Anyone still buy physical music?

[Maxbrothman]

I have been buying 1 to 2 vinyl monthly for the past 8 years.

 

[Lo-Tek]

There are a few things I've been meaning to buy. Still get indecisive about vinyl or CD sometimes.
Gonna be a sad day when I have to buy a new car and there is no CD player.

 

[TonalEuphoria]

A tube stereo amp makes even digital data sources sound good.

And that's what I would use it mainly for. Listening to mostly CD's with beautiful tube warmth through high quality speakers. At levels sometimes when the neighbors were gone that would shake the windows. One of these days I'll get around to it.

 

[GibsonMarshallGuy47]

There are a few things I've been meaning to buy. Still get indecisive about vinyl or CD sometimes.
Gonna be a sad day when I have to buy a new car and there is no CD player.

yeah, nowadays, if you're buying a new car, a CD player is a custom feature that you have to pay extra for... we bought a new car a year and a half ago (Subaru Outback), and we had to custom order it a few months ahead of time... my wife surprised me and secretly had them add a CD player, and I didn't find out until the car was ready for us. it was a nice surprise. I have over 1,000 CD's in my music collection, so I'd like to put them to use as long as they stay intact.

 

[StratoMarshall]

Nah, I'm into mental music

 

[PelliX]

yeah, nowadays, if you're buying a new car, a CD player is a custom feature that you have to pay extra for... we bought a new car a year and a half ago (Subaru Outback), and we had to custom order it a few months ahead of time... my wife surprised me and secretly had them add a CD player, and I didn't find out until the car was ready for us. it was a nice surprise. I have over 1,000 CD's in my music collection, so I'd like to put them to use as long as they stay intact.

Hmm, I'd copy them and keep the originals safe. Dunno exactly where you live, but cars get hot in the sun...

 

[GibsonMarshallGuy47]

Hmm, I'd copy them and keep the originals safe. Dunno exactly where you live, but cars get hot in the sun...

wait... copy them?? are you insane?? I have about 1,300 CD's in my collection. you seriously want me to DOUBLE that by making copies of every CD I own?? that's absolutely ridiculous.

and by the way, I take care of my stuff. I would never leave CD's in a hot car. I'm fully aware of what extreme heat does to CD's.

 

[PelliX]

wait... copy them?? are you insane?? I have about 1,300 CD's in my collection.

No, no, no just whatever you need in the car. ...and yes, probably, if not *clinically*.

From an IT perspective, having a single copy of data is a scary thought; a 1:1 backup would be preferrable - though I can't say I do this religously. Most of what I have on physical media I also have digital copies of which I keep on- and offsite backups and redundant storage, but as you suggested, sanity is perhaps not one of my virtues...

and by the way, I take care of my stuff. I would never leave CD's in a hot car. I'm fully aware of what extreme heat does to CD's.

All good, wasn't trying to step on any toes here.

 

[GibsonMarshallGuy47]

No, no, no just whatever you need in the car. ...and yes, probably, if not *clinically*.

From an IT perspective, having a single copy of data is a scary thought; a 1:1 backup would be preferrable - though I can't say I do this religously. Most of what I have on physical media I also have digital copies of which I keep on- and offsite backups and redundant storage, but as you suggested, sanity is perhaps not one of my virtues...



All good, wasn't trying to step on any toes here.

about half of my CD collection I've had for decades. some of them I've had since the early 1990's... 99.9% of my CD's are in excellent condition because I always take very good care of my stuff. if I continue to take care of them as well as I have, then there would be no need for me to make any copies of anything... looking ahead many years into the future, if it gets to the point where CD players are obsolete in cars, THEN I will resort to digitally streaming my music when I'm driving, and if something isn't available to stream, THEN I will worry about ripping MP3's of my CD's.

ironically, what makes me nervous are the few digital albums that I've purchased and downloaded ... those are the ones that I feel like could accidentally disappear, get corrupted, get misplaced on my computer, etc... I'm not worried about my CD's at all. its the digitally downloaded music that I'm worried about (which thankfully is not a lot)... several years ago I specifically recall a band releasing an album I was interested in, that was not available in a physical format. it was only available as a digital download... so I purchased it, downloaded it, and saved it on my computer. a few months later I went to pull it up to listen to it, and it was gone. nowhere to be found anywhere on my computer. it just goes to show why I trust physical music formats way more than I trust downloaded music.

 

[PelliX]

about half of my CD collection I've had for decades. some of them I've had since the early 1990's... 99.9% of my CD's are in excellent condition because I always take very good care of my stuff. if I continue to take care of them as well as I have, then there would be no need for me to make any copies of anything. ironically, what makes me nervous are the few digital albums that I've purchased and downloaded ... those are the ones that I feel like could accidentally disappear, get corrupted, get misplaced on my computer, etc... I'm not worried about my CD's at all. its the digitally downloaded music that I'm worried about (which thankfully is not a lot)... several years ago I specifically recall a band releasing an album that was not available in a physical format. it was only available as a digital download... so I purchased it, downloaded it, and saved it on my computer.

I see your point(s) sure, but that's why I like to have backups. Of course the track isn't going to fall off my LP's overnight and my CD's will not suddenly evaporate, but the digital part is at least easy to duplicate at low cost and is logistically very easy compared to physical media. People said that CD's wouldn't last 10 years and they've been sorely proven wrong, when treated correctly they are very reliable, but if my CD's were to be damaged or lost in a fire, I find it reassuring that at least the music on them would be at my fingertips.

a few months later I went to pull it up to listen to it, and it was gone. nowhere to be found anywhere on my computer. it just goes to show why I trust physical music formats way more than I trust downloaded music.

OK, but that's really a data management issue, not an inherent design flaw. "On disk" storage must be handled with the care we show for vinyl, CD's, tape, etc - just it's a different kind of care. Having a backup is the large part of that as any single component can fail. Even if you have redundant underlying storage, an application error, human mistake or malicious application could destroy it. Generally when I've had to restore backups professionally, it's been due to benevolent human error.

 

[GibsonMarshallGuy47]

I see your point(s) sure, but that's why I like to have backups. Of course the track isn't going to fall off my LP's overnight and my CD's will not suddenly evaporate, but the digital part is at least easy to duplicate at low cost and is logistically very easy compared to physical media. People said that CD's wouldn't last 10 years and they've been sorely proven wrong, when treated correctly they are very reliable, but if my CD's were to be damaged or lost in a fire, I find it reassuring that at least the music on them would be at my fingertips.



OK, but that's really a data management issue, not an inherent design flaw. "On disk" storage must be handled with the care we show for vinyl, CD's, tape, etc - just it's a different kind of care. Having a backup is the large part of that as any single component can fail. Even if you have redundant underlying storage, an application error, human mistake or malicious application could destroy it. Generally when I've had to restore backups professionally, it's been due to benevolent human error.

I get what you're saying, and it does makes sense (making back-up digital copies)... my thing is - maybe 3/4 of the CD's in my collection I can access in some shape or form either via Spotify, YouTube, or some other streaming service. of those few items (obscure albums, demos, limited edition releases, out of print CD's, etc.) that I can't listen to via streaming, those are the ones I know I eventually will have to copy digitally as a back-up, especially when we get to the point when CD players aren't made anymore, which I'm hoping is not for at least another decade or so... its just that the prospect of backing up 1,300 CD's is not something that I have the time or the energy to take on.

 

[What?]

I still buy vinyl, very rarely new though. It has been pretty slim pickins where I live on finding records. But a new place opened up recently, is a good size place, and they have a decent selection, albeit 99% mainstream stuff.

 

[Keysdweller]

I still buy cd's if it is something I really like. I have over 1000 cd's and all of them are backed up as MP3 320 Kbps. I have one backup copy on my computer hard drive D, and two more copies on external hard drives. I backed up all my older cd's during spare time over a year period. I Rip any new cd's I buy immediately to my hard drive when I open them. I have my computer hooked up to an interface where I can conveniently route the music through my computer speakers, studio monitors or my home stereo system according to what quality of system I want to listen through at the moment. And of course, nothing sounds better than the lossless quality of a real cd playing through a nice system.

 

[fp5litre]

I still buy CD and vinyl if its something I don't have and am interested in it. A local pawn shop typically has some guitar orientated music. I recently got some cassettes as well. I listen to the tapes when working on the car in the garage on a car Alpine tape deck my dad hooked up with a power converter from Radio Shack. I miss Radio Shack.

 

[RnFnR]

There are a few things I've been meaning to buy. Still get indecisive about vinyl or CD sometimes.
Gonna be a sad day when I have to buy a new car and there is no CD player.

Right!? I'm holding onto my 2011 as long as I can

 

[blue]

I buy cd's, I'll only download something if there is no physical way to get it. I have plenty of records, but don't buy as many now due to the prices rising so high and lack of space to store them, I just get the occassional special one. What I really love though are the Hi-res formats, SACD, Dvd-Audio and Blu-Ray. Sadly very little new music ever comes out on those, it's mostly the 15th version of Dark Side Of The Moon! I've just ordered the new Rhino Blu-rays of Alice Cooper's Billion Dollar Babies and Sabbath's Paranoid though, which have the old 70's Quad mixes on them, along with the stereo versions, in 192khz 24 bit resolution. Looking forward to them

 

[myklomaniac]

Yes, CDs on occasion. I like to know that my music library isn't dependent on permissions, accounts, internet access, etc.

Or deletions. No downloads or subscriptions here either.
CDs are my poison, too.
Looking for a deal on a Best of Frank Zappa on CD.
I've seen a few online, but the vendors are either in Germany, or unreliable sellers on Amazon.
EDIT: Never mind, I found one. Now I need an Alice Cooper Greatest Hits CD.

 

[december]

I'd still buy music on tape if it were an option. Tori Amos and Puscifer actually did release their newest albums on tape in 2020 and 21, so I'm excited I was able to get those. I still have over 400 original albums on tape. Otherwise I buy CDs. The physical media and artwork/liner notes are all part of the piece of Art that is an album.
I would never pay for mp3s. I would never buy something that I had to use data to stream every time I listened to it. I prefer tapes/analog, so it's bad enough I have to settle for digital at all, but since there's no choice anymore, I'll take CD resolution, but I won't settle for anything less than 16 bit/44.1kHz.
I do rip my CDs in lossless .wav format and carry my entire CD collection with me in my phone on a 400GB microSD card. More convenient than picking which CDs you want and having to carry them, and they start getting scratched up. Since I can have files of the same resolution, why not?
But they never have the option to buy .wav file downloads, and I want the booklet, so I'm buying CDs.

 

[Keysdweller]

Yes, reel tape was king in it's time. I used it until my reel died in the 90's. I found a company that sells reel decks but they are very expensive. I have old reel tapes of my band from the 70's and have thought about purchasing one of these decks to digitize them and sell it afterward to recoup my money. I also rip some of my favorite cd's to lossless wav and that takes up a lot of space. I wish I had originally ripped my collection in lossless format but I will never spend that much time doing it again. It takes up over a terabyte just in mp3 320Kbps format. My last vehicle had a cd player and I would burn a copy of my favorites for the car and didn't care if they got destroyed. I tried using a usb cd player in my new 2023 vehicle but didn't work properly and sent it back.

 

[ibmorjamn]

I have always preferred vinyl recorded to cassette. Tapes tend fail but sound good.

I just got a cheap tube preamp to record and digitize the records.
Lately UFO has been releasing some previous Chrysalis catalog recording with live recordings.
Phenomenon has live in Atlanta and No Heavy Petting has " Live at the Roundhouse "
I just got "Wherewolves of London"
Live at Wolverhampton.

The version of Rock Bottom has the best tone and playing I have heard from Michael. It was recorded during " Walk On Water" 1998. It would have to be his 2205. Super clean tone.