Features - QOTW: Where do you buy your music?

[HEXUS]

And have your habits changed to keep pace with the digital revolution?

Read more.

[Whiternoise]

Switched to Spotify Premium recently, but before I was using Napster because it was a fiver a month with 5 free track credits. Then Rhapsody bought them and did away with that, butchering the user interface in the process. So I guess I don't buy music any more, but neither do I pirate it.

Occasionally I buy albums, but usually from Amazon because they don't bend you over like HMV does.

[Terbinator]

HMV's 2/3 for £x mostly.

[Zhaoman]

I still way prefer to have a CD in my hands so for essential releases I still go to the high street and pick it up on day of release; I don't like purchasing CDs online because they could take a week to deliver and I still like to play CDs on my stereo so downloading from iTunes is a no no. Non essential stuff like songs I hear on the radio that I like get 'downloaded'... If I like those songs enough I go on a spree during sales time and pick up the CDs for cheap

[alpha channel]

CD's all the way, I like to have the physical copy which allows me to rip at max quality. The only digital tracks that I've downloaded have been when Amazon, rather unexpectedly, gave me credit to spend on their music downloads (with a number of purchases).

[Repressor]

Physical CDs, generally from Amazon. I love my .wavs and flacs. Nowhere seems to sell these digitally.

[Infinite]

Spotify Premium... after years of playing TPB thought I'd give something back lol

CDs are useless for me, rip them once and put them in the attic.....

[OilSheikh]

Now, if you thought my answer would be " I get them off piratebay" , go shave your head NOW!

I am not a music fan. I like Punk and Light rock genres and also listen to some Japanese pop singers. I like a few bands like Yellowcard, The starting line, etc. Whenever I feel like listening to their songs, I just use Youtube.

Hip hop, R&B and the likes should be banned!!!

[phoneme]

I often use Bandcamp, which is good for finding artists on independent music labels. Many artists allow you to name your price and offer their music in FLAC, OGG Vorbis formats. Amazon and PLAY for the rest.

[Valinor]

I usually aim to buy CDs (from Amazon), but only when they're no more expensive than downloading it (also from Amazon).

[andrewuk]

I buy physical media as I prefer to have an actual CD. Usually from Amazon/Tesco as they're generally the cheapest for new releases. I also don't like the idea of paying to download files that have bits of the music thrown away - I want lossless please! I then rip my CDs into FLAC files and stick them on the NAS. The CD itself goes into one of several ever expanding collections of plastic storage tubs for safe-keeping

[[GSV]Trig]

Spotify here..

[TJM DW]

I've recently mostly abandoned digital and switched over to vinyl, which was probably the best thing I ever did to improve my music listening. The sound quality is subjectively far superior to my ears, and the lack of dynamic range compression compared to CD/web releases is a massive improvement (Google "Loudness Wars"). It's more expensive, but worth it.

A surprisingly large number of modern records are still released on vinyl - I'd say about 75% of the popular ones and many of the less popular ones too.

I buy most of my vinyls from Amazon (usually the marketplace, not directly) or import from big US stores. Alternatively, I have sometimes bought them from independent smaller stores across Europe when I want quicker delivery or they are cheaper.

I don't buy CDs any more, if I really want to buy something not available on vinyl I get it from Qobuz (a French website) because they provide lossless downloads of most records that are released.

[THEDYLANATOR]

iTunes, but nowadays I listen to less mainstream stuff and get their albums/EPs free

[brasco]

Spotify prem and Zune, used to be an itunes whore, now use it just for the tv shows and films

[lkarunan]

Same as many above: CDs for lowest price rip to flac library for highest quality digital files. Also trancode to ogg for portable player (Clip+).