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Is there one that stands out above all others, or are you still buying CDs?
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Is there one that stands out above all others, or are you still buying CDs?
Spotify premium for me. love it. I get a student discount so £5 a month which is good value in my opinion.
Spotify
Pandora
Deezer in the past (like the flow option) but none at the moment.
None at present... mines stored on my nas (mostly cd's ripped) although I do have a backup on google music just in case :)
Also got the intention to upload to MS music folder too but no rush on that.
I still buy CDs, but I mostly buy FLAC these days. I've tried Spotify, but I forget it's there so it's pointless! I remember the music I've paid for, and only my own digital library feels real and "mine". I wish I could adapt sometimes, but then I look at my friends and think, no. They might listen to more things but they mostly hear that music only once or twice, and they don't seem to find a lot to love in music. The way I consume music means that I hear it a lot more, nothing goes unlistened, and I connect with it all in a different way.
I don't, all my music is stored on my pc
Same here. I buy CDs, rip them to FLAC and stream from a 2TB collection on my PC.
The standard Amazon Prime. Pretty awful imo. The apps are just outright buggy and the library is very lacking. Been meaning to switch to another service but this is already included with Prime. If you only listen to old music its pretty good, it's the lack of newer music that is annoying.
allways listen music in offline
None. Listen to CDs on Hi-Fi, ripped CDs & Mp3 good enough for listening on the move.
Spotify, very rarely though.
I prefer to listen to music offline, be it CD rips or DRM free downloads.
I was a LastFM subscriber some years ago until they introduced audio ads and stopped the foobar 2k streaming plug-in from working. They didn't cancel my subscription payment when I requested it and they ignored my emails for a refund. My personal information was compromised when they were hacked sometime ago too.
More recently I used Soundcloud, but I've also stopped using them a few months ago when they introduced audio ads. There's no way I'm paying £9.99 a month for the ad-free service for a mere few hours of music streaming a week.
Sometimes buy CDs, more often borrow from the library. Both get ripped as FLAC to the PC. Only stream, rarely, from Spotify to try new music before spending any money.
Google Play Music (All Access) is convenient - especially for music on the smartphone - but it has had its fair share of annoying bugs. I have bought a few MP3 & FLAC downloads in the past but for albums I want to own I prefer to buy the CD and rip to FLAC to add to my existing offline collection.
I buy CDs .... or, these days, that would largrly be better described as "listen to CDs I already own".Quote:
Let us know your preferred choice, and your reasons why
Reasons why? Several, I guess.
Firstly, I already have a large CD collection. And, for that matter, a large LP collections .... youngsters - wikipedia is your friend. ;)
And, a not inconsiderable amount on Minidisc, and even some on C90 and even reel-to-reel tape.
Second, I don't use a smartphone, so streaming 'anywhere' isn't an option.
Thirdly, I don't like 'renting'. For the same reason as why I won't 'rent' Office 365, or Photoshop, etc, I won't pay monthly for a service I may not use all month.
Fourthly, mostly when I listen to music, I really listen. That means it's not background music while I'm doing something else, but that I am settled back, lights low, eyes probably closed and am solely concentrating on enjoying music. So, I pick a CD (or LP, etc), hit play and relax in a comfy chair to enjoy, on a decent hifi.
Streaming suits neither my preferences, nor my listening style. I don't see this ever likely to change. If Spotify, etc, was totally free (monetarily) and totally ad-free, I still wouldn't use it much, if at all. And I rarely lusten to commercial radio because of adverts, and I CERTAINLY do not, under and circumstances whatever, want adverts killing my mood when I'm listening to music.
Fifthly, and I mention it kinda in passing, I see no need to allow big data to study my mydical preferences. Privacy doesn't rank terribly highly in my reasons for not streaming, but it's in there.
So if someone can show me a completely ad-free, no-charge service that provides a very high quality source signal, on a 100% reliable, always-available service on which I can be certain my usage isn't being tracked, and that has all the music I have, and is as easy to browse and select as me picking a CD, I'll give it a try. But I don't need it.
None, Still like to own it whether it's on disc or digital.
Uncompressed is the best!
Streaming yuck, May as well bang two tin cans together, Will get the same quality audio from PCM garbage.
Deezer for me. Good support for various devices and available in my car too!
Paying £6 for the Family premium version (6 accounts)
Use a VPN and connect to Brazil to mask your ip. The cost is then reduced to around £5-£6 depending on the Pound rate.
No need for codes either.
Instead of the UK top hits you get defaulted to the Brazil Top hits, but you can manually add the UK playlist. So same service!
I use Tidal, really liking the masters they've added recently, sound great through my Kef R500 speakers! :D
Google Play Music. It's very affordable in South Africa (about 3 pound/month) and we don't have Spotify here.
Google play Music Family sub. There is 4 of us so it makes sense to have a family subscription. We have a variety of devices, most obviously smart phones but it can obviously be used on laptops and bounced to chromecasts and Sonos devices.
I normally hit a radio on an album I like and drive to and from work. It's great, ad free (natruallly, I've paid for it) and catered roughly to my tastes. I've found some new bands I enjoy that way :)
It also helps that I'm broadly engaged in the Google Eco system so it seems to 'just work'.
For every day stuff I stream wirelessly from the BBC (usually DAB - occasionally FM when I'm driving)
Purchased CDs are either format shifted to FLAC and/or MP3 or if purchased from Amazon with a digital download, listened to from Amazon basic.
All depends where I am or what I'm doing.
I buy CDs still,and if I am interested in checking out new stuff I will go onto YT.
Spotify Premium
Local stored music on a server. Served out by plex server and apps on mobile devices.
YouTube. When I find something I like I buy it on iTunes.
Spotify Web
None
None and no intention of ever doing so. I have a dedicated music player instead (Cowon Plenue D).
Not sure if it counts as it's internet radio rather than something where you choose what to play, but: www.di.fm
It's about the only music i ever listen to nowadays :)
None, I wouldn't buy a rip, cd yes but not a rip or digital version you can't hold in your hand.
I don't stream music but I think bandcamp is a great platform for artists to sell music
I used to pay for a Premium Account subscription from Digitally Imported (higher quality streaming bandwidth and no ads), but they sent me a couple of snotty emails about using the service on more than one device at a time (likely forgot to turn it off on my phone whilst listening on my PC) and threatened to suspend my account, so I ditched them.Quote:
Originally Posted by fail_quail
None here. Still buying CDs where possible - singles from Beatport. Everything ripped to HDD to use on iPods in the cars and iPhone on the move. I do use Youtube for finding new music as well as various mix hosting sites.
My own PC is my music streaming service LOL. But I have all of my music on the SD card anyways, I use this "service" only to copy new music I've encoded to my SD card once in a while.
I buy Vinyl, High res Flac, then CD's. I don't use streaming unless you count DAB while I'm in the car. I use a Fiio X3 while I'm on the move. The flac lives on a QNAP TS453a linked to my Hi-Fi.
Spotify Premium, with 320kbit mode enabled. Best tenner a month I spend
Not for me as I don't listen to commercial music. Gimmicky stuff like Daft Punk will never enter into my music collection. However, if there's a streaming service offering connoisseur class music then I might be interested in the future.
Spotify Premium for me, use it everyday in the car.
Also Soundcloud and Mixcloud too.
All of them
This comment has me really confused. You do realise that streaming services offer music to suit a wide variety of tastes and genres, right?Quote:
Originally Posted by Top_gun
Amazon prime free service. If not thrown in i'd used spotify free. I've no intention of paying a subscription for background music while I code... If they stop free/bundled streaming I'll just go back to my ripped CDs I've uploaded to google music. Then again I'd rather list to radio 4 than music so I put very low value on it except for helping me concentrate at work (and Bach is better for that any modern song anyway!)
I don't use any. I listen to Radio 2 in the car, or CDs if it's late at night. If I'm listening at home, it's my MP3 playlist on the PS3, or Google Play Music via the Chromecast. Again, my library, not streaming.
Yes, indeed you're confused and your thinking is based on lazy assumptions that somehow music streaming services offer a variety of music to suit everyone's taste. Are you able to understand the mind of a connoisseur? Probably not.Quote:
Originally Posted by bitbucket
Generally speaking, I do have specific tastes - not just in music. The problem, as I see it, is that most people are not particularly knowledgeable and instead exert their own lazy thinking on to me. So while the music streaming services tick boxes to many genre it doesn't mean it ticks mine. On a deeper level, the person tasked in selecting music has probably grown up during an era of bad music pandered by the large music corporations. How can he possibly understand my tastes?
With all due respect, I stopped reading here. I'm not engaging with an ego as wide as that. Have a word with yourselfQuote:
Originally Posted by Top_gun
Spotify most of the time, tried Amazon music with my Prime subscription mostly for xmas playlists on the TV - selection isn't as good but it's a decent enough service.
Also got some musicon my Play music share, and also a NAS full of stuff, but most of that is on Spotify now.
TuneIn for podcasts/streaming radio very occasionally. In fact, used it for the first time in 6 months today.
Spotify Premium, with Family Plan.
Spotify
Have a word with what? Your answer is the end result of your limitations rather than mine. Clearly you don't understand the mind of a connoisseur and instead you give a remark based on your figment of imagination. My views are not different to my fellow connoisseurs - just a love of good music free of marketing.Quote:
Originally Posted by bitbucket
So you're telling me that Spotify (to choose an example) is rubbish because the person selecting the music probably has terrible taste? Broad, meaningless assumptions like this aren't from the mind of any kind of 'connoisseur'. You clearly lack critical knowledge that you so boldly claim to posess about the content that's available, and how that content comes to exist. If it's the subscription fees that you take exception to then fair enough but your bizarre stance on 'taste' doesn't make you a connoisseur of anything, nor does it make others ignorant.Quote:
Originally Posted by Top_gun
More figment of your imagination yet again.Quote:
Originally Posted by bitbucket
Clearly you're out of your depth in this discussion when these concepts has been around for the past 25 years or more. It really shows. The 'critical knowledge' has been around for many years and predates me. So I'm not going to take the credit. The sad facts of the matter is people like you are bombarded with commercial music and lack the necessary 'critical thinking' in why other people find the music so dissatisfying.
I'm more than happy to have a long protracted debate on this matter. Your buzz words insult can only take you a small step in this debate.
I don't use streaming services as such, I find that I'm covered by 1) my MP3 collection on my phone 2) the radio and/or 3) youtube
Critical knowledge of music streaming services 'predates' you? Then I'm clearly debating with a child - although I was in little doubt of this anyway. Have we met? I ask because you seem incredibly confident about the type of music I've been 'bombarded' with, not to mention "people like me" (whatever that's actually supposed to mean). I've been listening to, recording, playing and writing music for a long, long time. In all of that time, however, I can't say I've ever encountered anybody quite as bizarre, rude and egotistical as yourself. I do wonder if you read back anything that comes off your keyboard before you press 'Post', because you don't appear to have any idea what you're actually talking about.Quote:
Originally Posted by Top_gun
I won't be responding to your nonsense any further.
Trying to twist my words and hurling petty insults are telling that you're incapable of having an adult conversation.Quote:
Originally Posted by bitbucket
My views haven't changed since the age of 18 when I was buying rare imported vinyl and listening to Jazz, Funk and Soul music. You know, music made by proper song writers, musicians and singers. Quality is timeless as they say. Never listened to much chart music in my teenage years either. I guess I was lucky I grew up at a time when marketing in underground music was zero and music innovation was the order of the day. The only genre I needed to know came under good music!
Still, your comments reminded about past people who I've had conversations with on this particular subject and one thing that really struck me was their lack of taste and style not just in music but in everything.
Sorry but God made me funky.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvoenLNWytA
Though clearly not intentional, your posts are hilarious. :)Quote:
Originally Posted by Top_gun
Talk about having your head jammed up your own backside. Have you ever heard of the term 'superiority complex' ? ;)
Dear Dannyboy, I really feel sorry for you for living in an era of being a 'marketing victim' and your comments bear no relationship to me as a person. It's you hitting out as a defence mechanism to buying really bad music. I just recognise the music these days are just trashy. Let's face it, the problem started in the eighties with the merger of record labels and the rise of big corporations. Looks replacing talents. Real musicians replaced by copy and paste technicians.Quote:
Originally Posted by dannyboy75
I mean if someone like Aretha Franklin, starting out the first time, would not even get a record deal today as she hasn't has the right look. There is no integrity in the music industry these days.
Have a listen to what real singing is all about because I say you don't have a clue what is. I remember reading an article in Blues and Soul magazine, around mid 1980s, who thought her vocals has actually got better since the sixties.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7IjN8xmZ9_M
You will never ever get me to buy 'boy band music' no matter how much you insult me. :)
Any true music connoisseur would know that taste is subjective, and I think (without meaning to offend) you're confusing a generational change in music quality with your own stubborn tastes as you age. I'm a huge fan of Aretha Franklin, Chet Atkins and even Glen Miller to name a few. I'm also a huge fan of Lady Gaga, Nico & Vinz and Muse. Music isn't terrible solely because it's modern, and if you disagree with that then I'm afraid you're the ignorant one, not dannyboy75 or myself or anyone else. There was plenty of terrible music around in the sixties and there are plenty of superb musicians writing music today. Subscribing to Spotify doesn't consign you to listening to Take That, Little Mix or One Direction... I can't really believe I'm even having to explain that, but there we go.Quote:
Originally Posted by Top_gun
I did say I was done with this, but felt that was worth appending to this 'debate'.
Wide of the mark yet again. You having a go at me for your limitations rather than mine.Quote:
Originally Posted by bitbucket
If the music I listen to isn't so great then why do the copy n paste technicians of today used them in their creations. I'm all for progressive music and I bought House music on import before it became mainstream in this country. The reality is music hasn't progressed but marketing has. I despaired in the 1980s about the rise of trashy music which created the template for today's music. I've not heard anything since to change my mind.
Like I said I'm more than happy to have a long protracted debate so that you would finally understand where I am coming from. I fear you will never get it.
I can't think of anything that I'd less like to do. Take careQuote:
Originally Posted by Top_gun
Absolutely, why would you want to have a protracted debate if the best you can come up are ill informed shallow rude comments.Quote:
Originally Posted by bitbucket
Still, this whole saga reminded me about a mate of mine who had similar problems with his younger colleagues at work one day. The same colleagues begged for copies after he brought in some of his music. He said no of course - connoisseurs only.
I am into clothes and trainers as well. I have a collection of trainers where I can sell them on ebay for around £600. I had arguments with idiots about my tastes in the past and the same idiots were unable to back up their predicted arguments as expected just like you. So one day I dressed up and I got them foaming around their mouth with envy. They just couldn't contain it! :mrgreen:
Moving on, you have same mentality as the man in this video after reading your comments. You can tell when someone is a connoisseur and I met a number. For you to say it's subjective only clearly illustrates you're not one at all.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n9BnBXsbkcM
Are you a connoisseur in that your music tastes are eclectic, or in the format that you listen to?
I'd say eclectic as I have enjoyed artists from Japan, Latin American and Africa as well as those from UK, Europe and North America.Quote:
Originally Posted by peterb
ETA: In terms of format, I'm a vinyl person. I was fortunate enough to have really good Physics teachers who thought vinyl was a better format than CD and I read a number of HiFi magazines confirming this as well. In fact, this again, has reminded me of previous painful arguments with idiots who thought CDs were superior just because marketing told them so. Nowadays, the position is now fully accepted but it wasn't the case even ten years ago.
I'm a criminal? Please explain what you mean by this. Genuinely baffled by this comment. I too have expensive tastes in certain items, but I'm certainly not in any way jealous of others' possessions.Quote:
Originally Posted by Top_gun
Congratulations. I bet you're the talk of the town.Quote:
Originally Posted by Top_gun
RE 'rudeness', I give as good as I receive on that front, I'm afraid. Any rudeness is a direct response to your own.
Thank you - I was interested in your use of the word connoisseur - because you seemed to apply it to music, rather than a type of genre of music. I accept that you may be a connoisseur of (say) Latin American music, but the fact that someone doesn't share your taste for that genre doesn't make their taste ny less valid (although as a connoisseur, you might be expected to have sufficient breadth of knowledge to find something that would have appeal to someone who was a connoisseur of (say) Amy Whitehouse or Handel or whatever). I would argue it would be difficult to claim to be a music connoisseur because of the breadth of musical endeavour, from Hip hop through to Gregorian chant.Quote:
Originally Posted by Top_gun
With record to format - a far more difficult question. Vinyl has a certain sensuous appeal, taking a disc out of the sleeve and placing it on a turntable is a very deliberate act, and quite tactile, unlike a CD which is less so (and playing an MP3 or other 'formless' medium even less so)
As for better - well, there are so many criteria. A CD or purely digital medium is a vastly superior to vinyl if you want to play music in a car - which is hardly an ideal acoustic environment anyway.
In terms of acoustics, so much depends on the equipment used both in the production and recording phase and also that used for playback. A well mastered recording is will give equally good results on either vinyl (which is limited in frequency response by the mass of the cartridge) and dynamic range (limited by the physical size of the groove) or CD (where frequency range is limited by the sampling frequency and dynamic range by the number of bits on the DAC. But recording for either media requires a degree of appropriate signal processing to overcome the limitations of both media types.
I would certainly argue that mp3 as a lossy encoding format is inferior to something like FLAC but again the final result depends on the quality of the encoder and decoder.
And the weakest link in the entire music reproduction system is probably the listener, where what sounds best is as much a subjective. After all if you have spent £20,000 on a setup, the owner is never going to admit that a £5,000 set up sounds as good.
It is very much a subjective call.
Did I say you were criminal? No, I said you have the same mentality, ie, when a person perceive someone have nice things or better you, then your instincts is to drag that person down. In the case of the man in the video he committed a criminal offence through criminal damage but really the motivating factor is to bring the owner. In your case, because I said I was a connoisseur you're hell bent in dishing out as much disparaging language in an hopeless attempt to bring me down. Same behaviour the only difference is there are laws for criminal damage.Quote:
Originally Posted by bitbucket
Sorry, you're confusing reality (real life experience) with rudeness. I've seen it many times before, where they mouth off but when it comes to backing it then one realise how shallow they really are. So far you've bought nothing to the table in terms proper debate material. Crying crocodile tears just because you're out of depth shows you are incapable in having a rational and grown up debate.
As for you having expensive tastes then I believe that YOU as a marketing victim will always overpay the odds for goods. I, on the other hand, underpay because I understand inherent value from marketing value. For example, I paid £270 for a pair jeans from an unknown brand but I knew, as a connoisseur, I was buying exceptional quality for a reasonable. Later, the marketing got involved after likes of David Beckham and Brad Pitt started wearing the brand and price of the clothing nearly tripled in price.
Like I said, I'm all for a protracted debate yet I haven't hit level two. Can you finally accept you're out of your depth, bitbucket?
The word connoisseur is a term regularly used in my circles for a number of decades. Given the pedigree of the music then I feel it's the right term to use. If others disagree then it's their problem not mine. I don't dismiss other connoisseurs for having different tastes to mine. I enjoy their thoughts and insights. I just can't stand the clueless idiots who feels the need to correct me based on their own limitations.Quote:
Originally Posted by peterb
I heard various arguments amongst the audiophiles about what constitutes good sound quality but what was quite clear was the Digital to Analogue converter limitations. I have listened to high end rigs costing thousands so at least I know what to listen for in terms of sound quality.Quote:
Originally Posted by peterb
As for the last sentence: "After all if you have spent £20,000 on a setup, the owner is never going to admit that a £5,000 set up sounds as good." I recall conversation with a HiFi dealer after he spent tens of thousands on pounds in order to improve the sound but was never ever satisfied. I would never ever say a £5000 set up is as good as £20,000 because I know there are other elements at play such as detail, sound stage, texture and so forth. I heard those differences personally myself though if you listen to crap then you would hear crap and no system can ever improve the sound no matter how much you pay!
No one as ever put their head above the parapet to say flac is superior vinyl. I believe flac is the future, particularly because a number of high end manufacturers is converging to computer audio but I very much doubt a high end flac set up will trump an an analogue one.
Any "rudeness" needs to stop .... for either side.Quote:
Originally Posted by bitbucket
*Scratches head*. Moving on...Quote:
Originally Posted by Top_gun
Frankly this isn't the point - this was never about your jeans or the quality of the goods that I choose to purchase as a 'marketing victim' (another wild accusation, there). This was about music and your attitude towards my taste in music, of which you had no insight into at the time you criticized it as being 'commercialized'. The point was and still remains that your taste in music production is entirely subjective - you've failed to present me with any information to suggest otherwise.Quote:
Originally Posted by Top_gun
Tldr; my mind hasn't changed on the matter. A connoisseur of music (if one can truly exist, as peterb points out) can't expect to be taken seriously by throwing mud at anything that doesn't match his or her particular tastes. This, in fact, makes you quite the opposite of what you claim to be. Dismissing me as a 'clueless idiot' doesn't fit either - it's just rude.
I suggest we agree to disagree. It would appear that neither of us are going to budge on this.
Dear bitbucket, I dealt with people like you in the real world many times before when it comes to either discussing clothing or music. The problem here is I recognise your limitations easily but your limitations makes it more difficult to understand my position. There's no point in getting solace from Peterb. He was never been in that inner circle and can only give his view on what a connoisseur is based on his own limitation and a dictionary definition. It also seems factual information given here has gone over your head and you're only partaking in insults, playing ignorant when it suits you, slinging mud from the outset and then make groundless accusation that I was being rude. By all means I love a grown up debate but I feel you have the means to do so based on your limitations.Quote:
Originally Posted by bitbucket
As for your suggestion for us to agree to disagree, no chance! I recognise your limitations twenty five years ago.
As a connoisseur of pointless internet arguments - I'm recognising limitations of people's ability to stay on topic. So...
I've not seen anyone mention Apple Music here yet, remember a few people saying it was better than Spotify when it came out - they soon went quiet though.
And has anyone been crazy enough to try the reimagined Napster service?
Suit yourself :). This is indeed pointless. I'm out.Quote:
Originally Posted by Top_gun
Give my regards to the other members of the "inner circle".
Somewhat judgemental of you - and reminds me of Humpty Dumpty in Alice Through the Looking GlassQuote:
Originally Posted by Top_gun
Which re-inforces the earlier impression that you you are only here to sneer at people who don't share your point of view.Quote:
“When I use a word,” Humpty Dumpty said, in rather a scornful tone, “it means just what I choose it to mean—neither more nor less.”
Normally I stay on topic but thanks to bitbucket constant mudslinging which was another indication he was out of his depth. Still I think I combine the on topic conversation while at the same time further my own cause.Quote:
Originally Posted by virtuo
I look forward to reading your memoirs of your involvement in the inner circle then.Quote:
Originally Posted by peterb
I have every right to totally reject your strawman argument because I felt it lacked the real world experience just like bitbucket. Of course you're entitled to your view but it doesn't make it right and nor does it trump my reasoning. I know lots of people who share my views about the music industry and if music is going to improve then it needs to take on board criticism.Quote:
Originally Posted by peterb
I wasn't actually arguing, I was genuinely interested in your point of view. However you seem unable to accept that an alternative point of view is valid and resort to a patronising and somewhat insulting tone when your unsubstantiated assertions are questioned, however benign.
You really clutching at straws with your personal criticism accusation. I simply share the views of a much bigger movement. Really, if you feel insulted and patronised then you have to look at yourself rather than me. I simply saying it as it is and if you don't get it then it's your problem and perhaps delving into your own background will reveal why.Quote:
Originally Posted by peterb
These assertions are nothing new and are generally accepted for the past 30 years or more. In fact, yesterday I had a conversation with a younger chap and he readily understood where I was coming from. He is a DJ and run a record shop in my local area. I didn't have to tell him I was a connoisseur - he knew. Even offered to buy my record collection.
Alright, ENOUGH.Quote:
Originally Posted by Top_gun
I've already asked for rudeness to stop, and you haven't got the message and continued with, as Peter put it, a patronising and insulting tone.
My FIRM advice is to either stop posting in this thread, or stop the condescending.
If you don't, I won't ask a third time. I'll simply suspend the account to emphasaise the first two requests.
Oh, and experience telks me that warnings like this often generate an argumentative response from many posters. I wouldn't advise it, I really wouldn't.
I use Spotify premium plus Bandcamp for anything I want to directly support. I don't particularly like the way money is distributed amongst artists. I would prefer my £10 to go to the artists that I have listened to that month, instead of into a giant pot.
Pandora while I'm at work.
Google Play Music