Music: Physical vs Digital vs Streaming

[darktruth]

So who here still buys music and/or which format do you mostly use now?

I've been recently starting to stream more in regards to listening to new music, but I still purchase physical releases to some of my favourite artists. Just recently got in the limited edition translucent red vinyl of Janet Jackson's Control album even though I don't have a vinyl record player...yet.

It's funny how there's been a recent resurgence of vinyls and cassette tapes for a number of releases from various artists while digital downloads have been on the decline ever since streaming took over. I think physical collectable aspect (and value) of these is what's making that particular format rise again while digital is quickly dying. If go ten years back, probably nobody would've thought physicals would outlast digitals but it's already becoming a reality according to music industry reports.

 

[Lynk Former]

I don't buy physical music, mostly because I don't have the room for it and it's pretty damn inconvenient, even for collection purposes. My house isn't big enough to store all that stuff lol.

Also, I don't do streaming music, but... I'm thinking that maybe I should try it out some time since the whole thing with spotify is pretty convenient, especially when you're away from home.

Overall, I'd still rather have high quality digital music, preferably as FLAC files stored on my home server that I can access and curate myself... though, like I said, maybe I'll try streaming music some time...

 

[jigos]

Physical and Streaming here.

I held out against Streaming till ~2015, where Spotify had a crazy deal. I decided to try it, and after that point I just couldn't go back. The value proposition of Spotify is just too high. It's the Steam of music distribution. The service is just too good; retention as a customer is pretty much the only logical choice.

But there is nothing like Physical IMO. There is an emotional/sentimental experience to having actual disks, along with cover art and case-inserts - especially for limited/deluxe editions. I like the permanence and resilience of Physical, against the unreliability of hard drives, licensing contracts, and even internet access.
I have a hoarding mentality too so it plays into that nicely.

So my current usage pattern is to stream whatever I want / discover things via Spotify, and for music that ends up being my favourite, I buy the disks.

I never got into Digital, and don't intend to.

 

[tai_]

i reluctantly embraced streaming because it was so convienent, but i sometimes buy vinyl.
very rarely now do i buy CD's, my car dosen't even have a CD player, but it's just near impossible to find some releases digitally so i have to.

 

[Kyuu]

Digital and streaming.

I have a lot of cassettes and CDs of my favorite singers and bands, but eventually the only store that sold them in my city went bankrupt. I still bought physical Kpop albums for my sister when we lived together because she liked the collectibles that went with it (posters, cards, etc) but for my favorites, I got the digital ones.

I prefer digital copies over streaming because I only listen to a few artists anyway, but when I want to discover something new, I check YouTube and Spotify.

 

[darktruth]

But there is nothing like Physical IMO. There is an emotional/sentimental experience to having actual disks, along with cover art and case-inserts - especially for limited/deluxe editions. I like the permanence and resilience of Physical, against the unreliability of hard drives, licensing contracts, and even internet access.

You make a good point regarding contracts and internet access. There are some music from local acts that I listened to growing up that don't even have their music available for streaming (or even for digital purchase) mostly due to licensing limbo and contract red tapes, and that's one of the advantages of physicals I guess.

And even when some music from my favourite artists are available for streaming, the could easily be taken off without warning because of license expiration and it not being renewed or even be region-blocked on Spotify and other streaming services.

I do admit though that for listening to music whenever I go out or travel to and from work, I mainly use digital downloads and put them on my phone. This is partly because internet speeds and reliability in Australia is pretty crap at the moment and it can affect the music streaming services, so I use the digital copies and don't have to worry if the networks go down.

 

[Leon-McNichol]

it used to be fun to collect records and tapes but now its just kinda laying around of packed in a box somewhere.