Digital-only albums are such a hassle... agree or disagree?

[The Walrus]

I simply like a physical product in my hands, but the most annoying problem for me: organization. I like everything I own and have paid for to be in one spot, together. I don't like having my collection split between the cabinets and my hard drives. So it kills me when I find an awesome album only to find it's a digital only purchase. (The album in question is 'Ourdom' by Solar Fields, which came out this year. I am loving the hell out of this and am very disappointed it's a digital only album.)

Does anyone else here have the same problem? In the end I suppose I'll buckle down and buy the digital product but it (maybe irrationally?) annoys the hell out of me to not have a tangible object with the purchase, and not see it in the collection with everything else. Maybe it's a holdover from my younger days of piracy and it just makes me feel unclean, in a way, but I guess I'll have to prioritize my purchases/album discoveries now. Physically available music first, then everything else...

EDIT: Found a physical copy... but, annoyingly, it is not a standard sized case...

[Cool Chris]

I like everything I own and have paid for to be in one spot, together.

it (maybe irrationally?) annoys the hell out of me to not have a tangible object with the purchase..... Maybe it's a holdover from my younger days of piracy and it just makes me feel unclean, in a way...

Wouldn't use the word hassle but these two lines are about how I feel as well. I've bought a few digital songs, but never a whole album. Downloaded quite a few in the early 00s, but those were to check out a band and I ended up deleting 90% of everything, and 5% of the remainder I ended up buying.

[Crow]

yeah please give me a physical copy! i need it. i don't feel like i own a CD until i have a case in front of me and a lyric booklet to read out of while i listen augh

also nice weird case design, i have one like that. and thy catafalque's sgurr comes in a literal book. it doesn't fit on my CD shelf and it's kinda annoying for that :V

[The Walrus]

I have several albums that are juuust weirdly large enough to not fit properly in my shelves, or they're so tight the edges will get destroyed quickly.  Jewel cases are love, jewel cases are life.

[TioJorge]

I don't think it's a hassle. For the most part it's more accessibility, though I'd understand being annoying with having less options, these days it's a glaringly obvious choice that accounts for the still fairly huge amount of dipshits that download illegally and the fact that the music industry as a whole is the polar opposite of what it used to be, for better or worse. Releasing a physical CD/Vinyl today seems to be getting more towards the fan service aspect rather than as a necessary component of releasing music.

I can count on one hand the bands that I care enough about to go the extra mile and support to buy the bundles that come with the CD, T-shirt, etc. But my whole collection is now digital with the occasional still-going discography from my favorites, so it's not a hassle to me at all but rather just another way to support the band (i.e. I'll buy physical if they have it, but I'll also buy the digital, in whichever format available).

[Lethean]

For me, I buy the physical product from my favorites, and buy digital for the rest.  I don't mind having my catalogue in two places, because I do have the whole thing on my hard drive.  I always rip any cds that I buy.  It is a slight inconvenience when something doesn't fit on the shelf, but it's OK if it's because the product is as beautiful as the big artbook for The Fall of Hearts.

[Ben_Jamin]

I love physical releases. Especially now with the earbooks...

[The Walrus]

For me, I buy the physical product from my favorites, and buy digital for the rest.  I don't mind having my catalogue in two places, because I do have the whole thing on my hard drive.  I always rip any cds that I buy.  It is a slight inconvenience when something doesn't fit on the shelf, but it's OK if it's because the product is as beautiful as the big artbook for The Fall of Hearts.

I'm slightly different, in that I also rip all my CDs to my hard drive, but it aggravates the OCD in me to no end to look at my cabinets and realize, "This is everything I own - except... not really." I can't display a digital piece of artwork alongside the cases. Yeah, I guess I could burn my own copy and print out the art and make a half-assed version but that's way too much time, work, and money.

I do place all the odd-sized albums at the very bottom, though. My Kamelot Silverthorn box, Nightwish's Endless Forms (which is frustratingly *just* big enough to not comfortably fit), etc... along with my Steve Vai "Passion and Warfare" cassette 

[Phoenix87x]

I feel 100% the opposite. Physical media is a hassle for me, and it always was.

I want my music available to me at all times. Digital MP3s allow me to have all of it on my Iphone ready to go. Whether its at work, at a friends place, riding around town. Where ever, when ever.

I don't want anything to do with physical albums. And I listen to music WAY more often now. Back in 98 when I had just a stereo and cd's, I pretty much never listened to music. I don't want to sit down in my house and listen to music. I like music when I am actively doing something, and digital allows me to have that.

[Ninjabait]

I'm one of those new-fangled youngins who mainly listens to music through streaming on Spotify/YouTube (which is mostly a logistics thing). But, when I do buy music, I tend to lean towards buying digital. My current laptop doesn't have a DVD/CD drive (super annoying), I have to find a way to store a bunch of CDs in my tiny apartment, and plus CDs can easily break or get scratched to oblivion even if you take care of them. I'd rather just have a digital copy, which I can back-up as much as I want and download on anything I want with no hassle.

The only thing I'm really missing out on is the lyrics booklets and the negative time transitions on Octavarium. Outside of that, I'd 100% MUCH rather have digital over physical.

[The Walrus]

I suppose if you aren't into collecting, then yeah, it's probably not an issue. Nothing wrong with that, of course. I just hate having hundreds and hundreds of CDs with little to no option for a physical version of a digital album.

This is really troubling for me when it comes to modern genres of music, specifically anything electronic, and it's honestly kind of a barrier for me getting into the music. That probably sounds weird, but I'm wired like that.

[SwedishGoose]

Definiteley prefer to have the CD, and I often buy the CD directly from the artist themselves.
Love buying from artists who sign everything. Just got two more CDs signed by Anneke van Giersbergen along with a handwritten thank you note because the delivery had taken some time...

But I do also buy digital only. Where if I later find the CD I might just buy that too.


The thing is that most of the time I do not listen to the CDs but to the rip on my smartphone. So in that sense it makes no difference.... I do like to have the option though

[Shadow Ninja 2.0]

Kattoelox, I completely understand and I have the same problem. I'm also bothered when I order a CD and it comes in a digipack, or even worse, just a paper sleeve. Give me a nice jewel case!

I do most of my listening on my computer or via my iPod, but the physical item is pretty much a must for me unless there's just no other option.

[Crow]

tbh i'm fine with digipaks, they can have some nice packaging

sleeves are lame though

[King Puppies and the Acid Guppies]

I used to buy only physical media, many years ago (I still have thousands of cds, cassettes, vinyl, dvds, etc.). Lately (the last 5ish years) the only physical music that I buy is collectors/special editions. Mostly if it is vinyl. And even then I will also buy the digital form of said collectors edition albums if it doesn't come with it. I like my music with me at all times. With Google Play Music I can do that. I can even upload my own music and have it available anywhere. It's all in the convenience of having all of my music wherever I go.

[Stadler]

For me, I buy the physical product from my favorites, and buy digital for the rest.  I don't mind having my catalogue in two places, because I do have the whole thing on my hard drive.  I always rip any cds that I buy.  It is a slight inconvenience when something doesn't fit on the shelf, but it's OK if it's because the product is as beautiful as the big artbook for The Fall of Hearts.

I'm slightly different, in that I also rip all my CDs to my hard drive, but it aggravates the OCD in me to no end to look at my cabinets and realize, "This is everything I own - except... not really." I can't display a digital piece of artwork alongside the cases. Yeah, I guess I could burn my own copy and print out the art and make a half-assed version but that's way too much time, work, and money.

I do place all the odd-sized albums at the very bottom, though. My Kamelot Silverthorn box, Nightwish's Endless Forms (which is frustratingly *just* big enough to not comfortably fit), etc... along with my Steve Vai "Passion and Warfare" cassette 

This is so me.  I'm in the process of ripping all my CDs (and even some of my DVDs) to lossless on a network drive, and there's nothing worse than trying to track these random files from downloads.   Plus, I'm only on "B" right now (Black Sabbath) in the rip process, and I've already found an example of my greatest fear:   with a CD, I KNOW the version I have.  No remixes, no re-recordings with a new singer, no edits, no this, no that, but with a download, especially a stream, I have to be really careful that the artist or distributor doesn't substitute an alternate version.   Those things matter to me (I have four versions - all different, to some degree or another - of Rainbow Rising) and I don't want people like Sharon Osbourne deciding what versions I can listen to. 

[The Walrus]

For me, I buy the physical product from my favorites, and buy digital for the rest.  I don't mind having my catalogue in two places, because I do have the whole thing on my hard drive.  I always rip any cds that I buy.  It is a slight inconvenience when something doesn't fit on the shelf, but it's OK if it's because the product is as beautiful as the big artbook for The Fall of Hearts.

I'm slightly different, in that I also rip all my CDs to my hard drive, but it aggravates the OCD in me to no end to look at my cabinets and realize, "This is everything I own - except... not really." I can't display a digital piece of artwork alongside the cases. Yeah, I guess I could burn my own copy and print out the art and make a half-assed version but that's way too much time, work, and money.

I do place all the odd-sized albums at the very bottom, though. My Kamelot Silverthorn box, Nightwish's Endless Forms (which is frustratingly *just* big enough to not comfortably fit), etc... along with my Steve Vai "Passion and Warfare" cassette 

This is so me.  I'm in the process of ripping all my CDs (and even some of my DVDs) to lossless on a network drive, and there's nothing worse than trying to track these random files from downloads.   Plus, I'm only on "B" right now (Black Sabbath) in the rip process, and I've already found an example of my greatest fear:   with a CD, I KNOW the version I have.  No remixes, no re-recordings with a new singer, no edits, no this, no that, but with a download, especially a stream, I have to be really careful that the artist or distributor doesn't substitute an alternate version.   Those things matter to me (I have four versions - all different, to some degree or another - of Rainbow Rising) and I don't want people like Sharon Osbourne deciding what versions I can listen to.

I didn't even think about alternate versions, and now I think I'm getting a rash. Don't let physical media die, people. 

[Lethean]

For me, I buy the physical product from my favorites, and buy digital for the rest.  I don't mind having my catalogue in two places, because I do have the whole thing on my hard drive.  I always rip any cds that I buy.  It is a slight inconvenience when something doesn't fit on the shelf, but it's OK if it's because the product is as beautiful as the big artbook for The Fall of Hearts.

I'm slightly different, in that I also rip all my CDs to my hard drive, but it aggravates the OCD in me to no end to look at my cabinets and realize, "This is everything I own - except... not really." I can't display a digital piece of artwork alongside the cases. Yeah, I guess I could burn my own copy and print out the art and make a half-assed version but that's way too much time, work, and money.

I do place all the odd-sized albums at the very bottom, though. My Kamelot Silverthorn box, Nightwish's Endless Forms (which is frustratingly *just* big enough to not comfortably fit), etc... along with my Steve Vai "Passion and Warfare" cassette 

This is so me.  I'm in the process of ripping all my CDs (and even some of my DVDs) to lossless on a network drive, and there's nothing worse than trying to track these random files from downloads.   Plus, I'm only on "B" right now (Black Sabbath) in the rip process, and I've already found an example of my greatest fear:   with a CD, I KNOW the version I have.  No remixes, no re-recordings with a new singer, no edits, no this, no that, but with a download, especially a stream, I have to be really careful that the artist or distributor doesn't substitute an alternate version.   Those things matter to me (I have four versions - all different, to some degree or another - of Rainbow Rising) and I don't want people like Sharon Osbourne deciding what versions I can listen to.

I didn't even think about alternate versions, and now I think I'm getting a rash. Don't let physical media die, people. 

I don't want it to die either, but I also don't want to have tons of CDs that I never use.  Most of what I have is already collecting dust as it is.  So I buy the physical product from my favorites - the bands where even if I still rip the CD and rarely ever use it, I'll still sit with the liner notes and look at the artwork and read the lyrics.  But I don't use streaming either.  Mostly it's because I like to have my files the way I want them and because cell service is still annoyingly unreliable.  But Stadler's point is a good one too.  I think it applies more to streaming than a digital purchase though.  With a digital purchase I think you know what version you're getting.

[The Walrus]

Ah, see, streaming is becoming my lifesaver (paying for Spotify was a great decision for me, been a happy subscriber for years). I started this spreadsheet where I'll jot down pretty much every single album I see mentioned anywhere, who mentioned it, and other info, and have a column for whether or not I'll purchase it. "yes" = blue, "maybe" = green, "no" = red (they become highlighted upon entry). I've accepted I can no longer realistically purchase every single thing I listen to, so I now have to pick and choose especially as I try to listen to 1-3 new albums every day.

I am the ultimate nerd in that I'll take out all of my albums and spend a whole day reorganizing the cabinets just for the fun of it. Get to look at all the nice art too. 

Good point about streaming, though. For example, when I was checking out Queensryche, The Warning is on Spotify, but it's the expanded, remastered edition that is totally different from the original release and still confuses the heck out of me. And then some artists only have partially available albums, or no albums available at all. But, Steven Wilson finally cracked... so maybe one day King Crimson will get on Spotify and I'll finally be able to explore their catalog.

[Lethean]

I will never have a goal of listening to 1-3 new albums a day. Or even a week.   I don't put those kinds of goals on myself, because then listening to music becomes a chore (to me).

However, I fully support the use of spreadsheets.   I have one with a tab for everything in my possession, and it indicates whether I own on CD, digitally, both, or neither.  I go through the ones I don't own from time to time and as I listen, I decide whether to buy or delete.  The deleted ones go on a separate tab with notes about why. It could be short, but just something to let me know what I thought. Like "hated the vocals."

I also have a spreadsheet for shows.  I know I'm missing some, probably mostly local band shows, from before I started keeping track, but I most of it.

[The Walrus]

I will never have a goal of listening to 1-3 new albums a day. Or even a week.   I don't put those kinds of goals on myself, because then listening to music becomes a chore (to me).

However, I fully support the use of spreadsheets.   I have one with a tab for everything in my possession, and it indicates whether I own on CD, digitally, both, or neither.  I go through the ones I don't own from time to time and as I listen, I decide whether to buy or delete.  The deleted ones go on a separate tab with notes about why. It could be short, but just something to let me know what I thought. Like "hated the vocals."

I also have a spreadsheet for shows.  I know I'm missing some, probably mostly local band shows, from before I started keeping track, but I most of it.

I gotta say, the roulette reignited my passion for discovering music on a constant basis. I've listened to 8 new albums since Friday, over half of which I really liked 

The shows thing is pretty cool! I wonder how many I've actually been to... might have to do this too. I have a spreadsheet for my whole collection (helps when I fall behind on my RYM page). I feel like spreadsheets are almost mandatory for any serious music fan who uses both physical and digital media haha. Great way to keep notes on them.

EDIT: Which reminds me, I listened to part of the new Tesseract album. Not really my thing unfortunately, strongly disliked the vocals and didn't like the guitars.

[Cool Chris]

However, I fully support the use of spreadsheets.   I have one with a tab for everything in my possession, and it indicates whether I own on CD, digitally, both, or neither.  I go through the ones I don't own from time to time and as I listen, I decide whether to buy or delete.  The deleted ones go on a separate tab with notes about why. It could be short, but just something to let me know what I thought. Like "hated the vocals."

I feel like spreadsheets are almost mandatory for any serious music fan who uses both physical and digital media haha. Great way to keep notes on them.

I keep spreadsheets for everything, including my physical media library. My best man joked about my spreadsheets in his toast at my wedding. But that kind of detail is crazy. Not in a Jeffrey Dahmer sorta way, more of a good-natured crazy, like when I tell someone who likes Marillion they are "crazy."

[Stadler]

I'm loading my collection into Discogs as I burn them.

I don't have the time, but I want so badly to have a spreadsheet of my entire collection.  One of the things I am really curious about is being able to put songs and albums into chronological order.   I don't mean "I&W", then "Awake", then "ACOS"...   I mean being able to say "In May of 1970, the following songs were recorded:  ABC, by Zeppelin; DEF, by Sabbath; GHI by Purple; etc."   Certain times were VERY fertile - including that 70-'71 time frame, and if you listen, "Dazed And Confused", "Iron Man" and "Highway Star" all have the identical - well, D&C and IM are identical, HS is a slight variation - riff in there as a transition.   I'm fascinated by how bands - even big ones - are influenced by others and how they react to others.   

The problem, though, is some bands are really shitty - and some outright lie - about their music.  They are not being supportive of my OCD!!!!   

[Lethean]

Stadler, I don't know much about discogs but iTunes and probably others let you export your library.  Maybe discogs would have something like that too?

I don't have the specific release date on my spreadsheet, just the year.  Although, if a band has two albums in the same year I do add the exact date so I can sort chronologically.  I don't have songs on my spreadsheet either, just albums, but the songs are in iTunes and I can get a spreadsheet when I want one.

[ytserush]

Not a hassle for me. I just won't listen to it.

Makes it much easier because I'm only interested in at least CDs with art at this point.

I understand the convenience of it. There's enough to enjoy without having to worry digital only releases and it makes things more manageable.