The end of record collections?

[Diapason]

We were listening to the radio in the car on Sunday, a Chopin Ballade came on and Hazel said that she liked it.
"I'm pretty sure that's Krystian Zimerman", says I, "I have that in my CD collection".
"You have the entire world's CD collection available online", she responds. "Owning the CD is meaningless now".

I know I'm a dinosaur and slow to embrace change, and I also know that for quirky or hard-to-find recordings there'll always be a place for physical media, but is she right? Am I a fool to continue to buy mainstream recordings when they're available on streaming services?

[Fran]

Mmmm. She has a point, but that also means you always need to be connected to listen to something. And then there's the quality issue.

I'm finding it hard to cough up the ~25 quid they are now looking for a lot of LPs. Hard to justify apart from ones that I know the content and will play repeatedly. I was far more likely to take a chance when they were 15-20 a pop.

Fran

[Seán]

We were listening to the radio in the car on Sunday, a Chopin Ballade came on and Hazel said that she liked it.
"I'm pretty sure that's Krystian Zimerman", says I, "I have that in my CD collection".
"You have the entire world's CD collection available online", she responds. "Owning the CD is meaningless now".

I know I'm a dinosaur and slow to embrace change, and I also know that for quirky or hard-to-find recordings there'll always be a place for physical media, but is she right? Am I a fool to continue to buy mainstream recordings when they're available on streaming services?

If that is the case then we will have to download the music we want and store it on reliable media as there is no guarantee that the music will be available for ever and a day.
I prefer to have the LP and/or CD in my little hand.

[Ivor]

We were listening to the radio in the car on Sunday, a Chopin Ballade came on and Hazel said that she liked it.
"I'm pretty sure that's Krystian Zimerman", says I, "I have that in my CD collection".
"You have the entire world's CD collection available online", she responds. "Owning the CD is meaningless now".

I know I'm a dinosaur and slow to embrace change, and I also know that for quirky or hard-to-find recordings there'll always be a place for physical media, but is she right? Am I a fool to continue to buy mainstream recordings when they're available on streaming services?

If that is the case then we will have to download the music we want and store it on reliable media as there is no guarantee that the music will be available for ever and a day.
I prefer to have the LP and/or CD in my little hand.

Absolutely Sean, physical media is the only way I really enjoy music. I know computer audio is fantastic (and I'm often tempted) but I need a cover, artwork and the exercise!
Vinyl is getting absurdly expensive, I'm told record companies are pushing up prices/margins as they see it as the new format for fleecing the customers. It will certainly slow down my spend on new vinyl and push me towards the second hand stuff.

[Ken Moreland]

All my listening is file based and the software doesn't show any album art, sleeve notes etc. There is software such as Roon to organize music files including such things as album art on a tablet etc but for me it's the music only. I can understand the enjoyment of stuff like old Bluenote album covers but I don't hanker after it and definitely not for the CD versions although I wish I had kept my old copy of the Isle of Man 1967 TT LP!

Files are also easily shared, kept safely and deleted as necessary , and don't wear out . There's also a range of digital music that has never been available on physical media like Hires , DSF , DXD and coming MQA .
Anyway each to his /her own!
KM

[Ivor]

I appreciate all that computer audio can give, I've been very impressed by it but so far it's not for me. It's not just a tactile thing of physical media, after all I could look up artwork, personnel and probably a whole lot more on a tablet while listening.
A friend of mine mentioned recently that he rarely remembers the details of books he reads on his kindle. It might be kinda the same thing.

[tony]

Have nailed my mast to CA. Whilst I will always understand the attraction of LP's and to a much lesser extent CD's the attraction for me is listening to music. My interest in cover art disappeared once CD came along. The cover part never appealed to me for Computer audio.

If you really enjoy the tactile nature and sifting through the art work/details with vinyl it is the way to go. On the SQ issue beauty is in the ear of the listener.

BTW Has stamp collecting waned as a hobby? If so and I would think it has no doubt the LP generation will peter out also in time.

[panda2rom]

Of course if you have a room full of CD and LP, you aren't gonna throw them away.
But...
Imagine your house would burn.
And the insurance compagny would actually give you some money.

-Would you seriously buy again all those LP or CDs ?

Me ?
Hell no.
Last albums i bought were digital files...
All the empty space i could have without all the CDs, DVD, Books... bleh.

[tony]

-Would you seriously buy again all those LP or CDs ?
All the empty space i could have without all the CDs, DVD, Books... bleh.

+1 except in my case I have replaced the lp's and CD's with more speakers!

[Sligolad]

If it all becomes too much Tony I can help with those speakers!!! :-)