After getting regular news articles shared inside a record label community I'm in, announcing a revival of the CD format, I put a call out to the Whitelabrecs and Driftworks community, Inner Echo for people who collect or have collected CDs to respond to a few questions. There were plenty of willing volunteers ranging from fellow record label owners to artists and new or serial music collectors. So picking up where we left off in May, here's part 2 of the CD collectors series!

Here you can see what Adrian Lane, Andy, Nathan and Nigel of Folk Police Recordings had to say on what they like and don't like about CDs. As well as sharing some photos with us, talking about their set-ups and plenty more... Enjoy!

When and why did you start collecting CDs? How big is your collection?

Adrian: I started collecting in the early 90s, when CDs were starting to get popular. I already had a reasonable sized collection of vinyl but there were things I felt sounded better on CD (an unpopular opinion I Know). One of my favourite albums at the time was ‘Widow in the Window’ by Kenny Wheeler released on the ECM label, one track in particular starts with a very quiet piano part and the surface noise on the vinyl was louder than the piano, when I heard the CD version I could hear everything perfectly so started getting into CDs. Not sure exactly how many I have but I imagine it is close to 1000.

Andy: I first got a CD player in the early 90's. Before this period I mostly listened to tapes. My first CD...actually, there were two, purchased at the same time - were Nirvana's In Utero (I was a grunge fan in my early 20's) and an album by an Australian stoner rock band called Tumbleweed. At a guess I'd say there are around 1100 to 1200 discs in the house now. Around 80% of my listening time is devoted to various Ambient genres.

Nathan: I restarted collecting CDs about eight years ago. I had a large wallet containing a variety of works, but had stopped adding to it when the brick-and-mortar stores began disappearing in my vicinity. For a while I had become almost completely dependent on the Mp3 format, but once I learned about platforms like Bandcamp, and that artists were making CDs available again, my interest was reinvigorated. Since starting up again, I probably have somewhere around 60 CDs that would classify as Ambient/Neoclassical.

Nigel: I started collecting CDs more or less as soon as they became available back in the 80s. I’d previously collected vinyl but was bowled over by the idea of a technology that you could allegedly spread marmalade on and it would still play. That turned out to be nonsense of course, but the sound quality was excellent. You could listen to the whole album without having to flip it half way through and there were no issues with warps, scratches or crackles. I can’t tell you how big my collection is, but what you see in the photo is around half the total.

What system or setup do you use to play your CDs?

Adrian: I have a CD player in the car which I use everyday on the way to and from work, which is often an album each way. I also listen to music constantly when I am painting in my art studio and have an old stereo system set up in there. Neither are fantastic quality but they do the job; I would like to invest in a better system one day.

Andy: I have an NAD system which I've cobbled together over the years from new and second hand components. It's paired with some B&W speakers, which are also second hand. Very happy with how this system sounds, particularly as I didn't spend huge amounts of money on it.

Nathan: My system is a modest one. I have three speakers that were intended as part of a sound system for a desktop computer. I have it connected to the auxiliary port in my laptop, and I play my CDs from there.

Nigel: I have a Leak amp and CD transport with Q-Acoustic speakers (and a Rega Planar 1 turntable). I also have a fairly basic CD player in the car.

What's your listening routine with CDs? Do you listen to the physical CD regularly, or are they mainly there as part of your collection and you listen in another way?

Adrian: I sometimes listen to my purchases on the Bandcamp app, but mostly I listen to the physical CDs.

Andy: I listen to the discs when I'm at home. When I have time (so not as often as I'd like) I love to put something on and just listen to it from start to finish, in the same way that many people would watch a movie, giving the music my undivided attention. When I'm at work or out of the house I listen to streamed or downloaded music, which is more convenient in those situations.

Nathan: I like listening to CDs at day's end. I enjoy how the uncompressed sound fills the room; it is especially rich and warm. I probably listen to most music on earbuds while out walking — I really enjoy the sensation of being totally immersed in music while enjoying outdoor environs.

Nigel: I listen to CDs (and vinyl) when I can - usually when I have an evening to myself. I also listen to digital sound files, which I have on an external hard drive and which are organised using MusicBee on my laptop - the laptop gets plugged into my Leak amp via a DragonFly Red USB Digital-to-Analog Converter. And I listen to stuff on the Bandcamp app via my Bluetooth speaker or my headphones.

What do you enjoy most about collecting and/or listening to CDs?

Adrian: I like to have the physical object and will often browse through the liner notes, or look through the CD artwork. A thing I really like about my CD collection (which is not very well organised) is that I can go to my shelf and look through random ones, thinking to myself ‘I haven’t heard that in ages’.

Andy: I like the browsing process with CDs (and all physical media, for that matter). Flipping through objects on a shelf for me is a far nicer experience than scrolling on a device.

Nathan: There is a nostalgic quality that comes from having tangible copies of music available. Much of the time, there are very nice examples of artwork and photography that make a nice conceptual accompaniment, theme wise, to the music.

Nigel: I think these days it’s mainly habit and I wouldn’t be that bothered if I had to sell my entire collection tomorrow - I’ll always have music around me and I’m not concerned if it’s not the same stuff I had five or ten years ago. In the pre-streaming, pre-downloads era, CDs were the main way of consuming new music - for a while back then, hardly any new stuff was coming out on vinyl, and if I’m being really honest, I found - and still find - vinyl to be a bit of a pain in the arse and cassettes even worse. In my subjective view, they are both inferior mediums to CDs, whatever the nostalgia merchants and the hip kids tell you about the supposed ‘warmth’ of vinyl or the allure of wow and flutter on a tape. Of course, now you can get music as FLAC files, there’s no real reason to continue to buy CDs apart from the somewhat magical and regressive notion that owning something physically makes it more tangible and real. Of course, music on CD sounds a million times better than streaming. And I guess we can’t get away yet from the idea that something released physically is awarded more credibility and gravitas than a digital-only release, despite objectively this distinction being a bit daft.

What are your thoughts on CD packaging styles? Are there any particular types you like, dislike etc?

Adrian: I don’t really like jewel cases and find they crack easily, but luckily most things I have bought over the last few years have been in digipacks or handmade pieces. I really like the gatefold packaging that labels such as Whitelabrecs release.

Andy: Cardboard is always nicer than plastic and I'm not all that excited by jewel cases. Because of the way I browse my collection when looking for something to listen to, I prefer something with a spine, as opposed to the flat wallet style sleeves. One of the things that keeps me coming back to Ambient music is the meticulous attention to detail artists display in their albums. Artists and labels that construct their own packaging often show the same meticulous attention to detail, so this kind of packaging really suits the genre, I think.

Nathan: I enjoy jewel cases when they are available. I feel like it is a sturdier, more protective way of housing physical copies of music and artwork. It would be nice if there was something more to read in them, on occasion. While Ambient music is not the right format for columns of lyrical content, it might be pleasant for a word from the artist to be on offer.

Nigel: I don’t like jewel cases. They are ugly and pointless and bad for the environment (as are CDs, to be honest). My favourite CD sleeves are vinyl-style card gatefolds - simple, elegant and plastic-free. Ideally I prefer packaging to have a spine with the album title and artist name on - in my experience stuff without a spine tends to get overlooked and stuffed into boxes - see my photos for evidence of this. I like handmade packaging in theory, but in practice storage-wise it can be a bit annoying.

What’s your favourite or most cherished CD in your collection, and why?

Adrian: It is very difficult to choose but maybe my David Sylvian ‘Weatherbox’ which has 5 Cds (in jewel cases which I don’t like), but is in a really nice box designed by artist Russell Mills. Other favourites include Johan Johansson’s Miner’s Hymns, and Erik K Skodvin’s Flame. I am sure if you asked another day there would be a completely different selection, there are so many great albums out there.

Andy: This one might be too hard for me to answer. I have some CDs in beautiful hand made packaging, I have CDs released by close friends, and I have some rare and hard to come by stuff...

I did recently listen to Josh Mason's Utility Music. It's such a great album, and the CD is accompanied by a book which goes into great detail about the the making of the album, track by track. I'm endlessly interested in the processes musicians employ to make their art, so for the purpose of this interview, maybe I'll choose that one.

Nathan: I would have to say that my copy of 'Gone to Earth' by David Sylvian takes top spot. I can credit early listening experiences of this album to being formative in shaping my musical tastes in the specific way that guided me towards ambient music before I understood or had the vocabulary for it being a genre.

Good runner's up might be 'Passion' by Peter Gabriel, 'MCMXC a.D.' by Enigma, 'The Bladerunner Soundtrack' by Vangelis, or 'Neroli' by Brian Eno.

Nigel: That’s a bit too much like asking if I have a favourite album, which after 45 years of fairly deep listening, I don’t. If I had to choose one album right now, it would probably be No Other by Gene Clark, but tomorrow it will be something completely different. I’ve chosen and taken photos of a couple of albums where I really like the packaging - Tyneham House, which I think was a joint release by Second Language and Clay Pipe, and I Lived in Trees by Mark Fry and the A Lords, again on Second Language. They are both gorgeous musically and look absolutely amazing.

How do you usually discover new CDs and decide what to buy next?

Adrian: Apart from a few releases on Deutsche Grammaphon and Mercury KX, nearly everything I buy is through Bandcamp, which I discover through the regular Bandcamp emails. I also discover new things through the radio show, The Stillness and the Dancing which I listen to regularly.

Andy: I follow labels and artists I like on Bandcamp, so I usually receive a number of emails each day with notifications of new releases. I listen to all these releases, and enjoy the vast majority of them, but probably only buy the album 5-10% of the time. There's so much great music out there, and I can't buy everything, so I only end up buying CDs that I'm confident I'll keep going back to for years to come.

Nathan: I like exploring compilations. If I hear a track that I particularly enjoy, I will explore the artist further. I might eventually start noting that many artists that I admire can be found gathered at a specific label, so I extend my research. The Inner Echo has been encouraging, and a wealth of insight thus far. I have something new that I can look forward to almost every day.

Nigel: Most new music I tend to discover via Bandcamp. I read a few music blogs, but my Bandcamp feed is my go-to place. These days, I tend to buy stuff digitally, buying the CD only if I really like an album. Even this I’m trying to wean myself off - I no longer feel the same drive to own an album physically that I did in the past - a download is absolutely fine.

However, I’d rather buy a download than stream music, partly because the sound quality is better, but mainly because I want to pay the artist something if I’m enjoying their music: the Spotify model where the artist is paid peanuts and reduced to a mere content provider is morally and ethically unacceptable. And who really needs instant access to a large percentage of the music ever recorded? You wouldn’t have a chance to listen to a fraction of it in one lifetime.

Inner Echo is a dedicated community space centered around Ambient music, for anyone who subscribes to receive emails from either Whitelabrecs or Driftworks. It's a special place where members and label artists can access behind the scenes news, share and discuss music, get involved and chat to other community members.

If you'd like to join our community, simply sign-up to the Whitelabrecs email newsletter using the form below or alternatively (or as well!), you can join the Driftworks newsletter HERE. If you're already subscribed to one of these newsletters and have not yet joined Inner Echo, send me a message and I'll share the link with you.