Physical Media

[Skeever]

Does anyone still use physical media to listen to music?
I set up my record player last year, and have really enjoyed having it back. I've been getting into a few new genres over the years (mainly, Jazz), and its nice to have "records" as a way to meter through it at a slower and digestible pace. The records are big and bulky though, and do take up more space than I'd necessarily like in my living room.

That said, was thinking of doing the same thing with a small stereo setup in my office. My wife and I both work from home several days per week (two of them are together), and I thought having a few CDs on deck might be a fun motivational thing.

Otherwise, we subscribe to Tidal, and as much as I love it, sometimes it's just a bit much to have "everything" at your fingertips at a given moment. Going back to physical media has made the process of exploring and discovering new music feel a lot more "special".

[Zydar]

I've stopped using physical media in the last couple of years. They used to collect dust in my bookshelf (I haven't even unpacked my old CDs since I moved to my recent apartment in February).

Hi-res streaming/digital is the way for me nowadays. Although I grew up with vinyl, CD, and cassette, I've never been nostalgic about having the physical thing in my hands, flipping through the booklet etc.

[ReaperKK]

I have a vinyl collection I started a few years ago, I mainly collect albums I'm already familiar and love and I listen to it fairly regularly. Other than a few signed cd's I don't have any physical media anymore.

[Phoenix87x]

I no longer use physical media of any kind

[Stadler]

I'm going to say "yes, I still use physical media".  That's not even all of it (I'd guess that's about 70% more or less):

[MirrorMask]

I don't, and sometimes I wonder why I still buy CDs.

I guess it's habit, wanting to actually OWN something, to read the booklet, to enjoy the work of art as it was intended by the band.... but really there isn't any valid reason why I should buy CDs.

A reason there was until 2018, I had an old car that still had a CD player, but with the new one I have the mp3 player (there isn't even a CD slot) so since I listen to music in the car, on my computer and on my muuuusic plaaayeeeer, I really have no need to buy CDs.

I guess it's a force of habit and wanting the actual sensation to OWN something, if they would sell you along the mp3 files when you purchase them a full digital booklet in PDF I could consider not buying a CD, but until then, it feels impersonal to buy mp3 files.

[Zook]

I buy CDs for my collection and to have the highest quality to rip from. My car doesn't have a cd player either which is kinda frustrating when I do buy a new CD. I have to wait to get home, rip it and put it on my phone.

[Nick]

At home I still primarily listen to CDs. My absolute favorite way to listen to music is audio DVDs or Blu-Rays with good 5.1 mixes. Play vinyl from time to time as well.

[Stadler]

At home I still primarily listen to CDs. My absolute favorite way to listen to music is audio DVDs or Blu-Rays with good 5.1 mixes. Play vinyl from time to time as well.

I'm with you on that one, my brother.

[Kwyjibo]

I don't, and sometimes I wonder why I still buy CDs.

I guess it's habit, wanting to actually OWN something, to read the booklet, to enjoy the work of art as it was intended by the band.... but really there isn't any valid reason why I should buy CDs.

A reason there was until 2018, I had an old car that still had a CD player, but with the new one I have the mp3 player (there isn't even a CD slot) so since I listen to music in the car, on my computer and on my muuuusic plaaayeeeer, I really have no need to buy CDs.

I guess it's a force of habit and wanting the actual sensation to OWN something, if they would sell you along the mp3 files when you purchase them a full digital booklet in PDF I could consider not buying a CD, but until then, it feels impersonal to buy mp3 files.

This is me. I still buy almost everything on CD but then rip it to my computer and listen to mp3s at home and in the car and on my phone. But I just can't bring myself to just buy mp3s. Or use streaming devices for more than checking out new music. I somehow need to own something physical and have a good booklet.

[faizoff]

My absolute favorite way to listen to music is audio DVDs or Blu-Rays with good 5.1 mixes.

I'm with you on that one, my brother.

Same here, though funnily enough I rip the whole DVD/BR intact and store them on my enormous file storage and listen from there.

[bluefox4000]

I still buy CD's fo ralbums i really like but I've no shame in saying i'm mostly digital and streaming.  It's just Easier and i'm actually enjoying music more than ever because of it.

[Anguyen92]

Nowadays, if I buy a CD, I would prefer if I get a shirt bundle on the band's website store or their labels store.

[ProfessorPeart]

Physical all the way. I love being able to have the uncompressed music on hand so I can do anything with it I want from a mobile perspective. Both of our cars have 6 disc changers in them so I always do my first several listens on CD before moving it to a more mobile format. I finally dumped Apple and now have an Android tablet with a 512 GB SD card in it to carry my whole collection with me when I want.

Stads: This reminds me of a convo we had some time ago about busted jewel cases. I found my supplier - Sleeve City. Bought a ton from them recently and they go way overboard on protecting the cases in shipping. Highly recommended.

https://sleevecity.myshopify.com/

https://sleevecity.myshopify.com/collections/cd-cases-all

[Zoom E]

I still buy CDs regularly, and still have my old vinyl collection. However, Amazon Canada’s prices for new CD releases have become a bit ridiculous, so this year I have found myself streaming some albums that I would have purchased if they were reasonably priced.

[Zantera]

I buy CDs and vinyl - CDs I play in the car and Vinyl I don't really play much because of the hassle but I view it more as a collector's item. Paying for digital files just doesn't feel satisfying in the least to me. Don't get me wrong, I want the bands/artists to get paid but having a CD or vinyl to hold in my hand makes the purchase feel a lot more worth it than just having digital files on my computer.

[LithoJazzoSphere]

At this point the bulk of my listening is digital (streaming and audio files in my collection, which includes a ton ripped from CDs), but I do sometimes listen to my vinyl collection at home and CDs in the car.  With lossless rips CDs aren't so relevant anymore, but vinyl still has tactility in the experience that you just can't get with digital. 

[wolfking]

I have finally come to the point in my life where I don't think I'll be buying many cd's again.  The amount I have is crazy and I never really use them, unless it's something pimped here that I know I have and go and find.  I buy cd's play them once, rip them to the computer and then they sit.  It was a habit, an obsession and I always had the thinking of 'supporting the artist', but we know that's all bullshit. 

In actual fact, I'm just not listening to much new music.  I'll use the site Mp3va for some things but even then it's one listen and then move on.  I fear I'm actually starting to fall out of love with music in general.  That could just be a me thing though this year.

[MrBoom_shack-a-lack]

I basically only use CDs in my car these days.

[ErHaO]

I use vinyls on my record player and can see myself using dvd/blu rays when I get a 5.1 system one day. But mostly it is streaming for me.

[WardySI]

Use digital for ease of discovery and when out and about but otherwise nothing beats sitting at home putting an LP on the turntable.  Just love the sense of nostalgia it brings and of course the chosen music is what it's about.  CD's too but spin way more vinyl when I have those opportunity to kick back and get lost in music. 

Have what I consider a fairly conservative collection about 150 vinyl old and new and the usual wall of CDs but there are not many titles among those that I don't still enjoy.  Considering the difficulties and costs in acquiring new physical media these days do plan on dialing back on the purchases somewhat which is unfortunate, but otherwise yeah physical media remains an essential part of my listening format.

Can't beat the joy it brings and would be lost without it

[emtee]

You know what I've been thinking about lately...morbid I know but, after I'm gone, what will become of a lifetime of me collecting physical music? Nobody, including my daughter will want it. The whole collection will probably be given to Goodwill or thrown out. In this regard, continuing to add to the physical collection has slowed waaay down. Maybe 4 or 5 CD's a year.

[Skeever]

You know what I've been thinking about lately...morbid I know but, after I'm gone, what will become of a lifetime of me collecting physical music? Nobody, including my daughter will want it. The whole collection will probably be given to Goodwill or thrown out. In this regard, continuing to add to the physical collection has slowed waaay down. Maybe 4 or 5 CD's a year.

But what if you enjoy it? Doesn't that matter. Also everything comes back after a while. They don't repress these things and a lot of your niche interests are not going to be preserved. I dabbled a bit in retro gaming and even with emulation very good and widely available for anyone willing to Google I still see games that I used to own going for hundreds of dollars on ebay.

[ProfessorPeart]

You know what I've been thinking about lately...morbid I know but, after I'm gone, what will become of a lifetime of me collecting physical music? Nobody, including my daughter will want it. The whole collection will probably be given to Goodwill or thrown out. In this regard, continuing to add to the physical collection has slowed waaay down. Maybe 4 or 5 CD's a year.

This made me think of a funny thing that happened not that long ago, within the last year. I was in my car with my 22 year old daughter and I had a CD playing. She looked at the display and asked why the numbers were counting up. She had no idea of how CD's worked.

[pg1067]

99% of the albums I own are CDs, but I typically burn them to iTunes and listen to them that way.  That's not likely to change anytime soon, and I wouldn't, in a million years, spend money on a record player or vinyl records.

[jammindude]

You know what I've been thinking about lately...morbid I know but, after I'm gone, what will become of a lifetime of me collecting physical music? Nobody, including my daughter will want it. The whole collection will probably be given to Goodwill or thrown out. In this regard, continuing to add to the physical collection has slowed waaay down. Maybe 4 or 5 CD's a year.

There was a good friend of the family who was my musical “Mr. Miyagi”. Even though he was much older, I always knew I could go to his house, hang out, and listen to records.

When he died he had well over 100,000 different pieces in just about every format imaginable. His son told me that the truly valuable stuff (and there was a bit of that) needed to go to the estate…but I could have anything with a street value of less than $30 (which was also negotiable if I really wanted it) and pretty much as much as I wanted. I walked out with about 2-3 crates of records and a crate of CDs. He said “Dad would want you to have this.”

The point is that I haven’t given up hope that I will be someone else’s “Mr. Miyagi” someday, and then I can make sure it ends up in the hands of someone who will truly appreciate it.

[Cool Chris]

A reason there was until 2018, I had an old car that still had a CD player, but with the new one I have the mp3 player (there isn't even a CD slot)...

This was a seismic shift for me as well in 2017. That was the impetus for me to digitize all my CDs and organize them with all my digital music.

Just this week I boxed up all my DVDs and put them in the garage, and moved my CDs to the bookshelf in the office. Just didn't make any sense to have them on the shelves in the living room with that space could be better utilized for family (meaning kid) purposes. Cannot remember the last time I played a physical CD or DVD. Lots of good memories of those CDs/DVD. Having them still holds meaning for me.

[nobloodyname]

You know what I've been thinking about lately...morbid I know but, after I'm gone, what will become of a lifetime of me collecting physical music? Nobody, including my daughter will want it. The whole collection will probably be given to Goodwill or thrown out. In this regard, continuing to add to the physical collection has slowed waaay down. Maybe 4 or 5 CD's a year.

Same.

I am creating a burden for someone else to deal with. How many times do I actually take an item out and listen to it or stroke it lovingly? On top of that, the depreciation on what I tend to buy is absolutely nuts.

[wolfking]

You know what I've been thinking about lately...morbid I know but, after I'm gone, what will become of a lifetime of me collecting physical music? Nobody, including my daughter will want it. The whole collection will probably be given to Goodwill or thrown out. In this regard, continuing to add to the physical collection has slowed waaay down. Maybe 4 or 5 CD's a year.

I personally love this morbid way of thinking.  Never thought about CDs with this mentality but I love it.

[ytserush]

I'm going to say "yes, I still use physical media".  That's not even all of it (I'd guess that's about 70% more or less):

Looks like we have similarly sized collections. I'd love to have a shelf that big. I have three or four shelves that are about three-quarters of that size and a few smaller wooden structures with dowels  separated from the main area. It's kind of a mess,


But yeah, I never stopped using physical media. I stream for convenience when needed but I won't pay for it.

[Samsara]

I'm going to say "yes, I still use physical media".  That's not even all of it (I'd guess that's about 70% more or less):

I'm with Stads. My CD collection is about this same size, plus vinyl. Physical media, to this old fogey, is very important. I love the convenience of digital. But I enjoy having an LP or CD. And when I'm home, I listen to that physical media, not digital.

[LithoJazzoSphere]

While we're measuring cabinet sizes, how many is that?      I have quite a lot, but not centrally located like that, so it's harder to tell. 

[Lethean]

I buy physical media for my very favorite bands that I already have a collection for, and digital for everything else.  For my favorites, my first listen is generally done while reading the lyrics and looking at the artwork. 

I'd consider Tesseract a favorite now but I started with digital for them and I really don't need more cds so that's what I'll stay with.  I started with cds for bands like Queensryche, Iron Maiden, Evergrey, and Blind Guardian and switched digital because again, I don't need to keep buying cds for that many bands just to say I have the full collection.  DT, Rush (if they were still putting out albums), Angra, Threshold, Riverside will always be physical.  And for Katatonia I started with digital but broke my own "rule" and had to have (in some cases multiple versions of) the physical media.

[pg1067]

While we're measuring cabinet sizes, how many is that?      I have quite a lot, but not centrally located like that, so it's harder to tell.

Looks like 15 per shelf, 12 shelves per cabinet and 11 cabinets.  That makes for 121 total shelves, but at least 3 are empty and 5 have what appear to be something other than CDs, so let's say 113 total shelves x 15 per shelf = 1,695 (and maybe reduce for some shelves that don't have the full 15, so I'm guessing somewhere in the 1,600-1,650 range).

[hefdaddy42]

I still have a good number of CDs, but I have WAY reduced my purchases, limited mostly to DT and related packages in recent years.  I also have some vinyl, but 99% of my listening is via streaming these days.  Instant access to virtually anything, and no physical things to carry around.