When I first got ABBA music, it was on a CD. I really loved it, and listened to it every day. Then I got another set of CDs, and I loved them even more, even though some of the songs were the same. That was how I found out about remastering. I think the first CD I had (ABBA Gold) had a bad remastering job. The set was ABBA - The Albums, and it was a lot better. On ABBA Gold, I realized part of the voices had been lost at extreme high and low notes! A while later, I bought the original, un-remastered '80s CD of ABBA Greatest Hits, and it was even better than the well-remastered set! So, of course, I'm now against remastering itself, especially in ABBA. I feel the music was written in the knowledge that it would be slightly fuzzy, and if you take away the fuzz, it loses part of its original, intended feel. Also, a little fuzz makes wearm and friendly music like theirs all the warmer and homier.:) Anyway, this discovery made me interested in what the music sounded on tapes and records. I had a tape deck, but no record player, so I bought some tapes on Ebay. Now, even through all the crackles of an old, used tape, that music was the best I'd heard it! So, I became a bit of a tape collector. Finally, for my last birthday, I got a hi-fi system with a turntable! I've probably got about 15 records now, although I've managed to get multiples of a few. when I first listened to a record in person, I was amazed! They sound different from anything else, but in such a good way! They're not too different from tapes, but I think I prefer them most of the time. They have a lovely, warm sound, that just lets the music... I don't know... live, I guess. My favorite record is probably ABBA Greatest Hits, although there's a few I haven't listened to yet, because my family says I can't play ABBA a lot while they're around, because it gets stuck in their heads and keeps them up. I don't know why it does, because I've always got songs in my head, and it only bothers me if it's the same song for days, of if I don't like the sang, and it never keeps me up (except maybe the one time I woke up in the middle of the night and suddenly heard Sitting in the Palm Tree, followed by King Kong Song (I think) and What About Livingstone? lol;)). Also, my turntable's needle needs a clean and I keep forgetting it.
I have a fairly big collection of ABBA music, and I think I have every album they ever released, although not all on one format. I also have 2 CDs, one tape, and three (or is it four?) records of Greatest Hits.:P I do have an explanation for that. You see, I've lost a tape or two and a CD. After the CD broke I bought a new one, but then I discovered tapes. Now that I have a record player, I bought the record in a charity store. Then a friend sent me one, and when I found it again in another store, very cheap and in great condition, I thought maybe I could sell it (it goes for a few pounds on Ebay). As for how the CD broke, it was very annoying. Greatest Hits was the worst CD I could lose, considering its crazy price. I was listening to it, and it suddenly seemed to die on the second-last track. I opened the CD player, and I realized there was a 'WARNING' sticker inside, that had scratched the disc all the way around. Poor CD.:P The incident I remember best with a tape is Greatest Hits Vol. 2. It was in pretty bad shape, so the fussy little hand-held tape player I got usually tried to chew it up. I just played it with my other player, until that one broke.:P Soon afterwards, I tried the tape in the little player, and it actually seemed okay with it, so I thought I'd take a chance and use it. It was fine... for about 8 seconds. Then, the music slowly turned into an awful moan, with me thinking, That didn't sound right... Oh, no! It's breaking it! and quickly trying to press stop as it drowned itself out. It didn't want to stop, though. It was too busy scrunching the tape violently back and forth, which absolutely horrified me because when you're wearing headphones, you really hear what's happening to the tape. Finally, I managed to turn it off. It didn't seem to want to open, though! I gave it a good pull and the top finally came up, pulling a huge lot of tape with it, leading from a little metal bar in the machine. I examined it, and realized it was completely wound round the bar! I ran off to my dad, and he told me to pull it out. HOW do I pull it out?! I thought. I gave it a gentle tug, and it seemed to work. Unfortunately, it ripped the tape in the end. I tried to pretend I didn't see it, but really, I know it's broken. I wanted to play it to make sure, but, even though that was over a year ago, I'm too scared.:P
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