Do you download or stream music these days?

[nerwin]

With all the options of streaming music these days like Spotify, Pandora, Amazon Prime, etc..how often do you download music? Or if at all?

I remember going to the mall and picking up a few cds and importing them as FLAC for the best quality and now the same store has a tiny section for cds and rest is filled up with blu-rays and dvds.

I personally have been finding my self just streaming music these days. When I'm editing photos I just listen to Pandora because I don't have to worry about song selection, I can just let it play. I use to subscribe to Pandora One so I can get no ads, additional skips and 192kbps vs 128kbps but honestly, Pandora ads rarely play and I don't skip often. There isn't a huge difference between 192 and 128kbps to notice that much. So I didn't renew it.

But I still have over 25,000 songs on my hard drive and I hardly play them anymore. But having higher quality music does make a difference to your music listening experience. I got my hands on a FLAC copy of a Metallica album that was recorded directly from vinyl and boy it sounds so amazing, with such rich and warm tones. If you have good quality speakers, you can really enjoy it.

Its really amazing the way we listen to music has changed so much these days.

 

[Braineack]

arent you techincally downloading when you stream?

 

[nerwin]

arent you techincally downloading when you stream?

Haha yes, but you know what I mean.

 

[waday]

Depends on where I am. Typically speaking: at home, 'downloaded' music; on the go, streaming music.

Every now and then, I like having a physical copy of an album (either vinyl or CD). Usually an artist I really like.

 

[john.margetts]

About two thirds of my music is on CDs and the rest is on vinyl. I looked at downloading music but apparently you do not get any liner notes.

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[gsgary]

Never I always buy vinyl or CD

 

[gsgary]

With all the options of streaming music these days like Spotify, Pandora, Amazon Prime, etc..how often do you download music? Or if at all?

I remember going to the mall and picking up a few cds and importing them as FLAC for the best quality and now the same store has a tiny section for cds and rest is filled up with blu-rays and dvds.

I personally have been finding my self just streaming music these days. When I'm editing photos I just listen to Pandora because I don't have to worry about song selection, I can just let it play. I use to subscribe to Pandora One so I can get no ads, additional skips and 192kbps vs 128kbps but honestly, Pandora ads rarely play and I don't skip often. There isn't a huge difference between 192 and 128kbps to notice that much. So I didn't renew it.

But I still have over 25,000 songs on my hard drive and I hardly play them anymore. But having higher quality music does make a difference to your music listening experience. I got my hands on a FLAC copy of a Metallica album that was recorded directly from vinyl and boy it sounds so amazing, with such rich and warm tones. If you have good quality speakers, you can really enjoy it.

Its really amazing the way we listen to music has changed so much these days.

Nothing beats the Vinyl version of any recording thats why vinyl sales are going up every year

 

[SoulfulRecover]

Stream at work but I like physical copies.

My brother is in a very successful band and he says they make more money on iTunes downloads than physical copies. Not because of volume but the percentage that goes to the band.

 

[DarkShadow]

Nope Vinyl or CD. I agree there is nothing like the warm sound of vinyl.

 

[limr]

At work, I stream from Amazon Prime on my computer, or I have songs saved on my phone when I'm out and about with no internet connection. At home, it's vinyl.

 

[tecboy]

I like to get out of my house and take a trip to bestbuy and buy couple of CDs. As well as, looking at other expensive electronics that I'm not going to buy.

 

[weepete]

Download for me.

Streaming is too patchy when I'm out and about. At work we are restricted while on the companies wifi, and I'm not using my mobile data all day just to get a slightly different playlist. Got about 40GB of music on my hard drive at home, around 10GB on my phone though so I mostly just listen to that. Occasionally I'll supliment it with an album I think I should have but I'll just buy that through google on my phone. I dont listen to as much music as I used to though.

Not fussed about vinyl either.

 

[gsgary]

The problem with digital there is lots of the sounds missing when you compare it to best quality vinyl

 

[jcdeboever]

XM radio, vinyl.

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[Scatterbrained]

The problem with digital there is lots of the sounds missing when you compare it to best quality vinyl

This is B.S. There is crappy vinyl and crappy digital. There is also quality vinyl and quality digital. The 44/16 digital format used for CDs has more DR and stereo separation than vinyl is capable of. The difference between a record and a CD is in what you don't hear, namely the effects of the recording medium itself on the music. A lot of the differences also come from playback medium. People tend to sit down in a warm room and play records on a full size, proper stereo set up with quality components. People tend to stream digital music at low bit rates through cheap DACs and even cheaper, tiny little speakers. That's assuming they aren't on the go and streaming really low bitrate music through really crappy earbuds or "fashion" headphones.
Another issue with modern music is the master. As people move towards cheaper, "good enough" headphones and desktop speakers for their music, sound engineers are mastering the music to sound "good" on cheap devices. They are literally "dumbing down" the music to accommodate cheap playback devices. I remember this coming to light a while back with the Guitar Hero game being released with higher quality versions of some modern music than what was available on the albums.
All that said, when it comes to quality sound the biggest factors are the playback devices used. DAC (for digital or needle for vinyl), amp, speakers/headphones. Playing a 256kbs mp3 on a phone through the included earbuds will sound like crap. run that same file through a dedicated DAC, then a dedicated amp, to a quality pair of reference class headphones and the whole experience is transformed (assuming you're working with a quality master, i.e. not pop music).

With that said, to answer the OPs question, I have a mix of CDs and downloads, and I stream as well. It is situationally dependent.