The CD is dead - long live live slotMusic

It's arguable that the Quartet for the End of Time is a too familiar work (here at the radio station we've recorded it at least twice live this year) and it's perhaps the kind of work that if you know it, you don't want to hear it played other than by the very best performers (of course the very best performers don't necessarily have the best reputations, but it's the reputation that's the draw). 

The quartet that did this has a growing reputation for performing the piece - they formed themselves originally specifically to play it, in fact - not that this is all they do, by any means. And, I have to say that they performed it pretty much from memory - which improves the performance no end, and in itself is no mean feat for this particular work.

Good job it was from memory too - the venue was candle-lit and we couldn't locate any musicstand lights easily.

And if you have a cracking good performance on CD or slotMusic (!) at home, maybe it's easier to stay home and listen to that instead without some idiot having a coughing fit in the ethereal final bars.

We were lucky from that POV; even the traffic was quiet at that point - the end wasn't spoilt at all. The start though was delayed by about 30 seconds due to the combined sirens of a couple of police cars and an ambulance...

But some of the people who were there said that although they have recordings of it, it's nowhere near the same as hearing it performed live by good players in a sympathetic environment (which it is). Since there were only 25 people there, we asked most of them what they thought (if it wasn't obvious) and there was pretty much universal agreement that we'd just witnessed something rather special.

On the other hand, maybe it wouldn't have been as good if more people had been there - there would have been rather more background noise, after all. Maybe 25 was a good number.

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Getting back to the original topic for a moment - how do you record anything to slutMusic cards? Is it supposed to be a read-only format?

I can't see the attraction in another "middleman" media. I have all my CDs on my PC in both wav and mp3. I have a lot of it on my 30GB Creative Zen mp3 player, but I dont have room for all of it (8GB does not make compression irrelevant for me!). This zen (a solid state model) plays through my hi-fi at home, the aux input of my car sound system on the road, and the hi-fi at my cabin in the mountains. I update it via USB with my PC and it recharges from the USB cable or a car charger with a usb head. If I get the urge I plug in som Koss Portapros and go running with it as well.

I know my music collection very well (word perfect on "One Night in Paris" ) so the mp3 is as much a reminder of the track as a reproduction. When you know the music very well your mind fills in any bits that are missing, so the compression doesn't bother me at all. I notice the difference every time I add some new music - I have to lsten to for a good while on CD before I stop noticing the difference on the mp3.

how do you record anything to slutMusic cards? Is it supposed to be a read-only format?

From what I understood of it, it isn't a recording format. Just intended to "replace" cd's as music bearer in brick-and-mortar stores. So for that use it could be read-only. But as it builds on an already existing format a recordable version should be possible.

The website does say

"Musicians will find slotMusic cards offer a compelling new way to express themselves to their fans. With 1GB (gigabyte) of capacity, slotMusic cards can hold songs, as well as liner notes, album art, videos, and other creative content that an artist may choose. Consumers can also add their own content to a slotMusic card, creating a personal plug-and-play media library. "

I doubt it will take off, but it will be interesting to watch. I'm still amazed by my new car stereo and the way the remote control has now been raved over by a son as well as the daughter. We haven't actually used the memory slot yet, but from their juggling with CD's and  the track agility, I can well see that solid state in the car might be very attractive, particularly as the road calming ramps and craters so often cause the vehicle to take off.

I can well see that solid state in the car might be very attractive, particularly as the road calming ramps and craters so often cause the vehicle to take off.

I'm utterly convinced that all this extra junk in the road was initially contrived at just by shock absorber manufacturers, and as for calming - well, I'm not aware of much calming going on at all - especially with the speed bumps, as most people have now discovered that if you line your vehicle up with them, and increase your speed to about 40+mph, you hardly notice them at all. So as a safety feature, they are something of a liability.

Solid state in the car - hmm, I suppose so. And I suppose that it doesn't really matter what the quality of your in-car distraction is, does it?

But they don't really need to be now that cards of 8GB and above are available.

I think the availability of storage space doesn't mean anything at all when it comes to market speak.

I own a 1 Terabyte multimedia server, but I had to contact the manufacturer to find out if it was capable of storing CD quality files.  The shop didn't know and there was nothing on the packaging, or in the instructions, to indicater whether or not this was possible - although there were plenty of references to ability to store "40,000+ MP3's". 

In real terms, quantity has definitely overtaken quality.

your in-car distraction

Alec Issigonis, who designed the Morris Minor and the Mini, wouldn't even allow people to talk in the car; and deliberately made the seats uncomfortable to avoid possible relaxation.

Paul