Should I cave if a download is cheaper than the cd?

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by MikeManaic61, Jan 20, 2018.

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  1. ToneLa

    ToneLa Forum Resident

    Depends.

    Do you wanna support the artist?
    Would the CD even result in this?
    Do you care about physical media or downloads more?

    My opinion: you can make your own "download" (digital versions) from the CD at a higher quality than what's offered.

    As finer posters than me have mentioned though, Amazon is great for CD as you'll get digital anyway...
     
    Hadean75 likes this.
  2. Pizza

    Pizza With extra pepperoni

    Location:
    USA
    I don't value downloads like I do CDs. I resent that they're licensed to one. I can loan a CD out to a friend or my wife can grab them and listen to them in her car. And if I truly wanted, I could sell them for 50 cents if I tire of them. :laugh:

    A lot of times they cost more than the CD. Plus they're usually MP3s.
     
    ToneLa likes this.
  3. ToneLa

    ToneLa Forum Resident

    I wish FLAC for sale was more of a thing.
     
    andybeau, andrewskyDE and Jimmy B. like this.
  4. Martijn

    Martijn Perfect Sound Forever

  5. Witchy Woman

    Witchy Woman Forum Resident

    Location:
    Third Coast, USA
    If the download is cheaper, then yes, and I have. That and the added convenience of not having to hunt down the cd then ripping it. There’s the storage space issue. However for some favorite artists I will buy the cd regardless and even the lp if it’s not available on cd (or even if it is). And I don’t have a working record player at the moment! :nyah:
     
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  6. Synthfreek

    Synthfreek I’m a ray of sunshine & bastion of positivity

    Gee, I wonder how people are going to mostly respond here.
     
  7. Jimmy B.

    Jimmy B. .

    Location:
    .
    You actually expect this forum to say overwhelmingly that it's preferable to buy an mp3 download?
    Buy the download, who cares.
    I did this a couple times where I wanted it right away. Later on I bought one of the downloads on CD (the Buzzcocks) and one I haven't (Joan Jett). Just do whatever you want....
     
  8. MikeManaic61

    MikeManaic61 Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Virginia
    Thanks for the input. Like an other poster said, sometimes post like these is more of a social thing. As the forums have no problem having a 1000th Beatles thread :)
     
  9. Stone Turntable

    Stone Turntable Independent Head

    Location:
    New Mexico USA
    Instead of crowd-sourcing this fateful decision via the Internet....

    [​IMG]

    :p
     
  10. eeglug

    eeglug Senior Member

    Location:
    Chicago, IL, USA
    andybeau and MikeManaic61 like this.
  11. Michael

    Michael I LOVE WIDE S-T-E-R-E-O!

    CD...my choice. I'd rather have the CD and make my own download...best of both worlds.
     
  12. Regandron

    Regandron Forum Resident

    Erm.. we are a community of hippies, pre-hippies, neo-hippies, pre-millenial and post millennial wannabe hippies.. we are not supposed to care about money.............
     
  13. MikeManaic61

    MikeManaic61 Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Virginia
    eeglug likes this.
  14. Atmospheric

    Atmospheric Forum Resident

    Location:
    Eugene
    In most cases, the download and CDs are going to be from the same master. I'm not sure how preferring one or the other "makes the world safer for brickwalling."

    Personally, I won't listen to MP3s under any circumstances. But it's a general disdain for lossy compression on my part, regardless of how much something might or might not have been brickwall limited. You do realize that we're talking about two entirely different types of compression here, right? Dynamic range compression (brickwalling) versus lossy data compression. Both are bad. One is unacceptable. I don't try to appreciate fine art in wireframe. I do not listen to music with information missing.
     
  15. detroit muscle

    detroit muscle MIA

    Location:
    UK
    For $8.49 I'd go with the FLAC download! You can be enjoying your music in 10 minutes! (Don't forget to backup the file :D)
     
    MikeManaic61 and eeglug like this.
  16. calgary669

    calgary669 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Calgary, Canada
    Don’t do it!!!
     
  17. detroit muscle

    detroit muscle MIA

    Location:
    UK
    Do it!!!
     
    calgary669 likes this.
  18. Mbe

    Mbe Forum Resident

    Location:
    UK
    Derek & Clive say, JUMP!!!

    A cautionary tale :)
     
  19. MrBitey

    MrBitey Forum Resident

    Location:
    United Kindom
    I have recently decided that I can’t tell the difference between the sound of a hq mp3. Probably down to my age/years of playing loud music on headphones/rehearsing with rock bands. Anyway, I have been on the horns of a dilemma over the new Zappa Roxy box set. On Amazon UK the CD set is £62 and download is £25. Were I to buy the physical media I would rip it and play it via iTunes. The box would be filed away and looked at once in a blue moon. So, I think it is the download for me.
     
  20. MikeManaic61

    MikeManaic61 Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Virginia
    I probably couldn't tell neither, unless I have state of the art equipment music technology.
     
  21. alexpop

    alexpop Power pop + other bad habits....

    I would say yes. But, the only download I've done I've listened to it once. Prefer the CD.
     
  22. E.Baba

    E.Baba Forum Resident

    Caving can be dangerous. Don't go alone; especially in remote regions.
     
  23. rockclassics

    rockclassics Senior Member

    Location:
    Mainline Florida
    Downloads should ALWAYS be cheaper than a CD.

    For me it depends on the album whether I will buy a download. There are many albums I prefer to have the CD in lossless. So I generally wait until I find a used CD copy. I very seldom buy a new CD unless it is priced cheaply.
     
  24. Thievius

    Thievius Blue Oyster Cult-ist

    Location:
    Syracuse, NY
    Not really saving all that much in this one instance really, and its just an mp3 file. Buy the CD and you can make mp3s, FLAC, wavs, whatever.
     
  25. Deaf_in_ LA_1974

    Deaf_in_ LA_1974 Forum Resident

    Id buy the Dl if I though id listen once or twice. if maybe in a year, I wanna look it up on the shelf and listen again, a cd spine is way better way to find it
     
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