Paul's Blog
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I decided it would be fun to share information about what I do and how I do it, as well as my thoughts about music formats in general. So, I’ve added this blog to the Play It Again, Paul, LLC web site. Though the information comes from courses, books, my experience, and other people’s articles on the Internet, the words are mine, and I take full responsibility for anything I may have misrepresented. I hope you enjoy the topics and learn something from them.
If you would like to suggest a topic for this blog, or if you have a comment or question on one of my postings, please email me at paul@playitagainpaul.com. Include your first name and last initial, which is how I will attribute comments and questions that I decide to incorporate into the blog.
After having written and posted well over 100 pages in over 30 articles, I’ll be slowing down and researching, writing, and posting new material intermittently. That having been said, if there’s a topic you would like me to pursue, please send me your suggestion at paul@playitagainpaul.com.
Contents
(newest appears first)
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Reel-to-Reel Tape Incubation Log (July 2023)
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Answering Machine Cassettes (May 2023)
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Magnetic Tape Deterioration, Part 2: Coating Deterioration (November 2022)
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Magnetic Tape Deterioration, Part 1: Magnetization & Base Damage (October 2022, updated December 2023)
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Digital Audio Tape (August 2022)
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What Does Cassette Noise Look Like? (July 2022)
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Pancake Tapes (February 2022)
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What Are All Those Codes on Cassettes? (December 2019)
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Content Challenges Posed by Personal Recordings (November 2019)
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Technical Challenges Posed by Personal Recordings (October 2019, updated February 2020)
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Play It Again, Paul vs. Brand X (September 2019)
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Becoming a Business, Part 4: Aftermath (August 2019, updated October 2021)
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Becoming a Business, Part 3: Financial Matters (July 2019)
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Becoming a Business, Part 2: Establishing the Business Entity (June 2019)
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Hints for Burning a CD (April 2019)
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Hints for Ripping a CD (March 219)
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Value Beyond Cost (February 2019)
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A Note on Our Prices (January 2019)
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Uncommon Media (December 2018, updated June 2022, July 2024)
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The Vinyl vs. CD Debate, Part 4: Closing Thoughts (November 2018)
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The Vinyl vs. CD Debate, Part 3: Perceptual Factors (October 2018)
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The Vinyl vs. CD Debate, Part 2: Technical Factors (September 2018)
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The Vinyl vs. CD Debate, Part 1: The Arguments (August 2018)
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The Loudness War (July 2018)
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Audio Compression (June 2018)
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High-Resolution Audio (May 2018)
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Digital Audio Resolution (April 2018)
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Types of Audio File Formats (March 2018)
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On 650 MB CDs (February 2018, updated January 2022)
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Caring for your CDs and Music Files (January 2018)
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Gapless Play & How to Test for It (December 2017)
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Altering Metadata (October 2017)
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Labeling MP3 Tracks: ID3 Tags (September 2017)
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Labeling Music CDs: CD-Text (August 2017)
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Equalization (July 2017)
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Converting 78 Records (June 2017)
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What Happens in Noise Reduction for a Record (May 2017)
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What Happens in a Record Conversion Project (April 2017; updated September 2022)
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Me and My Blog (March 2017)
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