Do you mainly stream music or own it?

[sarumbear]

I like to know if your main music source is via streaming from one of the services like Spotify, Apple Music, etc. or if you mainly play tracks that you own, whether through CD or using ripped or purchased files? I am asking your main source, the majority, expecting many may have a combination.

 

[Luke Lemke]

I use Spotify Premium and I set-up the quality to "very high" which I understand has 320 kbs. In addition, I've bought EQualify which is a great parametric equalizer for Spotify.

 

[AudioJester]

Past 8-10 yrs its mainly been streaming. Got out of the cycle of listening to the same music over and and over again in my old cd collection (vinyl prior). Now listen to new music playlists predominantly on qobuz, but have tidal and spotify family accounts as well.

 

[Doodski]

I use YouTube for music videos and if I want MP3s for when I am going portable I rip audio from YouTube too.

 

[AudioSQ]

Stream, I haven't bought music in probably over 10 years. I couldn't tell you where my CD wallet is. I ripped most of my CDs to Flac and tossed them during an international move years ago.

I use Spotify, but grow weary of waiting for lossless. Their discovery, Spotify connect, and my play lists will keep me loyal though.. for now.

 

[sigbergaudio]

Gave away my last CD somewhere around 12-14 years ago. Used a combination of streaming and local digital storage for a while, but have been exclusively streaming for many years now.

 

[thewas]

Till few years I used to spend a significant amount of money (in my teenage actually all) for either vinyl CDs and later music downloads (and ripped most of my CDs which I still have on my HDD but barely listen to them) but I managed to get rid of the habit of having to own music and nowaways prefer streaming and discovering new music every day. Still buy some special vinyls of my favourite musicians as collectables though.

 

[JayGilb]

I ripped all of my CDs to flac and stream from a home PC based server. I exchange flac and 320kbs mp3s with friends and family.

 

[Eggs Ackley]

With me it's mainly Tidal streaming followed by local flac files ripped from cd's and some internet radio too. All done on RPi's running Volumio. I like it.
Oh, and NO VINYL!

 

[BlackTalon]

Ripped all our CDs to disk about 3 years ago. Signed up for Tidal this past year. Listening is a combo of streaming Tidal, streaming the ripped CDs, playing the CDs and playing records. And listening to radio stations via a tuner.

 

[sarumbear]

I use Spotify, but grow weary of waiting for lossless. Their discovery, Spotify connect, and my play lists will keep me loyal though.. for now.

I love Spotify discovery and automatic playlists. Listen an album, it finished and Spotify starts playing tracks that matches the music. Very clever.

 

[VMAT4]

I stream from Spotify, Idagio, and Jazz Radio. It meets my needs.

 

[Katji]

Soundcloud only. (I suppose it is streaming, although it is free, mainly, and it does not have corporate record/media companies, only what is uploaded by artists/dj/producers and mostly independent record labels.) 99% mixes and if I like it, if I want to hear it again, I download it...mostly the Soundcloud 128 kbps mp3, others whatever the producer uploaded.

(When they enable the download option, it provides access to the original file they uploaded. Sometimes WAV or AIFF, usually 320 mp3 - which means that what is streamed is the 320 compressed to 128. So either they don't know, or no-one cares. .....It's got so I don't care much either. If it sounds bad, i don't save it, or i delete it later when it becomes apparent.)

I haven't bought anything from bandcamp in the last...2 years, say.....and originally I bought from Juno and Traxsource too. But it turned out that I never listened to it again, or i didn't want to / wondered why i liked it.

 

[muslhead]

As of now, 100% ripped personal files. Approaching 115k titles.

 

[Chrispy]

I've collected music for ages and mostly what I play are my ripped cds, and I "stream" it wirelessly for the most part. I download some, particularly if the artist offers it directly. I still have my vinyl but don't use it much. I do use Spotify mostly for a streaming service, altho have used Pandora quite a bit, too; these services are mostly to find new music to buy, sometimes just for convenience. I trialed Tidal and Qobuz but preferred Spotify.

 

[Midwest Blade]

Practically all streaming via Amazon HD, I still collect the odd cd but it is becoming less frequent. Last cd purchase was in August?
Planning to be downsizing in about 4 years so it will be good bye to my big system and any remaining cd or left over vinyl.
I have found everything that I want to listen to and then some more on Amazon.

 

[gene_stl]

I still like having physical media and I detest the notion of a monthly charge for a stream of bits, especially less than CD quality. Yes I am old.

My Music Liberry on this laptop has 136 gig of live captures from "a Song Catcher in the Wild" whom I love and another 105 gig of various rips and downloads. I have a growing collection of CDs which I often buy for pennies because of people having lost interest in them. I also have a growing collection of multi channel discs of all flavors from matrixed RBCDs to BluRay "Pure Audio" and everything in between. Those latter formats are also increasing because of loss of interest in physical media. I am a bargain hunter and perhaps bottom feeder. Even back in the day I hunted for bargain prices on LPs unless I especially wanted a particular one. I rejected the $20 LP and also the $20 CD unless I really wanted it for whatever reason.

I begain collecting about 2018 starting out with about 100 legacy CDs ( ie I bought them during the stone age) and now am up to something like six or seven hundred CDs and maybe 200 of better formats. I have about eight or ten feet wide of LPs which I should probably delete the majority of them. (On the other hand I have culled that collection many times so what remains I like pretty well)

I do like to watch you tube music vids especially when there is actual video of the performance, which adds to my enjoyment. I also like DVD and BluRay performance disks even if they have lossy multichannel or heaven forfend, just stereo.

I still maintain and operate two phonograph setups but do not purchase LPs. I walk right by LP displays but there is a tiny voice inside that says I hope I see something I want badly enough to pick up and look at and maybe even purchase. But I don't think I have purchased an LP since the early eighties. There is a handful of my favorite LPs (not available on digital) that I will rip share with my friends.

I enjoy cinema and have a large collection of DVDs and BluRays but have not upgraded the sound system in the bedroom even though it would be quite easy to do so. It may be that I find that circumstance too invasive. We just use the "spikkrs" in the teewee or a pair of headphones if someone is sleeping.

I also enjoy having CDs along in the car. I have a 45 minute each way commute and CDs make it go by more nicely without using up cellphone
data.

I have a friend who is a musician who is always more up to date on computers than I and decades ago he proudly showed me how Spotify or Pandora or whatever it was would learn what you like and offer you more of stuff it thought you would like. I have to admit that intrigues me as do free streaming services but it has not enough to make me sign up for any of them. It could happen though.

But I like having the sources locally in case there is a big internet crash.
I also never liked the "shuffle" nor the earlier "random play" functions. It would be a dull world if we all liked exactly the same thing.

 

[Trell]

On my desktop I play ripped CD’s but in my living room I play multi-channel SACD.

 

[Daverich4]

Own it. Play from ripped files. I use Qobuz to preview albums I might want to buy.

 

[Daverich4]

On my desktop I play ripped CD’s but in my living room I play multi-channel SACD.

If you have any interest in ripping your SACD’s it’s gotten pretty easy. I’ve done over 120 of mine.

SACD Ripping using an Oppo or Pioneer? Yes, it's true!

Note: I told the PS3 thread I would announce what I've found, so I am writing this first post, long before I am ready to (i.e I don't have the links ready yet, nor the instructions). I expect my second post to be ready in a few more days. Thanks to some very ingenious folks on other forums around...

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