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Socoder -> Off Topic -> Vinyl or Gif?

Sat, 19 Aug 2023, 05:05
Kuron
Unofficial poll... Which surprised you more: Vinyl coming back or animated GIFs coming back?
Sat, 19 Aug 2023, 05:05
Dan
Animated Gif's were gone ?
Sun, 20 Aug 2023, 14:03
Kuron
Back when sites like this were fairly common, FireFox provided a way to block animated images, as did Opera. Once people started blocking them, animated GIFs all but disappeared from web design and they were frowned upon.

They made a horrible comeback where people were using them as a video format, and suddenly you had a screen full of 4+MB animated GIFs on a forum thread page or a chat room page and it was killing the services for people on slower connections. Then GIFs started getting used for animated Memes.

Once HTML5 hit and browsers caught up, people started using MP4s for longer animations since this was supported by new standards.

GIF was a very good format and I think many of us would admit to having an early site almost as gaudy as Homer's. I mainly used GIFs for image protection and would put a transparent GIF over my proprietary images so the casual visitor who tried to download an image would simply get a blank GIF.

Vinyl coming back shocked me the most.
Sun, 20 Aug 2023, 14:14
Jayenkai
I think we're ok here.
I tend to block most instances of gifs, except for those rare occasions when spinal posts progress using them.
I'd love to be able to host mp4s here, but I'm not sure on the consequences of having threads full of mp4s.
My system occasionally freaks out when there's a bunch of mp3s on a page, but can easily handle gifs, so.. *shrugs*
Whenever I post a gif, I usually do so as a link-to. Maybe mp4s could work that way, too.?

Thing is, most gifs are still small, and fit into the 10Mb upload limit.
Most MP4s are definitely not in that same camp!
Even a 3minute mp4 of my neighbour trying to sweep up after a bean-bag exploded in the street, is well over 150Mb using default settings.

I mean, really...
GIF is just optimised to hell!

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Sun, 20 Aug 2023, 14:41
Kuron
Always liked GIF and still use it for scanned documents and B&W stuff. Also was great for use with some really old game stuff due to the transparency. A page full of animated GIFs? Nah, especially once they got huge because folks were converting videos to GIFs. They certainly found new life with cell phones and instant messaging.

Been using this to get PNGs down to lower size for my site. Does a good job, just not a good tool for long term use as they will want you to pay for it.
Sun, 20 Aug 2023, 14:48
Jayenkai
In MacOS, you can right click a PNG, "Quick Actions, Convert Image", and tell it to reduce it to a same-sized JPG. That's incredibly useful.
eg, Motivating Green.png is 2048x2048 pixels. The PNG is 3.3Mb, and the Jpeg is 432Kb..

> Reveal 🔎

Sure, Jpeg can reduce the quality, but as long as you keep hold of the original, where's the loss..

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Sun, 20 Aug 2023, 15:04
Kuron
Yes, that is a handy function.
Sun, 20 Aug 2023, 15:44
Kuron
Long ago, I had a plugin for windows that allowed all kinds of conversions from Explorer. Wish I could remember what it was.
Mon, 21 Aug 2023, 03:25
TomToad
When it comes to vinyl, many of my CDs are experiencing CD rot, many of my cassettes are degrading (making a weird squealing noise), streaming lasts as long as the site is in service, and digital downloads last as long as your HD doesn't crash, but all my vinyl sound just as good as the last time I played them making vinyl the best for a long term solution.
Mon, 21 Aug 2023, 11:47
Kuron
Zero interest in streaming.

I always liked Vinyl and would buy that back in the day and make a cassette copy for the car or Walkman. In the early days of CD, there were still a lot of analog steps being used in the studio for recording so they sounded better than they do now they had a bit of warmth.

Now, CDs lack warmth and are so sterile. Played through an analog amp, it did help them sound better and brought some much needed warmth.

Cassettes were great, but do not age well. I have had to bake some reel to reel stuff for the studio just to copy it over to hard drive so it could be remastered. In radio, our carts (look similiar to 8-Tracks) I had been moving them to hard drive and the tape was literally disintegrating as it was playing. Basically one chance at copying them over and then having to clean the deck really well after copying each cart.

I deeply regret getting rid of my vinyl. I had a nice collection, including things from the 40s. Besides 78s, I even had a few 16s. Never thought it would come back. My turntable was toast and you could not find anything decent to buy anymore as far as turntables went. I already had everything on cassette, so I got rid of my vinyl.

When it came back, I bought my four favorite albums. The four KISS solo albums from '78 and I bought two of the Peter Criss ones so I could put one on the wall. A neighbor in Maryland had given me a really nice vintage stereo, back from the days when they were furniture. Turntable, radio, tape deck, huge speakers. Unlike many, mine was two pieces, with the second piece having a speaker and a roll top cover for album storage. Simply bought a new needle and a new belt and it sounded and played awesome! That neighbor also gave me a huge collection of Black Gospel albums, which I loved and another neighbor gave me a lot of old rock albums. So, I had a lot of Vinyl again. Naturally, left behind in TN when Carolyn died.

In my studio, for recording I use a standalone TASCAM 32-Track recorder, or a TASCAM 8-Track recorder and do not really use the Zoom 24 track. Although I do have some digital muti-effects processors, the vast majority of my effects pedals, are analog, even my amp simulators. Whether distortion, over drive, chorus (I hate digital chorus), amp simulators, etc. So I have the warmth where it matters the most to me. I only use the computer for mixing and mastering, but I can do that on my standalone devices.

Back after cassette based studio equipment was on the way out, MiniDisc based multitracks came in for a few years. Due to the compression Sony was using, it actually added a bit of "warmth". Those didn't last long, though as MiniDisc never really caught on over here.

Since losing everything, MP3s are what all of my audio is in now. The compression does add some "warmth" and generally it sounds a bit better than the CD itself. Certainly more portable and easier to keep track of.
Mon, 21 Aug 2023, 11:53
Jayenkai
I'm all streaming, now. I still have all my purchases duplicated on my NAS, but I rarely play them that way.
Apple Music has spoiled me.

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Mon, 21 Aug 2023, 12:10
Kuron
Example of why I do not like streaming. One song by an artist with many albums out. At least there is one song, most artists I like don't even have that on streaming platforms.

YT is the only platform I listen to music on, and Amazon is the only place I buy music, if I can't buy it directly from the artist.
Mon, 21 Aug 2023, 12:24
Jayenkai
That's not a very good reason to dislike streaming. If the artist had published their music there, it would be there.
The fact that it's also the only track on iTunes says a lot. They're obviously anti-Apple, or perhaps just don't have a very good publisher.
Compare that to Andrew Huang, a self-published YouTuber, and just look at how much music he has on there.

It's not the fault of "streaming"

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Mon, 21 Aug 2023, 12:43
Kuron
That's not a very good reason to dislike streaming.

Actually a streaming service having nothing I would ever want to listen to on it is not only a very good reason, but the best reason one could possibly have.

Streaming services do not pay artists crap, and streaming services often do not want to spend the money to license a less popular artist's catalog to be able to stream it.

All of the above are the fault of the streaming companies.

Spotify is a bit better about things than Apple's offering, but not much better.
Mon, 21 Aug 2023, 14:44
spinal
How about a vinyl animated gif?


View on YouTube

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Mon, 21 Aug 2023, 17:42
Kuron
That is badass!
Tue, 22 Aug 2023, 05:31
cyangames
(posts a vinyl spinning GIF )
Wed, 23 Aug 2023, 03:01
TomToad
Speaking of vinyl, you seen 8-Bit Show and Tell's videos about computer data hidden on records?
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLvW2ZMbxgP9xqddQRgmd3rmhW6giZz5OO