

[philball1974]

Boomkat, bleep and beatport all do flac downloads.

Otherwise it's the p2p way.

[freshoj]

Thanks Phil! and now I going to become even more of a pest when I ask for the associated URL…

[philball1974]

Yeah that would be useful I guess!

Www.dropcards.com/valhallarising

[DrRhythm]

....but what do you play your FLAC files on? I do the vast majority of my listening on the go and iPods obviously don't support the format. For that reason, I find MP3 download cards a nice touch.

Home listening is pretty much all vinyl.

[philball1974]

My ibasso plays flac, you can use xld to convert flac to mp4 also.

[DrRhythm]

What's the capacity on that? I can't be bothered with loads of memory cards.

[philball1974]

I have 2 x 64gb installed. Sound quality is amazing.

[Re-animated Cat]

I use Winamp on my PC (highly recommended), which is connected to my main amplifier, so everything plays straight through my hifi. I have a 2TB internal HDD dedicated solely to my lossless library.

[DrRhythm]

I used to use WinAmp years ago and always liked it.

[DrRhythm]

I wish I had the time/energy to go back and rip everything as lossless files but it's never going to happen!!

[freshoj]

thanks Phil!

[philball1974]

I have a 1tb hard drive of lossless which cost £50. It's hooked up the amp but doesn't get much use. I just update the portable every month or so.

Re not having the time to re rip I would say there is no guilt in downloading all the stuff you own. It's what I did.