Why Do ~You~ Still Play CDs?

Several reasons. 

I still like physical media. 

Living in LA, there are quite a few brick and mortar stores selling used CD's. And since I love a lot of obscure, avant-garde, progressive music, browsing Amoeba's, Counterpoint's, CD Trader's used avant-garde classical section, or jazz section, I will often come across a CD by a composer or artist I am not familiar with, that looks intriguing. So, I will usually take a chance and buy it, and often come across something truly brilliant. 

With streaming, I would have never have come across these sort of discoveries.

I subscribe to Qobuz, which I like a lot. But they don't have everything by a composer or artist I may like. 

For example, I love a serial piece by composer, Ernst Krenek, called "Static and Ecstatic". Qobuz does not have it. I have a CD version recorded by the Cleveland  Philharmonic, and an incredible vinyl recording by the LA Phil chamber orchestra.

I am also a huge fan of an avant-garde prog band called Univers Zero from Belgium. They have 11 releases between 1977 and 2023. Qobuz only has 4, Tidal also has only 4.

So, unless I have my CD and vinyl collection, I would be missing quite a few of my favorite recordings. 

@simonmoon

I almost didn’t post to this thread, but then I saw your message. "Univers Zero", you say?? An audiophile after my own heart!

UZ is just one of dozens of "Rock in Opposition" and USSR artists that I’ve loved for decades, and which are mostly ignored by both Tidal and Qobuz. If you didn’t, like me, buy the Cuneiform CDs and LPs when you had the chance, or trade American albums for locally produced discs/disks with Euro & Soviet-bloc penpals in the 80s, your only online source today for those progressive-rock, jazz, and RIO releases is YouTube.

But for me, the dealbreaker is that Tidal & Qobuz have a tendency to simply delete albums without warning. Admittedly, this is at least sometimes due to content-owner licensing issues, but regardless, I’ve been burnt too many times when I foolishly relied on a streaming service to make favorite albums available in perpetuity. And not just vintage Soviet-era European releases — Yoko Ono, Terry Riley, 1950s-60s academic electronic-music anthologies, and even Chick Corea, Sia (!), and Yes releases, have all vanished abruptly from my Tidal playlist during just the last few months.

So that’s the reason why, despite streaming most of the time, physical media remains my preferred delivery mechanism. And — I hope you’re listening, Netflix — all of this applies to movies as well as audio albums.

@simonmoon, if you’re a Univers Zero fan, you’ve got to also love Art Zoyd, right?

I’m surprised more haven’t said CD to avoid additional tech and screens in their listening rooms. Gen Y is now the biggest buyers of CD. For myself, it is so nice to enjoy that time away from phone/computer/tablet and just listen to music. I like to look at the booklet and lyrics on paper too. I’m a millennial fwiw. Too much tech all day for work. 

I'm rediscovering my CD collection with a used Denafrips Ares R2R Ladder DAC connected to my Oppo UDP-205. Cool stuff

And if internet is down will you have music?Upstate audiophile I agree with you.