Felix E. Martinez
300 Club - QQ All-Star
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The Fate Of Telarc
- Thread starter Felix E. Martinez
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A very intresting conclusion
i will add: storage space.
We're currently on 1.5 Tb 3.5" hard disk drives, each one can hold almost 300 fully featured dvd. Think about your dvd collection, count to to 300 and compare with the size of a 3.5" hd. The future is already here, it's just that many don't realize it. Sure it doesn't look so fancy... as it was going from LP to CD, when the cover art had to be resized (or cropped) from 12 to 5 inch and the full disc was the size of the old label, more or less. However, why dreaming of having your full collection of hi-rez mch music everywhere, when you can have it already now? A pair of hd with a usb box and you're done.
The only thing out of the equation is sacd: at present time is still a format you can't transfer to hard disk directly AND there is no way to play a dsd stream internally (you can only send it out to a hdmi receiver) while you can have ton of dvd-a on a hard drive and mount them as disk image and they do play in 24bit/96k or 192k.
The game is already over.
i will add: storage space.
We're currently on 1.5 Tb 3.5" hard disk drives, each one can hold almost 300 fully featured dvd. Think about your dvd collection, count to to 300 and compare with the size of a 3.5" hd. The future is already here, it's just that many don't realize it. Sure it doesn't look so fancy... as it was going from LP to CD, when the cover art had to be resized (or cropped) from 12 to 5 inch and the full disc was the size of the old label, more or less. However, why dreaming of having your full collection of hi-rez mch music everywhere, when you can have it already now? A pair of hd with a usb box and you're done.
The only thing out of the equation is sacd: at present time is still a format you can't transfer to hard disk directly AND there is no way to play a dsd stream internally (you can only send it out to a hdmi receiver) while you can have ton of dvd-a on a hard drive and mount them as disk image and they do play in 24bit/96k or 192k.
The game is already over.
Physical formats, dying? Nonsense. There are reasons why *certain* physical formats have diminished--why buy new music on a CD when you can selectively download albums and specific songs to your computer?--but the situation isn't as simple or conclusive as Mr. Bishop would have you believe. If his logic is to be believed, why is Borders now carrying some vinyl titles? Vinyl was supposed to be a 'dead' format, yet it never went away--too many people still enjoy it for what it offers (and remains the cheapest format to collect, if not to enjoy as an audiophile).
Not only that, but hard disk drives go bad, crash, corrupt--what do you do then? I've heard horror stories about folks who lost all their iPod collections through a bad disk or some other internal catastrophe. For myself, I wouldn't trust files as a permanent thing on any computer, even one NOT connected to the net (and we must assume most are connected, and that's always hazardous to a PC's health).
I'm also not sure about quality--audio or video. While BluRay certainly has a lot of storage capacity and offers superior quality compared to DVD's, you'd have to be able to archive an awful lot of stuff to one disc, and who's gonna do that? And as for high resolution sound and picture, most of the public has shown no inclination to care for quality, they're after convenience--and something inexpensive that they can readily and easily use without hassles. I wouldn't trust any digital media to do that for me, although I'll certainly concede the potential for high quality, and the convenience and ease of use.
On the other hand, if you offered me a BluRay disc of everything James Brown ever recorded that exists--mono, stereo, alts, edits, 45's, etc.--for a few hundred bucks, I might just spring. But who else would? Not the mass audience, surely! So, regardless of format, replacing previous formats or removing them altogether usually doesn't work, if only because no one ever goes all the way with the latest format of choice, regardless of its potential. Companies always hedge their bets, hesitate, never take a full plunge. And I'm not sure a lot of people really want *just* the music--we've heard that before, and yet vinyl is still doing Ok as a niche thing, and DVD's show no signs whatsoever of going away anytime soon.
As for the fate of Telarc itself, Concord Music also bought out Fantasy and all their master tapes, and all that stuff was sent to Iron Mountain; no surprise Telarc went bye-bye. It was always a niche label (and except for a few pop acts, so was Fantasy, which was otherwise jazz-based), limited sales potential, audiophile oriented. In other words, it was vulnerable, and more will be swallowed up and stored away, I'm sure.
ED
Not only that, but hard disk drives go bad, crash, corrupt--what do you do then? I've heard horror stories about folks who lost all their iPod collections through a bad disk or some other internal catastrophe. For myself, I wouldn't trust files as a permanent thing on any computer, even one NOT connected to the net (and we must assume most are connected, and that's always hazardous to a PC's health).
I'm also not sure about quality--audio or video. While BluRay certainly has a lot of storage capacity and offers superior quality compared to DVD's, you'd have to be able to archive an awful lot of stuff to one disc, and who's gonna do that? And as for high resolution sound and picture, most of the public has shown no inclination to care for quality, they're after convenience--and something inexpensive that they can readily and easily use without hassles. I wouldn't trust any digital media to do that for me, although I'll certainly concede the potential for high quality, and the convenience and ease of use.
On the other hand, if you offered me a BluRay disc of everything James Brown ever recorded that exists--mono, stereo, alts, edits, 45's, etc.--for a few hundred bucks, I might just spring. But who else would? Not the mass audience, surely! So, regardless of format, replacing previous formats or removing them altogether usually doesn't work, if only because no one ever goes all the way with the latest format of choice, regardless of its potential. Companies always hedge their bets, hesitate, never take a full plunge. And I'm not sure a lot of people really want *just* the music--we've heard that before, and yet vinyl is still doing Ok as a niche thing, and DVD's show no signs whatsoever of going away anytime soon.
As for the fate of Telarc itself, Concord Music also bought out Fantasy and all their master tapes, and all that stuff was sent to Iron Mountain; no surprise Telarc went bye-bye. It was always a niche label (and except for a few pop acts, so was Fantasy, which was otherwise jazz-based), limited sales potential, audiophile oriented. In other words, it was vulnerable, and more will be swallowed up and stored away, I'm sure.
ED
Wow. They hung in there longer than the "big boys". Heck, they were leading edge, they were first with digital LPs (one of the first), some of the best early CDs, they did DTS CDs, and then SACDs. A pretty inovative company - now down the tubes. Sucks.
SoonerCaniac
300 Club - QQ All-Star
Interesting article. So...what happens to all of the Telarc SACDs already released? Will Concord continue to sell/press the Telarc catalog?
BTW, for the record, I do NOT want digital-only music! I want the disc; I want the jewel case; I want the inserts and sleeve notes; I want to see my collection on a shelf; I want to be able to thumb through my collection to choose a disc to play; I want to put a disc in a machine that reads the disc and outputs audio. Phew, I feel better. Of course, I also want to be in the majority on this, but that won't happen.
Best,
Josh
BTW, for the record, I do NOT want digital-only music! I want the disc; I want the jewel case; I want the inserts and sleeve notes; I want to see my collection on a shelf; I want to be able to thumb through my collection to choose a disc to play; I want to put a disc in a machine that reads the disc and outputs audio. Phew, I feel better.
Of course, I also want to be in the majority on this, but that won't happen. Best,
Josh
They probably will continue to sell the catalog that exists--or at the least, that part of the catalog that sells well enough to keep in print. I'd guess that the majority of Fantasy titles are still in print, unless the worst really does happen and people no longer care about the 'package' and just want the music.
BTW, for the record, I do NOT want digital-only music! I want the disc; I want the jewel case; I want the inserts and sleeve notes; I want to see my collection on a shelf; I want to be able to thumb through my collection to choose a disc to play; I want to put a disc in a machine that reads the disc and outputs audio. Phew, I feel better.
As long as there are enough of us out there to care, CD's probably won't go away for some time to come. But given the high prices a lot of chains still charge, how long will that be? CD prices never really went down the way they should have, and when you see $20 price tags, w/tax, for some catalog titles at a Borders or B&N, such chains won't be in business much longer--or not in the CD biz, anyway, they'll have to fall back on books, a format no one is willing to dispense with (yet).
ED
Bob Squires Jr
1K Club - QQ Shooting Star
I guess now's the time to buy those Telarc SACDs I've been putting off
before they go extinct and we'll be paying through the nose for on ebay for them.
One that I did just order, is going for $13.00 on the Telarc-Concord site but
is selling for no less than $20.00 on ebay.
Go figure.
I too, like the packaging etc that comes with buying a disc or record.
Many things though, cause the demise of the disc...
One, of course, being high prices. (remember buying a record for $3.99 and $4.99 if it was quad??)
Second, paying those high prices for a crap record with only one or two
good cuts on it is not going to fly when kids can now just download
the tracks they want, pop them on a blank CD, (which now costs like $40.. a metric ton!... I remember when CD blanks were $25.00 EACH!!)
and there they have a "best of" disc with all the stuff they like.
Third, Companies put out Greatest Hits CDs of the older stuff but how many great album tracks were on a record of days gone by that WEREN'T hits?
We lose there too!
Sad, isn't it?
I say, Led Zeppelin's entire catalog... on Blu-Ray, in surround!
Then I woke up...
-Bob
before they go extinct and we'll be paying through the nose for on ebay for them.
One that I did just order, is going for $13.00 on the Telarc-Concord site but
is selling for no less than $20.00 on ebay.
Go figure.
I too, like the packaging etc that comes with buying a disc or record.
Many things though, cause the demise of the disc...
One, of course, being high prices. (remember buying a record for $3.99 and $4.99 if it was quad??)
Second, paying those high prices for a crap record with only one or two
good cuts on it is not going to fly when kids can now just download
the tracks they want, pop them on a blank CD, (which now costs like $40.. a metric ton!... I remember when CD blanks were $25.00 EACH!!
)and there they have a "best of" disc with all the stuff they like.
Third, Companies put out Greatest Hits CDs of the older stuff but how many great album tracks were on a record of days gone by that WEREN'T hits?
We lose there too!
Sad, isn't it?
I say, Led Zeppelin's entire catalog... on Blu-Ray, in surround!
Then I woke up...
-Bob
"paying those high prices for a crap record with only one or two
good cuts on it is not going to fly..."
If you're only listening to crap "artists" who can only manage "one or two good cuts," dare I say you're listening to the wrong people? Usually when kids say there are only one or two "good" songs on an album, they mean there are only one or two they've heard. Anything you've never heard must be "crap," right?
There are thousands of albums that are enjoyable from beginning to end. Anyone who can't recognize that fact is going to be content with digital downloads.
good cuts on it is not going to fly..."
If you're only listening to crap "artists" who can only manage "one or two good cuts," dare I say you're listening to the wrong people? Usually when kids say there are only one or two "good" songs on an album, they mean there are only one or two they've heard. Anything you've never heard must be "crap," right?
There are thousands of albums that are enjoyable from beginning to end. Anyone who can't recognize that fact is going to be content with digital downloads.
Oh, and another fallacy that should be laid to rest. CDs are NOT expensive compared to old vinyl albums. Adjusted for inflation, that $4 album from the sixties would cost more than $25 today. It would have fewer songs and be less durable. Even brand new, out of the sleeve, it would have clicks and pops and surface noise. And you couldn't play it in the car.
Anyone want to go back to those days?
"Nostagia is remembering yesterday's prices and forgetting yesterday's wages."@:
Anyone want to go back to those days?
"Nostagia is remembering yesterday's prices and forgetting yesterday's wages."
@:
Oh, and another fallacy that should be laid to rest. CDs are NOT expensive compared to old vinyl albums. Adjusted for inflation, that $4 album from the sixties would cost more than $25 today. It would have fewer songs and be less durable. Even brand new, out of the sleeve, it would have clicks and pops and surface noise. And you couldn't play it in the car.
Anyone want to go back to those days?
"Nostagia is remembering yesterday's prices and forgetting yesterday's wages."
When I hear a new cd with digital compression I want to go back....
and vinyl was cheaper than cd's , when cd's first came out.... when we had dual inventory in the shops.....the $4 vinyl of the 1960's didn't rise to a price that was higher than a cd in 1984/85...as time went on vinyl became more and more affordable relative to one's weekly wages.
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Bob Squires Jr
1K Club - QQ Shooting Star
Have you ever bought a CD judging by what you heard on the radio?
So you hear 2 good songs and buy it and bring it home and lo and behold..
They're the only 2 good songs on the album!
It's not like back days when you bought a Led Zeppelin LP and pretty much enjoyed the
whole record all the way through.
Save for bands like U2, Maybe early Hootie & The Blowfish, Metallica etc.
You don't get many CDs that you can say you liked pretty much every song on the album.
But then again, thats me... and I still own close to 10,000
eek Vinyl records, not counting CDs, SACDs, DVD-As, Reels & yes, a box of cassettes.(No wonder my wife wants to toss me out with the bath water!
)Absolutely! but just not a lot of what's out there now IMHO.
Notice the lifespan of most artists nowadays...not all, but most.
A lot of bands from 30 years ago woudn't have even made it today
because if they didn't have a mega-hit the first time... out they go,
by today's standards.
However, most of us appreciated even those early albums by those that weren't
"hitmakers" right away and we followed them to the ground until they did hit!
Kids today wouldn't do that, I don't think.
And to say that anything I haven't heard must be crap...
I'm not even gonna justify that with a response.
It's like saying everyone I haven't met yet must suck.
And that sucks!
-Bob
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