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Way back in the day I bought Elvis's Golden Records Volume One and volume two when they came out. Since then I have seen them on cassette, 8-track, CD, and now on new vinyl! Record companies will make a lot of money reissuing old albums.
Waitress "How did you find your steak sir"?
Me "I just looked next to the potatoes and there it was"!
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Each method of recording amplifying and playback has its own distortion. There is no reproduction system (yet) that reproduces voice or music without distorting it.
I do like the sound of vinyl, especially through tube preamps and amps. The distortion caused by that circuitry is pleasing to my ears.
What I don't like about vinyl is the surface noise. Static pops and clicks seem to build up over time, no matter how careful I am with the records and turntable.
I hated 8-tracks and never owned one. A friend had one and in the middle of a long cut it clicked a few times, changed tracks, and continued the song after that. Splitting the song in the middle to change tracks is heresy.
Cassettes have a loss of fidelity and tape hiss. I used to record my LPs on cassette to listen to them in the car. IMO, that's all they were good for.
CDs have distortion of the tone, they cannot reproduce all the harmonic overtones properly. Furthermore, they add harmonics of their own. The bit-rate isn't high enough, so the tone is edgier.
SACDs were much better, but the public didn't embrace them.
MP3s leave things out in the compression, WAV files are much better but still distort the harmonics.
So what you listen to depends on which distortion bothers you the least.
I'll listen to an LP, CD, WAV or SACD with no problem. A 192 or higher mp3 is ok for casual listening too.
I hated 8-tracks and never owned one. A friend had one and in the middle of a long cut it clicked a few times, changed tracks, and continued the song after that. Splitting the song in the middle to change tracks is heresy.
Good points sir! I actually owned an 8-track recording system in the early 80s. They were rare as far as I knew and the one I had was the integrated 8-track into the AM/FM receiver and turntable unit. I had thought the recordings I had made were pretty good compared to pre-recorded tapes and at the time only reel to reel was better (my opinion). The very unfortunate downside was that there was no control to stop your recording before the 8-track switch. If you didn't know how far time-wise you were into the track, it would just keep recording to the next 8-track channel. Therefore you would have the annoying track switch in the middle of your song.
Those technologies that came before are the same technologies that lead us to be able to make better comparisons now. In reflecting, everyone of them delivered something useful.
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This topic has to be free of comparison to each other for only the fact that none of the comparisons are apples and apples. The vinyl army goes on and on about the sound being better, but how does it do in your car? The 8 tracks split long songs because the segments of those 8 track tapes had to be 1/4 of the length of the tape with no ability to make one segment 3 minutes longer and the next 3 minutes shorter to compensate. It had to break songs or pad it with dead space. Cassettes were awful because of that awful 1 7/8 tape speed. When tape is on heads at that slow of a speed you aren't getting any highs at all. But again, when were car 8 tracks and cassettes in vogue?
I liken it to this. I once had a Compaq computer. I wanted to upgrade it to a faster processor. I looked and looked and finally discovered that the CPU socket on the motherboard did not allow for expansion. I wrote a nastygram email to Compaq and called them every name I could think of. Someone finally responded. That response included logic that made me apologize to them. It said (paraphrasing) "When that computer was built, the motherboard and CPU were the best available at the time. Now 3 years later processor speeds are available that were not available then. What you are asking from us is the ability to know what the state of the art will be 3 years into the future. Nobody can do that."
At our age we have lived long enough to see the evolution of sound recording. I was THRILLED to have an 8 track in my Camaro in 1969 and at the time the sound that came off those tapes was GREAT! 53 year older Eddie now understands analog vs digital and knows that what was great then stinks now by comparison. When you apply context and the whole "anachronism" thing, what we had and the changes we made every half decade or so meant we had the best available at the time.
Good answer Eddie, I I think it reflects on my (albeit short) comment about how things evolve. We can only compare what we've got now to what we had previously. We can't compare what we've got now with anything that may or may not be available at some future time. In the future, some things will undoubtedly be better, and some not so good.
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Someday, someone will invent the perfect recording and playback medium that will accurately recreate the exact performance as it was intended ... and someone will not like that either! LOL. All good points here. Reel to Reel was always supposed to be the best, then vinyl was really good, with the proper equipment. Portability gave us 8 tracks and cassettes and given the environment in most cars and road noise, the sound was as good as it could be I suppose. The CD's came along and people thought it was great, not realizing the A to D and D to A stuff that had to happen and the losses associated with that process, at least you didn't have to worry about the tape getting all caught up in the machine and ruining it! Then we just got rid of any kind of physical medium and made it magic. Now we are back to vinyl, as all the digital ears get to hear it for the first time and love that sound (the distortion that Notes was referring to is very pleasant to most ears). Who knows what the future will bring us. Can't wait to see it though.
My wife asked if I had seen the dog bowl. I told her I didn't even know he could.
I felt this video was far more about the compilation that the medium, though the medium was important.
It's the same message that Adele recently gave by demanding that Spotify make their default setting to not shuffle; That her album was a compilation of songs intended to be played together in the order she'd put them.
I have an album from a couple or so decades back by Savourna Stevenson (Celtic harp), called "Tweed Journey" and it's a collection of instrumental pieces reflecting a walk along the river Tweed from its source (in Scotland) to the sea. Each piece stands alone, but the sounds evoke that journey, from the stream in the hills, down through the villages, forest and towns. To listen to one piece is to miss a large part of the point of the album. It's similarly true of many other albums.
I despair the accelerating trend towards shorter and shorter attention spans, which seems to me self-reinforcing, self-fulfilling. I find it deeply frustrating and more than a little troubling.
On sound quality, cassette and 8-track were always poor, no matter how good the machine and the tape. 3-3/4 ips open-reel was rarely much better.
Vinyl & CDs were capable of good quality, but the former needed fiercely costly cutting machines, turntable, arm, cartridge and stylus, together with good RIAA equalisation throughout. The latter didn't really become comfortable until ADCs and DACs were well sorted and able to oversample both for record and playback. With CDs it was never that much about the data itself, it was far more the limitations of the filtering used at both ends. It's infeasible to filter and then sample at 44.1kHz or 48kHz and avoid passband ripple, ringing, upper-sideband and phase-shift. It only really cleaned up when things were routinely sampled at 96kHz or 192kHz or higher and then resampled intelligently to or from the 44.1kHz or 48kHz. Even quite low-cost DACs do that now.
"Notes" observation that vinyl and tubes introduce distortions that are "pleasing to the ears" is quite right and a well documented phenomenon. Gentle second-harmonic distortion adds warmth and richness to the sound. Whether or not is should is left to the discretion of the reader :-)
Jazz relative beginner, starting at a much older age than was helpful. AVL:MXE Linux; Windows 11 BIAB2026 Audiophile, a bunch of other software. Kawai MP6, Ui24R, Focusrite Saffire Pro40 and Scarletts .
Dolby C cassettes, recorded on a Nakamichi home unit were capable of 20-20KHz when played back on a Nakamichi home unit or a Nakamichi automobile head unit.
No matter how limited the technology, somebody will come up with a device to extract almost every ounce of goodness from the source material. (Audio, video, almost anything)
I feel very fortunate to be living now with our wonderful recording / playback technology and the internet ability to quickly access recordings made even 100 years ago.
I treasure my vinyl (because of the music). I treasure my CD's (because of the music).
I prefer CD's (or now wav files). I agree with Notes about surface noise and ticks on vinyl.
After faith, and family, music makes me the most happy.
Way back in the day I bought Elvis's Golden Records Volume One and volume two when they came out. Since then I have seen them on cassette, 8-track, CD, and now on new vinyl! Record companies will make a lot of money reissuing old albums.
Curious, which album did you like better, Vol. 1 or Vol 2?
I think Volume 2 has one of the all-time great titles and covers!
(50,000,000 Elvis Fans Can't Be Wrong) with multiple Elvi on the cover in gold lame suits!
My favorite all-time cover:
from Herb Alpert: "Whipped Cream and Other Delights"
I find the arguments of “best recording/playback methods” almost amusing. Almost nobody has perfect hearing therefore there will almost always be some form of distortion (even if the listener can’t hear it). Does it matter? Even live acoustic performances with no electronic or other components will be altered by the weather or a dog barking a sneeze or whatever.
I think some folk place far too much emphasis on the methodology rather than the pleasantness of a performance. Sure methods have improved but just how good do they have to be to really enjoy a performance.
Tony
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I think some folk place far too much emphasis on the methodology rather than the pleasantness of a performance. Sure methods have improved but just how good do they have to be to really enjoy a performance.
Yes, a fairly reasonable appraisal. Unless we're doing our listening in one of these:
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LP.... And I thought they were talking about the LES PAUL guitar. Those are really heavy but they do sound sooooo good..... but no.... this is talking about the old Long Play album. The old black vinyl disk. Commonly, simply referred to as "a record". ( Pronounced: reckerd) Oh, and not all vinyl is black. I have ELO Out of the Blue on clear blue vinyl.
I still have a nice collection and a platter to spin them on. I do occasionally dig one out and reminisce. Clicks, pops, and skips aside.... it was a great experience.
I'm on the side of things that say digital is totally acceptable to me because.... it's super portable, and there's no skips, pops, or clicks that were inherent in almost every vinyl disk that had been spun a few times in the average listener's house.
As far as hoping it comes back into style.... sure. Why not? If there's a market for it, it will happen. I remember when the digitally recorded CD first came out. And reading in Guitar Player magazine, a record review of TRIO... the first CD from Dolly, Linda, and Emmylou. The review was on the musical instruments and the artists playing on that CD, and yes, they did explore the outstanding vocals..... but the comment that stuck with me from that entire article was "this album was the reason the CD was invented". The crystal clear, pristine sound of the acoustic instruments was unrivaled by vinyl to that point. Indeed, listening to that CD album with headphones or on a nice Cerwin Vega speaker system was a delight.
I'm wondering what the next step in the evolutionary scale of music reproduction will be.
You can find my music at: www.herbhartley.com Add nothing that adds nothing to the music. You can make excuses or you can make progress but not both.
The magic you are looking for is in the work you are avoiding.
What I see different today is not so much about the medium but what it is played out on. High-end stereo used to be much more common. Speakers that were fantastic, marvelous tube amps. We also had some pretty poor sounding stuff coming out of the push button Am radio in the 56 Chevy...lol
I don't think it makes much difference if it is vinal, two-inch tape, or MP3 if you have a cell phone headset stuck in your ears.
Perhaps it is even worse for many of us who spend hours listening to studio monitors or studio headsets leaving little time to listen to the high-end stereo gear that a few of us actually still own.
I find that VSTs are so convenient that it is easy to forget about the truly high-quality tube guitar amps I have setting here that I have spent hours designing and building. Well the VSTs are modern and convenient and I do like them but I have never listened to one that sounded like one of my custom tube amps.
I have vinal but I get lazy and it is just so much less work to grab the song off youtube. For many reasons we now live lives around lower quality stuff made in China and made in America.
The music does not have to be great sounding to be fun to listen to. I still have a 1950's transistor pocket radio.
Billy
“Amazing! I’ll be working with Jaco Pastorius, Charlie Parker, Art Tatum, and Buddy Rich, and you’re telling me it’s not that great of a gig? “Well…” Saint Peter, hesitated, “God’s got this girlfriend who thinks she can sing…”
Band-in-a-Box® 2026 Mac Special Offers Extended Until May 31st!
Good news- we've extended our Band-in-a-Box® 2026 for Mac® special offers until May 31, 2026!
Band-in-a-Box® 2026 is packed with major new features, enhancements, and an incredible lineup of new content! The program now sports a sleek, modern GUI redesign across the entire interface, including updated toolbars, refreshed windows, smoother workflows, a new dark mode option, and more. The brand-new side toolbar provides quicker access to key windows, while the new Multi-View feature lets you arrange multiple windows as layered panels without overlap, creating a flexible, clutter-free workspace. We have an amazing new “AI-Notes” feature. This transcribes polyphonic audio into MIDI so you can view it in notation or play it back as MIDI. You can transcribe an entire track (all pitched instruments and drums) or focus on individual parts like drums, bass, guitars/piano, or vocals. There's an amazing collection of new content too, including 202 RealTracks, new RealStyles, MIDI SuperTracks, Instrumental Studies, “Songs with Vocals” Artist Performance Sets, Playable RealTracks Set 5, two RealDrums Stems sets, and much more!
There are over 100 new features in Band-in-a-Box® 2026 for Mac®.
When you order purchase Band-in-a-Box® 2026 before 11:59 PM PDT on May 31st, you'll also receive a Free Bonus PAK packed with exciting new add-ons.
Check out the Band-in-a-Box® for Mac packages page to find the best package for you.
Today's the Last Day of the Band-in-a-Box 2026® for Mac Special!
Order before 11:59pm PDT today (May 15, 2026) to save up to 50% off your Band-in-a-Box® 2026 for Mac® upgrade and receive a FREE Bonus PAK loaded with great new Add-ons to use with this new version!
Band-in-a-Box® 2026 for Mac - Special Offers End at 11:59pm PDT on Friday, May 15th, 2026!
Order before 11:59pm PDT on Friday, May 15th and SAVE up to 50% on most Band-in-a-Box® version 2026 for Mac Upgrade packages... and that's not all! With your version 2026 for Mac purchase, we'll include a Bonus PAK full of great new Add-ons FREE! Upgrade to the 2026 49-PAK to receive even more NEW Add-ons including 20 additional RealTracks... that's 222 NEW RealTracks available with version Band-in-a-Box® 2026 for Mac!
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202 New RealTracks Released with Band-in-a-Box 2026!
With Band-in-a-Box® 2026, we've released 202 incredible new RealTracks (in sets 468-488) in a variety of genres—featuring your most requested styles!
Jazz, Funk & World (Sets 468-475):
Our new jazz, funk & blues RealTracks include a groovin’ collection of RealTracks and RealDrums! These include more requested “soul jazz” RealTracks featuring artists Neil Swainson (bass), Charles Treadway (organ), Brent Mason (guitar), and Wes Little (drums). There are new “smooth jazz” styles (4), which include a RealTracks first: muted trumpet, as well as slick new smooth jazz brushes options for drums. Blues lovers will be thrilled—there are more “classic acoustic blues” styles, including guitar (5), bass (4), and drums (10) with blues master Colin Linden, featuring understated and tasty background acoustic soloing, plus brushes drums and acoustic bass. There are also new electric blues RealTracks, including electric blues with PG favorite Johnny Hiland (3) and soulful electric slide guitar from Colin Linden (4). If you love funk & gospel, there are great new options this year, including gospel organ (3) from Charles Treadway, as well as new funk, tango, and rock ’n’ roll drums (3) and bass (1). And for big, bold arrangements, we have uptempo soul horns (4) featuring a three-part hip horn section with options for a full mix or stems of each individual horn — plus an accompanying rhythm section (4) of drums, bass, guitar, and electric piano!
Rock & Pop (Sets 476–482):
Our new rock & pop RealTracks bring a powerful mix of requested favorites, fresh genres, and modern chart-inspired styles! We have more of our popular “Producer Layered Acoustic Guitars (15)” featuring Band-in-a-Box favorite Brent Mason. We’ve continued our much-requested disco styles (10), and added new Celtic guitar (5) with a more basic, accessible approach than our previous Drop-D or DADGAD offerings. There are also highly requested yacht rock styles (17), inspired by the smooth, polished soft-rock sound of the late ’70s and early ’80s — laid-back grooves, silky electric pianos, warm textures, elegant harmonic movement, and pristine production aesthetics. Fans of heavier styles will love our new glam metal (13), capturing the flashy, high-energy sound of ’80s arena-ready guitar rock. We also have a set of rootsy modern-folk rock (18), with a warm, organic sound combining contemporary folk textures and driving acoustic strumming. And we’ve added lots of new modern pop styles (16) — the kinds of sounds you’re hearing on the radio today, featuring exciting new drums, synths, and cutting-edge RealTracks arrangements.
Country, & Americana (Sets 483–488):
Our new country & Americana RealTracks deliver a rich collection of acoustic, electric, and roots-inspired styles! We have new country pop (9) with legendary guitarist Brent Mason. There is also a potpourri (14) of bouzouki, guitars, banjo, and more, perfect for adding texture and character to contemporary acoustic arrangements. We’ve added funky country guitar (5) with PG favorite Brent Mason, along with classic pedal steel styles (5) featuring steel great Doug Jernigan. There are more country songwriter styles (8) that provide intimate, rootsy foundations for storytelling and modern Americana writing. Finally, we have “background soloing” acoustic guitar (12) with Brent Mason — simpler, but still very tasty acoustic lines designed to sit beautifully behind vocals or act as a subtle standalone solo part.
And, if you are looking for more, the 2026 49-PAK (for $49) includes an impressive collection of 20 bonus RealTracks, featuring exciting and inspiring additions to add to your RealTracks library. You'll get new country-rhythm guitar styles from PG Music favorites Johnny Hiland and Brent Mason, along with modern-pop grooves that capture today’s radio-ready sound! There are also new indie-folk styles with guitar, bass, 6-string bass used as a high-chording instrument, acoustic guitar, and banjo. Plus, dedicated "cymbal fills" RealDrums provide an added layer that work very well with low-key folky styles with other percussion.
The 2026 49-PAK is loaded with other great new add-ons as well. Learn more about the 2026 49-PAK!
2026 Free Bonus PAK & 49-PAK for Band-in-a-Box® 2026 for Mac®!
With your version 2026 for Mac Pro, MegaPAK, UltraPAK, UltraPAK+, Audiophile Edition or PlusPAK purchase, we'll include a Bonus PAK full of great new Add-ons for FREE! Or upgrade to the 2026 49-PAK for only $49 to receive even more NEW Add-ons including 20 additional RealTracks!
These PAKs are loaded with additional add-ons to supercharge your Band-in-a-Box®!
This Free Bonus PAK includes:
The 2026 RealCombos Booster PAK:
-For Pro customers, this includes 27 new RealTracks and 23 new RealStyles.
-For MegaPAK customers, this includes 25 new RealTracks and 23 new RealStyles.
-For UltraPAK customers, this includes 12 new RealStyles.
MIDI Styles Set 92: Look Ma! More MIDI 15: Latin Jazz
MIDI SuperTracks Set 46: Piano & Organ
Instrumental Studies Set 24: Groovin' Blues Soloing
Artist Performance Set 19: Songs with Vocals 9
Playable RealTracks Set 5
RealDrums Stems Set 9: Cool Brushes
SynthMaster Sounds Set 1 (with audio demos)
iOS Android Band-in-a-Box® App
Looking for more great add-ons, then upgrade to the 2026 49-PAK for just $49 and you'll get:
20 Bonus Unreleased RealTracks and RealDrums with 20 RealStyle.
FLAC Files (lossless audio files) for the 20 Bonus Unreleased RealTracks and RealDrums
MIDI Styles Set 93: Look Ma! More MIDI 16: SynthMaster
MIDI SuperTracks Set 47: More SynthMaster
Instrumental Studies 25 - Soul Jazz Guitar Soloing
Artist Performance Set 20: Songs with Vocals 10
RealDrums Stems Set 10: Groovin' Sticks
SynthMaster Sounds & Styles Set 2 (sounds & styles with audio demos)
XPro & Xtra Styles PAK Sets On Sale Now - Until May 15, 2026!
All of our XPro Styles PAKs and Xtra Styles PAKs are on sale until May 15th, 2026!
It's the perfect time to expand your Band-in-a-Box® style library with XPro and Xtra Styles PAKs. These additional styles for Band-in-a-Box® offer a wide range of genres designed to fit seamlessly into your projects. Each style is professionally arranged and mixed, helping enhance your songs while saving you time.
What are XPro Styles and Xtra Styles PAKs?
XPro Styles PAKs are styles that work with any version (Pro, MegaPAK, UltraPAK, UltraPAK+, or Audiophile Edition) of Band-in-a-Box® 2025 (or higher). XPro Styles PAKS 1-10 includes 1,000 styles!
Xtra Styles PAKs are styles that work with the UltraPAK, UltraPAK+, or Audiophile Edition of Band-in-a-Box® 2025 (or higher). Xtra Styles PAKs 1-21 includes 3,700 styles (and 35 MIDI styles)!
The XPro & Xtra Styles PAKs are not included in any Band-in-a-Box® package.
The XPro Styles PAKs 1-10 are available for only $29 ea (reg. $49 ea), or get them all in the XPro Styles PAK Bundle for only $149 (reg. $299)! Listen to demos and order now! For Mac or for Windows.
The Xtra Styles PAKs 1-21 are available for only $29 ea (reg. $49 ea), or get them all in the Xtra Styles PAK Bundle for only $199 (reg. $349)! Listen to demos and order now! For Mac or for Windows.
Note: XPro Styles PAKs require Band-in-a-Box® 2025 or higher and are compatible with ANY package, including the Pro, MegaPAK, UltraPAK, UltraPAK+, and Audiophile Edition.
The Xtra Styles require the UltraPAK, UltraPAK+, or Audiophile Edition of Band-in-a-Box®. (Xtra Styles PAK 19 requires the 2025 or higher UltraPAK, UltraPAK+, or Audiophile Edition. They will not work with the Pro or MegaPAK version as they require the RealTracks included in the UltraPAK, UltraPAK+, or Audiophile Edition.
Supercharge your Band-in-a-Box today with XPro Styles PAKs and Xtra Styles PAK Sets!
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