Sunday, February 13, 2011

iPhone video game music and my general collection. CVIS-0001

I would never buy an iPhone or any type of time-wasting hand-held technological curiosity unless it was open source and allowed me to use any file format of my choice. One of the most important factors when I look at portable music players is if it can handle ape. If it can't handle ape, then it's completely useless to me.

I need compatibility with ape because I have approximately 700 gigabytes of video game music in the ape format. It's neat that cell phones also double as portable music players, but if they can't handle ape, then I have to convert everything to mp3 (and I should not have to do that).

I recently purchased a SATA 1 terabyte internal hard drive, manufactured by Western Digital, for $72 shipped. This price also included the necessary SATA connecting cable. The rotation speed is 7200 RPM and the cache is 64 MB. A few years ago, such a purchase could not have been done for less than several hundred dollars. For $72, I purchased a device that can hold my entire music collection.

The total number of game music albums I have numbers above 1650. But the amount I don't have is increasing far more rapidly than what I am able to obtain. Twenty years ago, back in 1991, there were less than 900 game music albums. As of right now (February 2011), 18,626 game music albums have been released. This means I have approximately 8% of all the game music albums that have been released.

How do I currently listen to music? Obviously, my computer is the most useful listening device, since it can hold everything and offers the most convenient access. For critical listening, I use a Marantz CD player, along with amplifier powered headphones. For on-the-go, I use a 16 gigabyte thumb drive in my car stereo.

I recently purchased an iPhone video game soundtrack, published by CAVE. Here are some scans of it:




The catalog number is CVIS-0001, which implies there will be more. Normally, CAVE uses CVST or CVAS for their music albums, and CVIS is a new one. CVST = CAVE Sound Track, CVAS = CAVE Arrange Soundtrack, and CVIS = CAVE iPhone Soundtrack. 
As far as I know this is the very first iPhone soundtrack to be published (officially) and it reminds me of Twinbee (happy music), Mega Man (cool music), and is more similar to Pinksweets ~After Ibara~ than the other Do-Don-Pachi soundtracks. I had no idea what to expect concerning sound quality, but I can say that the iPhone is comparable to the PSP. In other words, the quality is phenomenal. 

Why would I buy an iPhone soundtrack if I would never buy an iPhone? The developer makes the difference. If this were a soundtrack by an unfamiliar company, then I would be hesitant. But this is music by CAVE, a company I have been familiar with for the past 8 years. And they consistently produce the most soul-rending and interesting music I have ever heard. Never mind that I don't have a soul; it's just that the music increases my happiness, since it's so good.

Now, Manabu Namiki normally handles the Do-Don-Pachi soundtracks. A new guy, Kenichi Maeyamada, composed the iPhone version. As I stated, he brings a little Twinbee flavoring to the DDP world. My favorites on this are Rush to the Future and Back to the Dream.