I Sold my CD Player!!! Streaming sounds so incredible!!!

I find that engaging in the ‘Which is better? Streaming vs CDP? ‘has gotten rather pointless. Both technologies are mature. They are both capable of excellent sound. It comes down to features. Does the convenience of streaming outweigh some of its disadvantages? Do you still have an attachment to Physical Media.

I primarily listen to Classical Music. I thought that I would burn my collection of thousands of CDs to my server and free up tons of space. I was happy with the SQ of my ripped discs and enjoyed the convenience of auditioning new releases from streaming services.

It turns out that there isn’t a single software program that I’ve encountered-and I’ve tried many, including Roon-that can organize Classical Music. I can find CDs faster on my shelf than in the media libraries. Also many of these recordings were not big sellers-perhaps 20,000 units- and some are recordings dating back decades. The availability of these recordings in the services such as Qobuz is spotty as their availability ebbs and recedes.

So for me CDs will be part of the equation until I croak and unfortunately my heirs will be stuck disposing of them. Sometimes I just feel like parking in the recliner and using my server to access the ones that it can find

And now the artists get paid a fraction of what they did!!! Well done!!!

It’s always nice to run old cds on my dvd player out through a good co-ax cable into the dac on my streamer. The cds will sound better through a good quality dac. But the OP  is right, 16 bit compared to 24 bit, there is no going backwards 

In regard to artist's remuneration. The most popular artists do just fine between streaming royalties and concert dates. The obscure and/or unknown artists likely do better with streaming vs. hard copy. For one they get far more exposure via streaming vs. cd/vinyl, Vast majority of these artists won't get promoted by a record company and it requires resources to produce hard copy. Nope, these types of artists have been advantaged by streaming, I have literally thousands of releases on my fav and play lists  from artists I'd not even be aware of if only hard copy available. I have well over 3k cd's and that much or more vinyl, and the vast, vast majority of it is well known artists from the past. When I was purchasing hard copy there were enough past artists and contemporary artists I was familiar with to empty my pockets of money set aside for music purchases.

Now, I might agree that mid level artists may suffer streaming vs. hard copy. These artists may have profited more from hard copy vs. streaming, assuming streaming not available. Still, does the greater exposure that comes from streaming add up to more listens which means greater remuneration, and perhaps a greater chance of prolonging a career.

I'm a boomer, totally believe this is the golden age of music, I can now afford complete output of my favorite artists, and I get much more exposure to new music and artists!

Think about the average size of vinyl and cd collections, I 'd say my 3k plus cd, 3k plus vinyl is up there. And so, I have this relatively large collection, think about how few artists have benefited from my purchases, and how little money I've spent relative to the entire output of recordings ever made! Now , tell me who was getting rich from back in the bad old days when record companies ruled who got signed and promoted.

   @secretguy working in a soupkitchen last Thanksgiving I saw Roger Daultry, Taylor Swift and Billy Joel in line.  I do feel sorry for the poor artists.