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| Author |
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| 25 new of 195 responses total. |
omni
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response 125 of 195:
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Nov 20 07:34 UTC 1997 |
Last 2 I bought were from Meijer. Leann Rimes "Blue" for 10.99 and Bob
Dylan's "Time out of Mind" for 13.99. Decent. I would like to score *all* of
Dylan's CD's; I've grown to love his music.
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teflon
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response 126 of 195:
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Nov 21 01:46 UTC 1997 |
I dunno. I truly, truly love Encore, but I just can't forget how I once found
a Fish album "Internal Exile" at PJ records on Packard. I've kept meaning
to go back their since... BTW I don't suppose you've heard of any more of them
free concerts, have you Dan?
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orinoco
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response 127 of 195:
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Nov 23 17:35 UTC 1997 |
No, but I haven' really been looking. I'll keep an eye open.
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carson
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response 128 of 195:
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Jan 7 00:30 UTC 1998 |
(most of my music shopping in Ann Arbor occurs at Discount Records/Sam
Goody [new releases], Encore [used], and Tower [vinyl singles]. every
once in a while, I'll wander into Wherehouse Records to look for
singles, or to Wazoo to look for used singles, or PJ's, just to look.)
(I go to Discount Records partly out of habit, and partly because of the
sales people. I'm a "Replay" member, so I get all sorts of special deals
[and never pay full price for albums]. I like going to Encore because
they tend to have a fairly fluid inventory wrt what I'm looking for; I
tend to skip Wazoo and PJ's because their inventory isn't as fluid.)
(I don't like going to Sam Goody, although they tend to have a larger
selection than Discount; usually, it's only during the special "Replay"
member days that I go. I *hate* Tower, and wouldn't go if they didn't
carry vinyl singles. they've recently marked up the prices on these as
well, so I'll pribly wean myself from Tower altogether soon.)
(I tend to spend a lot of time shopping for music [last year, I spent
7-8% of my income on music, even with the various discounts and bargain
bin/used grabs], and lately I've been travelling out of town in search
of elusive grabs. right now, my favorite place is Desirable Discs II in
Dearborn. they have boxes and boxes of used vinyl, all of it
unalphabetized. this is actually a good thing for someone such as me,
because it discourages the casual shopper from taking the time to go
through it. I've taken a couple of day trips out there, and I've still
barely scratched the surface of what they might have. for newer vinyl
and older CD singles, I've had a lot of luck at Dearborn Music, both in
Dearborn and in Canton. Record Time in Roseville is much better for new
vinyl, but it's a long drive, and I've been through their used vinyl
twice now, so I need to take some time off.)
(while in New York, I had a LOT of fun looking for music. there's a
guide to shopping for vinyl in New York on the Web [the address escapes
me now] that reviews all of the shops and gives an idea of what can be
found. Vinylmania was once upon a time the place to go, but nowadays
there isn't much there that can't be found elsewhere at better prices,
unless you happen to be buddy-buddy with the staff and do a lot of
special ordering. Phat Beats was VERY cool in both atmosphere and
selection [mostly rap, but hey, that's why I was there!]. the best was
A-1 Records, where I found most of the things on my shopping list. it's
a fairly new store and isn't in the guide yet, but it pribly will be
soon.)
(I forgot to mention: most of the stuff I bought in New York was used.)
=^)
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krj
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response 129 of 195:
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Jan 10 05:55 UTC 1998 |
sale note: Tower in A2 and EL is having their annual January storewide
sale. $3 off most full-price discs, $2 off budget discs.
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mcnally
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response 130 of 195:
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Jan 10 07:44 UTC 1998 |
Urgghh.. I wish you hadn't told me that -- that's information I can't
afford..
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keesan
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response 131 of 195:
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Feb 28 03:32 UTC 1998 |
If you really want to save money, tape the CDs from the public library,
everyone else does, judging from all the scribbled times on the backs. I have
a lot of records that were also free, in three cases they were put out by the
curb after a yard sale, and in one case we helped clean up after the Hadassah
rummage sale. Kiwanis and the public library sell used records, cheap.
Kiwanis also sells used turntables cheap, and cheap reusable tapes (which we
also find by the curb).
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valerie
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response 132 of 195:
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Feb 28 14:06 UTC 1998 |
This response has been erased.
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orinoco
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response 133 of 195:
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Feb 28 16:31 UTC 1998 |
For that matter, the booksale sells CD's and suchlike as well.
(Does anyone still have a 78 RPM player?)
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anderyn
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response 134 of 195:
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Mar 1 02:37 UTC 1998 |
YEah, we do. We have tons of 78 rpm records too. :-)
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orinoco
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response 135 of 195:
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Mar 2 02:54 UTC 1998 |
Wow, neat...
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tpryan
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response 136 of 195:
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Mar 2 03:33 UTC 1998 |
I have a dual turntable that spins 78s. Found it at a garage
sale a few months after giving my younger sister on the order of
300 78s I had, along with the dual I had then. She has/had a wind
up victrola, but it broke. She had yet to get a CD player.
I still have a few 78s, including a Judy Garland album--A Star is
Born.
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krj
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response 137 of 195:
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Mar 2 20:46 UTC 1998 |
(One should probably clarify that Dual is a brand name, not a
description of some special kind of turntable.)
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krj
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response 138 of 195:
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Mar 13 05:24 UTC 1998 |
CD Now (www.cdnow.com) is offering a website-wide sale through March.
They are claiming 30% off most discs, but it appears to be 30% off
list, not off their usual price. Still might be worth checking out;
they list the Smithsonian Folkways ANTHOLOGY OF AMERICAN FOLK MUSIC
for $51 or so, a full $9 cheaper than the best price I have
seen elsewhere.
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albaugh
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response 139 of 195:
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May 5 16:13 UTC 1998 |
In terms of equipment, has anyone bought one of the cassette adapters for a
personal CD player? What was your experience? How is the sound quality?
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krj
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response 140 of 195:
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May 5 19:51 UTC 1998 |
Do you mean, to play a portable CD player through a cassette car stereo?
If so: yes, I use mine for almost two hours every day, and if this is
what you are looking for I can tell you more.
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mcnally
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response 141 of 195:
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May 5 20:00 UTC 1998 |
Do you find the arrangement works well enough that you don't wish you
just had a CD player in your dashboard?
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scott
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response 142 of 195:
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May 5 23:08 UTC 1998 |
When I used one (don't drive that much anymore) I found the sound quality
quite good. Not perfect, but useable. Making a cassette of a CD seemed to
help with dynamic range; in a car, less variation in volume is better.
I liked being able to use the same CD player for everything.
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scg
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response 143 of 195:
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May 6 01:38 UTC 1998 |
I have an in-dash cd player and am happy with it, but from what I've heard
of the casette adapters they have sounded pretty good too. It didn't make
sense for me, since I own almost no tapes. If my car had come with a tape
player, I might have gone that route instead.
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krj
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response 144 of 195:
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May 6 04:52 UTC 1998 |
Looks like we have a discussion going. :)
I have been using a portable CD player connected through a cassette
adaptor in my car for three years. I'm very happy with the sound
quality: less hiss (though still some from the tape player electronics)
and rock solid pitch stability, of course.
I sometimes get annoyed at having to hook the player up, but since I
do a one hour drive each way to commute to my job, I don't mind the
extra few seconds to plug everything together.
Mike in #141: unfortunately, the ramp where I park at my office is the
Car Stereo Thieves Shopping Mart, so I have stuck with the factory
Ford stereo cassette player. If theft were not a frequent worry,
I might have gone with an in-dash player. Also, I still have a large
library of tapes I like to play. And Leslie needs tape access too --
she's always listening to recordings of her voice lessons, or of
music she is learning.
Scott in #142: I have bought the high-end Sony car players.
These come with a Digital Signal Processing option labelled "car"
which is a gentle compression circuit. (My most recent player comes
with two settings for the compression level.) This is essential
for listening to classical music on the road.
Unfortunately I was not happy with the Sony brand adaptors. I had
one which came with the Sony CD player, and one which was an aftermarket
purchase, and both developed really annoying squeaks. The adaptor has
to have moving parts to fool the cassette player into thinking
that a tape is being played.
What I have bought since then is the Discwasher brand cassette adapter.
It's pricey, but I think it may sound a little better, and it is
perfectly quiet, mechanically. It does have one annoying failure mode,
however... but Leslie needs the phone line so I will have to tell you
about that later.
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n8nxf
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response 145 of 195:
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May 6 10:15 UTC 1998 |
I have a Audiovox cassette stereo radio that I pulled out of the trash
and got working. It has a CD IN jack right on the front. I have not
tried it but I suspect that it is a line level input. It also has
AS/PS and ART pushbuttons, whatever those do...
The cassette adapters use a stereo tape player head to couple the signal
from the CD output to the cassette head in the stereo. Pretty simple.
The take-up wheels inside the cassette player want to see motion or else
the mechanism ejects the tape. Hence, the adapters have the two reels
geared to each other. I suspect that a noisy mechanism can be quieted
wit a drop of two of silicone oil (Needle oil at your favorite sewing
center.)
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scott
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response 146 of 195:
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May 6 11:02 UTC 1998 |
This reminds me that once back in my youth I added a CD jack to a cheap car
stereo. You can wire one in to the volume control usually.
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albaugh
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response 147 of 195:
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May 6 14:42 UTC 1998 |
Any reason you can't use the cassette adapter for your personal CD player with
the cassette player of your home "stereo" system? (Mine's cheap, and I
haven't invested in a home CD player yet, and might not if the above scenario
made sense and panned out...)
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mcnally
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response 148 of 195:
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May 6 16:28 UTC 1998 |
I'm not generally too concerned about sound quality in the car --
road noise will more than overwhelm it in any car I've ever owned..
What I would worry about would be skipping (which you seem to be
saying is not much of a problem on units that have a read-ahead buffer)
and the inconvenience of hooking it up and stowing it after use..
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krj
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response 149 of 195:
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May 6 19:47 UTC 1998 |
albaugh: the only problem I can envision would be if the cord leading
out from the fake-cassette got in the way of the boombox door closing.
This is not a problem in most car cassette players, which have the door
slightly ajar when a cassette is playing. (I take it your boombox
does not have an "auxiliary" input jack.)
You might also look at cheap powered computer speakers to plug into
the headphone jack of your portable CD player. Get a AC adaptor
from Radio Shack so you don't use up lots of batteries.
mike: skipping problems: what I have found is that the mechanical
stabilization stuff in the Sony players I have had "wears out"
after a year. At least, that's my best guess. My Sony car player #1
became unusable in the car after a year; almost any jolt causes
a brief signal dropout or skipping. The unit plays fine, immobile,
in my office.
Sony car player #2, with a ten second buffer, played perfectly for about
a year but then developed similar problems: after a bad road jolt
you can hear the player mechanism frantically seeking -- click, click --
while the buffer runs out. I've worked around this by putting the
player in my lap; my thighs seem to be excellent shock absorbers.
Maybe it's really the shock absorbers in my car which are wearing out,
making the road jolts worse.
klaus: the "ART" pushbutton on your car cassette player improves the
creativity and quality of the music you are listening to, of course.
Routine commercial jingles are transformed into mini-symphonies.
:)
Finally, the Discwasher cassette adaptor failure mode: the connection
between the stereo-mini plug which inserts into your CD player, and
the attached wire, is very very flimsy. I had two of them break
at that point. Finally, I reinforced the connection between the wire
and the miniplug with some plastic twirled cable wrap. This keeps
the attachment point protected from bending; so far, so good!
Other than that failure problem, I am very happy with the mechanical
and sonic performance of the Discwasher adaptor and I recommend it,
even at the fairly steep price of $25.
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