Abandoning bootlegs, yay or nay?

[bollemanneke 3,708]

Hello folks.

 

I'm thinking of overhauling my entire digital music collection, but wanted to see what you guys thought first.

 

I've been saving my music at CBR 128KBPS for 15 years. Yesterday, I finally had my big revelation and decided to switch to VBR instead, something people have been recommending for ages. While I'm not going to touch my classical music collection (baroque doesn't have a groundbreaking soundscape), this will mean A LOT of work in the 'film score department'. Yesterday evening, I suddenly thought, what if I used this opportunity to stop collecting bootlegs?

 

Advantages:
- Most bootlegs just don't make for nice listening: you have to figure out which track goes where, paste tracks together that belong together and if you're in luck, you also discover some mixes are inferior to their OST counterparts. I don't always have the resources to make 'proper' edits because I don't really have time to rewatch POTC to figure out which action cues should go together.
- They just don't sound nice. The volume levels of Hunger Games are all over the place, Goblet of Fire just sounds BAD and I'm tired of wasting time editing albums and turning up the volume. I don't edit films and books either.
- I won't have to worry about 'is this genuine 320 KBPS/FLAC'?
- I'll really be able to look forward to official proper expanded releases.
- I won't have to scour the Internet for active links.

 

Disadvantages:
- I'll have less music and probably have to say goodbye to cues I really like.
- That's all, I think.

 

What do you think? Are there people here who deliberately avoid bootlegs and edits (for the reasons I mentioned above?) Or will I regret that decision because of all the unreleased stuff I'm missing out on and soon get depressed because the food insert will no longer be there? Discuss.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,488]

I really don't have much interest in bootlegs anymore. In part for the reasons you mentioned above.

[Lady Dimitrescu 9,117]

I've kept my ID4 2-CD bootleg despite buying several copies of the LLL because there are full arrangements of certain tracks and set pieces that the LLL split into separate tracks for the bonus section. And it features the film version of "Target Remains".

[publicist 4,647]

Why make such a fuss? Take the good ones, leave the bad ones. Really a no-brainer, because the label 'bootleg' as such is a neutral one and doesn't say anything about the enjoyment factor of the music contained therein.

[BloodBoal 7,541]

9 minutes ago, bollemanneke said:

Advantages:
- Most bootlegs just don't make for nice listening: you have to figure out which track goes where, paste tracks together that belong together and if you're in luck, you also discover some mixes are inferior to their OST counterparts.

 

Generally, it's the other way around.

 

9 minutes ago, bollemanneke said:

I don't always have the resources to make 'proper' edits because I don't really have time to rewatch POTC to figure out which action cues should go together.

 

You can find a few editing guides out there for that.

 

9 minutes ago, bollemanneke said:

- They just don't sound nice. The volume levels of Hunger Games are all over the place, Goblet of Fire just sounds BAD

 

Yes, some bootlegs sound bad, but most of them actually sound really good. Often better than the OST (as mentioned above).

 

9 minutes ago, bollemanneke said:

- I won't have to worry about 'is this genuine 320 KBPS/FLAC'?

 

You've been saving your files as 128KBPS MP3s for 15 freakin' years. You obviously don't care about quality!

 

9 minutes ago, bollemanneke said:

- I'll really be able to look forward to official proper expanded releases.

 

Good point.

 

9 minutes ago, bollemanneke said:

- I won't have to scour the Internet for active links.

 

Good point.

 

9 minutes ago, bollemanneke said:

- I'll have less music and probably have to say goodbye to cues I really like.

 

Good point.

 

 

But ultimately...

 

5 minutes ago, publicist said:

Why make such a fuss? Take the good ones, leave the bad ones. Really a no-brainer, because the label 'bootleg' as such is a neutral one and doesn't say anything about the enjoyment factor of the music contained therein.

 

This.

[Bilbo 3,911]

128 😳

[Arpy 4,162]

Certain mastered sets of the first two Potter scores are the closest thing to an official expanded release, so I would only consider disowning them if the official sets, when and if they appear, are better.

11 minutes ago, Bilbo Skywalker said:

128 😳

Yeah, only 128? @bollemanneke

 

All of my digital music collection is high quality FLAC where available, because I'm a hipster!

[Manakin Skywalker 5,510]

First off, any form of MP3 (whether CBR or VBR) is lossy! I would recommend FLAC or WAV. Whether you use CBR or VBR MP3 makes little difference... both have a massive loss of quality. MP3 is an old, inferior form of audio file and should be forgotten entirely.

 

I don't delete anything. There's really no reason for it unless you're running out of disk space. I usually don't download other peoples' mixes though... I usually just do that myself if I'm familiar enough with the scores. I definitely do not, and would not recommend, deleting legitimate leaked recording sessions, if you have any; no matter how bad the quality may be.

[bollemanneke 3,708]

Yes, but FLAC isn't compatible with enough software I use and I honestly can't hear the difference.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,488]

FLAC is a very standard audio format actually. What software doesnt support it?

[BloodBoal 7,541]

[Arpy 4,162]

8 minutes ago, bollemanneke said:

Yes, but FLAC isn't compatible with enough software I use and I honestly can't hear the difference.

I know, unfortunately it's a problem I have with listening to music on my android, however vlc media player is a good music player for mobile devices too!

[Bilbo 3,911]

4 minutes ago, Stefancos said:

FLAC is a very standard audio format actually. What software doesnt support it?

iTunes 

[BloodBoal 7,541]

Then stop using iTunes instead of not using FLACs!

[Arpy 4,162]

1 minute ago, BloodBoal said:

 

Less than three months, buddy! Less than three months!

 

4 minutes ago, Bilbo Skywalker said:

iTunes 

iTunes has ALAC which is just a lossless version for apple.

[Bilbo 3,911]

10 minutes ago, Arpy said:

 

iTunes has ALAC which is just a lossless version for apple.

 

Yes but if your files are FLAC iTunes won't play them. 

[Arpy 4,162]

I hate iTunes, but ripping a CD in the program should write the files as ALAC. Fuck iTunes and apple, the revolution has begun, android is the Mockingjay.

[Mr. Who 998]

 

2 minutes ago, Bilbo Skywalker said:

 

Yes but if your files are FLAC iTunes won't play them. 

Then just convert flac to apple lossless... I have a mostly lossless audio collection and I use only iTunes.

[Lady Dimitrescu 9,117]

I have a mostly CD collection.

[Thor 8,701]

I only have certain bootlegs for scores that have no release whatsoever (digital and CD). The others, I've jettisoned a long time ago.

[Jamie Dutton 7,663]

I only have bootlegs that are essential. They need to have good sound quality and no rear channel rips.

[Arpy 4,162]

Rips can go burn in hell! SFX all over the place, volume dips and awful sound!

[Jamie Dutton 7,663]

I don't know how people can actually listen to that stuff.

[Lady Dimitrescu 9,117]

1 minute ago, Evil-Lyn said:

I don't know how people can actually listen to that stuff.

 

They're moving them to the Federation funny farm.

[filmmusic 2,351]

15 minutes ago, Arpy said:

Rips can go burn in hell! SFX all over the place, volume dips and awful sound!

well, when there is great unreleased music, you can't do anything else.

I'll personally will put up with it.

 

Like this:

 

[Jamie Dutton 7,663]

No.

[BloodBoal 7,541]

[Arpy 4,162]

Did Mike Matessino piss in the pool again?

[Jay 40,305]

4 hours ago, publicist said:

Why make such a fuss? Take the good ones, leave the bad ones. Really a no-brainer, because the label 'bootleg' as such is a neutral one and doesn't say anything about the enjoyment factor of the music contained therein.

 

This.

[Disco Stu 15,504]

It should be "Yea or Nay."

[bollemanneke 3,708]

Oops.

[Manakin Skywalker 5,510]

Seriously though, just about every program supports FLAC, as it's becoming the most common format. iTunes, like MP3, is outdated and should also be forgotten. Same with all Apple products. Windows/Android FTW!

[Jamie Dutton 7,663]

It's too late. My collection is in iTunes. What am I supposed to just pack it all up and move it to another program?

[Wojo 2,456]

How about you leave your iTunes collection on your car roof and see where the road takes you? 

[Manakin Skywalker 5,510]

You store your music on a program? I just have a bunch of organized file folders on my hard drive. That way I can play it on any program I want, or open it with any editor I want.

[publicist 4,647]

5 hours ago, Manakin Skywalker said:

Seriously though, just about every program supports FLAC, as it's becoming the most common format. iTunes, like MP3, is outdated and should also be forgotten. Same with all Apple products. Windows/Android FTW!

 

Flac? Most common? Haha. 

[Lady Dimitrescu 9,117]

I just hold a tape recorder to the speaker and keep all my music on audio cassettes so I can listen to them on my Walkman.

[Pieter Boelen 840]

20 hours ago, BloodBoal said:

You've been saving your files as 128KBPS MP3s for 15 freakin' years. You obviously don't care about quality!

I only stopped doing that quite recently as well.

Never really heard the point.

[publicist 4,647]

1 hour ago, Baby Jane Hudson said:

I just hold a tape recorder to the speaker and keep all my music on audio cassettes so I can listen to them on my Walkman.

 

Well, that's what we did back in the 80's!

[Manakin Skywalker 5,510]

1 hour ago, publicist said:

Flac? Most common? Haha. 

Emphasis on the word 'becoming'. And yes, it is becoming the most commonly used format for audiophiles. Personally I prefer WAV.

[Lady Dimitrescu 9,117]

The audible difference between flac and wav is so obvious. Can't you all hear it?!

[publicist 4,647]

I do. And i plan to abandon all the 100's of gb of audio data i have accumulated over the past decades because they do not strictly adhere to my prefered way of listening, sitting alone naked in a large studio room separated from outside noise by being lowered 500 feet into the ground, listening on 5,00000 khz resoluted gold discs send through a 12 cm copper cable painstakingly mined by some poor chileans in an area called 'mordor' for good reason. This is especially important for the myriads of recordings stored on old tapes laying around in a damp cellar at some film studo giving a shit.

[Disco Stu 15,504]

I rip all my John Williams CDs to 320Kbps MP3 and I never listen to the CD even once.  And I like it!  Mwahahaha.

[Wojo 2,456]

Must they be Chileans? Can they be Uruguayans with work visas? 

[Arpy 4,162]

11 minutes ago, Disco Stu said:

I rip all my John Williams CDs to 320Kbps MP3 and I never listen to the CD even once.  And I like it!  Mwahahaha.

You monster!

[publicist 4,647]

52 minutes ago, Woj said:

Must they be Chileans? Can they be Uruguayans with work visas? 

 

Dreamers go home!

[Koray Savas 2,254]

When I first joined this board I exclusively used the trading forum for about a year to accumulate an insane amount of music. One day it got so out of hand that I purged my collection of everything I didn't personally own. Didn't really regret it because I didn't listen to 90% of it, but every now and then I would try to find something I forgot I deleted. These days I've probably got most of the important ones back in new and improved session leaks. 

[Jamie Dutton 7,663]

I remember listening to those piece of shit bootlegs of Hook and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. Those were the earliest ones. They were still easier to listen to than DVD channel rips, but it was extremely frustrating to acquire all that music and then listen to it in such horrible quality. That was the first and best lesson when it comes to bootlegs. Never assume what you're going to listen to will sound in any way good. More often than not, the more extensive the track list was, the more likely it was sourced from DVD channels and sounded terrible. The appearance of session leaks that actually sounded good changed the game completely.