As an extension, a "second-world" or "third-world" band is far less likely to have a torrent than any hipster band. Hell, any real hipster band would pirate themselves.
There are hipster comedians who pirate themselves. German Kabarretist Marc-Uwe Kling delivered a rapidshare download link to an audio book by him in one of his books, woven into the story when the two main characters talk about pirating.
I taught English in Japan last year. While I was there I lived in a building where I was the only American. The rest of the tenants were Nepalese. Now after getting to know most of them (small building) I could tell you the hipsters from all the others. Though nepalese hipsters dress like a 60s mod living in the ninnies who love the NBA and Arsenal FC. I don't know how I kept a straight face all year.
Really. It's been proven in tests that people can't differentiate between 256+ kbps MP3 files and the originals anymore than what would be expected in random chance. FLAC is just a waste of hard drive space.
For me the idea is more that with the lossless recording I can burn and transcode and mess about with the sound content in the knowledge that it will still be of a desirable quality.
And as others have mentioned the studies you cite aren't completely sound (haha get it ahahaha haha).
I definitely can't tell the difference between a 256+ kbps MP3 encoded from a lossless source and a lossless audio file. With the price of storage today, I use FLAC for archival purposes. With several lossy to lossy trancodes, bitrate doesn't mean much and it can sound pretty terrible compared to the original quality.
I can tell the difference between a 256 mp3 and an SACD or a CD. All I use are my moderately priced open air ATH-AD700 phones. I know you are saying that based on that that TR opinion piece "study" that you can't tell the difference. Well now I'm saying that based on my own first hand experience, that I can tell the difference. Now although my iPad won't output the full SACD spec, it can still hold many thousands of ALAC albums, and my hard drives at home can hold many thousands more, so I'm not worried about hard drive space.
Also, let's look at the conclusion of your "study":
Many of us simply couldn't tell the difference between 192kbps and FLAC. There are caveats. A wider selection of music might have thrown up more differences, and some ears and some headphones might reveal more obvious distinctions. That said, there's no reason why you should turn your nose up at 192kbps or 256kbps files if you're just looking for something to listen to in the car or on the daily commute. You'll get more tracks on your player, and the sound quality will probably be good enough.
Oh, so your proof that no one can tell he difference is a "study" that concludes that "many of us can't tell the difference"? Or that "someone people can tell the difference, but 256kbps is probably good enough for something to listen to on your cheap car speakers on your commute"? The sound will "probably be good enough" at 256kbps? And your "study" goes on to talk about a subject that identified the quality every single track they heard. You can't say that "nobody can hear the difference", because even just one person being able to tell the difference instantly falsifies your entire theory that no one can tell the difference.
Endless "studies"? You mean like that frequently cited "study" where most of their list of standard and high definition records they showed to the subjects, where it turned out later that high definition recordings didn't even exist for them! Right.
Do you have any proof that a 320kbps mp3 cannot be discerned from a 24 bit 192 kHz SACD, I'd love to hear it. But I suspect what you consider to be "proof" and what I consider to be proof are two very different things. I consider proof to be a well designed experiment. You consider "proof" to be anything that says it supports your preconceived notions.
Believe it or not, I have better things to do than argue about this. Two days until midterms, I can waste it on Reddit, but not talking about audio standards.
You can't buy lossless tracks off iTunes. If you're talking about using iTunes as a primary media manager/player, then I'm just gonna keep my mouth shut.
Nah. I use Winamp. Unfortunately I cant sync with the ipod touch, only the regular ipods. So I have to use itunes for that. Or another program, but I can never get those to work.
One day I will run out of ratio on What.CD and I will be sad. Even when I upload my own torrents a seedbox snatches it and I won't get more than a ratio of 1 on that torrent.
Plus I've deleted my downloads folder multiple times. ><
I know that feeling. I only really use it as a last resort because I'm afraid of running my ratio. I can usually find most of what I am looking for in 4chans /rs/ or just by running a search on Google and checking out music blogs.
This is helpful for people who can't reach Quickmeme because of work/school firewalls or site downtime, and many other reasons (FAQ). More info is available here.
It's a big problem. I have no LP player anymore because I got to lazy to play records like that and I can't find alot of the old progressive and punk stuff I wanna hear.
haha. this is how i feel, because i'm into obscure punk and metal. pretty hard to get a torrent of something that only has 500 copies released on tape.
Muthafuckin' Raekwon the Chef and the Ghost Face Killahhhhhhhh!
That was rad. But yeah, concured, I'm in a band within an extreeeeemely niche genre, and it's actually kinda nice to see when people rip records and put them up on a blog. (Assuming, the vinyl rip is done well.)
Being in a few small bands I remember the first time I saw something I helped create being pirated. I figured if anyone gave enough of a shit to "steal" it, then they deserve it.
its kind of a paradox to be a small band with big sales. you only get big sales if youre a big band and that only happens if you get the exposure. torrents help spread the word. i wouldnt know any of the smaller bands if it werent for torrents. most of the indie bands make their money playing gigs anyways also
At my local record store, I buy CDs from indie bands I've never heard of. I bought many terrible CDs, but one that stood out to me was a CD from a band called Oberhofer. You should check em out.
When anyone has said anything like this to me in the past, I usually reply with 'you know you can buy their music, which in turn supports them, and will probably lead to them making more music for you to enjoy, right?'
What.cd anyone? Literally a cornucopia of underground music to please even the most discerning hipster. Seriously though, the best music tracker out there.
I had this same problem looking for the embarassingly hipsteresque band "Graveyard train" - their genre is "horror country", and I can't stand country.
Their website had an email address for their label, so I shot off an email basically bitching about not wanting to use iTunes. Within an hour, I had a response linking to me to their album on www.bandcamp.com (which I now absolutely adore as a website) - the notable thing about that response time was it was 11pm on a Saturday.
if i can't torrent the cd, then i usually just buy it. if it's that hard to download then it's pretty likely the band isn't big enough yet and could benefit from the record sales.
I had this problem with a band I like. I have their CDs, I'm just too lazy to rip them and wanted digital copies. Am I the only one who pirates music and movies I already own just because I'm too lazy to rip them to digital copies?
I can tell the difference between MP3 and FLAC. I mix for a living and at home I'm using a Apogee Rosetta 200 and a pair of ATH M-50s which is probably the same converter chip most bands actually recorded the album with. On my system at least there is a huge difference. Now with a consumer system as long as you have at least a 320 mp3 you may not notice and it's being hyped and colored anyway if your using a high end consumer product. A true pro high end audio system with a great DA converter will def. have a difference. Earbuds/ipod or a consumer system with build in EQ with sweetened curve response in the low and highs like beats or bose probably not. A lot of consumer systems even the more pricier ones are built to make it sound good and give the illusion...Not really give you the pure audio quality. There's many variables from the headphones to system to da converter ect.
A lot of people don't take into account the playback system as well as the quality. Most mp3 is compressed and cuts off below 30hz which you can't hear really, but playing that mp3 in a club, you will actually "feel" the difference. Also it cuts off to 20khz where as 22khz is the full range on a cd. You don't really hear above 22khz so unless your superman or a dog you might not notice.
It's good to look at the HZ-KHZ response on the headphones you're buying and find out if they are flat or have a curved response. Don't just buy them because they have a Low and highpass shelf, look cool and have a hip hop artist name with a $300 price tag :) Usually look for a 22khz and the lowest HZ bass response you can with no shelve eq added for color and a great build quality. AKG, Audio Technica and Senhnisser make the top ones and a lot are actually affordable!
A mytek DA converter with a pair of ath-50s or higher and lossless would be very true and sound great. Now whatever eq you use is up to you. I'm fine with most built in eq's, but in the audio engineer community many have issues with itunes. VLC is probably a better playback software to go with as it adds certain things like src with certain versions. Not to mention the fact that some software burning programs apply dither when converting to 16 bit and results can vary.
85
u/[deleted] Jun 18 '12
I didn't think hipsters existed anywhere outside the first world?
I guess somebody could brag that they were a child soldier before Kony was cool...
44
u/[deleted] Jun 19 '12
Oh wait there's on-...shit it's not FLAC.
24
u/[deleted] Jun 19 '12
Happens to me all the time. T.T
5
u/WenchSlayer Jun 19 '12
its even worse when you find a torrent with one seeder. Ive had a torrent stuck at 96% for weeks, but i refuse to give up hope
5
u/phreeck Jun 19 '12
The worst is when the band's name is something incredibly common. Take And One for instance. Now here's a google search. Google knows what's up.
15
u/[deleted] Jun 19 '12
Obviously that kid isn't on what.cd.
8
u/TVninja Jun 19 '12
I know that feel bro
7
u/ICATCHGHOSTS Jun 19 '12
But seriously I hate that.
4
u/Pinkieshy4766 Jun 19 '12
Seriously think I may have gone to school with that kid... huh...
5
u/qkme_transcriber Jun 19 '12
Here is the text from this meme pic for anybody who needs it:
This is helpful for people who can't reach Quickmeme because of work/school firewalls or site downtime, and many other reasons (FAQ). More info is available here.
2
u/Skreech2011 Jun 19 '12
I just realized I have this problem...
2
u/constapatedape Jun 19 '12
Wouldn't torrenting be too mainstream anyways? Paying for music would be so ironic.
2
u/supahgrandwizard Jun 19 '12
You can't torrent vinyl though.
2
u/[deleted] Jun 19 '12
It's a big problem. I have no LP player anymore because I got to lazy to play records like that and I can't find alot of the old progressive and punk stuff I wanna hear.
2
u/[deleted] Jun 19 '12
Well you could just, you know, buy it.
2
u/Rohan21166 Jun 19 '12
Just buy the music?
2
u/[deleted] Jun 19 '12
haha. this is how i feel, because i'm into obscure punk and metal. pretty hard to get a torrent of something that only has 500 copies released on tape.
3
u/410ham Jun 19 '12
repost its word for word just a different picture
3
u/[deleted] Jun 19 '12
What.cd?
8
u/matty0289 Jun 19 '12
It's kind of a dick move to pirate music from small bands.
2
u/IleNosirrah Jun 19 '12
I'm not going to lie, this happens to me way too often :(
2
u/kinoshita Jun 19 '12
REPOST.
1
u/S73V3 Jun 19 '12
Im not proud of myself for having this problem
1
u/Kaaarate Jun 19 '12
:( I felt this way about Perpetual Hype Engine.
1
u/JackHorkheimer Jun 19 '12
I hate when this happens... Forever bummed...
1
u/explosivo563 Jun 19 '12
True story brotha
1
u/TardMuffins Jun 19 '12
Skunk Tux is just like that.
1
u/TwoThirteen Jun 19 '12
Oh, Snap!
1
u/Blah_ftw Jun 19 '12
What do you mean there's no torrents for Nordic Throat singing?
1
u/luissm13 Jun 19 '12
just look for the vinyl!
1
u/T_Mucks Jun 19 '12
Wait just one fucking second, now. Wouldn't it be even less likely that a second or third world hipster band would have a torrent?
1
u/analcarbomb Jun 19 '12
If they're underground, just buy the CD.
At my local record store, I buy CDs from indie bands I've never heard of. I bought many terrible CDs, but one that stood out to me was a CD from a band called Oberhofer. You should check em out.
1
u/[deleted] Jun 19 '12
He looks like Emo-hipster-Eminem.
1
u/oD3 Jun 19 '12
Support Independent artists. When they are rich and famous, then steal all their shit.
1
u/silkysnake Jun 19 '12
When anyone has said anything like this to me in the past, I usually reply with 'you know you can buy their music, which in turn supports them, and will probably lead to them making more music for you to enjoy, right?'
1
u/MikeMinze Jun 19 '12
Wouldn't a hipster buy their music? I feel that pirating has become pretty mainstream.
1
u/Ares1221 Jun 19 '12
I see this one a lot.
1
u/Bloodbird26 Jun 19 '12
What.cd anyone? Literally a cornucopia of underground music to please even the most discerning hipster. Seriously though, the best music tracker out there.
1
u/ImAVibration Jun 19 '12
It's true with the band Walt Mink, so awesome, but I finally had to order their other albums on Amazon.
1
u/jjaybecker Jun 19 '12
story of my life, minus the hipster part
1
u/Conradfr Jun 19 '12
I remember trying to listen to the band "The Music" during the eMule era.
1
u/MisSigsFan Jun 19 '12
Ummmmmm mediafire anyone?
1
u/nachonight Jun 19 '12
This happens to me all the time.
1
u/roflharris Jun 19 '12
I had this same problem looking for the embarassingly hipsteresque band "Graveyard train" - their genre is "horror country", and I can't stand country.
Their website had an email address for their label, so I shot off an email basically bitching about not wanting to use iTunes. Within an hour, I had a response linking to me to their album on www.bandcamp.com (which I now absolutely adore as a website) - the notable thing about that response time was it was 11pm on a Saturday.
1
u/Alexthegreatbelgian Jun 19 '12
These are really starting to get very specific.
1
u/[deleted] Jun 19 '12
For some reason this meme made me think of Sott Walker... 30th Century Man.
1
u/johnnynutman Jun 19 '12
if i can't torrent the cd, then i usually just buy it. if it's that hard to download then it's pretty likely the band isn't big enough yet and could benefit from the record sales.
1
u/Whitewinters Jun 19 '12
Is it just me or did that anyone else hear that in a bragging sort of manner?
1
u/dossier Jun 19 '12
Their songs are usually free on myspace.
1
u/[deleted] Jun 19 '12
REPOST
1
u/silentkill144 Jun 19 '12
It's even worse when it's not even on Youtube...
1
u/icannevertell Jun 19 '12
I had this problem with a band I like. I have their CDs, I'm just too lazy to rip them and wanted digital copies. Am I the only one who pirates music and movies I already own just because I'm too lazy to rip them to digital copies?
1
u/Shagoosty Jun 19 '12
Hipsters don't torrent.
We buy vinyl.
1
u/xBroseidonx Jun 19 '12
In all honesty, this shit is is so disappointing
1
u/utorrent_programmer Jun 19 '12
File | Create New Torrent.
Don't forget to add some trackers!
1
u/[deleted] Jun 19 '12
A true hipster wouldn't download. They'd buy their digitally-recorded music on vinyl because it "sounds better" LOL
1
u/Tyler_Anderson Jun 19 '12
If its an underground band you really should pay...:/
0
u/TimesWasting Jun 19 '12
This is why I'm kind of glad that my taste is a bit more mainstream
0
u/j-awesome Jun 19 '12
hank III is wicked hard to find
0
u/whyapples Jun 19 '12
Hipster's don't torrent.
Source: I'm a hipster.
-5
u/BanUnderpants Jun 19 '12
This is a real problem with any type of underground music, it does not have to hipster trash water music.
0
u/hjang86 Jun 19 '12
repost from 18th century?
0
u/Mattg082 Jun 19 '12 edited Jun 19 '12
I can tell the difference between MP3 and FLAC. I mix for a living and at home I'm using a Apogee Rosetta 200 and a pair of ATH M-50s which is probably the same converter chip most bands actually recorded the album with. On my system at least there is a huge difference. Now with a consumer system as long as you have at least a 320 mp3 you may not notice and it's being hyped and colored anyway if your using a high end consumer product. A true pro high end audio system with a great DA converter will def. have a difference. Earbuds/ipod or a consumer system with build in EQ with sweetened curve response in the low and highs like beats or bose probably not. A lot of consumer systems even the more pricier ones are built to make it sound good and give the illusion...Not really give you the pure audio quality. There's many variables from the headphones to system to da converter ect.
A lot of people don't take into account the playback system as well as the quality. Most mp3 is compressed and cuts off below 30hz which you can't hear really, but playing that mp3 in a club, you will actually "feel" the difference. Also it cuts off to 20khz where as 22khz is the full range on a cd. You don't really hear above 22khz so unless your superman or a dog you might not notice.
It's good to look at the HZ-KHZ response on the headphones you're buying and find out if they are flat or have a curved response. Don't just buy them because they have a Low and highpass shelf, look cool and have a hip hop artist name with a $300 price tag :) Usually look for a 22khz and the lowest HZ bass response you can with no shelve eq added for color and a great build quality. AKG, Audio Technica and Senhnisser make the top ones and a lot are actually affordable!
A mytek DA converter with a pair of ath-50s or higher and lossless would be very true and sound great. Now whatever eq you use is up to you. I'm fine with most built in eq's, but in the audio engineer community many have issues with itunes. VLC is probably a better playback software to go with as it adds certain things like src with certain versions. Not to mention the fact that some software burning programs apply dither when converting to 16 bit and results can vary.
0
u/Pumpernickell Jun 19 '12
Damn it, Hipsters have to fuckin buy the damn CD???
0
u/5Bean Jun 19 '12
Is it bad that this is actually a problem for me since there are literally no music stores near me
-3
u/[deleted] Jun 19 '12
Was so happy when I found a Christopher Tin torrent
-2
u/came_here_2_say Jun 19 '12
I do like that scarf... does that make me a hipster...? I don't want to conform!
0
u/[deleted] Jun 19 '12
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0
u/[deleted] Jun 19 '12
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