Sidney Crosley

I did exactly this for a bad music blog in the 90s. 
 
Edit: It was Angelfire. And it still exists in all its Comic Sans horror: http://www.angelfire.com/on2/SmellyFishZine/

proof that the internet never forgets! that's awesome. i had so many of those pages (geocities)

I did exactly this for a bad music blog in the 90s. 
 
Edit: It was Angelfire. And it still exists in all its Comic Sans horror: http://www.angelfire.com/on2/SmellyFishZine/

that is not the correct definition of trill

I did exactly this for a bad music blog in the 90s. 
 
Edit: It was Angelfire. And it still exists in all its Comic Sans horror: http://www.angelfire.com/on2/SmellyFishZine/

In the late 90s/early 2000s, I started a few mp3 blogs as a non-expert, often-wrong kid who just loved music and building websites. No one told me to fuck off*. No one co-opted my blogging into a larger point about the decline of the scene/society. In fact, I got like hundreds of free CDs from cool labels and learned a TON more about music, met a ton of people whose songs I loved, and had a great time being a wrong, non-expert learning about music as I went along. The point of this post is that the OP should time travel back to 1999 and build Trill Vinyl as a Tripod page with a free cjb.net redirect URL and then today you could be in your 30s/40s and tell the new school of amateur music writers/bloggers to go fuck itself. 😊
*The guy who owns Hush Records did tell me to fuck off. LOL.

Recently made considerable upgrades to my work setup, as I find it's the place where I listen to music most frequently. No vinyl, but a pretty serious headphone setup that I'm very happy with:

ZMF Eikon Cherry headphones, ALO Green Line headphone Cable
Auralic Taurus MK II Headphone Amplifier
Schiit Gungnir Multibit DAC
 

REM - Automatic For The People
https://www.dropcards.com/vinyl/
D7RT6G97YX
 
Meat Puppets - Mirage
https://dropcards.com/mirage/content/index.php
XF4Q62JY9D
 
Scott Lucas & The Married Men - George Lassos the Moon
https://www.dropcards.com/vinyl/
3MK3C6557W
 
The Jayhawks - Paging Mr. Proust
https://cascade.cashmusic.org/
7rkpqpsgy2
 
Liz Phair - Exile In Guyville
https://codes.beggars.com/
GUYAF9T5CWBUM86ZDUFW
 
Bob Dylan - Saved
https://www.wearevinyl.com/en/
S2DM5P72V
 
Local H - Hallelujah! I'm A Bum
http://www.dropcards.com/localh/content/index.php
RHHRY5GSV9
 
Robbie Fulks & Linda Gail Lewis - Wild! Wild! Wild!
https://www.bloodshotrecords.com/download_263
JD6Y99JG74
 
Bottle Rockets - Bit Logic
https://www.bloodshotrecords.com/download_266
53KH5JC6D7
 
Simon & Garfunkel - Bookends
https://www.wearevinyl.com/en/
G6YBHP2S8
 
 

I've started listening to a lot more digital over records in the past few years, in part because I listen to music on high end headphones about 75% of the time (at work and home). I'm the type of person that is extra enticed by a lossless download that comes with a record, or an option to buy from Bandcamp. For the past few years I've been collecting the highest res downloads I can find from places like What, Apollo, open Torrent sites.
 
And then I got a deal for Tidal (this year I'm paying $12 CD/month rather than $20). And honestly, it's just so much fucking easier. I actually loathe Tidal's UI in comparison to Spotify (for whatever reason, even though much of the music is the same, looking at an artist's discography often has like 5 multiples of the same album on Tidal). I can definitely tell the difference between Tidal Hifi and Spotify at 320. MQA is still sort of a work in progress - at work I use my work laptop so I can get somewhat higher than CD quality for certain albums, and my new amplifier has an add-in module that is MQA friendly, which means up to 192-24 hi res for some albums.

It is frustrating when an album isn't on streaming services, and there isn't an easy way to download (even legally at times), but honestly, since I joined Tidal, I've found there's been little reason to need a site like What/Apollo/etc.

Some great points Alex. I generally agree with what you're saying. I like streaming as a process, but absolutely see the issues with it. I love sites like Bandcamp for its immediacy to artists, but not nearly enough artists are on there. I've also found that on Bandcamp, I will gladly pay $5 for a free/name your price album, but will balk when they charge $10 (I'm not sure why. I just do...). 
 
I love that book you linked to - Do Not Sell At Any Price is both a great read and very relevant to the way that 'timeless' music is found, but also the hierarchy of historical blues is created to establish worth for the exceptionally rare records.  

Further reading how the music industry works and what it has become (one of my favourite topics):

David Byrne - How Music Works. Sort of autobiographical about his music and how money is made from the perspective of a successful artist. It was written in 2012, and unfortunately doesn't address the shift to streaming (it sort of ends with artists selling their own things on webstores and such, and iTunes).  I'd be curious to hear Byrne's thoughts on it.

Stephen Witt - How Music Got Free - there's a fantastic article from a few years ago about the one guy in a CD pressing plant responsible for some of the biggest music leaks of the 90s, and its impact on the industry. This book takes it further. It traces the history of mp3s, and how pirated music affected the industry, and quite frankly, how stupid and unprepared the industry was. The industry has always been terrible, but their utter inability to adapt or even acknowledge digital music until it utterly destroyed their model makes me feel a lot less sympathy for the major labels. I'm pretty sure What, Oink, and Waffles all get a shout-out in the book.
 
David Hajdu - Love For Sale: Pop Music in America - talks a lot about how popular music is disseminated, how that has changed over time, and how it works in the modern era. 
 
 
I honestly think that as shitty as streaming is as far as making money for artists, the record labels are still completely clueless as to where this is all going moving forward. Even 20ish years ago the only way to hear a song you didn't own was to hear it on the radio, or tape it off someone else who had it.  There is a significant generation of people who don't understand the idea of not being able to hear something immediately, which in itself is fascinating.
 

https://www.dinealonestore.com/products/thrush-hermit-clayton-park-2lp
 
PS - @unknown pleasures if you're coming to Toronto, I can order you an extra one and hold it until you come.

https://www.dinealonestore.com/products/thrush-hermit-clayton-park-2lp
 
PS - @unknown pleasures if you're coming to Toronto, I can order you an extra one and hold it until you come.

Those are two of the hardest sentences I've ever had to read. Congrats to you both.

Nope. They value everything at $1 each so no duties. Shocked the hell outta me because I thought you’re not allowed to do that....not complaining. Sometimes if they have a standard press of something that is a couple bucks more than a US store I’ll go for it since I know there’s no shipping fees or duties. 

there really is always some chowderhead, their opinionatedness only surpassed by ignorance, eager to trot out this gross shit, isn't there. my god.

I'm so excited for this. I've loved Josh Ritter since Hello Starling came out, and was sort of disappointed by his last 2-3 albums. Meanwhile. Isbell has become my favourite songwriter these days. Them working together is amazing...so excited to hear this.

VMP  fans who live in Toronto, I just went into Antikka Records on Queen West b/w Ossington & Shaw for some free coffee and they had a bunch of VMP titles in-stock, including 3 copies of Cosmogramma. 
I asked the owner who said it's a perk of being the only place in the city to host VMP listening party every second Thursday of the month.
Prices were, as you might imagine if you've browsed their stock, overpriced but 38 to 45CAD for AOTMs (less for others) before tax is what you would except for the exchange rate, plus you dodge the shipping charges & he said he could try to get special orders done upon request in case there's available VMP stock he doesn't have.

Has anyone found a Canadian preorder yet? I'm not interested in spending $40-50 USD on a variant if I can get it closer to $20 Canadian. Wonder if they're still on Royal Mountain Records?

if there is, I don't wanna taco 'bout them.

Irwin Chusid, who compiled the Songs in the Key of Z compilations also wrote a book about outsider music. Might be worth seeking out the book for more information about her. 

The HD6XX also have a relatively high impedance - I think around 250-300 ohm, so they'd likely need/benefit from a headphone amp.  That being said, you can run a 1/8 inch to RCA cable to the Magni if you want to listen to digital, or even a Chromecast Audio out to RCA for digital listening.
 
Also, semi-related to all of this, with high impedance headphones you'll hear a lot of details, but also a lot more of the surface noise, crackles, etc. You need to make sure more than usual that your records are clean.
 
As you mention, you want to listen to headphones so that it doesn't bother your girlfriend. The Beyers you listed, as well as the HD6XX leak a lot of sound (the 880s far less so as they are only semi-open). So if you have a relatively small place, she'll hear everything if, for example, you're both sitting on the couch. My main rig headphones are Audeze LCD 3 and they are completely open and leak a lot of sound, so if my wife is across the table from me it's like she's listening to a tinny version of whatever I'm listening to. If she's more than 10-15 feet away, she doesn't hear anything. Just something to think about as you look for headphones.
 
Some quality open backed headphones in the 100-200 used range:
Beyerdynamic 770, 880 or 990
Sennheiser HD 6XX (or HD 600)
Hifiman HE400i (these are very decent planar magnetic headphones that originally listed for $599, then dropped to around $250 or so, used around 125-150)
AKG K702
Grado SR125/225/325
 
Closed back in the same range:
Audio Technica ATH-M50X
PSB M4U 1/ NAD Viso HP50 (I think they're basically the same)
AKG K551, K550, or K545 
Audeze Sine (on-ear)
 
There are lots of options, and it's actually a great pricepoint to buy used if you're willing, as the prices are beyond Best Buy-styled consumer headphones, but cheaper than the really serious audiophile stuff, and what happens (which absolutely happened to me) is that this is where most people get their start with headphones, and then work their way up to more expensive pairs.
 

Beyerdynamic makes very good headphones. Keep in mind though that there are 3 models, 600 ohm, 250 ohm, and 32 ohm. The 600 ohm will need a headphone amplifier (the Magni would be sufficient, but you’d be cranking it a bit high). They would be barely audible direct from a phone. However, they have the potential to have the clearest detail. 32 ohm are designed for mobile phones - the headphone amp wouldn’t be as important to make them loud enough. The 250 ohm would be somewhere in the middle. Keep in mind too the 880s are semi open so you wouldn’t really be able to wear them in public. The 770 series are closed back. 
 
If you are looking in the $150-200 range, see if you can get the Massdrop Sennheiser HD6XX on the used market. They go new for $200 but easy enough to find used for less.  They are basically a new colour version of the HD650 headphones which used to sell for about $400 and still are the top in that price range. There are lots of other great headphones in the 100-200 range, especially if you’re willing to buy used. 

Congrats on the Magni purchase. Quick question for you: do you have powered speakers or ones that require an amp. Which Magni did you get? If you got a Magni 2 Uber (old model) or the most recent Magni 3, you should be able to plug in powered speakers through the Magni's preamp out. When you plug in headphones, you'll hear your headphones. When you unplug headphones, music will go to powered speakers, therefore you wouldn't need any kind of switch.

Depending on who you speak to, and the level of critical listening, DACs to some make little difference, or a whole world of difference. Fifteen to twenty years ago, the costs of digital-to-analog conversion were significantly higher (which is why sound cards, discmans, and any other way to decode digital music cost hundreds of dollars). Now, a half-decent DAC costs literally pennies (take, for example the lightning to headphone adapter which costs $9 - it has a DAC in it, and it sounds pretty decent). Most cheap laptops now have passable DACs (though often terrible speakers). There are some incredible $100 DACs out there, and then when you start spending more, the improvements in sound are definitely noticeable but not significant until you start spending a lot more or get cutting edge technology. I do most of my listening with very expensive headphones, and I find I can definitely hear differences. On my speaker/turntable system, I don't hear as much of a difference (partly because my speakers are in my kitchen/dining room where I can't do as much critical listening). 
 
Let me know if you are thinking more about DACs - I've owned at least 7 or 8 in the past few years, and while I'm not expert at all, I have definitely learned a lot about the differences and approaches.

Just get a headphone amp with pre-outs that can go to the speakers. Schiit Magni 3 for $99 will likely be your best bang for buck, and will allow you to listen to headphones, and will sound pretty sweet in the meantime. http://www.schiit.com/products/magni-1