# Do you download or stream music these days?



## nerwin (Dec 9, 2015)

With all the options of streaming music these days like Spotify, Pandora, Amazon Prime, etc..how often do you download music? Or if at all? 

I remember going to the mall and picking up a few cds and importing them as FLAC for the best quality and now the same store has a tiny section for cds and rest is filled up with blu-rays and dvds. 

I personally have been finding my self just streaming music these days. When I'm editing photos I just listen to Pandora because I don't have to worry about song selection, I can just let it play. I use to subscribe to Pandora One so I can get no ads, additional skips and 192kbps vs 128kbps but honestly, Pandora ads rarely play and I don't skip often. There isn't a huge difference between 192 and 128kbps to notice that much. So I didn't renew it. 

But I still have over 25,000 songs on my hard drive and I hardly play them anymore. But having higher quality music does make a difference to your music listening experience. I got my hands on a FLAC copy of a Metallica album that was recorded directly from vinyl and boy it sounds so amazing, with such rich and warm tones. If you have good quality speakers, you can really enjoy it. 

Its really amazing the way we listen to music has changed so much these days.


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## Braineack (Dec 9, 2015)

arent you techincally downloading when you stream?


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## nerwin (Dec 9, 2015)

Braineack said:


> arent you techincally downloading when you stream?



Haha yes, but you know what I mean.


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## waday (Dec 9, 2015)

Depends on where I am. Typically speaking: at home, 'downloaded' music; on the go, streaming music.

Every now and then, I like having a physical copy of an album (either vinyl or CD). Usually an artist I really like.


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## john.margetts (Dec 9, 2015)

About two thirds of my music is on CDs and the rest is on vinyl. I looked at downloading music but apparently you do not get any liner notes.

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## gsgary (Dec 9, 2015)

Never I always buy vinyl or CD


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## gsgary (Dec 9, 2015)

nerwin said:


> With all the options of streaming music these days like Spotify, Pandora, Amazon Prime, etc..how often do you download music? Or if at all?
> 
> I remember going to the mall and picking up a few cds and importing them as FLAC for the best quality and now the same store has a tiny section for cds and rest is filled up with blu-rays and dvds.
> 
> ...


Nothing beats the Vinyl version of any recording thats why vinyl sales are going up every year


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## SoulfulRecover (Dec 9, 2015)

Stream at work but I like physical copies.

My brother is in a very successful band and he says they make more money on iTunes downloads than physical copies. Not because of volume but the percentage that goes to the band.


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## DarkShadow (Dec 9, 2015)

Nope Vinyl or CD. I agree there is nothing like the warm sound of vinyl.


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## limr (Dec 9, 2015)

At work, I stream from Amazon Prime on my computer, or I have songs saved on my phone when I'm out and about with no internet connection. At home, it's vinyl.


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## tecboy (Dec 9, 2015)

I like to get out of my house and take a trip to bestbuy and buy couple of CDs.  As well as, looking at other expensive electronics that I'm not going to buy.


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## weepete (Dec 9, 2015)

Download for me.

Streaming is too patchy when I'm out and about. At work we are restricted while on the companies wifi, and I'm not using my mobile data all day just to get a slightly different playlist. Got about 40GB of music on my hard drive at home, around 10GB on my phone though so I mostly just listen to that. Occasionally I'll supliment it with an album I think I should have but I'll just buy that through google on my phone. I dont listen to as much music as I used to though.

Not fussed about vinyl either.


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## gsgary (Dec 9, 2015)

The problem with digital there is lots of the sounds missing when you compare it to best quality vinyl


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## jcdeboever (Dec 9, 2015)

XM radio, vinyl. 

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## Scatterbrained (Dec 9, 2015)

gsgary said:


> The problem with digital there is lots of the sounds missing when you compare it to best quality vinyl


This is B.S.   There is crappy vinyl and crappy digital.  There is also quality vinyl and quality digital.  The 44/16 digital format used for CDs has more DR and stereo separation than vinyl is capable of.   The difference between a record and a CD is in what you _don't_ hear, namely the effects of the recording medium itself on the music.     A lot of the differences also come from playback medium.   People tend to sit down in a warm room and play records on a full size, proper stereo set up with quality components.  People tend to stream digital music at low bit rates through cheap DACs  and even cheaper, tiny little speakers.  That's assuming they aren't on the go and streaming really low bitrate music through really crappy earbuds or "fashion" headphones.   
   Another issue with modern music is the master.   As people move towards cheaper, "good enough" headphones and desktop speakers for their music, sound engineers are mastering the music to sound "good" on cheap devices.   They are literally "dumbing down" the music to accommodate cheap playback devices.   I remember this coming to light a while back with the Guitar Hero game being released with higher quality versions of some modern music than what was available on the albums.  
  All that said, when it comes to quality sound the biggest factors are the playback devices used.  DAC (for digital or needle for vinyl), amp, speakers/headphones.   Playing a 256kbs mp3 on a phone through the included earbuds will sound like crap.   run that same file through a dedicated DAC, then a dedicated amp, to a quality pair of reference class headphones and the whole experience is transformed (assuming you're working with a quality master, i.e. not pop music).   

  With that said, to answer the OPs question, I have a mix of CDs and downloads, and I stream as well.  It is situationally dependent.


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## gsgary (Dec 9, 2015)

Scatterbrained said:


> gsgary said:
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> > The problem with digital there is lots of the sounds missing when you compare it to best quality vinyl
> ...


I'm talking about the quality vinyl you can buy


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## gsgary (Dec 9, 2015)

And it goes through bi amped Tannoy Revolution XT 6F Speakers


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## Scatterbrained (Dec 9, 2015)

gsgary said:


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 So am I.


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## Scatterbrained (Dec 9, 2015)

gsgary said:


> And it goes through bi amped Tannoy Revolution XT 6F Speakers


Which does nothing but support my earlier point.


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## gsgary (Dec 9, 2015)

Scatterbrained said:


> gsgary said:
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Plug an mp3 in and it sounds **** compared to vinyl


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## D-B-J (Dec 9, 2015)

Stream Spotify and Pandora religiously.  Buy some music here and there. 

Jake


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## Scatterbrained (Dec 9, 2015)

gsgary said:


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Put in a well mastered CD.     Extensive A-B-X studies have been done between formats and you'd be surprised at the results.  I used to have crates of vinyl (EDM and classical).  The best vinyl sounded like quality digital.   Cheaper vinyl has the characteristic "warmth" of a high noise floor that is so typical of vinyl.


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## Scatterbrained (Dec 9, 2015)

gsgary said:


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Are you using a quality DAC, or just whatever is around?   I have a seperate DAC (digital to analog converter) hooked up to my computer just for music.  There is a distinct difference between the sound quality of the music when played off of the motherboards soundcard vs through the DAC.


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## tecboy (Dec 9, 2015)

At Bestbuy,  it is nice to try out the high-end headphone.  However, I can't tell the difference from high-end and low-end headphones.


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## Scatterbrained (Dec 9, 2015)

tecboy said:


> At Bestbuy,  it is nice to try out the high-end headphone.  However, I can't tell the difference from high-end and low-end headphones.


What kind of "high end" headphones does Best Buy actually carry?  I know they have the expensive "fashion" headphones, but I don't think I've ever seen any audiophile or reference grade phones from firms like AKG, Beyerdynamic, Grado, HiFiMan, Sennheisser, etc. in my local BestBuy.  It's usually crap like Beats or SkullCandy.


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## tecboy (Dec 9, 2015)

Scatterbrained said:


> tecboy said:
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> > At Bestbuy,  it is nice to try out the high-end headphone.  However, I can't tell the difference from high-end and low-end headphones.
> ...



Hmmm... A $1,500 headphone.   How much are  you making per year?

Beside, my dad has a lot of vinyl records from the 50s and 60s and a pair of old crappy speakers.  These still sound very good than the CDs.


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## dannylightning (Dec 9, 2015)

I buy CD,s. Than I put them in my computer using a lossless format like flac,  CD sound sounds so much better than downloaded or streaming music when you have a nice audio system.  

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## jcdeboever (Dec 9, 2015)

I have a crappy system for vinyl but I don't care all that much. I like the music. I am playing bread right now n my headphones. All my hardware stuff is from the 70's... Thorens turntable, Sansui receiver and amp, jbl and dynaco speakers. 

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## gsgary (Dec 9, 2015)

Scatterbrained said:


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Don't have music on my computer


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## myvinyl333 (Dec 14, 2015)

It is like Pete Townsend replied when asked what new music he listened to... he replied with all the access to music it is impossible to hear all the good music. It is not like the late 60's when there were a few of us (Led Zeppelin, Beatles, Stones, Cream, etc)
I feel what ever makes your "clock tic"wind it up ! Listen while you can before your  "clock" stops.


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## desertrattm2r12 (Dec 16, 2015)

I adore "Anton Webern's Greatest Hits." Only available on 45 RPM vinyl.


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## jaomul (Dec 17, 2015)

The vinyl CD thing is almost an equal argument to film digital. By all accounts the vinyl contains all the sound recorded, but digital cds may lose a very tiny percentage due conversion to digital. There may be a difference in sound due production and indeed playing methods to the audiophile, but it is unlikely that this difference is due the small "loss" in conversion to digital as the amount is likely so small as to not be humanly possible to detect.

Mp3s however are a different story, and many who listen to classical or opera in particular would rather not listen than even consider mp3, as they are compressed big time 

I have about 1000 cds but these days usually only have time to listen when I'm driving


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## bc_steve (Dec 21, 2015)

I


nerwin said:


> With all the options of streaming music these days like Spotify, Pandora, Amazon Prime, etc..how often do you download music? Or if at all?
> 
> I remember going to the mall and picking up a few cds and importing them as FLAC for the best quality and now the same store has a tiny section for cds and rest is filled up with blu-rays and dvds.
> 
> ...


I work in the bush.  No wifi, usually no cell reception so it's nice to have files to listen to.  At home though I stream a lot just because it's easier to listen to music I don't normally listen to.  I'm sad Google is killing Songza because I listen to it often.


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