.... of straddling the fences of audio storage. (Warning: Oldguy rant ......) I recently read a few articles on how "streaming" has taken over a great portion of music media in recent years, and they all went back to the CD vs MP3 references in prior years. Not only did it make me trace back in my mind all the formats I've lived thru (vinyl,8trk,cassette,CD,MP3) but the scattered state that is my music collection. I've got a decent collection of Jazz & eclectic stuff on CD that isn't loaded into my iTunes library, I've got a lot of varied and rare music in my iTunes library that I rarely listen to because I don't have an MP3 player or an expensive cellphone with my music in it (I buy cheapo phones & replace regularly), even my car is old and actually has a CD player....., ...... so as you can see, my music collection is like Fred Sanfords front yard. So where are you at with all this? I doubt I'm not alone in the disarray category ........ but then I may be.
I primarily download from iTunes, and stream via Pandora and satellite radio (if you can consider that streaming). Any time I have specific music I want to listen to, I buy/download, steaming is essentially a radio like service for me, I don’t “subscribe” to a service that allows me to listen to specific songs when I choose. I do still buy CD’s on occasion. Usually when an artist I’m a big fan of comes out with a new album, but it’s more of a memento, since most seem to come with an included digital download.
Being an Amazon Prime subscriber, we pay $7ish a month for Amazon Music and can stream whatever you want. Also occasionally listen to Spotify.
I rip all my CDs to 320kbps mp3 to play in my car and phone. My car will also play the old DVD-A format in true 5.1, and I have quite a few of those from back when they were a viable format. I rip those and audio blu-ray disks to FLAC at full resolution, and I have ripped all my old SACDs to .dsd files, all of which my phone (LG V30) plays very nicely. I still have two disk players which play these old audiophile disks at home. I also download hi res music in FLAC format from HDTracks.
I do Spotify a lot, since I use that at work. Mix of Spotify, CD, and Vinyl at home. Vinyl only when I know I can sit and actually enjoy the tunes and they're not just background noise. DVD-Audio, SACD, 5.1 Blu-Ray when I want to be fancy.
As we can see, streaming (forgive my joke in the above poll ) is really becoming the major driving force in music listening. Question for you streamers, is your cellphone the main controller of your streaming service? or is it integrated into all your devices? (i.e.: home system, car, computer) Forgive my ignorance on this subject, as I mainly use my cell only for phone calls or driving directions.
The convenience factor is very high for sure. I use my phone in the car and when I exercise. Use my network connected receiver at home when I'm there.
I digitized all my vinyl and CDs about 10 years ago and listen to them from the digital copies most of the time. I listen to friends streamed, but otherwise don’t download music.
Itunes on PC including burned CDs. Then loaded on my phone. I’m too lazy to figure out if there’s a better way. I have a good sound system hooked up to my PC and play along with it at a fairly decent volume. FWIW, I’m not a fan of Sirius radio. They never play what I want to hear.
I was that guy that had to have the physical thing in my hand. Well, when you get to 2,000+ CDs. they take up a lot of space. I decided to unbecome that guy. Ripped it all to my PC, backed those files up on DVDs, as well as two additional hard drives. Then, I took all of those CDs to Disc Replay. I now download MP3s only. I listen from my phone through headphones when I walking the pups. At home, it's through the iPod and a Bose sound dock. The 2017 car doesn't have a CD player, so either from my phone, iPod, or a USB stick. I did recently get a turntable, but only have 7 LPs at this point.
Is there an “all of the above”? I download high-res 24 bit, 96k or better files; I listen to CDs; I listen to vinyl; I listen to MP3 and streaming when required. While my strong preference is for vinyl and high-res digital, I’ll listen to anything on the right player, such as Amarra, etc.
To add to my previous post, we have Sonos all over the house so we stream Amazon Music (and others) to those, generally via voice commands. In the car we use Android Auto which obviously uses our phones and the car screen.
Put me down for the disorganized chaos method. My vinyl hasn’t seen play for a while (the motor in my turntable needs work), there’s a gazillion ripped CDs on mostly my Mac and shared throughout my network and playable on phones, iPads, AppleTVs, then there’s the periodic Pandora use. Honestly, there’s not much time for me to explore much, musically and I spend most of that time reviewing band practice clips to find material to compose more songs. Nothing fancy or “woohoo”, but it works. Apple Car Play is the best thing since sliced bread, though.
I dont stream anything except minor amounts of youtube video at times. Still have a bunch of cds dont play often. Converted over 10+ years ago to itunes so my 256 gb iphone has 70 odd gig of music on it. Maybe more now ... My 2018 honda pilot integrates well using apple car play the sound system is pretty ok ish for an suv.
Mostly streaming because my wife pays for them anyway, and my new ride doesn’t accommodate physical music sources ..: but I have unpopular taste in music, so there are holes in the streaming services. I have to resort to YouTube and my collection a bunch because Apple/Spotify doesn’t exactly have a robust catalog of obscure disco and funk.
Physical media is my preferred format. I buy CDs and occasionally vinyl, but CDs are my preference. I’ll do an occasional download if it’s free or it’s the only way to get something. I’ll occasionally stream from Amazon Prime or with a free trial of Amazon Music Unlimited, but I’m not a fan of the way the streaming services treat artists. As for listening, most of it is from an iPod Classic or my iPod Touch (until my second Touch replaces the Classic, which is showing signs of age). In the car, it’s the Touch or satellite radio. Like 11Top, I’m not so much a fan of SiriusXM since the merger and the increased involvement of Clear Channel - the playlists and channels used to have a lot more variety back in the early days. This year, I bought two more Can-Am cabinets for CD storage. I discovered these at a record store about 25 years ago, and when we moved into this house, I bought two three-drawer units for CDs, and two two-shelf units for vinyl, and figured I’d never need anything else. WRONG! I’m probably good for another five years or so, but if they keep making CDs, I will outgrow these cabinets (I’ve got probably in the neighborhood of 200-300 CDs not in there yet because I haven’t listened to them). I will spin vinyl occasionally, and I still have a couple cassette decks that mostly work. I have two that need repairs, but the repair shop I usually use isn’t taking any cassette decks at the moment because they have too many. I have a turntable from my late father-in-law that I need to get hooked up, and an old higher quality one of his that needs some stuff, but I have to figure out what it needs. And yes, I still have a working 8-track player. And about 200 8-tracks.
I stream nothing. I have a turntable and about 700 albums CD player and about 1200 CDs All CDs ripped, and thousands of other MP3s. I do still have a functioning cassette deck but am down to about 20 functioning tapes and have them all on CD so I never listen. DUMBFOUNDED that my newest car has no CD player and I have to A) plug my phone into one USB port and B) plug a USB storage device into the other, to listen to my music. I do have XM, and like it, but it’s low res and it shows compared to the other formats. My old car has both USB plugs and a multi CD player, AND has Mercury’s “Audiophile Stereo System.” It really is pretty good for a car stereo. Kicks the living crap out of the stereo in the Camaro. Embarrassingly so. Camaro still more fun to drive.
Alexa (Amazon) whilst cooking, bottle washing and whicker bottom chair repairing (ok I made that last one up)! “Alexa play songs by......” Followed by embarrassing Dad dancing ! CD’s in my 2011 Honda. Although I do get funny looks when I’m singing “The Goodbye Look” at the top of my voice, when I’m stopped at traffic lights. I’ve still got my turntable/separates and vinyl/CD’s, but who has time to lift up a needle these days? I mean we’re all too busy. It’s a sad situation to be in. I blame the recession! No Les not that one!!
