(1) I could legally download a lossless file and forever-keep regardless of future continuity of a paid subscription.

(2) The file/album would be bit-identical to the CD or HD file.

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(1) I could legally download a lossless file and forever-keep regardless of future continuity of a paid subscription.

You can't. I don't know of any streaming services that sell downloads or that has a "download" button.   The artist (or copyright holder) gets a fraction of a cent every time you stream and maybe 5 or 10 cents when you buy a song.

You can steal it by recording with Audacity and if it's not bit-perfect it should be close.

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(2) The file/album would be bit-identical to the CD or HD file.

If it's lossless it should be identical to the copy they have which may be a different release or master from you have on your disc.    Frrm what I've read, the streaming services may use the latest release which may be more "loudness war" compressed/limited than an older version.   Some people say the DH stream sounds worse than their CD (anecdotal).

  Some people say the DH stream sounds worse than their CD (anecdotal).

As weird and SPIRITUAL as my own current topical opinions are, I do think that what we were/are told by "experts" --audio journalists, bloggers, hifi shop salesmen, high-end audio manuf ads -- heavily impact our internal, personal convictions. As the EXPERT "knowledge" accumulate over time (Stereophile. The Absolute Sound), our opinions are further concretized.

As a long-time "audiophile", I had a hard time accepting that vintage gear (and specifically VINTAGE engineering, science and technology) is competitive with the latest high tech. And nowhere is this more belief more relevant than DIGITAL technology. After all, look at the progress in computers and phones since 1982.

The CD was a multibillion $ research project conducted by Sony and Philips. They not only wanted a compact, portable and durable format, they also wanted a format that was sonically competitive with the best LP, open-reel, and LIVE performance. Many of these major manufs had their own "concert halls" for such research.

About industry and consumer support for CD ... Audio, a major USA print magazine, was perhaps the best at balancing subjective tests and objective measurements. And their write-ups about early CD were very favorable. NB: Audio mag, being a major print periodical, had access to the best analog gear and their journalists were familiar with live concert sound. Their credentials counted on it. And risking your expert/journalistic reputation on printed wood pulp outputted , perhaps, a more accurate description of the"audiophile" phenomenon.

Incredulous: my recent experience with attic-stored / kmart CD players. Indeed my Musical Fidelity, Theta, Denafrips, etc commercial dac's -- 1996 to 2021 -- seem to have gotten stored away.
Are there others who have had similar revelations? Not sure. The AudioKarma fourm certainly has similar accounts. Of course the avg. Sears consumer can't construct their sentences in the prose of trained journalists at Stereophile or TAS But the wisdom of the mainstream crowd -- kmart and thrift store shoppers -- should not be overlooked.
When Joe Six pack reports a CD player sounds good, that's not unimportant. And recall, Floyd Toole's NRC loudspeaker tests were partly based on average joe/jane listenings.
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Below: Photo (1983??) of Nakamichi Concert Hall (Japan).



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Side Bar:
Might there be scientific or technical reasons older digital may have competitive -- if not superior -- sonics to modern digital dacs?

Maybe.

1-bit Delta Sigma (MASH, Bistream, noise shaping, that began to take over in the early 1990s was partially done to cut costs; multi-bit dacs are $$ to manuf). Chips have gotten smaller; their internal connections puny for low-voltage portable gear. And the reduction of $$ gold and platinum for the internal, critical connection of chips.

Of course, modern gear measures much better than vintage. Of course!


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It depends on the terms and conditions you sign up to as a subscriber.  If the stream is not available without a sign-up, there is scope for any restriction the originator chooses.

As to whether recording TV and radio has ever been illegal, it definitely used to be illegal in terms of copyright, but that was so widely ignored and unenforcible that "fair use" became the accepted norm.  In the strictest terms, it remains illegal but permitted, and any enforcement is a civil action by the copyright holder.