How do you primarily listen to music? [2020 edition]

How do you primarily listen to music these days?

  • Streaming (paid subscription - e.g. Apple, Spotify, Amazon etc.)

    Votes: 39 83.0%

  • Streaming (free)

    Votes: 3 6.4%

  • Other online platform (e.g. YouTube)

    Votes: 14 29.8%

  • Vinyl

    Votes: 10 21.3%

  • CD

    Votes: 8 17.0%

  • Cassette

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Other physical format (e.g. MiniDisc etc.)

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Other digital format (e.g. mp3, WAV etc.)

    Votes: 13 27.7%

  • Radio

    Votes: 9 19.1%

  • I don't 'actively' listen to music.

    Votes: 1 2.1%

  • I don't listen to music at all.

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Other (please specify)

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Total voters
    47
Genuinely can't remember the last time I played a physical format.
 
  • Spotify paid membership - this is great for playlists, new music etc.
  • Vinyl - I've been buying more and more of this format over the past years to the detriment of my bank account.
  • CD - I still buy the occasional CD if the vinyl doesn't come with mp3s or if it's an artist I collect or if the CD is significantly cheaper than the vinyl. I always have some CDs in the car although I mostly stream through Spotify or use the USB stick (not in my ass @Diddy ).
 
Since getting an Alexa a couple of months ago and subscribing to Amazon Music for £3.99 a month it’s that I use in the house mainly these days, prior to that it was cds but I’m trying to cut down on those for space reasons.

When I’m out and about it’s free Spotify as I have older playlists on that I still play.
 
When I’m at home and I want music, I often use YouTube (free) with the videos

but my main music is digital, mp3s on iTunes/ my phone that I’ve curated over a few decades. I’m too nervous to get it all tangled up with Apple Music or Spotify
 
I pay for Apple Music. The playlists are wonderful and it rolls into my owned music perfectly.

I liked Spotify's personal playlists but the interface is so awful. It feels like Windows back in the 00s.
 
I can’t imagine regularly listening to music from Youtube. It’s always a last resort. The ads are driving me nuts as it is not to mention the inconsistency in quality. I’ll probably succumb to the subscription soon though.
 
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Christian said:
I pay for Apple Music. The playlists are wonderful and it rolls into my owned music perfectly.

I liked Spotify's personal playlists but the interface is so awful. It feels like Windows back in the 00s.
Click to expand...
Yas I've toyed with Apple Music but I have Alexa at home and it works with Spotify quite well. Can you get Apple Music to stream on Alexa?
 
OutSynk said:
I can’t imagine regularly listening to music from Youtube. It’s always a last resort. The ads are driving me nuts as it is not to mention the inconsistency in quality. I’ll probably succumb to the subscription soon though.
Click to expand...
Same. The quality is shit + all the adverts.
 
Spotify Premium, verging on Not actively listening to music. I mostly listen to podcasts now.
 
Spotify Premium & the radio through Google Home as background noise. The only CD player we have now is in the car and the only CD in the car is Kylie's Golden. :disco:
 
Playlists from iTunes on my phone while at work, a 64gb USB full of albums in the car and usually iTunes or Spotify premium at home. Will be boxing up all my cds soon and moving them to the attic, they're just taking up space at the moment and never used.
 
Solidly Spotify premium for about three years now. I love my personalised playlists :disco:
 
Apple Music. Haven’t bought a physical cd since 2008 probably.
 
Spotify Premium for new stuff primarily and listening out and about.

Still very much a CD buyer and now I am working at home part time I am listening to them more than I have for a very long while. I do enjoy listening to vinyl too, though my collection isn't huge.
 
I'm in spawn's Apple family so get to use Apple Music for free but if she was to stop paying for it I'd pay for it happily. I also pay for Amazon music for Mr F's Samsung tablet (won't allow Apple Music). I have the radio on in the car. I also still have iTunes in my laptop because I've got a lot of music ripped from vinyl in my harddrive along with a comprehensive DJ collection of music that spawn's ex put in there for me.
 
Spotify Premium for streaming and iTunes for mp3 etc.

Occassionly YouTube for rare stuff that isn't available anywhere else.
 
Apple Music through the Sonos app which is SHITE but there you go

I don't have anything installed on my phone so I just use YouTube on that when I'm at work
 
(also, the odd FLAC from Boomkat, Bleep and other reputable sources)
 
Spotify paid (on my phone connected to Bluetooth or via Alexa) and mp3s (mostly ripped from CDs) on my phone. Increasingly, it's more Spotify than anything, especially as I've been working from home and therefore it's just easiest using Alexa
 
mostly, youtube (and i hate myself for it).
also, vinyl and mp3.

i've been having trouble with my speaker and my external hard (where i keep my mp3s) and i need to sort them out immediately.

i hate streaming (including on youtube). besides my issues with it on principle, it can't be very good for the environment.
 
I did quite fancy the Arca vinyl because of the lovely cover but I do prefer digital to vinyl: atmosphere my arse. Irritating CRACKLES AND POPS more like
 
I did nab Arca on vinyl and cadge myself a digital for more casual listening and to be honest, it suits digital better. It's case by case really.
 
I think most electronic music does suit digital more TBH. I tend to prefer vinyl for old analogue recordings and second hand Barbara albums (:disco:)
 
When I'm at home, it's 99% CD on my fab-sounding Denon system, with the occasional vinyl. When I'm on the move, I either use downloaded files on the iPhone or a Sony digital walkman with FLAC files. I'm not an audiophile, but I do like the music I love to sound really, really good.
 
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L. Põldvere said:
I did quite fancy the Arca vinyl because of the lovely cover but I do prefer digital to vinyl: atmosphere my arse. Irritating CRACKLES AND POPS more like
Click to expand...

my biggest issue with vinyl is double lps. no, i'm not going to get up and turn it over every third song just so you can make a few more bucks in the name of "superior quality".
 
Ripping from YouTube on my phone. I should really try and get my iTunes account back: I lost access to my old email account and no longer use a laptop, so haven't bothered to listen to music properly for about 4 years. Not ideal and I'm losing a rather hefty library and ability to burn CDs that are going to waste.
 
ameraal said:
my biggest issue with vinyl is double lps. no, i'm not going to get up and turn it over every third song just so you can make a few more bucks in the name of "superior quality".
Click to expand...

I know what you're saying but when Radiohead released "In Rainbows", I bought the "Discbox" with the CD, the 2nd CD with the bonus tracks and the 2LP where it's pressed at 45rpm and has either 2 or 3 songs per side. It is the best sounding vinyl in my collection and I have hundreds of the buggers. If it was my only copy of the album, it would annoy me. But as part of that set and for a proper, deep listen (if you like) every so often, it is a proper treat.
That's what the vinyl revival should be about - showcasing the best of what this antiquated format can do, not £30 for a 50 minute album squeezed onto one record which is on a weird colour of vinyl and, of course, warped and crackly.
 
ameraal said:
i hate streaming (including on youtube). besides my issues with it on principle, it can't be very good for the environment.
Click to expand...

Surely streaming is one of the best ways for the environment? Like lack of physical products?

I was iTunes up until lockdown. Mixture of all my old CDs ripped and usually bought 2-3 tracks each week or two of new stuff etc, whilst occasionally using Spotify free to stream. However, when it came to lockdown and working from home and I needed 8 hours daily of music my own collection, despite being large, just wasn't flexible enough.
So now it's Spotify premium and it really is brilliant. Mainly my own clutch of pre-made playlists, but having access to so much music really is brilliant. As much as I miss the old days of running to a store for a new release I just can't go back.
 
Amazon Unlimited and my own iTunes library, but since working from home the morning is just a lot of Radio 2 with Ken Bruce and Steve Wright in the Afternoon, who recently seems to be playing a lot of early 90s dance music which suits me just fine.
 
@ameraal how can streaming be BAD for the environment? If anything it's way better than physical which usually ends up in boxes in someone's loft (like me) or in charity shops.

For me, it's 90% Spotify these days with a smattering of stuff that is not available on streaming. My problem is that I stopped curating my digital files a good 4-5 years ago so I would need to spend a bit of time organising it. As for physical, it's strictly only a few legacy acts - in the past few years, Kylie, Steps and Bananarama are probably the only few I have bought, apart from some reissues and box sets like Donna Summer and Ace of Base. My old CD player is in the loft and my laptop is due for replacement and that's not going to have a CD drive so I need to invest in a small compact hifi that doesn't take up much room,
 
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