Swimming up the music stream

So, how do you like your music?  Personally, as you may know from previous posts, I’m a fan of having a physical CD.  Now, that’s not especially practical due to the volume of music I have digitally.  However, most of my digital collection I ripped myself into iTunes.  Why?  Because I wanted higher quality versions of songs than a typical MP3.  For those not attuned to lossy audio codecs, see this entry. 

Apple’s default encoder is AAC (or M4A) which, supposedly, has a small sound-quality advantage on MP3s recorded at the same bit-rate.  Following?  Good.  Personally, I like to rip my CDs at 192 kbps (kilobits per second, the more the higher quality), or better yet, 256 kbps AAC.  This is as close to CD quality as you can get with a squished audio file.  But, these days, people are streaming music left and right.  What do you get with one of the subscription services?In a quick breakdown, Pandora is 64 kbps for free and 192 kbps for Pandora One subscribers.  Rhapsody Apple Music streams at 256 kbps.  Spotify is up at 320 kbps for subscribers.

What’s this all mean?  Well, most of us who are streaming are either sitting at a computer somewhere (with or without headphones) and/or driving in a car.  Computer speakers produce a cringe-worthy sound when music is played through them, regardless of the quality.  Similarly, unless you have some kind of premium audio system in your car, the surrounding ambient noise while driving makes car music sound like crap.  However, when streaming to a stereo or pair of decent headphones, you could expect to hear decently recorded/streamed music.  And, that means that if you’re starting with a crap feed (i.e. Pandora’s free feed) then it’s going to sound that much worse when played through sub-par speakers. 

However, if you’ve got a decent sound system, it has the chance to work.  Personally, I’ve eschewed streaming services preferring a mix of my already-owned music.  I won’t pay for satellite either.  If I want to listen to 40 non-stop hours of the Grateful Dead, I’ve got that (and likely more) on my PC at home.  And, if that’s not enough, I’ve got some options.

Specifically, I’ve turned to a couple of apps which feed my desire to listen to good music.  First is Live 365 (iOS/Android and free).  This is the app that’s helped me through my WNTI fix.  It’s also got a ton of music categories you can check out, and other established internet stations.  They broadcast at 128 kbps. 

Phish time?  For free you can get a non-stop Phish stream at 64 kbps.  That’s not great, but it’s your trip, man, and if you need a fix, they got what you’re looking for.

Perhaps my favorite app is the one that draws from Archive.Org, the on-line non profit digital library, based on San Francisco, which has access to websites, software, games, movies, images, and, best of all, music.  As of May 2014, they had collected 15 petabytes of information/media.  And, in their collection is over 10,000 Grateful Dead recordings.  Granted, there are multiple (and different) recordings from many of the shows, mostly due to a taper-friendly band.  Still, that’s countless hours of music.  And it’s not just the Dead.  They have shows from Smashing Pumpkins, the Radiators, Guster, Cracker, John Mayer, Jack Johnson, and countless others.  Also, you can check out music from around the world, in about any language, and any genre.  It’s an amazing collection…all for free.  And, typically, music is preserved in its highest digitally available quality, with most recorded/streaming between 100 kbps and 200 kbps.  Zowie!

How do you access it?  Either go directly to the site (the Grateful Dead button is clear and obvious), or get an app for your mobile device.  My preference is Archivist ($3.99 iOS) which scans the music on your phone and adds any artists who have an Archive.Org presence to your favorites list.  Right now, based on its analysis, I’ve got about 12,000 shows to go through before I’m done…and, at decent quality.  Also, it will allow me to ‘favorite’ shows/recordings I like the best so I can re-listen at any time.  I’d be curious about your listening habits, so if you have a favorite way to get your music, let me know in the comments section here or on FB.  Until then, I’ll be jamming to some awesome tunes for the next couple of … years.