IMPORTANT: Thoughts please regarding legit 5.1 downloads

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Would you purchase a 5.1/4.0 download from a place like HDTracks?


  • Total voters
    142
Again, downloads as just another pipeline to get Surround out there. This would NOT be to take away what one already likes or needs, musically or format preference. It's not like my wall of discs are ever going away. And who would have ever thought that new records would make a comeback and be popular with a whole new generation in 2018. If we can get more Surround out quickly, or titles that might never get a disc release, as just another option, let's do this now.

One of the MOST sensible arguments yet for multichannel downloads........ANYTHING that promulgates the existence of surround should be explored and embraced wholeheartedly. I've stubbornly resisted downloading due to the inordinate amount of physical surround music [and films] I have in my collection [numbering in the thousands] but that's not to say it's not a viable option.

I think we've seen with our own eyes [and EARS] that surround is making a dramatic comeback due to the delivery tools technology has delivered in the past few years and slowly but surely even former hold~outs like the Beatles' camp have come on board which I always felt was a decisive factor in furthering the format and now with Hendrix's Electric Ladyland a reality I wouldn't be surprised if the floodgates for future high profile 'hold~outs' manifest themselves.

Not to mention, to MY ears, everything sounds BETTER in SURROUND!
 
Part of the reason for the vinyl resurgence was the releasing of Dynamic Range compressed remastered CDs from the nineties onwards. Basically a generation of dud music. Vinyl releases have way better DR and now a generation of music fans can actually hear that ‘vinyl sounds better than CD’ (comparing to their recent CD versions. (Sorry off topic).

Maybe non-DR compressed 5.1/Quad downloads would appeal to a new generation too?


I wish there was a button for "Double Likes" this post!! It is especially annoying now that I am using a music server and can switch quickly from a Hi-res format to redbook CD. The remastered redbook CD's are generally awful but a few like the AF's and MoFi's are wonderful. Give us the uncompressed multchannel downloads! Rant, rant, rant...
 
Everyone, I want you all to take the time and reply to this thread with your thoughts. REAL THOUGHTS. Answer like people that matter in the industry are reading this thread. I am not saying that they are, I just want you to answer like they are.

If for the sake of this thread, HDTracks offered a HiRez 5.1 download of an album like the Eagles/On the Border, for under twice the price of the HiRez stereo download, would you spend the money and purchase it? Be honest.

Or would you be more inclined to "find" it elsewhere once it came out?

The real issue is that places like HDTracks do not see a market for 5.1 downloads, but I feel that it's out there but untapped. Now we all know that if they offered titles that no one wanted to buy they would not sell, but I am talking stuff like "On the Border", "Gorilla", "Court & Spark", etc.

If it meant that by your purchase you would be sending a signal that yes, 5.1/4.0 downloads are a viable product, would you spend your money?

Be honest. If you feel you would not participate, let us know.

THANKS, and please, everyone that reads this respond in some way with your thoughts.

I would absolutely buy HiRez 5.1 downloads of classic quad releases if physical product was not an option. No I would not go to find it "elsewhere" after it was officially released.
 
If there is something I cannot get any other way than a download, I would likely buy. My problem is that for some reason I tend to drag my heels on downloads, as opposed to physical media. It took me months to download the most recent Symbion Project releases, even though I love them. I just like physical media better.

But offer me the right content and I will buy!
 
I would buy the 5.1 downloads (so long as they are true 24-bit), its the music in surround I want. There are lots of OOP and Quads I'd buy in an instant (Eagles, Joni Mitchell etc.), plus all those unreleased mixes which have never made it to release day.

I'd pay a premium for the 5.1 mix. It costs more to produce as its usually a second mix from the source, and I wouldn't want to pay more than double the stereo - having said that I seem to be trying to go bankrupt by purchasing the box sets with surround :rolleyes:

Would I prefer a physical copy as well if possible? Yes as its the physical connection with the music, the booklets feed my music nerd side - again why I end up getting the box sets.
 
That's because you failed, foolishly, to keep a backup. Yesterday, I accidentally deleted all the files in one of my NAS's directories consisting of 54 albums. Restoration took less than 2 minutes.

now.. do you think you can fool ALL the twists of fate? ..m ind you , I am a big believer of backing up, but you never know when it will hit you!

Physical media rules!
 
Yes, would buy without hesitation. Probably often too as this hobby tends to suck money away. Does that mean recordings so offered would “leak” onto the illegitimate sites thanks to nefarious criminal masterminds? Maybe. Probably. Some people steal stuff. But I am one who buys stuff. So I would buy.
 
I don't care what (digital) format music comes in, except that I vastly prefer LPCM to DSD (for sound technical reasons I've discussed previously). I'd happily pay for downloads so long as the cost was reasonable (<= $20 for album-length works). I'd be perfectly happy with lossless 48kHz 24bit flac files. 96kHz would be fine too. 192 is just annoying, and I have little respect for any company that would sell such snake oil. For me, the key thing is that we get access to multichannel material that isn't already available digitally. It would do NOTHING AT ALL for me if a company made available the material that's already been released, whether or not it's currently in print. I am more interested in "modern" mixes (ca. 1999 - present) than historical quad reissues, but I would buy some quad reissues.
 
Everyone, I want you all to take the time and reply to this thread with your thoughts. REAL THOUGHTS. Answer like people that matter in the industry are reading this thread. I am not saying that they are, I just want you to answer like they are.

If for the sake of this thread, HDTracks offered a HiRez 5.1 download of an album like the Eagles/On the Border, for under twice the price of the HiRez stereo download, would you spend the money and purchase it? Be honest.

Or would you be more inclined to "find" it elsewhere once it came out?

I will definitely buy a reasonably priced, high-res surround download. I already buy reasonably priced high-res stereo downloads. It is important to me that I know the source of the file is legit and that my money goes to support the musicians and recording technicians/engineers who made my playback of the music possible.

The only place I listen to surround music is in my car... for at least 90 minutes a day. The ability to put it into a FLAC format, and to normalize levels between files is important to me.
 
I most certainly do not ever prefer download to physical product, but if no physical product were available I wouldn't hesitate to purchase the download.

And I would expect it to be in 5.1 FLAC or DSF. Lossless, and with no strings attached - I would not be interested if it were to be implemented in such a manner as to force the use of JRiver or iTunes or similar.

I must emphasise that I would have absolutely no respect for any licencing restrictions by territory. If it were not available in the UK I would simply transfer the necessary funds by PayPal to somebody in a territory where it could be downloaded.
 
I most certainly do not ever prefer download to physical product, but if no physical product were available I wouldn't hesitate to purchase the download.

And I would expect it to be in 5.1 FLAC or DSF. Lossless, and with no strings attached - I would not be interested if it were to be implemented in such a manner as to force the use of JRiver or iTunes or similar.

I must emphasise that I would have absolutely no respect for any licencing restrictions by territory. If it were not available in the UK I would simply transfer the necessary funds by PayPal to somebody in a territory where it could be downloaded.
Before I ever owned JRiver I purchased a lot of downloads and just played them from my PC laptop into my rig, no problems.
 
Yes! ... and hopefully very soon.

I have never downloaded any music, but always intended to.

I am comically (tragically) inept with computers, but I know I will eventually deeply regret it if I never get with the program.

Being an old geezer (b.1950), a proper techno-peasant, and having zero spare time to explore or practice the requisite digital-age skills, jumping in presents a formidable challenge, but I should have a computer in a short time and I’ve committed myself to begin figuring out how to at least get the ball rolling.

I really do hope these DL formats arrive affordably and with sufficiently high enough fidelity to satisfy the average audiophile.

My ongoing frustration is that virtually all of my first picks in music are never, have never been, nor will likely ever be mixed multichannel, but with so much good music that is widely popular, at least I can enjoy a ton of relatively mainstream music in discrete M/Ch ... more sooner than later.
 
Yes! ... and hopefully very soon.

I have never downloaded any music, but always intended to.

I am comically (tragically) inept with computers, but I know I will eventually deeply regret it if I never get with the program.

Being an old geezer (b.1950), a proper techno-peasant, and having zero spare time to explore or practice the requisite digital-age skills, jumping in presents a formidable challenge, but I should have a computer in a short time and I’ve committed myself to begin figuring out how to at least get the ball rolling.

I really do hope these DL formats arrive affordably and with sufficiently high enough fidelity to satisfy the average audiophile.

My ongoing frustration is that virtually all of my first picks in music are never, have never been, nor will likely ever be mixed multichannel, but with so much good music that is widely popular, at least I can enjoy a ton of relatively mainstream music in discrete M/Ch ... more sooner than later.

It's never too late as they say. I would be happy to help, but think baby steps.
 
Yes! ... and hopefully very soon.

I have never downloaded any music, but always intended to.

I am comically (tragically) inept with computers, but I know I will eventually deeply regret it if I never get with the program.

Being an old geezer (b.1950), a proper techno-peasant, and having zero spare time to explore or practice the requisite digital-age skills, jumping in presents a formidable challenge, but I should have a computer in a short time and I’ve committed myself to begin figuring out how to at least get the ball rolling.

I really do hope these DL formats arrive affordably and with sufficiently high enough fidelity to satisfy the average audiophile.

My ongoing frustration is that virtually all of my first picks in music are never, have never been, nor will likely ever be mixed multichannel, but with so much good music that is widely popular, at least I can enjoy a ton of relatively mainstream music in discrete M/Ch ... more sooner than later.

You will most certainly get there if you put your mind to it. I got my first Oppo...a 205...two months ago. Prior to then, all I did was play commercial physical media along with a few CD's ripped on iTunes. Since then I have ripped my entire collection of CD, DVD-V, DVD-A, Blu-Ray Audio and SACD to USB hard drives and haven't looked back. I've also changed a bunch of stuff in Audacity to conform to my personal tastes. People on this forum will be happy to help you.
 
As much as I love physical media, I can't get over the fact that most releases of Albums on either SACD or DVD-A that were sold years back are either almost impossible to find or hardly "buyable". Example: I am currently getting the groove for later Genesis Albums, and as much as I'd love to buy and hear the damn thing as a multichannel disc, it's near impossible for something that I'd call "adequate pricing". I really digg "We can't Dance", which is roughly 10 Euros on a brand new Stereo CD, but close to five times (!!!) that on a single Hybrid SACD. And don't get me started with other titles which some nut jobs on eBay try to sell for crazy money.

I mean I get it. These releases are what? Ten, maybe more years old and are long out of print? Sucks to be me then, I guess, I should've bought them in anticipation when I was younger. To me only in recent years the obstacle of actually owning SACD- or DVD-A-Players has become so low (read: cheap), that only now it gets viable for me to even think about buying those media types. And this is a problem I don't think I am alone with.

The point is: I'd love to sink my money in titles that are available. But the reality is that for the most part I can't – at least not for what I just called an adequate amount of money. Sure, there are exceptions to this – like the Dire Straits SACD of "Brothers In Arms" (still 9,99 Euro on Amazon!) or some of the fantastic HFPA releases and even cheapish box sets. But for the most part it's true. I really don't get the record labels reluctance on just pumping those titles out via one of the established portals such as Qobuz, High-Res Audio or else. They're already selling many of the highly regarded 5.1 Albums as High-Res Stereo, so why don't they offer them as High-Res DSD or PCM as well? With media and hosting being so darn cheap these days (I just bought two three TB hard drives for less than 110 Euros brand new!) I honestly don't get it.

Give us "newbies" a chance, dear record labels. Re-release them in adequate fashion for the masses, be it physical or as a download. But release them. There's simply no point in having them collect dust in your attics.
 
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