Are you a physical media or digital downloads person? (When it comes to music)

[Tcrumpen]

It's a discussion i always like to get into to see the different arguments people have

 

I find myself personally getting CDs. I love to have the physical media; i of course rip the tracks as soon as i get them, but i hold the mentality of should something go wrong with my computer phone etc. I've still got the music i love to listen to as i have the CDs so i can put them in my Car or back onto my computer (I'm also one of the only people i know that is annoyed that machines have gone the "No CD drive route")

 

Also i don't know why but there is something satisfying and having actual CD albums when everyone else seems to be going for the "Download from Amazon" route

 

I don't go vinyl as i personally don't like the resurgence of Vinyl. It's only happening thanks to 'hipsters' i personally think and you can see that with the music being released on Vinyl

[PlayStation 2]

Funny enough, both. I collect CDs and I don't mind buying digital, so long as the shit I can find is in FLAC.

On the topic of vinyl, I really don't see a point as to why it's being revived. Very few people who are buying vinyl nowadays who aren't audiophiles who swear by a piece of round PVC are buying turntables worth a damn to play the records.

[NinJake]

I stream my music and download in preparation for traveling in areas where I may not have service to stream.

[Volbet]

I guess you could say that I've taken the route of physical media:

If you think vinyl is fuelled by Hipster's, then what about cassette tapes?

[Tcrumpen]

1 minute ago, Volbet said:

I guess you could say that I've taken the route of physical media:

If you think vinyl is fuelled by Hipster's, then what about cassette tapes?

Cassette Tapes here in the UK at least to my knowledge are really dead. I don't know of ANYWHERE you can buy cassettes from nowadays other than Charity shops

[PlayStation 2]

2 minutes ago, Volbet said:

I guess you could say that I've taken the route of physical media:

-snip-

If you think vinyl is fuelled by Hipster's, then what about cassette tapes?

People who buy cassettes and have a decent tape deck either collected tapes for a good few decades or watched Techmoan.

Which is, to say, I'm bizarrely interested in finding as many Dolby S tapes that I can.

[Tcrumpen]

6 minutes ago, handymanshandle said:

Funny enough, both. I collect CDs and I don't mind buying digital, so long as the shit I can find is in FLAC.

On the topic of vinyl, I really don't see a point as to why it's being revived. Very few people who are buying vinyl nowadays who aren't audiophiles who swear by a piece of round PVC are buying turntables worth a damn to play the records.

I'm a slight audiophille but more like a realistic one i've listened to FLACS and i can't tell the difference between a high quality MP3 and a Flac on my home cinema system, but i don't have the income to buy like £2000 speakers

[Radioactive Snowman]

1 minute ago, Volbet said:

If you think vinyl is fuelled by Hipster's, then what about cassette tapes?

The hipsters final form is fueled by cassette tapes

[PlayStation 2]

Just now, Tcrumpen said:

I'm a slight audiophille but more like a realistic one i've listened to FLACS and i can't tell the difference between a high quality MP3 and a Flac on my home cinema system, but i don't have the income to buy like £2000 speakers

I collect FLACs not because I'm trying to be completely anal about audio quality but because I like to keep a lossless archive because I tend to convert my music to 320kbps AAC. That's usually more than good enough for my ears but I'd like to be able to convert the source again.

[Volbet]

1 minute ago, Tcrumpen said:

Cassette Tapes here in the UK at least to my knowledge are really dead. I don't know of ANYWHERE you can buy cassettes from nowadays other than Charity shops

I know of at least one place in the UK that sell new cassette releases.

 

Cassette tape sales have also been on a major rise, especially in the UK.

 

2 minutes ago, handymanshandle said:

People who buy cassettes and have a decent tape deck either collected tapes for a good few decades or watched Techmoan.

Which is, to say, I'm bizarrely interested in finding as many Dolby S tapes that I can.

There are also still releases being sold exclusively on cassette tape. Granted, they are nice releases like demos and noise music, but there's still a thriving enthusiast scene.

[NineEyeRon]

100% digital download

[Real_PhillBert]

When CDs were more available I would always buy physical media, but now that the distribution streams have largely moved digital, I've migrated that way as well, purely out of convenience. 

[Ithanul]

I mostly buy physical CDs then have digital rips into formats of my choosing. Plus, eight buck or less for a CD with 10-12 songs, hell yeah.

I do have a few digital downloads, but I mostly aim for lossless formats that I can re-encode.

[Crossbred]

You can't sell a digital collection (at least as far as I'm aware...). I'll bring games into this as well. Nintendo game carts are ridiculously expensive compared to digital downloads, but you can at least resell them. Also collectors editions and box art in general are like my biggest turn ons. I like holding a purchase.

ᴬⁿʸᵒⁿᵉ ᵍᵒᵗ ᵃ ᵇᵒˣ ᶠᵒʳ ˢʰᵃᵈᵒʷ ᵈʳᵃᵍᵒⁿ ᵈˢˀ

CDs are cool too, but at least in part because the only music options in my car are CDs and radio. 

 

[kilgore_T]

im a physical media person..i feel downloads are like jerking off compared with the full on sex of buying a physical copy

[dfsdfgfkjsefoiqzemnd]

I'm firmly  in the physical media camp.  CDs to be specific.  I'll only buy digital when buying a CD is not an option (artists that only release certain albums digitally, for example, or when getting the CD would be insanely costly).

 

I too rip them as soon as I get them and then put the CDs themselves in storage.  FLAC on the PC, MP3 320 on the phone.  I do keep the original WAV files from the rip on my backup drive, in case I ever find a problem with one of the FLAC files.

 

5 minutes ago, Crossbred said:

You can't sell a digital collection (at least as far as I'm aware...)

Indeed.  You usually can't sell digital media.  Nobody can inherit it either.  The license according to most EULAs is non-transferrable. 

[jiyeon]

I'm 100% digital, but I do collect physical CDs from the K-pop album packages I buy, so occasionally I'll use my parent's CD player to play some music from the various CDs I've collected.

[XR6]

I don't mind either although I usually prefer digital downloads for the sake of convenience.

[handymanshandle]

Honestly I like both physical media and streaming/digital kek

[KE2012]

When you're constantly on the move you quickly learn to go digital. And downloads, not streaming, as I can't always guarantee I'll have internet.  

[Bananasplit_00]

I prefer digital downloads but some things I want a physical copy of. I buy some vinyl stuff, like the collectors edition signed ones and I do feel that if I want to just listen to music, Vinyl is a better experience. I enjoy the sound is all 

[Guest]

17 hours ago, handymanshandle said:

I collect FLACs not because I'm trying to be completely anal about audio quality but because I like to keep a lossless archive because I tend to convert my music to 320kbps AAC. That's usually more than good enough for my ears but I'd like to be able to convert the source again.

I just use Apple Lossless and it sounds better than 320kbps. No need for Vinyl garbage. Leave the past as it is, I like the convenience of Apple Music. 

 

Better sound quality is in better speakers now. No more $200 Walmart garbage. 

[mr moose]

Both. download/stream for convenience whilst I have a physical collection for quality/nostalgia/collection/supporting artists.

[mikat]

digital, only google play music, used it for many years and it's been nice

[wisex]

I'm more of a "would rather own than borrow" kinda person, for example I don't subscribe to any music streaming services because I don't really own the stuff. Sure I may use spotify's free version or soundcloud without the subscription. But I'd much rather have a back up of the music I like on my hard drives, so if spotify were to ever shut down or I go broke I still have my music to listen to.