Is everyone using music subscription services these days?

Tidal is amazing, worth every penny for the lossless version. I don't find it hard to focus in when I can pick two or three familiar albums, download them to play "offline" when I'm commuting or at work, then at home take in something new or that demands more attention

 

I feel when you use a subscription service you put yourself under pressure to use it regularly in order to justify your monthly payment.If you buy LP's/CD's/Downloaded files.You are making a one off payment and can listen to them at your leisure.

 

Qobuz Sublime subscription here

 

I use Tidal, generally only listen to full albums (unless I hate what I'm hearing, though I tend to tough it out). The choice available is overwhelming, but I listen to more new and new-to-me music than I ever have, which to me is awesome.

I also listen to more music in general (by a large amount, going by my stats on last.fm).

 

Well said. Paying for streaming is the act of buying an intangible good. Streaming is a form of renting, whereas a one-time purchase of physical product is owning a copy of the music outright. As someone who used Netflix before they removed a great deal of content, I'm fearful the same thing could happen with streaming music. While I understand that some content on these streaming sites is removed due to licensing expiration or other legal issues, this means the album or song you planned on being able to hear for many years to come could become no longer available at any given time and that is a huge risk. Due to the very nature of licensing, nothing can entirely prevent content removal. For that reason, CDs and vinyl will remain my preferred formats.

 

Nope. Haven't used any in the past and probably won't in the future.

Still quite happy buying and listening to vinyl and CDs. A fair number of CDs I buy come from small or artist-run labels that is putting out great new music and I'm happy to support them.

 

Yes - very happy with my Spotify premium account. It's also a great deal - family plan is 15.99 monthly for five separate accounts so my wife and 3 kids can use this independently.

At home I use the Logitech Media Server software with Spotty plug in from my Synology server to my venerable Squeezebox Touch (could also stream to a Raspberry Pi / Max2play set up). The 320 Spotify streams nicely complement my 2 TB or so FLAC files. It is also great to stream via phone in car or at the gym.

I am really surprised that music lovers who have tried this subscription service don't like it. There is SO MUCH available to try in previously unexplored genres, or discs that you've read about but haven't heard. It definitely can be a musical gateway - my 26 year old is now exploring classical music (never thought that would happen!).

And remember streaming does not have to replace purchasing the physical media whether it be discs or LPs. I often hear something I fall in love with and then go to buy the disc.

Yup, I think everybody these days should try out these streaming services -

 

I don't feel that compulsion personally, though I see what you mean!

But... Surely all these formats Co exist? Out of the people I've had conversations about Spotify with, they'd be unlikely to start buying physical goods, but there's a strand of "one or the other" in this thread.

I'm almost format agnostic - if it's music I love that's literally all that matters.

The thing about streaming you touch on - it's great while you're in it, but it almost HAS to Co exist with your own music. (However, most of my streaming use is diving randomly into new artists - streaming can't be topped for that)

I quite like Amazon's service... Buy a record from their store and they make digital versions for you. That's a nice way to satisfy everyone.

 

No - we’re not.

And I’ll be the idiot:

These services- they all cost money?
Is this like paying for radio?
Or do you get to select what you hear?

 

Not me.

 

No, Spotify has ad supported free services for example. Personally I ripped my CDs for Google play music, which lets you upload 10k tracks, for streaming anywhere - free

Only if you have a listener request station and you're the only person who calls in

Course you do. That's the appeal. Look up the Troggs, boom, click Related Artists - go down a rabbit hole. Type "psychedelic" into the search field, go down another. Find collections, pore through whatever you want, or tell it to surprise you with its own radio feature.

 

I do not use them either.
I may check out music I'm interested on YouTube, but that's the extent of it.
I've got a most of my CDs and all of my vinyl ripped to files, so I have more than enough music of my own to listen to.

 

No.

 

I use Amazon as a supplement to my physical collection. If something is available on Prime and is not something that is necessarily highly regarded for its sound quality, I listen to it that way instead of buying the album. For example, I just listened to the recent Thad Jones/Mel Lewis archival recording on Resonance. It certainly saves me some money, but the OP is 100% correct in that it fosters a detachment from the music.

I think that this is symptomatic of our age in general, but I don't want to wander into political waters.

 

Apple Music

 

I share a Qobuz account with my two sons, but rarely use it preferring to listen to my CD collection instead.

 

I don't use them, but not because I don't think they're a great tool (they are a great tool), but because I have enough in my ever-growing collection to maintain me. I've uploaded my digital music collection to Google Play - for free- and that's enough to keep me going.

I also have problems with the payment model being used for artists on platforms like Spotify, which means the creators of the music are getting short-changed.

Yes. Think of how YouTube works for videos (search for something, play it, most things are there), and that's how music streaming works. Or you can request a computer-generated playlist of related songs if there's one thing you like and want to explore more.

The music is provided by the labels that own it, and it generates royalties (though not much) through subscriptions and advertising. Free services (like free Spotify) generaly play at a lower quality rate and have frequent adverts between songs.

 

Nope. I'm too addicted to little silver discs.

 

I use Tidal and Apple Music. Tidal for the lossless, and Apple for the ability to store hundreds of albums offline with very little memory. If I love something enough, I buy it on vinyl.

Streaming has been a godsend for me, and has opened up so many albums that I’d otherwise have been wary of spending money on.

 

Another pro-Spotify anecdote.

My 23 year old son is about to embark on a 2 week trip to India. He asked if I could recommend Indian music other than Ravi Shankar which I already downloaded to his iPod. Other than Ravi (thank you George), I really don't know Indian music. So what did I do - same as I'm sure many of you Hoffmanites would do - I researched this Hoffman music forum for Indian music suggestions. Found many great discs referenced in a thread on Indian classical music (everybody who contributed to that thread - thanks).

And wouldn't you know, almost all of those releases were on Spotify. I could forward the links of those recordings to my son who could then download them to his phone (Spotify allows you to download directly to your device so that you can listen offline).

It is common for me to read this forum regarding an artist I've never heard of and then immediately dial them up on Spotify and begin listening on my stereo.

I'm 56 and I DON'T want to say I've got all the music I need - isn't the fun part of this hobby finding new music that excites us?

 

No I don't stream.
I have more CD's than I can listen to anyhow.
What is so hard about sticking a CD into a player & listening (on a decent system).
I like the artwork. It is all part of the experience.

I also like listening to albums all the way through.

 

spotify is a must for me, I buy far to many on vinyl but when i'm on the go its either Flac files on my HD Audio Fiio or spotify, this shows me that its good value for the amount I use it to find new music

 

Owning a physical product, sure, but with restrictions on it. There are still licensing limitations on owning physical music — you can't play it on a public PA system, or radio station, or in a beauty salon, unless the rights holders are paid for these public performances. You don't ever have unlimited access unless you own the copyright itself

Renting is distinct from streaming, too. Different (ie. definitely and specifically time-limited) restrictions exist apart from streaming on a typical media rental — it's just a poor analogy, is what I'm saying. Pay for access and pay the rightful creators, that's the important thing IMO

 

Gosh I never really thought about why I find it harder to listen to an entire album now. It's more enjoyable these days to play my hard drive library randomly or by playlists. I used to like be DJ but the older I get the more I like being surprised. Musicbee is what i've recently discovered. You can rate your music, play it randomly and see what's coming up (unlike random playing in Media Player). I still make adjustments to the playlist, moving songs up and down....can't get rid of all the DJ in me.

....but we do have Sirius in our vehicles.

 

I don’t subscribe.