Since I purchased my iPhone 6 which includes a free 2 years subscription to Spotify Premium I know that mine has changed forever. I only bought one CD last year (Royal Blood) and doubt I will buy many more in the future.
I still play my CDs in the car but as technology develops I am sure this will change as well. All of my CDs have been stored in the loft for a few years having been ripped to iTunes and put on the iPod but even this seems redundant now.
Rigid Digit says
Not really changed at all.
My prime medium was, and remains, CD. Supplemented with vinyl when I want to listen to something specific that I don’t own on CD.
Don’t do Spotify (never at the computer long enough) and don’t own any form of potable MP3 player (generically known as an iPod, or iPid, or iPud or something?).
Many I know have done the same as you and become completely digital.
For me it is not a consideration, as I am strictly old-school, dinosaur, fuddy-duddy and want to be surrounded by “stuff” and physical product.
Frustrating when some new, special releases are only available electronically – the solution: download, burn to CD, create own artwork and store in the usual manner.
bungliemutt says
Welcome aboard the good ship Luddite. I can’t be bothered with downloads and only rarely listen to anything on Spotify, usually as a way of road-testing it before buying the CD. I love ‘stuff’ too, and nothing beats the plop on the mat of a newly arrived CD (and I do use HMV as well), fiddling with the impossible cellophane wrapping and hearing the satisfying clunk (more of a wheeze these days) as the CD tray closes and the disc whirrs into life. I don’t have a smartphone or any fancy i-nonsense either. Mrs Bungliemutt and the octogenarian Bungliemutt in-laws look at me with pity while they all tinker with their latest Apple gadgetry while I bung another lump of coal on my CD player.
Twang says
The big change for me was getting an iPod, though I listen to more podcasts than anything. I listen to iTunes in my office but leisure wise it’s the big stereo, whole CDs or vinyl. I’m pondering sounds in the dining room – I have an old iPod dock which does fine but I fancy something better – proper speakers, amp, etc. mind you I know in reality unless I’m there on my own it will never be turned up to anything like proper listening levels.
Bingo Little says
I haven’t bought a CD in maybe four years, since I joined Spotify.
I used to love CD shopping and really miss it, but it’s hard to compete with an all you can eat model.
I have Spotify at work and on my phone, and then Spotify via the Sonos at home. God help me if they ever shut down.
It’s not as much fun as scanning the racks used to be, and knowing you can listen to whatever you want takes a lot of the fun out of it (I remember agonising over my finite number of monthly CD purchases), but the age of content scarcity is gone now, and I probably wouldn’t have the spare time to deal with it all these days anyway.
Uncle Wheaty says
Completely agree.
I am sure when my kids have grown up a bit more (6 and 4) I will have more free time to re-explore physical formats but I am to be convinced.
davebigpicture says
Sonos. It’s what digital content should be. I have some music on my phone but I prefer to listen at home or if I’m out and about I still prefer the radio.
Kaisfatdad says
“Hangs head in shame”
I have to confess that 95% of my listening these days is also on Spotify.
I too miss happ days scouring the racks. But even I had the free time and money to do it, there are precious few record shops left.
I often buy a CD at a gig to support the artist. (In fact I’m at a gig now. Tuner who I was inspired to see after an enthusiastic review on the Aw.)
RubyBlue says
I buy a lot less, mainly (as others have said) due to Spotify; I tend to listen to other people’s playlists a lot and I am less interested in owning the physical object than I used to be (and that is true in other areas of my shopping life, with the exception of books).
If I like something that someone has recommend (either from here or on Spotify) I will usually buy it on iTunes which kind of contradicts what I’ve just said; but I ‘buy blind’ much less than I did and I have to be pretty sure of something to fork out money. But as I say, this is true of other areas of my shopping life, not just music.
I never buy CDs, although I kept most of mine. I have a smattering of vinyl knocking around. I very occasionally dig out some of my old cassette tapes. 🙂
So… Spotify or iTunes at home; iPod when on the go (for podcasts and music).
Fin59 says
Vinyl for the beauty of the thing and a possibly imagined warmth, carrying the reverb and sustain of past selves and days lived.
Spotify (via Sonos) otherwise for its hygienic efficiency and instant access to almost everything.
Wayfarer says
Still buying CDs though I occasionally use Spotify to listen to an artist before buying their CD (or not). I play music through my iPhone in the car but it’s always CDs or records in the house.
nicktf says
Not in the last couple of years – had all my CDs ripped to FLAC (and disposed of) about 9 years ago, and since then they have lived on a small home server which pushes them out to a family of Squeezeboxes (1 Boom, one Squeezebox and 3 Squeezeradios – all great kid sadly abandoned by Logitech.) Of course technology being what it is, I hardly play the ripped stuff any more as I have Rhapsody (I think I’m the only person who uses it over Spotify) linked in to the system. I also use Rhapsody via my phone and Aux port on the car stereo when driving.
I tend to listen to featured playlists which are thematically assembled by the Rhapsody staff. New Metal of 2015 today, Sun Ra solo piano yesterday. Both had highs and lows, to be honest.
Martin Hairnet says
Last year I bought a cheapish Android tablet and a Bose mini bluetooth speaker. It’s been great to just roam around the house and listen to whatever on Spotify. Even outside if the wi-fi permits. No fiddle or wires and a decent sound. But a living room hi-fi remains at the heart of my listening, and it’s mostly CDs. Of course Spotify is great for putting the brakes on reckless CD spending sprees. I probably buy about 30-50 CDs a year now. I’m not averse to downloads, but prefer (probably for snob value) Flac flavoured ones. I stare at hundreds of vinyl records from my past that never get played because Im forever putting off an overhaul of my turntable, an eBay purchase that requires a bit of ‘tweaking’. Turns out that I’m not that much of a turntable tweaker.
Gatz says
Mainly buying cds, which are then mainly listened to on the iPod. I’m still wedded to the idea of the album and I listen to the first 35 minutes of a lot of them (it’s a two mile walk from door to office and vice versa). This works brilliantly for Revolver, less so for Yessongs.
DrJ says
Yes, totally, and I think I’m enjoying it more too.
2003: I was single, had some money for the first time and spending significant chucks of it on CDs every month. I had bought an iPod when they came out in Nov 2001, but I was still addicted to buying CDs. However, I wasn’t really listening to all of everything that I bought. And new releases would easily be E21.99. Buying one CD for that new They Might Be Giants track was unsustainable.
2004: I had to move to London so I bought a 250Gb external drive (expensive at the time) and ripped everything I own. Most CDs then got boxed up and put away. And thus began the process of separating myself from the physical product.
2006: I’m given a lovely old Sony hifi and turntable. Start re-enjoying vinyl, for the ceremony. CDs are still bought, but not nearly as many.
2009: By now I have Spotify, an iPhone and a baby. So I decide to see can I go a year without buying a CD. It proves to be surprisingly easy. The very few new releases that I feel are essential to own, I buy on vinyl.
2010: After about 16 months of not buying CDs, I break the spell by buying a 4 CD boxset of The Move, but it signifies a huge shift in my buying. Spotify is by now how I listen to most of my music, but the CDs I buy from now on are things I will definitely listen to because (a) I either know and love them already through Spotify, (b) Its a release from a reliable like Macca or (c) It’s a boxset or rerelease that offers some sort of experience along with the music.
And that’s where I’m still at now. I use Spotify everyday. My turntable was finished after a house move in 2011, but I finally replaced it in 2014 and we now regularly put an album on of an evening. If you had told me in 20 years ago that I would only buy in a year the number of CDs I used to pick up every month, nay sometimes in a week, I wouldn’t have believed you. At the same time if you had told me that I would have an infinite library of music in my pocket for £10/month, I wouldn’t have believed that either.
So I’m still listening to music everyday, and I’m enjoying it more because I don’t think I’ve wasted any money on music in years.
Baron Harkonnen says
Vinyl 50%
CD 50%
New CDs or iPod in the car.
I never listen to digital sources in the house apart from using a Jarre Aerosystem iPod dock in the conservatory in summer.
I still love to buy blind but spending constraints in the next few months (by choice) mean that there will be less blind buying.
I would probably buy more secondhand vinyl but don`t have much more storage space.
Mike Hull says
It was probably the purchase of an iPod in 2005 that made the biggest difference to how I listened to music. Although I had been downloading stuff from Napster (on a dial up connection – that took some patience!), it was having an iPod that made digital music worth listening to. I was mainly buying loads of CDs at the time and hardly ever listening to vinyl. The iPod made my collection portable and with an adapter in the car, I was able to take music everywhere. I still listen to most music on an iPod somewhere. I am woken up by the iPod in the docking station next to the bed and this usually is set to an ‘Added this month’ playlist to make sure I listen to new releases and acquisitions. My original iPod is in the car and tends to play only the stuff I really like (its limited capacity means I have to be ruthless in jettisoning anything less than brilliant).
Although I was an early user of Spotify, I tend not to use it much and I don’t subscribe. At work, we don’t have music on – it’s a surveyor’s office and, anyway, my taste is different to everyone else’s. At home, I listen to CDs and vinyl when I get the opportunity (the hi-fi competes with TV), but do have an iPod dock to listen to downloads and the numerous albums that a few very generous friends like to share with me.
I listen to far fewer podcasts than ever. Partly due to lack of time, but also because so many shows are available on demand. The BBC iPlayer, KCRW and NPR, etc are all a good source of music programmes, live sessions and concert recordings.
I do occasionally use Spotify to check out albums and that has successfully prevented me from buying a few albums, whilst persuading me to buy a few others.
I still prefer physical product and have been buying vinyl again, but will download from iTunes if I know that a local store won’t have what I want, or if I can’t wait for the shops to open. Amazon is used if I have to. If I can, I try and buy direct from the artist.
Kid Dynamite says
All these people who use the service , and yet Spotify still managed to lose €93m in 2013 (2014 figures don’t seem to be available yet). Is it really a sustainable business model?
I kind of hope not. Quite apart from shoddy returns for the artists, it’s an utterly joyless experience. I have used it as a sampler for investigation in the past, but these days I find even that is served better by YouTube.
Mike_H says
My habits have changed radically over the last few years.
I have a Spotify subscription but I hardly use it. Most of my listening is digitised stuff from my laptop through a Denon amp into some old Mission speakers. I sometimes (rarely) listen to CDs through the amp. I have a turntable and a (short) shelf of choice vinyl albums and a beer crate full of old singles but I can’t remember the last time I played anything on vinyl. I hardly ever listen to music radio.
On the other hand, the vast majority of my music purchases are on CD. I only buy downloads if the CD is unobtainable or totally ridiculously expensive. If I go to see a band and enjoy their music, I’ll buy a CD (or sometimes several) from the merch table.
johnw says
Only that I’ve moved from an iPod Nano to a Sandisk player – I moved because I wanted more capacity and the Nano has stayed steadfastly 16G for about 8 years now. The Sandisk player is an awful thing to use but it’s light and sounds better than my old Nano.
I have a free Spotify premium sub for a year which I’m using a lot via the Sonos but I don’t normally like to use my phone to listen to music as it’s too bulky so I doubt if I’ll pay for a further year next January. Once smart phones become as lightweight as today’s small MP3 players then I’ll probably be using my phone for just about everything.
Moose the Mooche says
My pod gives me endless hours of pleasure.
It’s thick, it’s hard, it’s shiny.
It’s completely obsolete.
But it’s mine…. until it stops working.
Beany says
Can I just say you don’t get stuff like this on Spotify and them other fandangled oojits. It only comes on a shiny vinyl single until someone is daft enough to banwangle it onto Soundcloud. So enjoy. Drink has been taken to toast away my fifties…
minibreakfast says
Beany, did you see the 70s no.1s programme on ITV earlier? There was a terrifying 2 minutes of Wurzels/Don Estelle/Benny Hill/Clive Dunn. I thought of you.
Enjoy your last minutes of youth (Mr B was 63 yesterday)!
Beany says
Thanking you. I was busy devouring several hours of Crufts just to get a glimpse of the Weimaraner in the gundog final. I once entered a dog at Crufts you know…
Arf!
ruff-diamond says
ruff-diamond says
Arse….try again…
http://i917.photobucket.com/albums/ad15/camplimp/finbarr_zps7vakngm6.png
Wiggy says
Buying records/CDs was a time and money investment. You chose carefully balancing cost against anticipated benefit. For many it was a collecting hobby- admiring your shelves reflecting your good taste back at you.
Maybe with digital you feel like the kid that went to live above the sweet shop. So much choice but no thrill.
Now its simply the music and not the packaging and objectification. You can listen to whatever you want whenever you want.
To me that’s progress
retropath2 says
Spotify to me is like wikipedia: a resource to find stuff quickly, and, often as not, discard. Bit like youtube or the inter web portal to everything. Stuff I want is either bought (cds) or burnt (e-music, occasional ad hoc i tunes and, OK, fainites, rare music blogs and video2mp3 apps). Yup, it is then all ripped, so, outside the car, it is all on i-pod or laptop, often straight to sons, but the disc is to me the real deal. But I listen more in the car than anywhere else.
Awaiting a record deck this birthday or next, so when the records come in from the cold of the garage.
retropath2 says
Yay, o frabjous day, got the deck for my birthday. Now, given I don’t own an amp or any sexy speakers, I didn’t want the whole works, and so was delighted with a Flexson Vinylplay; this is the company that makes Sonos components, and it is designed for use therewith, as well as thru’ my macbook, or with the tiddly speakers I have available. And it is a delight, making my trip to the excellent 2nd hand vinyl shop in Ludlow a month ago all the better, as I can now play the discs duly purchased. And rip em to mp3, with somewhat more style than the cheapo one I did that with a decade ago, and that the dogs walked on.
http://www.flexson.com/stores/single_product_view.do?pubID=8595&itemID=903497
https://onlyinludlow.wordpress.com/2013/08/09/mod-lang/
retropath2 says
sons = sonos, soz
Blue Boy says
Only time in my life I have been an early adopter was with Spotify. The big transformation for me was getting a car last year which has Bluetooth on it which means I now listen to Spotify off line on my phone on my hours commute to work. I use it mainly for checking out new stuff which sounds interesting., and then old classics I’ve never heard before. But, although I buy a lot less than I used to, I do still buy CDs I really like, or by artists I care about, even if its on Spotify. So Bobs last (which isn’t on Spotify), and records coming out from Bjork and Marling, for example, are ones I will still want to own. I love the access Spotify gives but I graze on it – if I really want to get to know a record I still have to buy it.
Never saw the point of buying digital downloads, and, by the way, I’ve gone right off Kindle – I somehow don’t recall the experience of reading a book on an e-reader in the way I do a real book.
SixDog says
Actually went back to CD’s a couple of years back after a good 5 years with Spotify/downloads only.
The tipping point was buying a car where to add a DAB/IPod compatible new stereo to the German electronics hub was more expensive than the value of the car (nearly).
So went back to CD’s. Household and garage space again slowly reducing but I like the physical product and the damn artwork! Not Luddite’y’, just preference.
Geoffbs7 says
Four things matter to me:-
How much do the people who made the music benefit?
How good does it sound?
Can I read all the sleeve notes?
How much storage space do I need?
Best solution from all that seems to be, buy CDs, copy as FLACS to netbook, play through good hifi, lose jewel cases and use sleeves as recommended elsewhere from New York.
Locust says
I buy more CDs than I’ve ever done, I’m back to the volumes of albums per month that I used to buy as a teenager (but then it was vinyl).
Mostly listen to it on my computer, but also on my kitchen stereo system and an old CD walkman, especially new purchases when I want the “album experience” and avoid the temptation of random play…
No Spotify, no iPod, no mobile phone, no downloads.
I only buy vinyl when it’s an album I really want and that’s the only format available. If it’s download only then I don’t get it. Works for now, maybe not in the future.
Moose the Mooche says
Unlike every other format that has ever existed, I think vinyl is here to stay.
And on that bombshell I’m off to bed…..
mikethep says
All my CDs went to Music Magpie before I left Blighty, having ripped the ones I really felt I wanted. All my music is made up of zeroes and ones and now comes to me one way or another via my Mac Mini and various iPods. I’m with the Spotify crew, have been since the beginning.
Just bought a Bose Soundlink Mini (top piece of kit, by the way), and it came with a free 30 days and a year at half price on Deezer, so I’m experimenting with that. It’s supposed to sound better than Spotify, but I can’t hear any difference. Not a fan of their classical section, which is very patchy and largely made up of idiotic Classic FM-style compilations like Relaxing Baby Music and 50 Calm Classics for Studying. And their definition of jazz is broad enough to include Frankie Valli and Annie Lennox…
eddie g says
I’ve never had an ipod and I’ve never been on Spotify. I tend to buy most of my music on vinyl but 99 per cent of it is second hand stuff from the 50s or 60s- I hardly ever buy anything by ‘new’ artists although I will often buy new product by ‘old’ artists. I still buy CDs. Not as many as I used to though.
Harry Tufnell says
All of the above.
Except Spotify, I never had a great deal growing up and to buy a record was a major investment that had to be worked for. This isn’t the case nowadays but if I want music then I want to own it not borrow it. I will go to Spotify to check something in particular but I don’t think I’ve ever listened to any track more than once on there and I have never listened casually to playlists or whole albums on there.
I buy mostly vinyl, new and second hand, I also buy CDs (not as many as I used to before the Roksan system came along), MP3s from iTunes or Amazon and I have an ipod classic which connects with my car stereo although that’s usually for audiobooks and podcasts, this will soon be obsolete unfortunately so just in case it breaks I have 2x160gb ones still boxed on my shelf – I reckon I’m ok for the next 10 years or so! If I listen to radio it is never music radio, I decide what music I want to listen to, not a man in a studio in Salford or London.
Casual, background music is usually via the Sonos system, proper listening is with the Hi-Fi , compfy chair, a vinyl disc and a glass of red.
pencilsqueezer says
I was sorely tempted to re-ignite my passion for vinyl recently after investing in a new amp, CD player, speakers and headphones but I resisted mainly due to space constraints. No room for album storage. I store CDs in wallets and discard the cases. I rarely buy new product, occasionally purchase second hand if something takes my fancy.
Mostly I stream my music from cloud storage via Bluetooth. It is surprisingly good. I have an Audioengine B1 Bluetooth dac hooked up to my amp via RCA cables. It’s easy and very convenient as I can access music instantly by simply using my phone.
For mobile purposes I use a portable Bluetooth speaker or when out and about my trusty iPod.
All suits me just fine.
Feedback_File says
It has and whilst not giving me sleepless nights I do often ponder the concept what music do I ‘own’.
Back in the day it was high end stereo – speakers equally placed and records lovingly handled with thumb on outside and middle digit on the hole (ooh Matron !). Then I grew up and pragmatism took over. So now its Spotify whilst on the move (a lot) and cds at home (sadly the days of sitting at the apex of the triangle with the aforementioned speakers is very rare event.)
The problem with Spotify is that when people ask what are you listening to I can barely remember – and its that disassociation with the physical product that I don’t like.I find the same problem with the Kindle once Ive finished a book I can barely remember what it was a few days later.
Of late Ive started buying more cds and actual books so I think I may have found the right balance (for me).
Chrisf says
Still buying many CDs but immediately rip them to digital and store on my Mac Mini based server. This streams around the house via AppleTV units but also a direct connection to the main Hi-Fi via a Benchmark DAC. Where I can, I will download the digital if available in lossless format – being in Singapore, I like the immediacy of downloads on new releases and not having to wait a week for a parcel from Amazon.
Have a couple of iPods for the car – one Classic with the majority of my collection on and a Nano that I use for the latest purchases. Also have a Sony Hi Res player that I tend to use for late night listening in bed.
I only tend to use Spotify to check out albums – still old school in the sense of wanting to own the physical / digital product.
Uncle Wheaty says
I subscribe to Spotify Premium and can download albums onto my iPhone and then play them when I am not connected to the internet. Do I technically “own” these once they are on my phone? If so Spotify Premium is a bargain!
Zanti Misfit says
A mix of vinyl, CDS, and iTunes. I went a bit mad a couple of years ago because I learnt how get very hard to find albums off people’s blogspots. I once spent an entire night until four in the morning downloading what felt like every British psychedelic album recorded from 1966 to 1972.
Then, I had a mate who every week would send me loads of rare prog albums. I was buying loadsfrom Discogs, soundtracks, etc.. I visited Australia and came home with about a hundred fifty LPs. It’s a vinyl treasure trove down under.
I’ve hardly listened to about eighty percent of it. It’s too overwhelming. I’m not only a kid in a candy shop, I bought the candy shop and own shares in Rowntree Mackintosh.
fentonsteve says
After years in the back of a cupboard (away from the hands of young children), and three years in its box following a move, I recently had my record deck serviced and fitted with a new cartridge. It’s a lovely thing. My kids enjoy the experience, too.
CDs in the car. Flac rips through Squeezeboxes in almost every room at home.
I’m considering an expensive Naim streaming preamp and a new CD player to replace the pile of 1980s separates which require an engineering degree to operate.
Music is what I do and who I am.
bricameron says
I can’t stand Spotify but I love streaming. rdio.com is the best service I’ve encountered. I even decided to subscribe!
ip33 says
Since Xmas I have been using one of these http://i1328.photobucket.com/albums/w540/ip3329/passport_zpstnob0gbj.jpg
connected to one of these http://i1328.photobucket.com/albums/w540/ip3329/mediashare_zpsazhm3jmz.jpg
to listen to stuff at work on my phone. It has been a total success and freed me from the clutches of iTunes!
mikethep says
I’ve got one of those, but I use it for movies and plug a 64GB pen drive in rather than the HDD. Brilliant. Cheap, too.
Declan says
Still a high-end, stereo-speakers-in-the-room kind of guy, with fairly substantial collections of LPs, CDs, even singles, mini-discs and cassettes. Never quite hit it off with MP3 or downloading but I do enjoy radio and BBC’s iplayer is an excellent source as well.
So the changes have principally been among the people around me.
dkhbrit says
Just recently finished ripping our 600 or so CD’s (simultaneously to lossless FLAC and mp3). We had all this music that we never really listened to and it seemed such a waste. Also invested in the Sonos system and a network storage drive. Throw in some Martin Logan speakers and a new Receiver andIt’s been wonderful. We’re rediscovering all our old music and loving it. We were going to get a new car but decided on doing this instead as we spend so much time at home in the evenings.
thecheshirecat says
Now, I interpreted that thread title in a quite different way. The formats in which I listen to music have not changed at all – CDs with a lot of live footage in between – but the way in which I listen has definitely changed. Since I started to sing myself, my ears have become more critical and, by and large, it’s been a positive impression of the quality of the music around me. I’m much more aware of what has gone into a good performance, into the quality of the songwriting, the beauty of an arrangement; without doubt, it has enhanced my life.
Ainsley says
I went completely digital about 5 years ago, ripped everything I owned to iTunes (from CD and Vinyl) and then sold the lot along with some pretty high end hi-fi that I loved but found I just wasn’t listening to, primarily because it was tucked away in a secondary room in the house and I really wanted to just be able to listen where I felt most comfortable, or just where I was at any one time.
Bought some stuff to get it to where I wanted it (Apple TV etc) and I was like a pig in shit until I discovered Sonos. Swapped the kit I had for two Sonos Play3 speakers rigged as a stereo pair which has done me for the last couple of years but I was lucky enough to manoeuvre into selling the 3s and getting a pair of Play 5s recently which are even better, less boxy sound (which I have to say you don’t notice about the 3s until you hear the 5s). I’ve also now got a NAS drive so I don’t have to rely on my PC being on all the time for the streaming. For the car its my iPhone direct into the system – 128gb phone so its a lot of music but I do a lot of miles and I want choice.
I’ve tried Spotify but I much prefer to own what I want, even digitally and the thought of even a short drop out in the signal horrifies me. When you’re scooting up and down our glorious motorways you quickly notice how often the phone signal reverts to GPRS or worse.
I’m also completely paranoid about backup. I have the full library on one disk, a back up copy on an external drive, a full copy on the NAS drive for streaming, its all backed to a cloud service AND I have copies in Amazon Music and Google Play. I know its probably overkill but the thought of trying to put a 30k track library back together from scratch isn’t worth thinking about.
Next up will hopefully be a Play 1 for casual listening in another room, but that will have to wait until I’ve save up some pennies.