Do you mainly stream music or own it?

[jsrtheta]

I mostly own physical media and/or locally stored digital copy.

I listen to a lot of radio shows, bootlegs, obscure small stuff etc that if you can find it on the internet, it's ephemeral and could be gone tomorrow. And I don't want to be beholden to the whim and fancy of whatever digital licensing nonsense means I can or can't listen to album X on streaming service Y. I'll listen to Tidal on occasion / internet radio but if I find a track I like enough to hunt down, I'll buy a copy - preferably physical, not just downloaded files. I also feel that's the most confident way that some portion of my money is actually getting back to the artist.

Perfectly put for folk like me.

 

[renaudrenaud]

I do not stream and I do not buy files. I spent a lot of money in CD when I was young and the media was said ok for 100 years. It was false, lot of the records where oxidated after 20 years.

The vinyles I bought at the same period are still playable.

I decided few years ago to spend money on live events.

And grab the files from, essentially, rutracker.org.

A friend of mine asked few weeks ago how to rip CDs. Answered you don't have to, just grab them from internet you will save some time.

 

[sarumbear]

And grab the files from, essentially, rutracker.org.

As long as you already own the CD.

 

[MattHooper]

I dunno about that statement. They say the first step for an alcoholic is to admit he has a problem w/drinking.
With 2200+ posts, maybe you should re-evaluate that FIRST step.
Bet life would be miserable (less fun?) w/o music.

Not sure what the amount of posts has to do with anything. But I'm familiar with the misery of ripping a large CD collection and never wish to re-visit that task again. (And I hope you understood the post as hyperbolic).

 

[More Dynamics Please]

Over the years I've transitioned from vinyl to CD to streaming. Briefly considered ripping but ultimately wasn't willing to invest the time to do it right. Still have CD collection but everything I own is also available through streaming so I only rarely throw on a CD for nostalgia. Bonus for streaming is that it's better for the environment which I've increasingly prioritized in recent years.

 

[sonitus mirus]

Been streaming over one or more music services since 2004 when I subscribed to Rhapsody after a friend told me about it. "Rap City" seemed like an odd name for a music service that appeared to have a robust library of genres available, and after several minutes of searching without any luck, I was able to reach my friend for clarification on how the name was actually spelled.

I generally shuffle all songs in my entire library, but I typically add full albums only, and I prefer a streaming service that automatically includes the artists and all of the songs in separate lists for any album that I add. I also like to have the ability to add my own albums that are integrated into every aspect of the music services with regards to shuffling, playlists, and radio stations.

Rhapsody did this very nicely, as did Google Music. It was like having my own Tower Records all to myself. I had to use Roon to get the same experience with Tidal. I had Qobuz, as well, but I never used it outside of Roon to know how it worked. Now I am using Apple Music as I have mostly an Apple ecosystem at my home and I was already getting the service for "free" as a perk with my unlimited mobile phone plan. It is the only service that streams flawlessly with CarPlay for me.

Seems like anytime I break down and buy any music that I can't stream, it immediately becomes available to stream everywhere.

Let's see. I bought the box set of the Eagles from an online shop, and then the group was available to stream everywhere the same day it arrived on my porch. Picked up a full studio collection of Black Sabbath's releases, and a month later, you guessed it. Been dragging around a couple of Bob Segar CDs for over 20 years, but he caved finally. Tool? Streaming them now. I scoured Discogs looking for a used CD of Trout Mask Replica from Captain Beefheart. Had it shipped from some music store in Cincinnati, ripped it to FLAC and saved it into my Roon library, and then it magically appeared as a lossless streaming version a few weeks later. I see King Crimson to stream, too. So, if there are any holdouts you would like to see added to your favorite streaming service, let me know and I will purchase the CD if I can find it at a decent price.

 

[sarumbear]

Bonus for streaming is that it's better for the environment which I've increasingly prioritized in recent years.

why? Aren’t data centres bad for environment?

 

[renaudrenaud]

I would like to add I hate big companies and of course I will never use some Apple things or Quobuz nor other anything else for streaming. And no car, no microwave oven, no TV, no...

I went for Logitech Media Server. The code is open source and in the hands of the community.

I have some local streaming from Linux NAS I've build and mainly use Raspberry Pi Orange Pi and other single boards computer with low impact in the environment.

 

[mrbungle]

Like concorde1 I have ripped my own CDs. I will not sell my CDs. My attitude to technology is the same as attitude you should have when you live on the San Andreas fault; it's not if an earthquake strikes, it's when an earthquake strikes. Similarly I keep my CDs not for "if I lose my flac files" but "when I lose my flac files".

I have purchased some albums in flac format. Fingers crossed.

I rely on [internet] radio for listening to new music. If I like I'll purchase it.

Amazon S3 Deep Glacier storage is about 1$ per TB a month. Not the easiest to setup, but pretty powerful once you have it up and running.

 

[pseudoid]

Not sure what the amount of posts has to do with anything.

I (and possibly >> you) DO have a musical-addiction problem.
Personally speaking I could not possibly imagine my life void of THAT pleasure!
I had thought that my passion for music led me to also have much interest in audio hardware that is like the bottle containing the alcohol.
That is how I landed in ASR and participate.
Sorry for thinking that w/the amount of posts; you'd also be such a music addict.
I offer you >> YMMV.

 

[MattHooper]

I (and possibly >> you) DO have a musical-addiction problem.
Personally speaking I could not possibly imagine my life void of THAT pleasure!
I had thought that my passion for music led me to also have much interest in audio hardware that is like the bottle containing the alcohol.
That is how I landed in ASR and participate.
Sorry for thinking that w/the amount of posts; you'd also be such a music addict.
I offer you >> YMMV.

Ah ok now I see what you were getting at. Yes I'm certainly a music addict. And again my post was hyperbolic.

Still, if I lost the copy of my ripped CDs, I doubt I'd bother re-ripping them again. (And at this point I can't anyway - I finally got rid of them after keeping them around, taking up space, for many years).

 

[bladerunner6]

Serious music listening is 100% owned and maybe one album is download only and not on CD-“Tapestry“ and I will buy a copy of that on CD. As the poster above me mentioned I love liner notes. Album art and photos are also great. And finally, CD’s are really affordable, particularly used.

And renting everything for the rest of your life is a bad financial move.

I do stream Pandora for workout music and casual background music.

 

[flyzipper]

I own a lot of music, but I mainly stream for convenience (YouTube Music).

Similar, I suppose, to the way I own a full frame Nikon DSLR and APS-C sensor Ricoh street camera, yet the majority of my shooting happens with a Pixel 4a.

In both cases the lack of a critical listening/shooting requirement lands me on the convenient solution more times than not.

That said, movies are more likely to be physical.

 

[More Dynamics Please]

why? Aren’t data centres bad for environment?

Less so than the impact of factories producing hard media, shipping to stores, driving to stores to buy hard media, etc., etc. The environmental impact of data centers is primarily an electrical generation issue which can be mitigated by renewable energy sources.

 

[EJ3]

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.

I have never streamed. Ultimately I would like to convert all my LP's (from 1927 'shellac to todays [one of the gifts I received for Christmas was a newly remastered Beatles 'White Album' LP. I currently have more music on LP, CD, cassette, R2R, etc. than I could listen to in a year if my job was to listen for 40 hours a week.

 

[Rufus T. Firefly]

I jumped on the streaming bandwagon about the same time Apple decided they weren't going to support iTunes anymore. I made a very stupid and ill informed choice to make iTunes my "archival" software and ripped almost all pf my cd's to that....dumb. It was a great plan for a while I could go to my LRS and buy used CD's take them home rip them take them back within a week and get 2/3's of the cost back in store credit, rinse and repeat. I thought it was the cheapest way to build a library ever.

After that fell apart I decided to switch to streaming and haven't looked back. I love the convenience and find myself awake at 3 AM lost in the Spotify universe searching for alternative arrangements or covers and absolutely love it. If you like searching for new music I don't think there is a more efficient way than streaming.

I hear folks saying that they don't want to pay a monthly fee and it makes me scratch my head as I think it's the some of best money I have ever spent.

But there is no "good" or "bad" only what you like.

 

[redjr]

Usually buy CDs even if they’re older ones. My collection of CD has all been ripped to FLAC files. They go straight to my library on my NAS. From there to just about any room in the house using Roon’s whole-house ecosystem streaming distribution system. The best software ever! Will occasionally buy hi-res tracks from the internet. I just like having physical media. If you’re into collecting CDs, Goodwill can be source for just about any genre of CD imaginable. I’ve picked up brand new CDs still in plastic wrap for $2.

Edit, I do not subscribe to any of the popular streaming sites.

 

[restorer-john]

From there to just about any room in the house using Roon’s whole-house ecosystem streaming distribution system.

"Whole house ecosystem streaming distribution system". LOL.

 

[Nicholas B]

I still buy lots of CDs, mostly classical and jazz. These are ripped to FLAC and played through my system via a USB connected tablet. I do listen to internet radio where the streaming is at a high bit-rate and am currently trying a subscription to Amazon Unlimited. However, for finding new classical CDs and music, I prefer to use my Gramophone subscription.

Generally I like to keep a hard copy of the music I listen to on CD, complete with the accompanying notes. Ripping to FLAC just makes the music easier and quicker to access. I keep two back up copies.

 

[Aerith Gainsborough]

I use local files almost exclusively.
Tried Tidal and Spotify for a month but too many search queries came up empty to make them feel worthwhile.
Oh and if the Internet goes down, what am I most likely going to do? Listen to music, watch a movie or read a book and listen to music. So I do like having local copies for that as well.

I found that You Tube works best for discovery, then I try to hunt down a flac version (or at least 320KBit). If that is nowhere to be found, I'll grudgingly extract the audio from the YT video in question.