Media players

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And, an iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch would allow you to select an artist or song by name... it's all the same data, no particular need to truncate the database of those audio selections just to accommodate a particular choice of playback mechanism. I agree, though, that adding an album cover is a flawed idea; the scale of the cover is just WRONG on those tiny displays, the artist didn't intend that viewing experience. An LP cover can be admired from across the living room.

But, that's the *selection* function. You could blank the display after pressing PLAY and who would miss the "presentation"?

With Vinyl, you would typically only GLANCE at the front of the cover; anything of interest (tracklist, trivia, etc.) would likely be on the backside. You'd commit the cover to memory (approximate) just so you could *locate* it, again, in your stack of albums.

But, is that truly the most efficient means of finding an album? What's the cover art look like for the Zappa album with "Billy the Mountain"? We "tolerated" that means of access simply because we had no other (reading what's on a jacket's spine is damn near impossible after its been manhandled a bit)

And, media players don't present anything other than the front.

(Think about multi-record albums and how much is "hidden" inside)

When you listen to the radio, does *it* tell you the name of the song, time remaining, artist, etc.? Does NOT having that information available diminish the experience?

(Arguably, you are more likely to want to know a title for a broadcast source as you likely didn't PICK that title!)

When you watch broadcast TV, is a movie less satisfying because you don't have it's name displayed at all times? And, have to rely on the wall clock for an approximation of when it will be over?

I.e., how much of this is a genuine need that is being met with new technology vs. just "stuff we can do"?

I use an iPad as a music player in the home - I can see the album cover from across the room.

The Apple music player allows you to view the rear cover that typically has the list of tracks.

Virtually all my radio listening at home or in the car is done by streaming or HD Radio where the song name, composer etc is available, and I do value having that information. I like to know those details. Especially for radio where I may not know the title of the piece playing.

I like that it is available.

kw

Album cover? Paging 1976. I'm a dinosaur so I do still buy the occasional CD which I promptly rip and copy to a thumb drive. I stick the drive into the car's radio (okay, entertainment center) and hit shuffle.

It does come in handy. Just this afternoon as I was coming home from CostCo I heard

I was pretty sure who it was but a glance confirmed it was Maybelle Carter from a Vanguard 2 CD set called 'roots of folk'. I have eclectic tastes so next up might be

Mother Maybelle inspired me so when I got home I played It Takes a Worried Man on the 12 string, banjo, C whistle, and D flute to keep in practice.

I've got an old shuffle my boss gifted me with one Christmas. That was my first brush with the iTunes interface. At least on Windows it is the most counter-intuitive piece of crap I've encountered.

The shuffle is okay for the gym although if it wasn't such a hassle I would delete the Danzig stuff. A little of that goes a long way.

You've never contemplated the Dead's American Beauty cover while under the influence. I was never sure if it said Beauty or Reality.

Whether a bit of vinyl or a CD, it's still an album cover in my lexicon. Nowadays, abbreviated "cover art".

I ripped all of my CDs long ago -- still have several boots to rip but they're vinyl. I prefer music in the order it appeared on the album (or live concert recording) and not willy-nilly.

And, this leads to some interesting situations: e.g., Chubby Checkers is *predictably* followed by The DC5. Somehow, they seem to fit, well.

I keep a "low profile" (1/4 tall) 32G thumb drive plugged into the car ("assorted artisits"). SWMBO has her music loaded on the car's internal disk drive (stuff of which I'm not particularly fond). And, I carry a phone ("no service") with additional music (Dreadful Grapes) when I'm going to be out-and-about (away from the car and needing a timepiece) which pairs with the infotainment center as an alternate music source.

Car will extract coverart and other appropriate info (title, artist) from the MP3's tags and display it on one of the graphic displays. But, I've usually got that display set to display GPS or whatever. The *real* interface is next/prev song, next/prev album, next/prev music *source*. If I don't feel like listening to whatever is playing at the moment, press the appropriate control with left thumb on steering wheel and see (HEAR!) what *else* there is to offer.

No point in keeping anything I don't like on any media source so its just a question of whether or not I want to listen to a particular item *now*, or not (Nah, not keen on "A Child's Garden of Grass" at the moment. "Alice's Restaurant" may be acceptable, though...). There are enough titles that it takes me weeks before the list recycles (alphabetized, by my choice).

If we're listening to the radio, it's either a news/talk show, a voice program or "music of inconsequential nature" (e.g., The _____ Philharmonic plays ________'s Nth Sonata in Q minor).

On my evening walks, I carry a Sony "Network Walkman" (a misnomer if ever there was!) owing to its small size and one-handed, sightless operation -- song/album select, volume up/down, play/pause:

It has a display but I'm surely not going to stop my walk just to read the tiny text! Besides, I already know all of the music loaded on it so what do I need to *read*?! (I can predict the next song as I listen in "album order")

SWMBO just picks one of 6 CD's that she's installed in her "bookshelf stereo" so she already knows what *they* are. Or, flips on the radio (to a classical/jazz station -- do you really care what's playing?). When <whatever> program source stops playing something appealing, she moves to another (CD, station, etc.).

I have a Surface 3 Pro by each workstation that acts as a media player (BT speakers). But, the "lid" is kept closed so I can't

*see* anything while its playing.

Watching folks listening with earbuds and they're phones are in a pocket or purse. No need to see the coverart or the name of the tune or how many minutes remain.

I listen to things that I know I will enjoy. No need to "risk" something that might not be appealing. I've a friend who "collects" renditions of "Ghost Riders in the Sky" -- seems a bit monotonous.

I've only once, in recent memory, wanted to know who/what was playing; it was a tribute album so the songs were familiar but "all wrong" ("Ah! Different artist/interpretation!")

Agreed. I've had two over the years. The "tie tack" version was very convenient (with corded earphones) as you could clip it to a lapel and it was still accessible but not in your hands or otherwise in your way.

I've discarded 3 or 4 iPods (various generations -- audio & video) as they were equally useless interfaces. Trying to do too much with too few controls is just folly. Witness Kodi...

I rescued some Squeezeboxen to use as a hardware platform for SWMBO's "stereo" (HiFi) replacement. Another braindead interface (do you really think folks want to browse their music library with a two-line display and a 6 button remote?) You expect me to select a letter-at-a-time to specify a search criteria? How many character positions do you think I'll do that for before giving up??

And, do you really want an animated display (BLUE, no less!) at your bedside while you're trying to go to sleep?

I've been debating how to "load media" into SWMBO's "hifi emulator". Obviously, the unit of measure will be playlists, not CDs or tapes (one can always make a playlist that corresponds 1:1 with a physical medium). But, given how infrequently she changes the discs, radio presets, etc. I'm not keen on investing much effort, there.

Maybe a simple web interface to the server that lets her "load" a particular playlist (selected from a featureful display) into a particular "source".

Staring at album art is so "teenager"! :> Too much of the art tries too hard to be trippy. "Live Dead" -> ACID? Aoxomoxoa ->

"ATE ACID"? The phallus in ELP's BSS, lfe/death symbols In Search of the Lost Chord, the faces (not well) hidden in Santana's first (?) album cover, and Over-nite Sensation is just chock full of stuff!

[I chuckled when a Boston fan was surprised to see the guitar in their debut album cover: "No, it's a spaceship!" "No, it's a guitar!!"]

Some is very well executed (Blues for Allah). But, I'd not want it hanging in the living room!

I enjoy looking at the covers of Dick's/Dave's Picks to see if any recollections of the performances within. But, I haven't a clue as to what's on 23... or 45! And, the music on 24 is a nice followon to 23 (which follows 22...) as there's no rhyme nor reason to the selections!

[SWMBO was stunned when she heard ELP's "Pictures". Quite a different rendition than what she was used to! :> ]

No need for "shuffle" when the music is random enough.

Don't forget 'Sticky Fingers' with the working zipper. I don't know how long they did that before going to a photo.

No random when you copy the directory with the ripped CD onto a MP3 player. Without top level shuffle it will play everything in the directory before moving on. Shuffle within a directory can be disconcerting for an album where you know what's supposed to come next.

There may be others that I haven't noticed but the only one with artwork is a Saga album. It may have something to do with the way I ripped them. I don't usually bother getting the metadata from the big metadata repository in the sky.

I've got a couple of those, one for Townes Van Zandt and one for Guy Clarke. Steve Earle usually does a Van Zandt cover on an album but those I can pick out.

I had a Grand Funk album on yellow vinyl. The album jacket was gold foil so I thought nothing of the medium being yellow. Apparently it wasn't standard. A friend also bought the album and his vinyl was black.

And, a "rainbow colored" (all sorts of flakes of color pressed into one) album produced by a local radio station:

Many of my "albums" are concert recordings. Track #2 *really* needs to follow track #1 -- and gapless. Jumping to some other track would really ruin the effect!

OTOH, having Tull follow Ike & Tina is a nice chain jump. Or, Chase following Big Brother. The *type* of music changes significantly.

I merge the coverart into each track -- plus keep a JPEG in the folder as some players will tag the folder with such an image.

Friends threw a party for me some time ago when I returned for a visit. This album was playing quietly in the background -- beneath the noise and chatter.

It took a long time for me to hear a long enough stretch of it to realize it was "wrong". My host broke into laughter: "I wondered when you would catch on!"

I tend to like tunes played by certain artists. E.g., Dancing in the Street is pathetic with Bowie/Jagger. OTOH, Proud Mary by Ike & Tina puts the original artists' version (CCR) to shame! Summertime by Janis. Sweet Jane by Reed. etc.

Some tunes are toss ups (e.g., Good Lovin')

Not Reed, but not bad:

They aren't Springsteen either

Rendered *loud*:

Music "scores a groove" in my mind. I *expect* a song to sound (be performed) a certain way. There may be multiple variations on that "way" ("performances") but the basics must remain true.

E.g., I can enjoy "We Bid You Goodnight" with or without the "chatter" in the refrain. I can enjoy "Not Fade Away" with or without the Holly "bop bops". But "White Rabbit" really only has one great rendering -- don't dick with it!

I've dreamt about seeing Guthrie perform "Alice"... but know that he'd never render it the same as off the vinyl so it wouldn't "fit" in that scored groove of audio memory that I've well established.

A friend editted a version of Yellow Submarine, many years ago, for a party tape. He *added* an additional repeat in the chorus. It is amazingly "disturbing" to most people who hear it! EVERYONE knows the lyrics/melody. So, this change "feels wrong", even though you may not consciously be listening to it.

Real musicians never play the same song - or even the same note of a song - the same way twice. Cover bands try to, but that's because they have trained themselves as music reproduction devices, instead of musicians. I rejected my classical violin training because I didn't see the point in becoming a music reproduction device, when we have better electronic versions. My sister is a musician - she's spent her life as a violinist and plays literally all possible styles, with musicality. I could never have done that.

Clifford Heath.

I'm a lot more flexible. Music gets recycled, altered, personalized, and grows.

?v=keWnPZOd2cw I've seen the Screaming Orphans several times and like the energy they bring to it. Too bad the photographer was captivated by Joan, but she's the chatty one and tends to draw the eye.

And Black 47 took it in another direction

I don't sing and never could remember lyrics but when I play it it's 'Foggy Dew'. Most om my Irish repertoire consists of rebel songs.

Grace, well another Grace...

And Grace I. I'll agree Pink should have left it along.

I saw the Airplane at the Palace Theater in Albany. Grace wandered on stage and innocently asked 'Is it legal to say "f*ck" in Albany?' There were cops on stage for security and she handed one a tambourine. Cops are only human and he eventually started hitting it against his leg to keep time.

I saw Arlo c. 1970 at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center. 'Alice' was the centerpiece but I'll admit the patter in the Motorcycle Song got a little old. He wasn't proud. Or tired.

I saw him again around 1985 in Ft. Wayne. Not much had changed other than he was older and starting to feel more confident he'd skipped the Huntington's gene.

I play for my own amusement and even if my skills were a lot better would never want to be a performing artist. The thought of having to get up night after night and play the same songs just like everyone expects to hear them is enough to drive you to drink or drugs.

Unless you're Dylan. I saw him in 2000 and he mumbled his way through barely recognizable covers of his own songs. He's been back since but I skipped the shows. Better to remember what was.

I never tried. When I was 15 or so I found a Lightnin' Hopkins record in the 99 cent bin at the supermarket and decided that's what I wanted to sound like. Never made it. He seldom played in anything other than E or A and only had a limited number of riffs in each but the sound is unique. For him 12 bars was something that may or may not happen and his sense of time was very flexible. When he got into the mainstream in the '60s folk revival and they tried to back him with a drummer or bass it wasn't much fun for anybody involved.

The really unsung heroes are the session musicians. 'Today you're going to play like Willie Nelson.' 'Okay'.

I have a *lot* of music -- probably close to 1000 albums! And they span a wide range of "genres". E.g., "Camp Granada" to "Minnie the Moocher". I try not to pick what I'm going to listen to but, rather, just cycle through the "catalog". It's all stuff I like so its just a question of whether I'm in the mood for a particular style of music when it pops up.

And, I have a remarkable memory for tunes, lyrics, performance quirks, etc. E.g., I can reproduce all of the pauses and stutters in "Alice" without even thinking about it. So, "deviations" are readily apparent to me. They slip out of that "memory groove".

Had there been multiple releases of that, I'd be more tolerant of differences. E.g., I've hundreds of Dead performances so don't expect any of their tunes to be performed in a particular way. But, would probably like the song less. All of the stuttering and offhand comments ("excepting alice") would seem too planned, if they occurred in each performance. As it is, they seem spontaneous and "more special".

["There is no dark side of the moon, really. As a matter of fact, it's all dark..."]

OTOH, most of the "rock operas", and lengthier numbers only exist in one "genuine" form. I don't need to hear another version of Alice, The Wall, Tommy, In the Court, Billy the Mountain, etc. Or, artists that have few offerings (I've 3 Chase albums finding the first excellent and the others... meh; should I want another version of the first?)

And, among multiple performances, I have clear preferences. E.g., Reed's performance of Sweet Jane while in the Velvet Underground was a big yawn. I prefer Dylan's "Queen Jane" with the Dead. etc.

is fun. is boring.

Some are nostalgic:

and and (ah, for the 60's!) and

Some artists come very close to *repeating* earlier performances as if that was a goal. E.g., Jingo, Soul Sacrifice, Samba Pa Ti, etc. all sound roughly the same regardless of which studio cut or live performance. Amusing considering the performers change, over time.

And, some studio performances benefit from "extra processing" that's just not possible (practical?) in live performances.

Zappa was the raunchiest performer I'd seen.

I found it enlightening to see how different groups approached performing. Some were into theatrics (Emerson's flying piano), special effects (Yes's laser show), etc.

... he'd been singin' that song for 25 minutes (which is an exageration).

I stopped playing instruments after high school. It takes a lot of time; time that I would rather spend on other things. And, a lot of instruments don't fare well solo.

His pipes are shot. But, I enjoyed his collaborations with the Dead and the Band; both seemed to flesh out his performance

I don't. I've been playing 'Don't Think Twice' since shortly after it was released. While I think people would recognize it, my version is nothing like Dylan's. Usually it's a much slower tempo, more like a meditation than his 110 BPM. Sometimes I'll throw in a little syncopation. I don't sing so keys don't matter that much. I play it in G but I think he does it in C capoed up.

As far as lyrics, while I hear snatches in my head I don't think I could put together a complete verse to match the original. 'But there ain't no use in callin' out my name, babe' tends to get followed by 'But I ain't saying you treated me unkind'.

I do remember tunes but sometimes I go off the rails. Sometimes 'Down by the Glenside' morphs into 'Spancill Hill' and it's hard to get back without moving on to some completely different tune.

I enjoy it. A lot of material requires adaptation. For example bluegrass banjo depends heavily on pattern rolls to maintain the rhythm and takes the backseat to the fiddle, guitar, or mandolin. If you want to play it solo you have to adapt sort of a Dock Boggs style. He picked the melody while singing over it. Guitar is the same. Rhythm guitar is boring unless you're singing a tune over it. Flute, and by extension the tin whistle family, is mostly melody even if it's background in a lot of bands. Harmonica can be melodic or rhythm like in a lot of blues numbers.

We all spend our spare time differently. For me, music is a creative outlet. It's here and now and then it's gone. I very seldom record so there's no record like poetry or painting. It's a quick time version of creating a sand mandala and destroying it.

That's also why I never got into photography very much.

Well, they never were too good... I was in high school when he played in the Armory in Troy. It says something about his early days that even armed with a ticket I couldn't get a date. I wound up taking my mother which was convenient since I was too young to drive myself. If she had thoughts about sitting on the floor with a bunch of mostly college kids she kept them to herself although she had definite opinions. I was in my room playing Leadbelly's 'Goodnight Irene' when she asked who was slaughtering the song. Her musical memory was the Weavers cover.

I saw the Rolling Thunder Review in Springfield in '75. When 'Slow Train Coming' came out I lost interest until the 2000 concert.

Tangentially, Amy Helm is playing here Friday in the River City Roots Festival. I'll definitely be there since Laney Lou and the Bird Dogs is up just before her.

No worries, not THAT 'Ball and Chain'. The Bird Dogs are one of those bands that may not be super proficient technically but the do get the crowd on its feet.

Without sheet music, it is often hard to sort out the intended lyrics. I recall a friend calling me, ecstatic, having resolved "their walls are built of canon balls".

Then, of course, we have enigmas like: A fine little girl, she waits for me Me catch the ship across the sea Me sailed the ship all alone Me never think I'll make it home (c'mon... you KNOW this one -- but likely never the right lyrics! :> )

Or: My spy dog saw you spy dog sittin' by the fi-yo My spy dog told your spy boy, "I'm gonna set your tail on fi-yo." I said, "Hey now," "Hey now,". "Hey now," "Hey now"

Or: Charlie handed in his dime At the Kendall Square Station And he changed for Jamaica Plain When he got there the conductor told him, "One more nickel." Charlie couldn't get off of that train. <grin>

I don't remember artists or song/album titles. And, only remember the lyrics *while* the melody is present; it's as if my mind makes an association of melody to lyric and can't "fetch" the lyrics without the tonal cues.

Similarly, I can tell you what the *next* song on an album will be as the present song is drawing to a close... it just "feels" like XXXXX.

If I hear a song and want to know the name of it, I have to "play" the entire song in my head (or subvocalize) until I stumble across a lyric that triggers a memory. I dread ear worms as I can't shed it until I can label the tune!

When a kid, one of my aunts used to sing an italian tune (nursery rhyme?) to infants. I can hear the lyrics in my head but, not understanding Italian, have no way of resolving the name of the tune. Or, even understanding what was being said. She's long dead so that source is lost to me.

I preferred brass/horns. But, very few pieces work as solos (The Lonely Bull?) Its one of the reasons I enjoy the Chase album mentioned upthread.

Most of my creative work goes into system design. I enjoy learning about "needs" and coming up with ways to address them. Always trying to see how *little* of my own "policies" I can impose on the design (build mechanism, not policy).

I frown on artist friends who try to paint photorealistically. "Why do I need you -- to create an image in many hours or days when a CAMERA will do the same in seconds?" It's like making version N of a product -- very little creative thought involved (you're just trimming around the edges).

OTOH, to see something (painting, in this case) truly original is exciting. I enjoy abstract art particularly because it's a sort of Rorschach test -- "what do YOU see in this painting?"

[Yes, I acknowledge there is a shitload of skill in making a photorealistic painting. I just don't see the need. (I was at one exhibit and spent a good 10 minutes examining a painting "up close" -- inches! -- to try to convince myself it was a photograph with brush-stroke texture artificially superimposed. It was *so* perfect...)]

Distinctive sound. Sort of like Janis.

I have a fair bit of Dylan but get tired of him really quick. "It all sounds the same".

I found the collaborations with Dead and Band to be delightful because having all that sound *behind* him suddenly made his music more interesting; it wasn't his vocals that had to carry the melody.

I've not been to a concert in decades. OTOH, I probably had thirty or forty behind me, at that time, so it's not like I feel "deprived". It's just a lot of time/energy for an experience much of which (the music portion) you can get with a good pair of headphones (now that I got rid of my Imperials).

ISTR Santana was my last show. I definitely don't regret that. It was REALLY high energy. You felt "depleted" afterwards. Sated.

Local band, growing up:

Amusing to see them still performing, all these years later (they played at one of my high school? dances)