Have you not made a purchase of an album because you could stream it?

Exactly. I have two backups of everything (so three copies total), with one stored in another location.

 

That might have been the case for me when I was younger, but by the early 90s I was already at a point where I wasn't paying any attention to the "packaging" of anything I listened to, especially once I started using disc mega-changers at home.

 

According to my last.fm 2020 year in review thing, I listened to at least one song from 4,614 different albums (25,657 total tracks) last year.

Just thinking about storing all that if we were in the pre-digital era sends my brain into a state of panic.

 

McCartney III. The first album of his that I didn't buy a physical copy.

 

All the time. I'm also listening to a lot more new and new-to-me music I wouldn't have checked out at all if I had to purchase it to hear it.

 

Yes I have. I have nearly 1000 albums in my record collection, but I collected them all when I was younger. After ca 2012 I didn`t buy any more records.
Before it was my biggest hobby on weekends to visit record shops and to buy many many records, most of them I sold again.

I don`t know why , but since some years I have no more fun looking for albums. But YT has such a great selection of tenthousands of albums of all genres.
Now I do listen to this and I am downloading some albums.

 

I’ve been listening to Van Morrison’s albums on Qobuz recently and they sound terrific, much better than the most recent remasters.

 

ELO - Alone in the Universe
ELO - From out of Nowhere

I have all the ELO albums up until and including ZOOM (2001) in some official physical format, but it's ‘till the cows come home before I would want any of the above in my physical collection.
Recorded them off Spotify premium with Audacity, put them on CDR, played them in the car, and threw the CDR's out of the window. Will never listen to them again.
I'll rather pay 15€/month for a Spotify family account with 5 users. If I want a reissue vinyl it's probably a reissue from the 70's or 80's anyway so streaming has no impact on that purchase decision.
If I want to support a new release through buying the vinyl, it's thanks to Spotify that made me find that release.

 

I thought the Qobuz versions were the most recent remasters (2015?) Are there newer, worse ones?

 

No, but I have not bought albums because I streamed them first and then decided against the purchase. And I have delayed some purchases (say the new X album) because I can stream them (but I will buy them).

 

Yes. All the time.

 

I have found all the Anthony Braxton Arista releases are available as FLAC downloads and they’re tough to find otherwise.

 

Can't you just plug your phone into your car stereo. Or Bluetooth, or something?

I don't recall the last time I was actually inside a car ... but one presumes that car stereos have moved with the times.

 

I usually listen on streaming. If I like it and the artist is still alive and especially if it's an indie artist that relies heavily on album sales, I buy a physical copy.

If it's an artist that's been dead forever (I listen to mostly 50s and 60s material) and I've already bought a lot of physical copies forever, I'll usually just keep streaming it.

 

Do you listen to Qobuz? I don’t remember when the Van CDS with the additional tracks came out but they sound brickwalled, whereas the high res files on Qobuz via a dac are much more like the albums sounded (and I still have everything up to Hymns to the Silence on vinyl).

 

Just checked the Morrison remaster programmes were 1998 and 2008 and I have all of those. I think 2015 saw Moondance and possibly a few other titles come out on vinyl.

 

Yes, especially ones that would be major purchases like some recent Zappa releases.

 

So many times.

I kinda loathe streaming, but it's a wonderful mechanism to stop me from buying crappy sounding vinyl re-releases that I'll never listen to.

 

Yes, I am a Qobuz user. I've streamed a number of the high-res Van albums and they all sound good and non-brickwalled to my ears even though some of them are listed as 2015 Legacy Recordings. (Others show earlier release dates, e.g. Poetic Champions Composed "released on 9/1/87 by Legacy Recordings, 96/24", I assume these are also 2015 remasters despite the listed release dates. They also sound good based on the ones I've listened to.)

I don't have any remastered CD versions with bonus tracks to compare with. Sounds like they should be avoided.

 

That’s interesting. I’m not as good at extracting the information. What is notable is the 2015 date and Legacy title represents Van announcing new reissues including the expanded It’s Too Late To Stop Now and Healing Game but the programme (again) seems to have ground to a halt.
I should mention here that I signed up to NYA for Archives II which I could not afford and to Qobuz for some box sets that are now very hard to find.

 

While I have streamed music to check out new albums, it has never swayed me from buying something I already wanted, so no.

 

Yes. I do mostly streaming now, and pay for ad free. This offsets the cost I would have spent on buying music. Bands I REALLY like, I still purchase either CD or HiRez audio.

 

Yes - I justify my monthly Amazon Music Unlimited fee by making sure I stream at least one album that I otherwise would have bought in a physical media-only world. Usually it’s a reissue of an album I already own or an impulse buy that I don’t necessarily “need”. While I miss the days of buying a random album because it “looks cool”, I’m now more likely to try before I buy, which frequently leads me to select the streaming option when said album doesn’t live up to hype or appearances.

Believe me, I’m still buying plenty of music!

 

Wise. Some bought all 57 editions!

 

Too crazy for me.