Rumors of CD Demise Exagerated? New Hegel

Love streaming, but also love my CDs, vinyl albums, and even some old cassettes. The main issue I have with streaming, over buying a CD, is that I find something I really like, but then a few months later, I can't recall the artist's name or the name of the album or track. But I remember loving it at the time. Yeah, Tidal maintains a listing of the albums you have "liked" or favorited, but man, try to go back and find something from months or years ago can be a pain in the ass.  If I buy the CD, I can usually find it in just a few minutes through "muscle memory". 

Streaming seems great for the "kids" who only care to listen to the flavor of the month or week that is popular. Do they care enough to try remembering what they are listening to say a year or two later? I'm not sure. They are more likely to remember what video game they played. 

For $12.99 a month, I love having access to music library that I can never imagine hoarding on any physical media. .....

That's the difference between *you* and *me*..  I spent $12.99 on 1 (one) CD and I discovered magic. You spend $12.99 on a fast forward life. I take it low and slow. Neither is wrong I guess. 🤷🏼‍♂️ But believe me, my physical system beats your stream. ✌️ Not trying to be confrontational. 

To love accessing ones Rented Music and other forms of Home Entertainment has a price that is quite concerning from a sustainability view point.

In not too many years managing data, has created an industry that is consuming Annually 1% of Global Electricity Consumption and 1% of produced Green House Gas emissions.

If one really wants to know the other impacts, there is plenty to learn, if one takes the time to see the full picture of what a substantial Battery Bank is responsible for. Not Forum Talk unfortunately.   

@pindac 

What about the savings environmentally by not having vinyl and polycarbonate discs manufactured and ultimately sitting in landfills?

I listen to all types of music except country. I have 1800 CDs that I ripped to flacs during the pandemic (probably the second or third time I've done this, started with .mp3s way back). I've made a bunch of .m3u playlists with those, and I carry them around with me, everything fits on a 1 TB m.2 SSD in an enclosure. I can listen in my car or in various homes, I have a couple of Bluesound and Eversolo setups. I throw out the jewel boxes and use DJ plastic sleeves for the cover art and disc. That allows storage of a large number of CDs in a small space. I seldom buy new CDs, instead, if I decide to collect all the works of a particular artist (just did this with Joni Mitchell and Beyonce) I know that there are guys on ebay with hundreds of thousands of CD inventory, all for $3-$4 each, so I stock up. (This may not work with more esoteric artists). Don't really care about the physical condition, as long as I can rip them with error correction that's all I need. Probably won't ever listen to the physical disc. 

I also have about 600 LPs, most of the audiophile variety. All my physical media and my good hifi system is in my country home, where I have room for storage and the ability to listen loud if I want. My other residences are in cities, there I have modest systems and just listen to flacs or Tidal and Idagio.

This is the Golden Age of music. The ability to listen to 90% of the world's music without financial risk is truly incredible. I remember when I was a kid back in the late 1960s and early 1970s, you'd read a review of a new album, or hear about something from a friend, or an artist you'd like just released a new album, and you'd trudge down to Sam Goody's, or E.J Korvettes (you can tell I'm a New Yorker) in search of the album, which you maybe could or could not find. Then you'd get home and give a listen and decide you really didn't care much for the album after all. Too bad, it's in your collection unless you can swap or resell it. 

Nowadays you can use streaming services to audition whatever you read about, and only buy what you are truly in love with. Oh, and no more back to Sam Goody's on Monday to exchange the defective LP either. lol.

I use Tidal for popular music and Idagio for classical. I try and keep up with the kids and see what's new or hot. If it sounds like I might like it, I build Tidal playlists of 25 songs each, and listen to each playlist extensively, weeding out the ones I don't like. I get initial recommendations from my daughter and her friends, the NY Times (which really does a good job curating music), the grammy awards, the various 'best songs of 202x' lists put out, etc etc. And believe it or not, the NY Times obituary announcements. Often a well known musician will pass, especially if s/he's from another part of the world, but it turns out I knew nothing about them. I can go on Tidal and check them out. 

I can't imagine not having my physical media as backup, if nothing else, but the thirty bucks a month I pay for two high quality streaming services is barely the cost of a couple of CDs. If a musician's music speaks to me in such depth that I would be heartbroken if they left streaming, I'll buy it to make sure.

It's a blended approach that works well for me.