[Skeezix]

(I couldn't find another thread on this. Apologies if there is one.)

Streaming seems to have significantly changed the way we consume music, in a relatively short time frame. I'm interested in what people think.

Do you subscribe to Apple Music? Deezer? Spotify? Whatever Google is calling its music streaming service this week?

Who is still buying CDs? LPs?

 

[vic]

My music buying has slowed down significantly, though I still buy CDs occasionally. First thing I do I rip them to FLAC files on the computer. I've bought small amounts of digital music too, though only if it's not in some crappy DRM-encrusted format that I can't use with whatever music player I want. Bandcamp is good for this, as I've always downloaded the FLAC versions.

Have been listening to more music (and non-music) podcasts over the last few years too.

The idea of Spotify seems great, though I can't see myself paying for music that I can't keep.

 

[narduch]

I used to steal music.

I think the last CD I bought was Get Behind Me Satan by the White Stripes.

But now I have a Spotify account because its actually harder to find torrents anymore. Because most people have moved to streaming.

 

[Avenue]

Yeah I agree that they made torrenting too inconvenient and legal streaming too convenient.

I still did torrent Microsoft Office though.

 

[narduch]

Software is a different story.

But any music that isn't Top 40 mainstream or by major established artists is hard to get now.

 

[Filip]

I started using Apple Music a few months ago - overall pretty happy with it. I think it's about $10 a month, you can even download songs into your library for offline listening which is primarily why I got the service.

I assume if you unsubscribe, you will no longer be able to listen to that downloaded music - but until then!

...Surprisingly large collection of Serbian music which is what I listen to these days.

 

[Skeezix]

I've never been interested in illegally downloading music. I should note, however, that I completed undergrad just a few years before Napster became a thing. So I suppose it's easy to sound virtuous when, as a poor university student, I didn't have the option of illegal downloading. So I never got into it.*

Also, music and movies tend to be made available to me when I want them (e.g. an album usually - but not always - tends to be released in the same week in Canada as in the U.K.), so I am more willing to pay for the work.

But TV shows are another matter. The way broadcasters screw Canadian viewers with delays and inconsistent airings, no wonder so many shows are bittorrented (or, more recently, illegally streamed). I want to watch a new show when I am reading rave reviews about it from the U.S. or U.K., not 14 months later when Bell Media finally decides to air it randomly on one of its channels.

ETA: * I just realized this is a bit of a lie. A couple of years ago I torrented U2's Live from the Point Depot, which was a favourite album of mine in my 20s (I bought a bootleg in Poland, which I'd since lost). But the damn thing wasn't available legally - it had been briefly available on iTunes years earlier if one bought an entire U2 digital box set. Which I guess emphasizes my point - I'm happy to pay if the work is made available to me when I want it.

 

[SunriseChampion]

Soundcloud for me.
Fresh sets for daaaaaaays.
Just Rinse FM alone put out enough to keep my ears full forever.

I still buy records though and CDs, the latter of which I rely on to sometimes find music from 10 - 25 years ago.

I'll also buy tapes if I come across them.

I have Soundcloud GO or + or whatever the hell. 10$ a month, download sets to listen offline, and now my van's a mobile rave. Good stuff.

As for TV. I mostly watch British shows on YouTube, Czech and Slovak news on their respective national broadcaster's stream, BBC through software that let's me stream it, Canadian TV through my brother's Bell account through their app, and download whole shows such as Seinfeld (50GB, not bad).

I'm not paying for TV just to be fed ads.

 

[SunriseChampion]

Software is a different story.

But any music that isn't Top 40 mainstream or by major established artists is hard to get now.

What? Where are you living?
If this were the case, I would have given up on life.

In fact, just for starters, listen to CIUT 89.5 for a week straight.

 

[Skeezix]

What? Where are you living?
If this were the case, I would have given up on life.

In fact, just for starters, listen to CIUT 89.5 for a week straight.

I think @narduch was referring to the ability to get non-Top 40 music by torrent, not to its general availability.

 

[narduch]

What? Where are you living?
If this were the case, I would have given up on life.
.

I'm talking about torrents specifically.

 

[SunriseChampion]

I think @narduch was referring to the ability to get non-Top 40 music by torrent, not to its general availability.

Hahaha, I see now.

I was gonna say....or I did even.

I honestly haven't downloaded anything I like music-wise from a torrent site in a decade or more, but a good friend of mine seems able to find decent amounts of jungle, grime, and hardcore on there. Then again, those are all top 40 in Britain so maybe narduch is correct.

 

[SunriseChampion]

I'm talking about torrents specifically.

What kind of music are you looking for?

 

[narduch]

What kind of music are you looking for?

Mostly rock I guess.

I tried to download the latest Queens of the Stone Age last year and the stuff available was garbage.

Like I said I switched to Spotify now so I get what I need.

I really don't care about music the way I did in the 90s anyway though.

 

[SunriseChampion]

Ok, I thought I could maybe help you find some downloads but you aren't looking for that which I can provide.

How much does Spotify cost?