Where have you been getting your music from lately?

[MusicIsTheAnswer]

First off, I am not a technical Luddite ( I built my own Roon Core, build gaming PCs, tinker with Raspberry Pi, and have loved hi-fi/av from age 5 onwards). but how many people actually like Music streaming? I'm not talking about SQ (that's a bloodbath for another day), but rather the buying model.

I have had extended trials with Tidal, Qobuz, and (urrgh) Spotify/Apple Music/Google Play Music, but (outside of the initial novelty factor) cannot stand the Subscription Service model of listening to music. It's music rental (not ownership), and ultimately you have no control over how much you pay, nor what content will be available in a week/month/years time.

Over the past year I have been downloading music (mainly from Qobuz) to my Roon Core (having already ripped my existing CD/download collection to it), and most recently I have been scouring the charity shops, as most trying to off load CDs at 50p/£1 each and HMV's clearout sections.

I've probably added around 80 albums to my Roon Core in Jan/Feb alone, and have no real desire to 'subscribe' to a volatile service model to allow me to listen music (which may have MORE music, but with questionable variety/innovation).

Anyone else feel the same, or is music ownership a dated concept for people?

 

[Jimboo]

You see what people are doing with their cd collection , it's the same mistake as when you sold your records for nothing. If the original c.d sounds better than the remaster then online services will 9/10 have the remaster only , my main problem with Tidal.
People wanted to sell their cd collection to free space , then start buying vinyl again ( go figure) people ***** about the random quality of streaming , cd quality is found on c.ds !
Less clutter , streamer and cables another box , NAS another box, phone as remote , computer running roon , tablet as remote , streamer with a remote , money for streaming ( never ending debate about quality) money for pretty pictures on roon because that's important when listening to music.
Get the best recording , play it in that format and you are a happy bunny.
I like streaming formats because you can hear the music from new bands and stuff you never got around too previously very easily. How it all pans out in the end I don't know. I will always have a physical format if I love the music. Phones, tablets or computers with added DAC attachments and MQA , hi Res MP3 etc is an expensive mess.

 

[knaithrover]

I dònt see too much of an issue with streaming. If Tidal went bust I'd go with Qobuz or whichever service offered best sq for my £. Talking about sq Tidal is very very good to my ears through my Bluesound streamers, Arcam dacs and even Sonos. Only issue if I had to change provider would be losing my playlists. Spotify sounds dreadful to my ears as does Apple and Amazon.
I still have hundreds and hundreds of records and cd's btw but my main source is streaming.

 

[Deleted member 188533]

I still buy ( and rip to FLAC ) CDs but I find new music to buy via streaming services. I've had Tidal for a few years now.

 

[Jimboo]

My main thought about streaming is if it follows the movie / TV format. That is, Sony controlling it's own catalogue with it's own service , Amazon taking over the world and streaming from them would have association with the Amazon world , prime members get hi Res only and the continuous levels of different packages and grading. As someone on here said it is a bloody cheek to offer different levels of sound quality, money a bit tight ? Listen to poor quality recordings riff raff. I find a-z lists and cover art devoid of any kind of enjoyment. Tis a chore , too much choice as in TV channels sounded good but it doesn't seem to be the ideal scenario. I guess streaming is the future but it seems to be geared to the want it now generation , phone based and soul less. Nothing on any of the formats beats my c.d sound by the advertised gains. Streamers come in all different price ranges but I feel the old wild west doctor and his elixir of life claims are rampant. The ' I sold my physical copies and I couldn't be happier brigade' always sound a tad desperate hoping for a flood of fellow clean shelvers to agree.

 

[Friesiansam]

I buy CDs and rip to PC as FLAC. Use Spotify free, to sample first, if I'm not sure about a new album.

 

[Hawkmoon]

I dònt see too much of an issue with streaming. If Tidal went bust I'd go with Qobuz or whichever service offered best sq for my £. Talking about sq Tidal is very very good to my ears through my Bluesound streamers, Arcam dacs and even Sonos. Only issue if I had to change provider would be losing my playlists. Spotify sounds dreadful to my ears as does Apple and Amazon.
I still have hundreds and hundreds of records and cd's btw but my main source is streaming.

When you say Amazon sounds dreadful is that just Amazon Music or the newer HD service?

 

[michael hoy]

Absolutely hate streaming services as a main source for my music. I have to admit I like ownership and knowing it will be in my collection going forward and not disappear when companies decide to remove it.
I either purchase Cd's and rip to Flac or purchase digital downloads.
I then stream the music internally.

 

[simonali]

Like anort3 I use the streaming to discover new music and to check out whether I'm going to like something then I'll go buy it on CD, new if possible, used if unavailable for whatever reason.

One exception was an album I heard and liked but the CD was only available from the artist's webstore at $45. Stuff that! It's not even listed on discogs, presumably because no users have purchased it...

Rachel Eckroth - When It Falls

Explore songs, recommendations, and other album details for When It Falls by Rachel Eckroth. Compare different versions and buy them all on Discogs.

www.discogs.com

 

[Deleted member 2457]

YouTube for me.

 

[knaithrover]

When you say Amazon sounds dreadful is that just Amazon Music or the newer HD service?

Amazon music, I'm sure the HD version is better.

 

[Moree Spingato]

I have had extended trials with Tidal, Qobuz, and (urrgh) Spotify/Apple Music/Google Play Music, but (outside of the initial novelty factor) cannot stand the Subscription Service model of listening to music. It's music rental (not ownership), and ultimately you have no control over how much you pay, nor what content will be available in a week/month/years time.

...

Anyone else feel the same, or is music ownership a dated concept for people?

I've noticed it depends on people's range in music, and their taste in listening to a pre-packaged sequence of songs that they may or may not like (I.e., an album) or their own curated playlists.

The element of discovery is superb in Spotify, and it's by far the largest collection of music from around the world: Africa, Scandinavia, Korea, etc, or music from across decades. I end up discovering based on song-triggered Radio and Discovery Weekly and maintain my now-large playlists on Spotify.

These lists are auto-synced to my Tidal account via Soundiiz. Sadly, Tidal has only about 94% of the music at any given time (average). Qubuz has even lower percentages, understandably.

Listening usually happens via Tidal.

Downloading doesn't come anywhere close to being a sensible option in this modus operandi. The ease of discovering is simply not there. I could "read" stuff on the likes of Pitchfork, but in the Spotify world, it takes me about 30 seconds or so on average to sample an entire album, and pick songs quickly to add to my playlists.

Not to mention the storage necessity in the Downloads world. CDs and physical media are even less of an option. At least with my own Downloads I can have a single 4TB disk or something on NAS.

With this style of meticulously owning/curating playlists and having access to a vast range of music, the following order works better for me:

1. Streaming
2. Downloads
3. Physical media (least practical)

My 0.02. YMMV.

 

[Deleted member 2457]

I like getting music for free I have tried subscriptions eg trial periods and the odd £10 here and there but no more for me with fees. I am now sticking to Spotify free and YouTube. I love being able to choose any live music concert on YouTube and then listening to it through my home cinema system and I haven’t even got really into yet. I have through my iPad and before my PC but just getting into it big time through my av system and on my TV.

 

[Leon Martin]

In the car - I use either Hi Res downloads or CD's ripped to flac on a USB stick as my car doesn't have a CD player. Surprisingly the cars audio system supports 24bit 96kHz files.
In the home - Streaming from Qobuz. It's so easy to open the phone app and send the queue to my streamer. I tried Tidal Masters but as I don't have a MQA DAC I found it frustrating that I could only get the first unfold via the Tidal app on PC which then had to be output vis USB to my streamer. Too messy and inconvenient for me.