Digital Music Collections

[Eddie]

Reading and posting in a few threads tonight has got me thinking about this (perhaps) somewhat alien concept in 2020.

How many of you have built up a digital music collection over the years and still consume music from it? Clearly with the advent of streaming, this has seemed like a less than necessary thing to do but I’m sure we all also realise that not everything is available on the various platforms out there.

I largely listen to music through WiFi connected speakers, so over the years I’ve taken the time to transfer the music from my old physical collection to a NAS device from which I can locally stream content to various other devices as well as the speakers themselves. Has anyone else done this or do you all solely rely on online streaming now?

 

[Tisch]

I have a huge digital collection but have rarely used it in the last year. It's useful on occasion (Ie. I want to pop to the shops and can't be bothered to download from spotify, or an artist removes the best song from their album due to a featured answered being cancelled ()).


On my phone I have a big old memory card and the vast majority of mp3s are on it, but as I said I rarely use it these days.

THAT SAID when I was FLYING today (I'm on holiday Moopy ) I noticed one of my favourite albums of the year (Jessie Ware) I don't actually own physically and it's never even crossed my mind to as I've just streamed it since it was out (and have it on vinyl ) so it's proof to me my habits are changing. I will still buy physicals for all my old artists' collections I like building up (Alanis, Kylie and apparently Mel C), but otherwise I'm not fussed to add to my digital collection.

 

[SDF]

No. I used to but I think the drive it was on I binned.

basically I don’t need it with Spotify / YouTube

 

[Eddie]

YouTube?

 

[Eddie]

Or do you mean YouTube music?

 

[Zu]

iTunes via DAC to amp for me. The ALL FOR ME ALL FOR FREE Spotify ethic is just not for me, although I do use it to stream things which I’ve already bought at some stage or another or Of The Moment tat like that recent Gaga album when the artist already has enough money and I don’t care enough to contribute or indeed listen more than once

 

[Eddie]

Amazon’s Music Unlimited used to allow you to upload an unlimited amount of your own music until they took away that feature, the bastards.

 

[win_the_game]

I still use my digital collection on a daily basis. A lot of stuff I listen to e.g. obscure house/techno/remixes etc isn't on Spotify/Apple Music etc.

 

[Tisch]

To point out I pay for Spotify as well so I don't have to have ads or randomised albums or whatever they make you. So I still see it as consuming music the way the artisté intends you to.

 

[Zu]

To point out I pay for Spotify as well so I don't have to have ads or randomised albums or whatever they make you. So I still it as consuming music the way the artisté intends you to.

I pay for ad-free Spotify as well but the royalties for the artisté are BUGGER ALL so I tend to buy the CD or pay for a WAV if I particularly like something

 

[Jark]

No. I used to but I think the drive it was on I binned.

basically I don’t need it with Spotify / YouTube

This.

I had a huge iTunes library until about 2012 before I switched to streaming - I think it got lost during an update or something? after that I thought fuck it. MP3s/local files are waaaay too much hassle. it's rare that a song ISN'T on streaming although obv quite a few b-sides/rarities from the pop girls.

 

[RJN]

I have spent years obsessing over my iTunes library (mostly my play counts and playlists). For that reason, I now use Apple Music, which actually integrates with my library pretty well. Lately, the play counts haven't been updating from music played on my phone, which I don't like, but it is what it is.

Last year, someone spilled hot coffee on my laptop and my first thought was my iTunes library. Only later did I even consider anything from work.

 

[Eddie]

I pay for Spotify as well but the royalties for the artisté are BUGGER ALL so I tend to buy the CD or pay for a WAV if I particularly like something

How many CDs in a year are you buying on average Zu?

 

[Tisch]

I pay for ad-free Spotify as well but the royalties for the artisté are BUGGER ALL so I tend to buy the CD or pay for a WAV if I particularly like something

In the past year I've bought physicals for all my REGULARS but I don't think I've downloaded anything for about two or three years. Downloading is now a bit of an awkward halfway point for me like a compromise you don't really want to make

 

[Zu]

How many CDs in a year are you buying on average Zu?

God knows, although I’ve bought seven in the last couple of weeks. I know vinyl has the lovely big sleeve and the cachet but I’m not a fan of surface noise, which is why I liked CDs in the first place

 

[Eddie]

Oh I wasn’t referring to downloading btw. At least not downloading you have to pay for! Unless they are super bitrate files or summat.

I have a Spotify subscription but I’m thinking of switching to one of the HD services. Which ones are available, do we know?

 

[Jark]

Any music on streaming that is more HD than the best quality on Spotify is gonna use a FUCK ton of data. Can you really even tell the difference, except maybe at home on super-expensive speakers?

 

[Zu]

I’d probably be hard pressed to distinguish between a 320 and WAV but I tend to have both formats on my iTunes on the albums front: the former for my iPhone and the latter for playing at home in the format intended by the artisté (unless I have it on CD, in which case I play the CD)

 

[Eddie]

Any music on streaming that is more HD than the best quality on Spotify is gonna use a FUCK ton of data. Can you really even tell the difference, except maybe at home on super-expensive speakers?

Well if you are largely streaming over Wi-Fi, data really isn’t an issue. I’m sure the Spotify Premium and Amazon HD services revert to the normal version if you’re mobile.

I thought the main selling point of Tidal was the file quality was it not?

 

[Jark]

I thought the main selling point of Tidal was the file quality was it not?

only in theory - nobody uses Tidal

 

[Berly]

I had a huge physical collection which I’d mostly turned over to digital through hours of ripping cds. I still had several boxes left to do and hadn’t touched them for years when my hard drive that housed all the mp3s just stopped working.

Rather than taking it for repair I binned it and sold 95% of my cds in one job lot. I still have my original iPod with my collection on, I just can’t add to it without it fucking up all the now missing files.

I still buy physical for Mariah Carey and a couple of other artists who I collect and buy the odd vinyl limited if it’s pretty but I mostly use Spotify now.

oh, I have a usb stick with all the MKS leaks on which I listen to in my car sometimes because they’re not on Spotify.

 

[octophone]

I have a 2TB hard drive to store my FLAC downloads, mostly from Bandcamp but also from Bleep, Boomkat, Qobuz or directly from artist sites via codes given with vinyl editions.

Some of the pricing of downloads is beginning to create some fairly ludicrous decisions. having failed to find it instore on release day, I went home to order Autechre's "SIGN" from Bleep. It was £10 & £1.61 for p&p. It came with a free 24bit WAV download. Which is a higher resolution than the CD. The 24bit WAV download was £11.00. So, for the sake of 61p, I have a CD as well. When they issued "PLUS" 12 days later, this was £10.61 for a CD, p&p and 24bit WAV download. The 24bit WAV download is...£11.00.

I don't have a cassette player at the moment. I recently bought a cassette on Bandcamp at £6, which included £1 for p&p. The cassette came with an instant WAV or FLAC download. The download only option was £8 + VAT at 20% which would have come to £9.60. So I have a cassette I'll never play and I saved £3.60. Now that's just silly.

 

[ZenGiraffe]

I have a large collection of video game music that I have on my hard drive and stream with Plex. I like it for when I am concentrating on work, but don't want it to affect my Spotify algorithms, so it is useful to keep it separate. There is also a lot of game soundtracks not available for streaming.

 

[GNL]

I pay for Spotify premium and that's it.

Alexa play LIFE FOR RENT.

 

[Eddie]

This is all very HAPHAZARD.

 

[funky]

I’d say my consumption in 2020 is

70% streaming
20% YouTube
5% mp3 digital collection
5% CDs

I still find YouTube an organic way to discover new music, plus it’s nice to remain attached to videos a bit now that music television is a thing of the past. The only reason I keep my mp3s is because there is still so much missing from streaming so I dip in from time to time with iTunes and Amazon playlists of stuff I’ve downloaded over the years. I also have random illegal downloads/shares but only stuff that isn’t available elsewhere like random remixes and bootlegs

I’m glad I kept my CDs (albeit flat packed). Who knew that the labels and licenses of so many amazing compilations would expire and not be available on streaming? So I dig them out now and again too.

 

[AGinAg (37)]

70% streaming
20% YouTube
5% mp3 digital collection
5% CDs

Oh we're doing this.

70% Spotify
20% YouTube
10% Vinyl

 

[AGinAg (37)]

YouTube?

It's a video website.

 

[Eddie]

It's a video website.

But using is as a primary source of music consumption feels like a bit of a...stretch. It’s hardly something you can access on the hop.

 

[Eddie]

I have ripped all my CDs. It is very rare that I even TOUCH a physical product these days.

 

[AGinAg (37)]

But using is as a primary source of music consumption feels like a bit of a...stretch. It’s hardly something you can access on the hop.

Yes it is. Fuck me, do you post from 2010?

 

[funky]

But using is as a primary source of music consumption feels like a bit of a...stretch. It’s hardly something you can access on the hop.

Eh? Who doesn’t have the YouTube app on their phone?

 

[Eddie]

I suppose like @Gangsta Nancy Lam I’m accessing my music through a smart speaker set up (with voice recognition) and YouTube is rarely accessed as a source. Alexa or Google generally pulls stuff up from my own local storage or from Amazon Music Unlimited or Spotify. If I’m actively listening to music but I want to browse my collection then I use the Sonos app.

 

[POP!]

95% Spotify. 5% YouTube for the odd song or remix that isn’t on Spotify. I haven’t bought a CD since maybe 2010 ish. I bought digital up until maybe 2015 when I invested in Spotify premium.

 

[octophone]

People use YouTube just to listen? That's weird. I pretty much only use it for livestreams or comedy clips I actually want to watch. I would never choose YouTube as an audio provider.

 

[Eddie]

People use YouTube just to listen? That's weird. I pretty much only use it for livestreams or comedy clips I actually want to watch. I would never choose YouTube as an audio provider.

This.

 

[funky]

I assume people don’t just use YouTube for music videos though. I get links all the time to clips and videos and trailers. But while it’s there on my phone, and if moopy is linking to YouTube, of course I’m going to use my phone. Unless I’m missing something.

on top of that, I will spend an hour or two a week while on my laptop just browsing YouTube, and that includes music. It’s more of a passive thing, it doesn’t dictate my music consumption, but I do still use it.