Still love LP CD and Streaming...all serve a different purpose...not saying one format always sounds better, but they often sound different...I often find it simply easier to pop in a CD rather than find my phone and search for what I want... there seem to be a lot , or just a very vocal few, streaming lovers who encourage others to not play CD...this is a great streaming time of year with all the best of lists...but I probably prefer CD overall at this point...I encourage others to enjoy all 3 and, got one friend into reel to reel...

i concur with your reasons and would add a couple more:

1. i own thousands of cds, can't bear to get rid of them and therefore feel compelled to put 'em to use.

2. somehow getting up off my chair to actually unbox and insert the disc (as opposed to merely touching my phone) makes me feel more committed to listening.

3. i'm sure this is largely in my head, and contradicted by the technical data, but cds still sound more dynamic and somehow richer.

I am very album oriented and don't mess much with playlists. I love streaming and being able to call up almost any album, but when not available on Spotify or Qobuz, i'll pick it up on vinyl or CD. 

I completely agree with your three points. Even though I have Qobuz, I much prefer playing my own collection. With around 10,000 CDs, I truly enjoy the process of selecting and playing them.

Why Do ~You~ Still Play CDs?

Because I still have them and a good CDP.

But I also concur with your reasoning  concerning streaming.   I'm mostly a vinyl man but my TT  drive system is broken so I've been streaming a lot. Its a totally different experience from vinyl. Vinyl holds your attention to the music whereas the convenience of streaming is a 2 edged sword. I find myself making playlists like a DJ and instead of listening to the music I'm making a playlist. If I  hold myself to playing just albums then its pretty good. It still won't hang with my vinyl. But I have a lot more $$$ dedicated to the vinyl. I'll be glad to get the new drive system this weekend.

I play cd because I have good collections. This are sacd, xrcd, and they are excellent. Some of my cd they are not on streaming. Also I don’t have the energy to try to put up a good streaming set up.i also have excellent sacd players and dac/transport set up .

I also have two sets of vynil set using SME 10 and VPi tt ? So I already plenty to play with. So I don’t need streaming at this time.

Since I’ve gotten my streaming setup to sound as good or better than CDs the only time I bother to spin a CD is if it’s not available on Qobuz, which isn’t very often.  

I really never asked this question. They sound great, and are cheap. What could go wrong.

I have two Sony CD changers and about 600 cds loaded in them. Every once in awhile I hit random play and enjoy the music. PLUS all my CD storage is in those players. No CD storage needed anywhere else

All of the above! The physical media and reading the liner notes, band members, cover art, it is all part of the experience.

I also still wear leisure suits!

Kidding! I rarely play a CD and not in a leisure suit.  My CDs are all ripped  

I have set up an extra vintage system using spares that I can just play around with. There is a CD player there. Also a hifi vhs . I made some good recordings off the radio back in the 80s on hifi vhs tape.

It’s not practical to spend more money to buy streamer and pay monthly subscriptions. 

This has been discussed to death but yea, I like and prefer CDs. As others here whose opinions I value have said, one would have to invest at least as much into streaming as they have for their CD setup and that, I'm not willing to do. Way too many boxes, cables and bandaids for me to entertain. 

That, and I'm still old fashioned and like to pay artists and not those who've monopolized their art and screw them out of royalties. It's was never a problem in need of a solution until the admen got involved. 

All the best,
Nonoise

“Still love LP CD and Streaming...all serve a different purpose...not saying one format always sounds better, but they often sound different”
​​​​@jl35

Great perspective and appreciating each format for what it brings to the table. LPs can offer warmth and texture, CDs deliver consistency and ease, and streaming provides unparalleled access and convenience. I just got back into Vinyl and enjoying the wild ride!

The way I see it, they all are equally capable of exceptional sound quality.

Agree with all you wrote. And as an audiophile almost 6 decades I won thousands of CDs and LPs and I'm just used to playing physical formats; the physical sources feel more real.

 I still play CD and vinyl.   I have music bought years ago and never opened that I will play some day. I have zero interest in streaming.  I listen to FM stereo daily, there are still 2 good Rock stations  in my area. I will never stream, I have too much unplayed physical media.  

Thanks to everyone for your responses. 

I agree with @soix , since my streaming set up has eclipsed the sound quality of my CD playback set up I don't listen to them much anymore. Only if i can't find it or i just feel like spinning a CD.

Bought and paid for. 
 

Great sound quality. 
 

Love the inspection process ensuring the disc is clean. 
 

Kept as a storage in case of computer failure. 

I will NEVER "subscribe" to hear my own music. I will listen to the CDs I have and the CDs I create. I don't have any music on the iphone I was given, because the only way to get music on it is to belong to itunes or to buy an expensive Mac.

Because the only thing I know about streaming is that Flomax works.

DeKay 

I play CD's because I can't get my turntable to work in my car.

I don’t. When streaming rose to the same quality of CD and vinyl I dropped CD almost immediately. I have 2,000 CDs and 2,000 pristine vinyl albums. Then slowly stopped listening to my vinyl. Then stopped listening to the same old music I’ve listened to for the last five decades and discovered a whole new world of music.

(1) Because most of them sound good/great

(2) When I'm "burning in" new cables (if such a thing exists), I avoid unnecessary wear and tear on my Sumiko Starling cartridge.

(3) I invested in a nice DAC and CD transport and feel guilty if they are only gathering dust

I have tons of CDs, my player/dac combo sounds great to me, and I own everything that I listen to on my little system. Plus, I know what I like - I don't need a computer to create playlists for me. (I get ideas from books and publications for that.)

I had a top of the line Classe cd player that was rated very high back then plus 1 of the earlier Sony sacd players back in the early 2000’s.  Back then, it was proven that ripped cds sounded better than thru a cd player. I thought so too and sold the Classe. Still have the sacd player but haven’t used it in 15 years. I’ve been selling a couple thousand cds ever since. Now I stream ripped cds and from Qobuz and Tidal. 

“I play CD's because I can't get my turntable to work in my car.”

@aewarren 

This one is for you! 
https://youtu.be/rOt1Zpv-7wg

My CDP is my best source. An ARC Ref CD9. It sounds so good it’s always a treat to listen.

1 I own the music and also have a lot of obscure CD titles which will probably never be available for streaming. 

2 I have more invested in CD playback vs streaming and it sounds way superior on my system. (Jay’s Audio CDT2-MK2 / Denafrips Pontus / I2S connection) vs ( Bluesound Node 2I / Denafrips Pontus / coaxial connection)

3 I like physical media but dumped my vinyl decades ago because I was tired of warpage, “snap, crackle and pop”, rolling the dice every time I bought a used LP, and the royal pain of maintaining records and turntables.

@lalitk 

Thanks for the video. I actually had an RCA under dash record player in my car back in the '60's before 8 tracks came out. The tone arm played underneath the records instead of on top. It played a stack of six 45's and actually didn't skip unless I hit a substantial bump or dip.

It’s not practical to spend more money to buy streamer and pay monthly subscriptions. 

@jayctoy  For the price of about one CD per month I have access to hundreds of thousands of songs via Qobuz — many of them in hi res BTW — and discover awesome new music I would’ve never heard otherwise almost every day.  It’s the most fun I’ve had as an audiophile and music lover ever, and every month it’s the best 11 bucks I spend.  Or I could just spin CDs and listen to the same stuff over and over and over again.  No thank you, but to each his own.  

I don't want any more bills (like for  a streaming service) to add to my budget in retirement., not that I couldn't afford  it.  I also find it greatly satisfying to have complete collections of an artists output on vinyl or CD. It's one of life's small pleasures. I love getting a new CD. I can,t wait to get the new Band-Maid CD from Japan once it comes down in price a bit.

I've never wanted to be in the computer or cell phone age. I found it disturbing enough to transition to CD's from records in the first place, after having skipped over 8-tracks , and cassettes tapes, but not reel to reel. First thing I did after retiring was to throw my cell phone over the fence into the woods, having never learned to send a text message.

I don't have a streamer and don't spend enough time listening (unfortunately) to justify buying one but still have lots of cds to listen to when I can. 

I don’t.  I have not had a working CD player for 6 years.  Another customer service nightmare when the laser burned out on my Linn Unidisk 1.1 without Linn supporting disc players any more and using a custom laser.  I find streaming equivalent or better than analog and CD/SACD.  I  do not get added enjoyment from, or need the tactile feel of physical media and consider it an inconvenience.  I do not need to own physical media and recognize streaming is a bargain from the customer’s perspective as business model where thousands of albums available at my fingertips for the monthly charge rather than buying physical content.  The only negative is it is a little more enjoyable to read a vinyl album cover rather thanmetadata on a screen, but reading metadata on a screen is more enjoyable than a CD insert.  

Not played CDs directly since 2007. Rarely even rip one these days.

 I stream and I still purchase CDs.  I agree with your reasons why.  Most of the new ones I buy are reissued box sets that have tracks I can’t get online like live shows that are unreleased.  I still have over a thousand CDs but I find I don’t play them as often due to the ease of use and sound quality with a good streaming system.  I listen to so much more new music streaming.  Interesting to explore new music. It’s good for this old dog to listen to new tracks.  

I just got into streaming less than 1 year ago. Whilst I held out for many reasons (large CD collection that I own, couldn’t wrap my brain around “renting” music), I can honestly say I love it! Almost life changing😂! However, I still find CD’s to have a bit more depth, detail, and just a tiny bit extra level of air. I also find CD listening to sound a bit more dry-in a good way…

Streaming I so enjoy as I find it to sound livelier and more encompassing. I find myself more involved when listening to a song streaming vs CD. I find myself letting loose on Friday and I got the streamer going whereas if I want a more quiet/intimate listening session I go with CD..

I don't stream, and haven't listened to any of the hundreds of digital downloads I purchased a decade (or two?) ago in, well, about a decade.  I like the experience of selecting physical media (LP, CD or whatever), and I've got more to listen to than I can handle in the few years I've got left.

All my CDs fall into a few categories.

1. CD came with the record.
2. Album not available on vinyl and I need a copy.
3. Album not available on vinyl and bought to support the artist.

I like CDs but prefer the sound of records. Tried streaming Tidal Hi-Fi and didn't like sound at all. Not willing to invest in better digital gear. I do listen to a lot of YouTube on Firefox with Ublock Origin for ad free viewing. 

I personally find that my CD's sound better than the exact album on Tidal streamed directly through a high-end computer into the same DAC as the CD player. I also spend too much time in front of screens and computers for work, so it is nice to keep that out of my listening room. I like owning the album and the tactile nature of a CD. 

-Because-I-Enjoy-Them

@loomisjohnson 

very well said 

However, I still find CD’s to have a bit more depth, detail, and just a tiny bit extra level of air

@kingbr  If you add an Iris or Hermes DDC before your Pontus and take advantage of the i2S connection it will up your streaming performance significantly and may surpass CDs.  That’s what it did for me anyway — it’s not a small improvement and on the level of a significant DAC upgrade.  Just my experience FWIW. 
 

I personally find that my CD's sound better than the exact album on Tidal streamed directly through a high-end computer into the same DAC as the CD player.

@upstateaudiophile  Of course CDs will sound better than streaming through a computer, which is the noisiest and worst source for streaming.   Even a cheap streamer like a Node or iFi Zen Stream will put your streaming much closer in performance to CDs.

I still play CD's because a lot of things I like are not available on vinyl. I also buy large CD box sets like those of the Grateful Dead. 

I run my cd player into my streamer dac. It improves the sound a bit. Plus the coax output makes a difference rather than using the rca output 

I still play CD's because the better quality ones still sound great.  Of course you need a first rate CD player to get the most out of them and that can be costly.  

Nothing beats streaming for convenience and its sound quality continues to improve. I do wonder given the fast pace of technology how long it will be before streaming is replaced.  

• I buy physical media because streaming screws over the artists and only lines the wallets of the streaming companies.
• I buy physical formats because I like to own something, and also appreciate the physical design. If available, I get the special physical edition, signed covers, etc.
• I buy CDs if the work is not available on vinyl.
• I buy cassettes if that is the only physical format.
• I buy files if that is the only format.
• All CDs are digitized and on a Roon server.
• I have a few records, including some new pop/rock, that are not available on streaming (e.g., Videotraum's "Ebbe//Flut"). I don't want to be limited to what I listen by what is available on a streaming platform.

Not because of better sound quality, but my CD collection includes content that Qobuz does not. Unless you have a high-quality CD/DVD drive, economical digital transporters like the MXN10 can easily outperform it.

@soix im not sure i fully buy the noise argument. Along those same lines, what about noise from signal transmission within servers at Tidal, transmission to my house etc? The McIntosh CD transport is the shortest and least tampered-with signal IMO. I’ve heard plenty of streamers including on my own speakers (Wilson Audio) at the dealer and to my ears, it’s inferior to CD and vinyl.