A lot of photographers have had similar journeys. I know some who made a good living out of their photos alone. Now they have to run courses to make ends meet. Which of course exacerbates the issue as along with digital imagery there are many, many more people taking great photos. (Also a lot of rubbish too of course!)
I did know that, just being cheekily edgy.
There is I suspect a big market in the uk of adults taking up music and consequently lessons, jazz is difficult for many, so many will be perpetual students (I include myself here) nothing wrong with that and opportunity for teachers.
I haven’t personally experienced any kind of pyramid scheme in the UK (except detergent based ones I.e. golden chemicals and amway in the 70/80’s😀) it’s very local and through personal contact where I live
The whole alternative and hobby course ‘teaching’ industry is a pyramid scheme. I’d even say it extends into a lot of adult and further education courses. In the UK there is a shortage of social workers but an over abundance of training course for same and many more graduates from child care associated courses than there are jobs to employ them. Similar with counselling and psychotherapy courses. It’s an industry that churns out certificates as if they meant something. Danger of crossing threads here but see the ‘level’ of nvq vs degree equivalence thread.
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Spotify was seen by the music industry as a legal alternative to illegal filesharing.
It seemed inpossible to covert file sharing user to profitable customers, so the streaming money was at least something.
Same with iTunes Downloads: no comparison to CD sales, especially when just buying one track not the whole album, but at least some legal money.
Without streaming and legal downloads, the music recording industry would still fight the music lovers (remeber Sony copy „protection“) and would be in a much worse situation than now.
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With Qobuz there is always the option to purchase a download. I know it’s not the same as owning a physical copy, but it does put a little more into an artist’s pocket.
Also, I find myself drawn more and more to Bandcamp. A good place to discover new music and often purchase CDs and vinyl as well as digital media. Bandcamp Fridays ensure that most, if not all, the purchase fee goes to the artist.
We tend to spend a great deal of money on the equipment to reproduce music it seems to me that we have a moral duty to support the artists who give us so much enjoyment as best we can.
I’ll get off me soapbox.
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Bandcamp works for me. I pay artists for music I like and they actually get some/most of the money. Some great music and musicians on there. Cara Dillon is a good example.
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Dear @facefirst,
Another D10s here!
Very nice piece of kit. The sound quality is what it is (good for 99 bucks), but it is a very useful transformer from USB to SPDIF, and indicates audio format and sampling rate.
I changed the four front bolts to make mine black.
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This topic has made me smile.
I’m sitting in a friends flat in Eastbourne looking at some Celestion Ditton 15 speakers on the floor. That takes me back to 1975 when my Dad decided to go audiophile complete with Ferrograph 2 track reel to reel and a Technics cassette recorder. Oh, the trips to the Harrogate hifi show !
When I was old enough to start spending I happened to work in Islington in London and realised that Graham’s was nearby and started to release some cash there. A creek tuner and 4040 amp were purchased in 1988, (now my office system) then a Nait 5 amp and FMJ CD player in 2000, and Music Technology speakers. And my most recent purchase …. Linn Majic DS in 2019.
I love my music, but I also love my motorcycling, country sports, holidays and cars. I’m afraid spending freely on hifi components is simply a thing of the past.
Good luck to those of you that can and will still do it. I love the convenience of the Linn though. I don’t own a CD player now after the FMJ died - all CD’s boxed up and placed in the loft.
£9.99 per month for Spotify seems a bargain ! I’m now standing by for incoming ……
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The 110 was my first naim amp. I went to Grahams in London intent on a new nait 1 and came away with a wonderful used 42.5/110 combo, replacing a Creek 4040. Unfortunately it was stolen after a move to Didsbury some years later. Lovely amp!
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The burglar has a good taste?
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Thanks Chris,
Strangely, I was expecting connection to the USB input to be awkward for the very reasons you mention. I was however, very pleasantly surprised at how quickly it scans my 1500 or so albums and makes them available to browse on the iPad.
Hence, prompting me to consider whether keeping the NAS and UnitiServe at all is even necessary; especially considering how few CDs I now buy!
Cheers,
Ian
I know the feeling Pete. A big part of the appeal of the ND555 was native Qobuz support but I needed to be sure it was on a par with local streaming.
After taking out my free trial, I used a workaround to the NDS using Bubble UPnP and liked what Qobuz provided, especially in terms of Hi-Res options, without the need to buy into MQA hardware and for less money than TIDAL.
My dealer offered me the loan of the ND555 and/or an Innuos Zenith 3. However, the Zenith would have involved messing with UPnP bridges or going down the USB DAC route - neither of these options was appealing.
So the ND555 was shipped to me and I knew as soon as I heard it, that it was going to be a keeper. It just does so much more than the NDS in terms of conveying the musical message.
I also got a pretty good deal as it had been hanging around my dealer’s ex-dem stock for some time; plus, I was able to trade the NDS and one of my 555PSs in to help cushion the blow!
Cheers,
Ian
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I find my NDX2 a bit slow to scan a USB drive. I wonder if the spec of the drive is a limiting factor here?
The files show very quickly in the USB input. It’s when you view them through the Server input that they take longer to show, as this does a full scan of the metadata, but then you get to browse properly instead of just a basic folder view.
I have a Seagate and a more expensive La Cie………the latter is much faster to read or write to? Both owned by the same company apparently.
I turned Server Mode off (and got a small but noticeable uplift in SQ) on the ND555 and am happy to just use the folder view on the rare occasions I listen to local files. A big part of the audition was to see whether streaming, on the new platform, is on a SQ par with local streaming; to my ears it was. The point being to use the streaming service (Qobuz) by default and only to go local over USB, on the rare occasion that Qobuz doesn’t have the album I want to listen to; there are a few it doesn’t have but probably not enough for me to justify keeping a noisy NAS/Server on the network if I don’t really need to.
Selling them could help fund a switch upgrade!
Cheers,
Ian
…my experience is that many do not stay in social work for one of two reasons, low salaries and high stress. Always more services needed than resources available and funding is always an issue.
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I’ve just bought 4 CDs, the new Mostly Autumn special edition and the 2 album s from Anette Askvik. Firstly to support them so they get better income from the paltry sums they get from on-line steaming and because local streaming still gives me best sound quality and the Anette Askvik albums are reference quality.
In that case I would agree, not much sense in running a separate server/music store really.
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Indeed. I have two daughters not using their Phd in the one case and their 2:1 in t’other. Both have been in the service and sadly have been unable to make it work. Now in commercial work and thriving.
Enough though otherwise I will start getting political around funding etc. Lets return to the happier subject of new gear.
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