Author Topic: You know you're middle aged when  (Read 186388 times)

Kim

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    • Fediverse
Re: You know you're middle aged when
« Reply #850 on: 03 April, 2019, 01:52:49 pm »
I bought my first CD in 1994 (though I think my parents had a player in about 1990 or so?), when I was 15.  I bought my last one in 2018.  I lived through the transition from cassette copied from cassette or vinyl, to cassette copied from CD, to minidisc copied from CD[1], to MP3 file on hard disk ripped from CD, to CD copied from CD, to flash memory of various file formats ripped from CD.  Throw in occasional file-sharing and listening to original media on non-portable equipment, and lingering tapes for the car.

These days I listen to music by playing FLAC files from a local (or LAN-based) storage device - the CDs themselves live in a couple of large wallets on a shelf, as backup), and don't see the point in this newfangled Spotify rubbish.  Barakta seems to spend an alarming amount of time listening to music via Youtube.  I attribute this to network bandwidth and computing power being ludicrously cheap, and her hearing aid making more of a mess of the music than the codec does.

I reckon those 16bit/44kHz PCM recordings will be around for a while, even if the computing substrate changes...


[1] There was technically a point before minidisc went mainstream where portable CD players became a thing, but teenagers generally didn't use them, because they were bulky and required carrying precious original media around, rather than the option of copying music from your friends.

essexian

Re: You know you're middle aged when
« Reply #851 on: 03 April, 2019, 02:03:00 pm »
Thanks Kim.

Sadly, I must be in late middle age as I failed to understand about 75% of what you wrote.  :(

Give me a bit of plastic any day of the week (I still have my 7 inch singles from back in the late 1960s!)

Re: You know you're middle aged when
« Reply #852 on: 03 April, 2019, 02:36:50 pm »
When you read this ...

... the half inch Snowdonia map that's next to me and is older than me, cost on the cover, 55p

... and your first thought is that someone who thinks a decimal price is old must be really young.

I used to have a Bartholomews 3s/6d map of Mull.

Unfortunately road-runner when you think someone in their early forties is really young you possibly don't qualify for this thread anymore

 ;) ;D

Cudzoziemiec

  • Ride adventurously and stop for a brew.
Re: You know you're middle aged when
« Reply #853 on: 03 April, 2019, 02:39:09 pm »
Barakta seems to spend an alarming amount of time listening to music via Youtube.
Youtube has become probably my favourite music listening method, simply because it's available, has far more stuff on it than I would ever own, is free, etc. Oh and because the CD player is broken. Laptop speakers are pretty crap, I often use headphones, it's still not good sound quality but that's not hugely important.
Riding a concrete path through the nebulous and chaotic future.

Kim

  • Timelord
    • Fediverse
Re: You know you're middle aged when
« Reply #854 on: 03 April, 2019, 02:41:48 pm »
Yeah, Youtube's brilliant because you can go and find out what almost anything is.  But I'm still a luddite and if I want to make a habit of listening to a track I want a half-decent file on a disk or something.

I used to think I cared about sound quality out of technical snobbery, but I've come to realise that my hearing is so biased towards the higher frequency components of speech that any kind of singing quickly becomes a mush if bandwidth-limited or subject to excessively lossy codecs.  Same reason I can't think properly when trying to hear someone on the phone.

I expect I'm going to become immensely irritating when my age-related hearing loss (which is currently somewhere between the 8kHz where audiometrists stop caring and the 15.625kHz of whistly fly-back transformers in PAL CRTs) starts to impact on speech IRL.  At this point it only seems to affect teenager repellants and rubbing disc brakes[1].


[1] Standing order for cyclists younger than me:  If you get irritated by the inadequate lubrication of my chain on a ride then *say something*

Re: You know you're middle aged when
« Reply #855 on: 03 April, 2019, 02:49:35 pm »
And here am I, with a good 20 years on Kim, listening on Spotify. Quality for me is fine, especially when listening to digitally remastered files over Sonos speaker. Probably because the quality of my original vinyl collection (disposed of 30 years ago at the local charity shop by me ex..) was mainly crap '70's pressings. And it gives me access to things I've never listed to before, plus it's portable at a time when actually sitting listening is a luxury - my musical tastes are not shared by my wife, and I find wearing headphones when she's around impolite. So having the ability to stream music in the gym via earpods, or in the shed over the Sonos is brilliant. Horses for courses.
We are making a New World (Paul Nash, 1918)

Kim

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    • Fediverse
Re: You know you're middle aged when
« Reply #856 on: 03 April, 2019, 03:04:07 pm »
And here am I, with a good 20 years on Kim, listening on Spotify. Quality for me is fine, especially when listening to digitally remastered files over Sonos speaker. Probably because the quality of my original vinyl collection (disposed of 30 years ago at the local charity shop by me ex..) was mainly crap '70's pressings. And it gives me access to things I've never listed to before, plus it's portable at a time when actually sitting listening is a luxury - my musical tastes are not shared by my wife, and I find wearing headphones when she's around impolite. So having the ability to stream music in the gym via earpods, or in the shed over the Sonos is brilliant. Horses for courses.

Heh.

Having lived with a paritally deaf person for about 18 years, nearly all my listening is with headphones, as playing audio into the room is impolite (music's just a source of noise, and speech is distressingly indistinguishable from a random person in the house).  As such, I've got out of the habit of listening to music other than when sitting down to specifically listen to music (rare), to drown out the leakage of barata's beepy euro-pop[1], or when travelling.  So I do very little of it, and 20 odd gigabytes of FLACs on my phone is usually sufficient.  I'm so completely out of touch with music I don't already know that streaming would be wasted on me.


[1] Ironically, barakta spends more time listening to music than I do, as it helps her manage tinnitus.  Thanks to Newton's third law, her BAHA shares a tinny little version of what going into her skull with the rest of the room, in a manner similar to original Walkman headphones.

hellymedic

  • Just do it!
Re: You know you're middle aged when
« Reply #857 on: 03 April, 2019, 03:04:29 pm »
When you read this ...

... the half inch Snowdonia map that's next to me and is older than me, cost on the cover, 55p

... and your first thought is that someone who thinks a decimal price is old must be really young.

I used to have a Bartholomews 3s/6d map of Mull.

Unfortunately road-runner when you think someone in their early forties is really young you possibly don't qualify for this thread anymore
 ;) ;D

I started a thread for oldies like r-r & me... (r-r's a couple of months my junior.)

Mrs Pingu

  • Who ate all the pies? Me
    • Twitter
Re: You know you're middle aged when
« Reply #858 on: 03 April, 2019, 05:51:20 pm »
It is really, really, really irritating. Almost as irritating as the new car not having a built in CD player!!!!
When a technology that was new and shiny when you were a teenager is now obsolete.

I dunno, as someone who grew up with Moore's Law, I consider that sort of obsolescence to be normal and ordinary and just part of the way the world works.

Middle age is when you stop caring about the new stuff...

Of course, Kim is right. I don't care about new stuff. I simply want to play the 800 odd CD's (and trust me, some of them are very odd) I own in the car.  And while I am at it.... I have a number of 78's I would like to play as well.....

But now you can! All 800 of them! On a device the size of a shrew!
Might mean you need to buy a new shiny thing though....

(Yes I know you won't get 800 flac albums on but if you can tell the difference between flac and mp3 while driving around I'll eat my hat).
Do not clench. It only makes it worse.

Mrs Pingu

  • Who ate all the pies? Me
    • Twitter
Re: You know you're middle aged when
« Reply #859 on: 03 April, 2019, 05:54:24 pm »
Speaking of which, I was just moaning to Pingu that I need to remove my music off my work laptop to generate some space and I can't put it on my external hard drive now because we're banned from moving files to USB.
Pingu piped up, you've just bought a 256Gb SD card for that new phone, you could get our entire music collection on there.

Oh yes. Of course.
Truly, WTTF.
Do not clench. It only makes it worse.

Re: You know you're middle aged when
« Reply #860 on: 03 April, 2019, 09:24:42 pm »
You can get a hair cut for 2/3 the cost  :thumbsup:
Get a bicycle. You will never regret it, if you live- Mark Twain

T42

  • Apprentice geezer
Re: You know you're middle aged when
« Reply #861 on: 04 April, 2019, 08:19:18 am »
Yebbut the finder's fee is a killer.
I've dusted off all those old bottles and set them up straight

Cudzoziemiec

  • Ride adventurously and stop for a brew.
Re: You know you're middle aged when
« Reply #862 on: 04 April, 2019, 11:19:19 am »
Yeah, Youtube's brilliant because you can go and find out what almost anything is.
That neverendingness is also the problem with using it. That and the fact you're staring at a screen.
Riding a concrete path through the nebulous and chaotic future.

T42

  • Apprentice geezer
Re: You know you're middle aged when
« Reply #863 on: 13 April, 2019, 08:06:48 am »
When people start lamenting the death of some "significant" pop musician you've never heard of.
I've dusted off all those old bottles and set them up straight

ElyDave

  • Royal and Ancient Polar Bear Society member 263583
Re: You know you're middle aged when
« Reply #864 on: 13 April, 2019, 11:15:49 am »
And here am I, with a good 20 years on Kim, listening on Spotify. Quality for me is fine, especially when listening to digitally remastered files over Sonos speaker. Probably because the quality of my original vinyl collection (disposed of 30 years ago at the local charity shop by me ex..) was mainly crap '70's pressings. And it gives me access to things I've never listed to before, plus it's portable at a time when actually sitting listening is a luxury - my musical tastes are not shared by my wife, and I find wearing headphones when she's around impolite. So having the ability to stream music in the gym via earpods, or in the shed over the Sonos is brilliant. Horses for courses.

Heh.

Having lived with a paritally deaf person for about 18 years, nearly all my listening is with headphones, as playing audio into the room is impolite (music's just a source of noise, and speech is distressingly indistinguishable from a random person in the house).  As such, I've got out of the habit of listening to music other than when sitting down to specifically listen to music (rare), to drown out the leakage of barata's beepy euro-pop[1], or when travelling.  So I do very little of it, and 20 odd gigabytes of FLACs on my phone is usually sufficient.  I'm so completely out of touch with music I don't already know that streaming would be wasted on me.


[1] Ironically, barakta spends more time listening to music than I do, as it helps her manage tinnitus.  Thanks to Newton's third law, her BAHA shares a tinny little version of what going into her skull with the rest of the room, in a manner similar to original Walkman headphones.

As a tinnitus sufferer myself, I fully get that, its about enough other noise to drown out the constant drone/whine in my head. I always listen to something in the car, couple tinnitus with a land rove and you get LOUD. Wife does not get this, or my tendency to have the news on in the background for the same reason.
“Procrastination is the thief of time, collar him.” –Charles Dickens

ElyDave

  • Royal and Ancient Polar Bear Society member 263583
Re: You know you're middle aged when
« Reply #865 on: 13 April, 2019, 11:18:24 am »
Speaking of which, I was just moaning to Pingu that I need to remove my music off my work laptop to generate some space and I can't put it on my external hard drive now because we're banned from moving files to USB.
Pingu piped up, you've just bought a 256Gb SD card for that new phone, you could get our entire music collection on there.

Oh yes. Of course.
Truly, WTTF.

Just about to go there myself, shiny new laptop due anytime soon, couldn't justify the 1tb hard drive, but a nice big SD card will work very well for a lot less.
“Procrastination is the thief of time, collar him.” –Charles Dickens

T42

  • Apprentice geezer
Re: You know you're middle aged when
« Reply #866 on: 17 April, 2019, 09:28:42 am »
When you start working up a mouthful of spit to seal an envelope with a self-adhesive flap.
I've dusted off all those old bottles and set them up straight

lou boutin

  • Les chaussures sont ma vie.
Re: You know you're middle aged when
« Reply #867 on: 18 April, 2019, 11:58:23 am »
You know you are old when you stand in a queue in Starbucks, admire the funky hair colours of the young lady in front you - jet black with a silver streak dyed into her fringe  - and realise that you dye your hair so that it doesn't look exactly like that!!

Cudzoziemiec

  • Ride adventurously and stop for a brew.
Re: You know you're middle aged when
« Reply #868 on: 18 April, 2019, 12:16:13 pm »
When a story written a few years before you were born contains a description of someone's "navel peeping out above his belt, because he wore his white Levis so low on his hips"* and you think how it might be nice to be able to find trousers so high-waisted they were as high as those low-waisted ones.

*Or better written words to that effect. But they were white Levis.**
**But I don't want white Levis!
Riding a concrete path through the nebulous and chaotic future.

Re: You know you're middle aged when
« Reply #869 on: 18 April, 2019, 12:25:23 pm »
I though navel-covering trousers were a Simon Cowell thing!
We are making a New World (Paul Nash, 1918)

Re: You know you're middle aged when
« Reply #870 on: 18 April, 2019, 12:38:49 pm »
I though navel-covering trousers were a Simon Cowell thing!

Or Stan and Olie
I think you'll find it's a bit more complicated than that.

T42

  • Apprentice geezer
Re: You know you're middle aged when
« Reply #871 on: 21 April, 2019, 04:08:40 pm »
When you find one of these in your toolbox:

I've dusted off all those old bottles and set them up straight

Re: You know you're middle aged when
« Reply #872 on: 21 April, 2019, 04:10:26 pm »
I'm sure I came in here for something, but I can't remember what it was now.


Oh, they're on my head.

Feanor

  • It's mostly downhill from here.
Re: You know you're middle aged when
« Reply #873 on: 21 April, 2019, 04:22:40 pm »
I'm sure I came in here for something, but I can't remember what it was now.


Oh, they're on my head.

Over 10 years ago, I got in a panic about losing a small child in Legoland.
He was on my shoulders...

Re: You know you're middle aged when
« Reply #874 on: 21 April, 2019, 04:51:53 pm »
 ;D