Owned physical media and/or downloaded music vs streaming services.

Discussion in 'Visual Arts' started by Price.pittsburgh, Oct 28, 2017.

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  1. Price.pittsburgh

    Price.pittsburgh Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Florida
    I currently have a free 3 month trial with Apple Music.
    Last year I tried Google Play for a free month and of course there's YouTube.
    I had no problem adjusting to the ripped and burned cds or downloading those tracks or even purchasing songs or albums from iTunes, Amazon or whatever.
    Playing them back on the Mp3 players or burned discs still gave me and still gives me that feeling of owning my music.
    I personally have a difficult time truly enjoying music in the same way on the steaming services.
    It just feels so temporary or restricted.
    Plus, there is so much music at your disposal it feels too surreal.
    I have similar feelings with Netflix and Hulu vs dvds but not nearly as bad.
    I realize I'm a product of my generation which is Generation X
    (born 1970) kid in the 70s/80s, teen in the 80s and young adult in the 90s and first decade of the millennium.
     
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  2. I use it to preview music. If it's good enough to be played a couple of times, I will usually buy it.
     
  3. Dan33185

    Dan33185 Dylan/Cohen/Adams/T. Buckley/Holly

    Location:
    Minnesota
    I don't use streaming either. I'll either buy vinyl or CD, and then rip it to my computer and sync with my phone. Streaming is just too unreliable in spotty service areas, and services like Spotify could disappear tomorrow, then what? I'd rather own my music and not have to worry about that. Besides, a lot of stuff I listen to, you'd never find on streaming services.
     
  4. Price.pittsburgh

    Price.pittsburgh Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Florida
    Streaming in the cloud is okay though because it's still my stuff.
     
    Whay likes this.
  5. MikeManaic61

    MikeManaic61 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Virginia
    I struggle with that also. I started to use Spotify and it just wasn't the same. Something just felt wrong about it.
     
  6. Dan33185

    Dan33185 Dylan/Cohen/Adams/T. Buckley/Holly

    Location:
    Minnesota
    I do use Google Play Music on my desktop, everything I add to my library there gets uploaded automatically to that. I've never used it on my phone though, but it's nice to have as a backup just in case.
     
  7. eric777

    eric777 Astral Projectionist

    Just a thought, but it might be because of what you are used to. Most of us remember when owning a cd, cassette, record, or whatever was the only real way to listen to music. By purchasing it and having a physical item to show for it really meant something. It was like having a trophy I guess.

    With streaming, it doesn’t really have the same feeling. It’s more apparent that you don’t own anything when you have nothing to show for it. The music is the same but it’s not how you originally remember listening to it. The feeling of investment and ownership is missing.

    I don’t know about anyone else but that’s how it feels to me.
     
  8. Price.pittsburgh

    Price.pittsburgh Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Florida
    Exactly my feeling.
    I guess if you never knew any different or barely remember the difference, streaming is great.
    I'm sure the youth look at us like we're strange.
    But I will say that I do enjoy the sampling aspect of it.
     
  9. Price.pittsburgh

    Price.pittsburgh Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Florida
    The trophy and investment examples are perfect.
     
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  10. gregorya

    gregorya I approve of this message

    I consider streaming to be similar to radio... on-demand radio... ;)

    If I like something, I buy it... either physical or digital (usually physical if available).

    I like physical media so much I often download hi-res music and burn it to DVD Audio discs... ;)
     
  11. dkmonroe

    dkmonroe A completely self-taught idiot

    Location:
    Atlanta
    I like streaming. It's really cool to be able to just search for albums and play them instantly. It's great for checking out stuff I've never heard before. However, at this point I've invested so much into LP's, CD's, DVD-A and SACD that when I'm doing serious listening, that's what I'm going to. If I stream something and I like it, I'm gonna buy it. Streaming as a primary listening mode doesn't seem to interest me as much.
     
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  12. zebop

    zebop Well Known Stranger

    I don't even feel the same when I burn a CD, something's missing for me as opposed the original CD, album or even tape...
     
  13. alexpop

    alexpop Power pop + other bad habits....

    No burn, no download.
    I buy CDs /Vinyl.
     
  14. gregorya

    gregorya I approve of this message

    I am waiting for CDs that are made out of vinyl.... those suckers are going to sound flippin' awesome!... ;)
     
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  15. TonyCzar

    TonyCzar Forum Resident

    Location:
    PhIladelphia, PA
    Streaming, buying downloads, burning, managing collections -- these activities bring their own experiences which can leave as big a non-musical imprint as the day you finally amassed enough LPs to warrant bringing home a Record-Matic because you had to worry about organization:



    (Yes, I know the K-Tel Record Selecter is not the same thing as a true original Record-Matic, but oddly, all video evidence of the "Record-Matic" seems to have disappeared.)
     
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  16. eric777

    eric777 Astral Projectionist

    Ok, I do agree with you ;however, I personally don’t believe that is the real issue. I realize that I can not speak for everyone nor do I have any real evidence to support what I believe. I am only coming from my personal feelings regarding why someone may feel this way.

    Many here seem to take issue with the word “nostalgia”. For myself, nostalgia is the very reason I have the same issue as the OP. Many of the behaviors and habits I have started when I was young and seem to have made a bigger imprint on me then any other time.

    I believe that if I were born in 2000, I would feel very differently towards how I listen to music then I have now. Had iTunes been around when I was 16, perhaps I would have had a bigger connection with it then I do. The issue is that I don’t.

    When I was 16, going out and buying a cd or cassette was a real treat. My friends and I would keep certain cassettes in our pockets just to show off to one another. It was our way of both expressing who we are and simply bragging about what we have. I have fond memories of finding a cd I had been searching for. Sometimes I would go to the store for months and not find what I was looking for. Then one day I would walk in and find it which felt like winning the lottery.

    By the time streaming came out, I was in my 30s and had already formed my opinion on what I liked. To me, it just didn’t feel the same. Granted, a song is a song whether I stream it or play it from a CD, but in my own mind it’s different. It’s an issue of perception, learned behavior, and my earlier childhood memories. It’s nostalgia for me.

    Please keep in mind that I can not speak for everyone ;however, I personally believe that if some people were honest with themselves then perhaps they would agree.

    Currently I am making changes in my life in this regard so I have been thinking a lot about this. I quit buying physical media for numerous reasons and it hasn’t been an easy adjustment regardless what the truth is.

    In my opinion (for which I refuse to argue about) it’s more of a psychological issue then anything else.
     
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  17. Lonson

    Lonson I'm in the kitchen with the Tombstone Blues

    Machete don't stream.
     
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  18. Yost

    Yost “It’s only impossible until it’s not”

    I’m using Apple Music for almost a year and it’s nice to scan for new music. But if I like it, I will still buy it on CD or LP and play it on my main hifi system.

    I can’t use Apple Music to its fullest potential, though. Tagging and liking stuff and creating playlists requires iCloud library, something I didn’t enable. Once I do that, Apple tries to match everything in my local iTunes library to their server versions. Something I’m not happy with, as the results will probably be spotty. I have a lot of specific mastering in my local library that I don’t want to be matched on some run of the mill recent mastering.

    So in this scenario, when I find something nice on Apple Music and don’t want to buy it, I just have to remember it’s there. Because I can’t tag or like it or put it in a playlist. So it’s not as user friendly as I would like it to be. I really would like a do-not-match meta data check mark.
     
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  19. Plectrum Electrum

    Plectrum Electrum Forum Resident

    Location:
    UK
    I was all about CDs until about 2005, when I discovered streaming, MP3 players (then smartphones) and such. I barely bought any CDs for the next 10 years or so. I enjoyed the convenience, even though for most of that time the music I was consuming was inferior (pre-audiophile days) in terms of bit rate etc.

    This changed in 2015, when I really started to broaden my horizons as a listener. I discovered new bands and artists who didn't have the commercial and mainstream backing, but who made great music and gave so much back to their fans. I decided that when they released a new album, I'd buy the physical version to support them. Soon after, I got a really nice hi-res Hi-Fi for the living room (for years, I only had a Hi-Fi in a bedroom - connected to a desktop PC) and found myself falling in love with CDs again, and becoming more discerning about sound quality.

    This all coincided with me finally deciding to make a career out of audio mixing and mastering. I'd been writing, recording and mixing on and off for 15 years but had never taken the time to learn how to do it all properly, to a professional standard. I've been working at it diligently for the last 18 months or so and am very close to going full-time professional.

    My current music consumption habits are as follows:-

    CDs - albums I love & to financially support the artists
    Deezer Elite (CD quality; LG V20 & B & O H6) - convenience, discovering new artists
    Qobuz - hi-res purchases, both for referencing in my mixing & mastering and for listening pleasure

    I think we're so blessed to have all this available to us. It astounds me that I have access to pretty much anything in the palm of my hand, and with superb sound quality. But opening a new CD and popping it in the tray is still such a thrill.
     
    Last edited: Oct 29, 2017
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  20. puelche

    puelche Forum Resident

    Location:
    Santiago de Chile
    I've been always buying records and CD's, that's my COLLECTION. I pull them out for serious listening when children are not around (I want my modest equipment to survive them). So during the day, while at home or job, I use streaming for satisfying this listening-to-music-all-the-time addiction. Also this way I partially calm down my impulsive record buying (thanks to this forum..."I need that pressing now!"). So, yeah, both are compatible and work just fine for me right now.
     
  21. genesim

    genesim Forum Resident

    Location:
    St. Louis
    A CD that is well mastered has a more full sound that just cannot be easily explained.

    MP3 at 320kb can have hard to discern sound, but not on the collective. MP3 just sounds flat out off.

    A high sampled vinyl has an even richer sound and that is what I like to preseeve to bluray. Get the quality without losing it by playing it.

    Streaming has always sounded very low quality to me from Amazon Prime, Google Play to Spotify to Youtube to pandora(I do not support anything Apple for personal reasons). Netflix is even worse in lots of ways because of the likely throttle in your area with incredibly low bitrate of dolby digital plus which is mp3 quality 5+ channel compression.

    As for owning. Yes a CD, bluray, DVD or vinyl has justifiable merit because of being on a format impervious to magnets unlike hard drives and chip sets that can and do go at any moment. Cassettes and VHS can be hurt with magnet but the analog nature of it makes it possible to not be hurt entirely in one go. Also unlike hard drives, if you bang them a little with any kind of environmental change, you are not going to all of a sudden have millions of drop outs of data that checksums have to correct as opposed to what a human corrects for when hearing on a magnetic analog difference.

    So long story short, I take pride in having a optical or vinyl media becuase it cost money to manufacture and will last lifetimes. Burned optical, well that is just not as cool, but at least with BD-R it is more scratch proof and has the advantage of space to go along with printed artwork.

    As for listening anytime, not as important to me. I would rather savor the taste in my car with better speakers, at home with best speakers....or if I have to, ripped to drive at full quality when excercising (but sacrifice with smaller headphones).
     
    Dynamic Ranger likes this.
  22. sunking101

    sunking101 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Yorkshire, England
    My problem with streaming services is the blank box with the flashing cursor. What do I want to play? Erm, I have no idea! Complete memory block as to what's in my collection! I like to survey a wall of CD spines or flick through a ton of vinyl. Something always pops out and you can bet that it wasn't in my mind in the first place.
     
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  23. Yeah, I'm addicted too...
     
  24. broshfab4

    broshfab4 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Long Island, NY
    I don't stream! Physical media only -- extremely important part of the musical experience plus of course I own it. Streaming is like renting air.

    You can't show off your streaming library in your home to friends LOL
     
    Last edited: Oct 29, 2017
  25. nothing wrong with streaming.
    it's smarter, better that way.
    you'll save a ton of money and avoid the stress of collecting.
    I'm sorry I ever became a collector, in a way.
    Take up space and it drains your bank account.
    Keep on streaming.
     
    JM Jones, bherbert, INSW and 5 others like this.
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