I'm asking this specifically about music, rather that TV and movies. For those of you who predate streaming, what was your motivation for abandoning physical media and going all stream all the time? I also suppose I shouldn't ignore the inbetween period of downloading which came after physical and before streaming, so that probably factors in too.

In other words, when and why did you stop buying CDs and/or stop downloading music from iTunes and the like, and move to all streaming? When did you stop with the CD players and the iPod classics? How did streaming come into your life?

Some of us don't stream.  I still use physical media and/or mp3 files for music.  When I want something else my next choice is satellite radio (or for something specific I'll find it on YouTube).

I stop buying CD's because they got a bit expensive and besides I got plenty of music to listen to on the internet anyways.

It hasn't  ;D
I listen to music on the radio, CD's and an Ipod . Don't need anything else. I have no motivation or reason for abandoning physical media.  My wife is in the same boat as I am.
I will watch (listen to) some songs on youtube though.

Some of us don't stream.  I still use physical media and/or mp3 files for music.  When I want something else my next choice is satellite radio (or for something specific I'll find it on YouTube).



It hasn't  ;D
I listen to music on the radio, CD's and an Ipod . Don't need anything else. I have no motivation or reason for abandoning physical media.  My wife is in the same boat as I am.
I will watch (listen to) some songs on youtube though.


Oh, I'm the same. That's why I was asking. For the hard core streamers who may have once used other methods. Essentially the people who immediately jump to the next thing as soon as it arises. I recall when CDs came around it seemed that everybody immediately dumped all of their vinyl and went with CDs. I couldn't see why. The funny thing is, all this time later, all of those people wish they had their vinyl back. At least the one I have spoken to.

I don't stream music. I will listen to a song here or a song there on YouTube but that is about it. Otherwise, I listen to music on CDs. I do have some mp3 files that were given to me (musicals  ;) ;D ;D ) that I have burned to CDs.


Cat

It hasn't  ;D
I listen to music on the radio, CD's and an Ipod . Don't need anything else. I have no motivation or reason for abandoning physical media.  My wife is in the same boat as I am.
I will watch (listen to) some songs on youtube though.

I think I've stopped listening to music on my radio so lately I've been listening to music on the internet.

I stop buying CD's because they got a bit expensive and besides I got plenty of music to listen to on the internet anyways.



I think I've stopped listening to music on my radio so lately I've been listening to music on the internet.


Do you still own your CDs?

How did I get into streaming in general? Barring YouTube, I'd say Netflix. Specifically Power Rangers. This was when streaming was in its infancy, and we were still using Netflix DVDs/Blu-rays.

Music-wise, the only streaming I do is YouTube, which is probably how I most listen to music nowadays. I'm still a big physical media guy: Vinyl and CD. (and Blu-ray.) I also listen to pop radio, but it's been a while.

I still listen to MP3s sometimes, but I mainly listen on YouTube. MP3s are still an important option for when you don't have internet, so it's very important to have for me I'd say. But CDs and DVDs those are not in my life anymore. Those seem almost retro to me to be honest.

Do you still own your CDs?

I still have CDs but they're in my closet collecting dust unfortunately.

I still have CDs but they're in my closet collecting dust unfortunately.


All things come back eventually. One of these days, your CDs will come out of the closet.

When I switched from iPhone to Android (Sony Xperia), I was using Sony's proprietary app called Music Unlimited which became defunct as that same app for Playstation and mobile devices became part of Spotify.

All things come back eventually. One of these days, your CDs will come out of the closet.


Incorrect.

Let me preface by saying again that all I use for playing music is physical media. CDs, albums and cassettes. But that's because I simply never stopped using any of them in the first place. That why I posed my curious question about people's motivation to stream. It held no appeal for me. Or should I say the lack of physical held no appeal for me.

But to say "all things come back eventually" is just wrong. Once something becomes obsolete in the mainstream it NEVER comes back into mainstream use. Yes, there is a "resurgence in vinyl" right now. But it's more a trend or a fetish than a major resurgence into mainstream use. 10 year olds aren't running out and buying vinyl 45s in droves like they did in the 60s and 70s. Nor will they be. If "all things come back" then people would have started using iceboxes again, even though refrigerators came into use. People would go back to using horses and buggies even though we have cars. Physical items that become obsolete DO NOT COME BACK.

Too many people on this site constantly push this false fact that "things come back" and they never really notice that it doesn't happen. There are people here that get caught up in this concept of  "2000 came back in the last half of 2016", and "2022 is going to be like a combination of the school year of 2019 and the first two months of 1997". I guess there are entire website that go on about that kind of thing, but it isn't really a real thing.

Some of us don't stream.  I still use physical media and/or mp3 files for music.  When I want something else my next choice is satellite radio (or for something specific I'll find it on YouTube).


I will add, over the past 10 years or so, my proportion of listening to mp3s (vs. physical media) has gone way up.  I find it more convenient to listen to mp3s on my mp3 players and/or thumb drives.  (I can also put mp3s on my phone, but as of today don't.)  For that reason, I've been slowly ripping (CDs) and digitizing (vinyl/tapes) my music so that mp3 has become the dominant format for my listening.  However, the vast majority of my mp3s consist of music that I also own in physical format (although I have downloaded a few titles from the likes of Amazon).

The digitizing (and more recently ripping) process has been labor intensive mostly due to mp3 tags getting lost, and I end up with a volume "unknown album" consisting of "Track 1, Track 2, ...".  ::)  However, geek that I am, I found an Excel spreadsheet template on the web that fixes mp3 tags, and over the past year I've added more VBA code to customize it for my needs; now when I digitize an album or rip a CD I can fix the mp3 tags quickly (plus rename the files) using my spreadsheet.  Happy day!

I will add, over the past 10 years or so, my proportion of listening to mp3s (vs. physical media) has gone way up.  I find it more convenient to listen to mp3s on my mp3 players and/or thumb drives.  (I can also put mp3s on my phone, but as of today don't.)  For that reason, I've been slowly ripping (CDs) and digitizing (vinyl/tapes) my music so that mp3 has become the dominant format for my listening.  However, the vast majority of my mp3s consist of music that I also own in physical format (although I have downloaded a few titles from the likes of Amazon).

The digitizing (and more recently ripping) process has been labor intensive mostly due to mp3 tags getting lost, and I end up with a volume "unknown album" consisting of "Track 1, Track 2, ...".  ::)  However, geek that I am, I found an Excel spreadsheet template on the web that fixes mp3 tags, and over the past year I've added more VBA code to customize it for my needs; now when I digitize an album or rip a CD I can fix the mp3 tags quickly (plus rename the files) using my spreadsheet.  Happy day!


I think for what you are talking about, we can consider mp3s physical, as they are ripped from CDs. I myself have done the same thing. I have an iPod classic that I use when walking and riding public transportation. It has thousands of songs on it, all taken from my CD collection. I use a really old version of iTunes to upload the CDs to the iPod. Any newer version of iTunes won't support it. Like you, a tiny percentage of the songs are downloads I purchased from Amazon, or, previous to that from iTunes, back when iTunes was a downloading thing.  Usually these were songs that just weren't available anywhere else on CD.

Downloading was another one of those things that was hailed as "the next big thing" and it got almost immediately steamrolled over by streaming.

I think for what you are talking about, we can consider mp3s physical, as they are ripped from CDs. I myself have done the same thing. I have an iPod classic that I use when walking and riding public transportation. It has thousands of songs on it, all taken from my CD collection. I use a really old version of iTunes to upload the CDs to the iPod. Any newer version of iTunes won't support it. Like you, a tiny percentage of the songs are downloads I purchased from Amazon, or, previous to that from iTunes, back when iTunes was a downloading thing.  Usually these were songs that just weren't available anywhere else on CD.

Downloading was another one of those things that was hailed as "the next big thing" and it got almost immediately steamrolled over by streaming.

I wouldn't say MP3s are physical but they are outdated already in comparison to streaming. Still, I don't see it ever going away since it will always be needed if you don't have an internet connection. For streaming you need an internet connection and it takes up bandwidth and data.

All things come back eventually. One of these days, your CDs will come out of the closet.

I also have a box of old cassette tapes some of which I used to record from the radio, this was back in the mid to late 1980's.

I also have a box of old cassette tapes some of which I used to record from the radio, this was back in the mid to late 1980's.



I have a bunch of old cassette tapes that I recorded the Dr. Demento show off the radio. I probably have about a year's worth of shows from the '90s.


Cat

I wouldn't say MP3s are physical but they are outdated already in comparison to streaming. Still, I don't see it ever going away since it will always be needed if you don't have an internet connection. For streaming you need an internet connection and it takes up bandwidth and data.


In this case, I'm considering them physical in the sense that both I and American Girl use mp3s that were (for the most part) created from our physical CDs rather than just downloaded out of thin air. So there was initially, and still, a physical media owned.

I also have a box of old cassette tapes some of which I used to record from the radio, this was back in the mid to late 1980's.



I have a bunch of old cassette tapes that I recorded the Dr. Demento show off the radio. I probably have about a year's worth of shows from the '90s.

Cat


With the right equipment, cassette tapes can be digitized (assuming the cassettes are in decent shape).  It's a bit laborious but not impossible.  (I digitized a precious, personal cassette for a friend couple a few years back, putting it on a CD-R.)  Unfortunately, few people have the necessary equipment  :-\\

I also have a box of old cassette tapes some of which I used to record from the radio, this was back in the mid to late 1980's.

I sometimes did that too, during the 2000s. But unfortunately the tape recorder I used (which I bought in early 2000) no longer works (so I took it to an E-waste recycler), plus I don't have a tape deck to play any of these.

With the right equipment, cassette tapes can be digitized (assuming the cassettes are in decent shape).  It's a bit laborious but not impossible.  (I digitized a precious, personal cassette for a friend couple a few years back, putting it on a CD-R.)

I'd kinda like to see about doing this (if I could); but...



Unfortunately, few people have the necessary equipment  :-\\



...and I for one am not one of the few people who does. :-\\

I sometimes did that too, during the 2000s. But unfortunately the tape recorder I used (which I bought in early 2000) no longer works (so I took it to an E-waste recycler), plus I don't have a tape deck to play any of these.

That reminds me I have to take a bunch of my stuff to the e-waste recycling tomorrow. Luckily it is very close to where I live.

I have a bunch of old cassette tapes that I recorded the Dr. Demento show off the radio. I probably have about a year's worth of shows from the '90s.


Cat

I remember back in the early to mid 90's when one station was called "jamminoldies" and I'd record the songs as they kept playing them on the radio and I would wait for the song to come on, press record and press stop when the song was finished.

With the right equipment, cassette tapes can be digitized (assuming the cassettes are in decent shape).  It's a bit laborious but not impossible.  (I digitized a precious, personal cassette for a friend couple a few years back, putting it on a CD-R.)  Unfortunately, few people have the necessary equipment  :-\\

I don't know if the cassette tapes that I have in my closet are in good shape and after years upon years of fast forwarding and rewinding, the tapes might be warped.

That reminds me I have to take a bunch of my stuff to the e-waste recycling tomorrow. Luckily it is very close to where I live.

There is such a place close to my house, as well.

I don't stream regularly.  I don't like listening to or watching something that I don't physically own.  I still have tons of CDs and Cassettes as well as a massive vinyl records library.  I will always be about physical media, but when I am out and about, I do mp3s.

I get all my music from YouTube by using a YouTube downloader to convert a song to mp3 format, then I upload it to my phone.  I'm currently at close to 17,000 mp3s

With the right equipment, cassette tapes can be digitized (assuming the cassettes are in decent shape).  It's a bit laborious but not impossible.  (I digitized a precious, personal cassette for a friend couple a few years back, putting it on a CD-R.)  Unfortunately, few people have the necessary equipment  :-\\


These old shows are actually available online so taking the time to transfer them isn't really necessary. I do listen to them from time to time-especially the Halloween one. I do have some personal tapes around somewhere but I'm not too sure where they are-like my senior year choir concert.


Cat

I don't know if the cassette tapes that I have in my closet are in good shape and after years upon years of fast forwarding and rewinding, the tapes might be warped.

Yep, that sorta thing does affect recorded tape over time. I haven't played any of mine in ages.

Yep, that sorta thing does affect recorded tape over time. I haven't played any of mine in ages.

I taped a lot of the songs from the radio back when radio was a thing to listen to.

We used Netflix for DVDs when we lived in the States and we watched one film on-line when we were there. Not sure of the exact year but 2009 or 10. Not sure we have done so again.

I very occasionally watch something on YouTube but it is not my music source of choice.

We watch the occasional tv programme via the various streaming options such as BBC iplayer. I also listen to podcasts and online radio stations occasionally at work.

I taped a lot of the songs from the radio back when radio was a thing to listen to.

I did that too, but not frequently. And I still do listen to radio. Especially in the car.

When I came back from my stay in the Philippines, it was my son who steered me towards Netflix and Disney+, initially for the television viewing of for my granddaughter.

It took me a while to get into streaming, but once I did in 2015 it's become about 80% of how listen to music. I still listen to CDs, vinyl, and even cassettes every once in a while

It took me a while to get into streaming, but once I did in 2015 it's become about 80% of how listen to music. I still listen to CDs, vinyl, and even cassettes every once in a while

Same here, it took me a while and back then the sources of music was either vinyl, cassettes or listening to music from the radio.

One other thing about owning digital music - and I know this is an outlier.  I've had a few occasions where I've needed a digital editing tool to actually modify the content of my music.  In the majority of cases, it's to split apart songs that run together on an album or similarly separate a song's "Part 1" from "Part 2" when I didn't want to hear them together.  Very handy in those cases!  (Incidentally, I usually use Audacity for these operations.)  There are a small number of different type manipulations I've made as well.  If I didn't own the digital music, I doubt I would be able to manipulate the song's content.

I've never touched a streaming service. I prefer to just pay for a product and be able to own the rights to it and access it any time I want.

I just listen to music on YouTube because it's so expensive. The free YouTube, not the paid one.

I just listen to music on YouTube because it's so expensive. The free YouTube, not the paid one.

Same here, I also enjoy listening to music from different websites.