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Poll

How and in what format do you buy music mostly?

CDs from retail stores or online
[ 79 ] (59%)
used CDs
[ 20 ] (14.9%)
MP3, WMA, or AAC files off the net
[ 16 ] (11.9%)
FLAC or other lossless files from the net
[ 15 ] (11.2%)
DVD-A or SACD
[ 2 ] (1.5%)
Vinyl / Other
[ 2 ] (1.5%)

Total Members Voted: 146

Topic: How do you buy and listen to music? (Read 12062 times) previous topic - next topic
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How do you buy and listen to music?

From Cnet news:
found on dvorak.org:

Quote
(Credit: Steve Guttenberg)
The end is near, another war seems imminent, oil prices continue to rise, the dollar is in free fall, and now audiophiles have abandoned the CD.

Don't get the wrong idea: they haven't all dumped their CD players for turntables (I wish). Instead, they've bought music servers of some kind or another. How can this be happening?

I read the sad news on the Stereophile July 6 voting feature (scroll down to see results).

That week's question: how do you listen to digital music? The poll says 34 percent still use CD players as their primary digital source. Yikes, I would have guessed much higher, more like 70 percent. Thirty-six percent use a computer-based server, and 10 percent use dedicated servers such as Sonos or Squeezebox. Another 4 percent use iPods! I felt a little better that 11 percent use a SACD or DVD-Audio player. Another 3 percent voted "other."

Mind you, these are the Stereophile online readers, presumably the print readership would skew towards CD players. Or not.

Regardless, something's going on. Audiophiles tend to be a conservative bunch, or at least I thought they were. Me? I listen primarily to CDs and maybe 20 percent of the time to LPs. I cannot imagine using a music server anytime soon, and sound quality issues have nothing to do with that. I like picking music from my collection. It's a touchy-feely, organic process. One album leads to the next, or I accidentally find something I haven't listened to in years.

What about you? What are you listening with?


I also think this can't be right.  Regardless, vote on my poll to help he get a grip on how this works out.
My thesis:
60 percent CDs, new or used
35 percent Downloads
3 percent vinyl
2 percent DVD-A/SACD
It's due for a good DEGAUSSIN'

How do you buy and listen to music?

Reply #1 –
I think there is one option missing, which is crucial:
- MP3 files burned to CD or DVD

How do you buy and listen to music?

Reply #2 –
John C. Dvorak predicts the end of the world. Film at 11.

How do you buy and listen to music?

Reply #3 –
As how do you mostly listen, I use squeezeboxes.  The choices really don't have any kind of media server options, only "old fashioned" either CD or computer, so I had to choose vinyl/other option.  Well, technically squeezebox is a computer, but not conceptually.
Teemu

How do you buy and listen to music?

Reply #4 –
CDs or ripped FLAC files.  Most of mine come from used cds and if I'm in the car I'll make my own cd mixes since I have no way of using an mp3 player with the car stereo I have.
foobar 0.9.6.8
FLAC -5
LAME 3.98 -V3

How do you buy and listen to music?

Reply #5 –
Quote from: Neasden on
I think there is one option missing, which is crucial:
- MP3 files burned to CD or DVD

The format wasn't what I was going for when listening
mp3 files burned to cd is either ripped music burned to cd or downloaded music burned to cd.
It's due for a good DEGAUSSIN'

How do you buy and listen to music?

Reply #6 –
Classical music.
Home: WWW/CD-Rip->TAK->Notebook(SB Audigy 2)->Living room Stereo
Car: TAK->Conversion(vlevel,fb2k)->Nero AAC@ 0.4->USB-Stick

How do you buy and listen to music?

Reply #7 –
I get music these days through torrents. The selection in most local CD stores here is terribly lacking. If I had to order what I liked, it would take weeks.

Foreign CDs in my opinion are terribly overpriced at roughly USD10. Local artists sell theirs at roughly USD5. These are the only music I buy at CD stores right now. I just don't understand how how original Hollywood DVDs can sell here at around USD3 and CDs sell 3 times as much.

Most middle class people I know now avoid pirated movies on the internet and on the streets because they can get noticeably better quality for a reasonable price. And you can always rent a movie but not a CD. And pirated movies are often abxable from the original while high bitrate mp3s are not (in most cases).

Edit--I listen to music mostly on an ipod through earphones.

How do you buy and listen to music?

Reply #8 –
Quote
The format wasn't what I was going for when listening
mp3 files burned to cd is either ripped music burned to cd or downloaded music burned to cd.


Dowloaded music burned to CD sounds like an AAC 128kbps iTunes file transcoded to WAV and burned as Audio CD. That is why I wished this list was more specific.

PS. The majority of legally downloaded music does come from iTunes in AAC format, so I'm sure that people who don't have an AAC player will likely to do the above.

I think I'm being picky.. eh

How do you buy and listen to music?

Reply #9 –
I almost only listen to my own vorbis/flac ripped music, I don't buy any music, I just use an archived collection of Relax/New Age AudioCDs that came bundled monthly with some magazine since the day that I decided to play with those just by curiosity I think.

How do you buy and listen to music?

Reply #10 –
I buy CDs, 99% from on-line sources (CD Wow, eBay, Amazon (Marketplace)).

As I've stated various times previously, I won't switch to downloading until I can get lossless at a lower price than the CD.

I listen to MP3s on my PCs (work, home) and my car stereo (burned to MP3 CD).  I selected the "Music ripped from CDs on a portable player" poll option as I felt it most fitted, although not accurate.

My next car stereo will have a USB slot, as I hate having to burn a CD just because I've got one new album and desperately want to listen to it in the car.

I like the idea of using Ogg Vorbis, or even MP4; however MP3 does the job perfectly well, and I know I can play it anywhere.
I'm on a horse.

How do you buy and listen to music?

Reply #11 –
Quote from: Synthetic Soul on
My next car stereo will have a USB slot, as I hate having to burn a CD just because I've got one new album and desperately want to listen to it in the car.
Fortunately many car hardware devices support AAC (Sony, Kenwood), together with USB stick a good and flexible solution.

How do you buy and listen to music?

Reply #12 –
Quote from: Synthetic Soul on
As I've stated various times previously, I won't switch to downloading until I can get lossless at a lower price than the CD.

Since amazon and itunes can get away, and make money with selling lossy at the same price of a CD, sadly I think it will be a long time before we see that day come.

How do you buy and listen to music?

Reply #13 –
In my car I'm rocking my iPod with one of those tape connection thingys. Cheap and sounds perfectly fine when driving. A dock in the headunit would be fantastic though!

Mostly all my music comes from cheap CDs from Play or CD Wow.

How do you buy and listen to music?

Reply #14 –
Quote from: Squeller on
Quote from: Synthetic Soul on
My next car stereo will have a USB slot, as I hate having to burn a CD just because I've got one new album and desperately want to listen to it in the car.
Fortunately many car hardware devices support AAC (Sony, Kenwood), together with USB stick a good and flexible solution.


Well whenever I get a new car I guess I'll have to look into that one.
foobar 0.9.6.8
FLAC -5
LAME 3.98 -V3

How do you buy and listen to music?

Reply #15 –
Yes, it might be time to add "car unit with built in compressed audio support" to the list.  Just browsing a Crutchfield catalog will reveal a dozen or more of these.  I have one with a rear USB input, connected to a 100GB drive.
flac > schiit modi > schiit magni > hd650
 

How do you buy and listen to music?

Reply #16 –
I'm not sure whether I'm in a tiny minority here, but my in-car listening preference doesn't seem to be explicitly covered by any of the categories if I'm interpreting the wording correctly.

I always convert everything to VBR MP3 with LAME and drop multiple albums onto a CD-R for playback in an Alpine head-unit with MP3 from CD support. It reduces the likelihood of killing anybody due to frequent disc changes whilst on the move. It also gives my in-car media a resale value of zero which I hope reduces the chances of thieves breaking into my car, even if I do accidentally leave the discs laying around in full view occasionally. The head-unit also has a resale value of close to zero as the front fascia is removable and sits in my jacket pocket when I'm not in the car.

Cheers, Slipstreem. 

How do you buy and listen to music?

Reply #17 –
Quote from: Squeller on
Fortunately many car hardware devices support AAC (Sony, Kenwood), together with USB stick a good and flexible solution.
I may be more tempted to buy a unit if it had AAC support as well as MP3, but to be honest I'm perfect happy with MP3 at the moment, and wouldn't want to encode specifically for my car.  The USB port is a must though.

Quote from: twostar on
Since amazon and itunes can get away, and make money with selling lossy at the same price of a CD, sadly I think it will be a long time before we see that day come.
I know you are right; however I just can't see how providing lossless files for download should not be a lot cheaper than shipping a CD with artwork, etc.    I guess the format isn't the main issue here: I suppose it is a lack of understanding by the majority of users and the distributors.

Quote from: indybrett on
Yes, it might be time to add "car unit with built in compressed audio support" to the list. Just browsing a Crutchfield catalog will reveal a dozen or more of these. I have one with a rear USB input, connected to a 100GB drive.
Hmm... nice.  I'd love to have my whole library available.

Quote from: Slipstreem on
I'm not sure whether I'm in a tiny minority here, but my in-car listening preference doesn't seem to be explicitly covered by any of the categories if I'm interpreting the wording correctly.

I always convert everything to VBR MP3 with LAME and drop multiple albums onto a CD-R for playback in an Alpine head-unit with MP3 from CD support.
Quote from: Synthetic Soul on
I listen to MP3s on my PCs (work, home) and my car stereo (burned to MP3 CD). I selected the "Music ripped from CDs on a portable player" poll option as I felt it most fitted, although not accurate.
I guess its the same set up.  Mine's a basic Sony unit, which is a few years old now.  I just can't quite justify replacing it with a USB version yet.  Soon though.
I'm on a horse.

How do you buy and listen to music?

Reply #18 –
I have about 500 CDs.  About half were purchased retail, but I now buy online.  A handful were purchased used, and I have a few....  maybe 25 CDs that I....  uhhh....  copied from friends.  Almost all of these have been burned to MP3, but I haven't gotten around to ripping my Classical, Christmas, Halloween, or other "special" CDs.

I have only 16 tracks downloaded from Napster & Amazon.    (I don't upload/download pirated music.)  These are mostly "one hit wonders" where I didn't want to buy the CD and I couldn't find a various-artist compilation with other "good songs". 

I have about 30 concerts on VHS & DVD.  I've made audio CD copies and MP3s from about half of these.

I mostly listen to music in the car, on CD.

At home, I listen to CDs on my "home theatre" system.

I occasionally listen to MP3s on my computer at work.  (My MP3s are "backed-up" on my work computer.)

How do you buy and listen to music?

Reply #19 –
I haven't really tried this out, but only a few times is that I have a wireless transmitter attached to Zune (set it to a particular channel) and then I set my car to the same channel (e.g 92.5 FM) that the Zune is transmitting. Not that expensive, a cheap way to listen to music under 20 bucks.

It works pretty well. If you put the volume to a certain point, the distortion starts to kick in. But most of the time when I'm in the car, I just tune into a radio station.

How do you buy and listen to music?

Reply #20 –
Votes so far: 87

Music Acquired (mostly):
CDs (new or used): 65 votes, 74.7%
Downloads (any format): 19 votes, 21.8%
DVD-A or SACD: 1 vote, 1.1%
Vinyl or Other (cassette? 8-track? DAT?): 2 votes, 2.3%

Music listened to at home (mostly):
Radio: zippo
Music originating from a CD: 65 votes, 74.7%
Music originating from the Internet: 21 votes, 24.1%
DVD-A or SACD music: zippo (weird, someone buys such formats mostly, but tends not to listen to them?)
Vinyl or Other: 1 vote, 1.1%

Music listened to in one's car (mostly) (percentages exclude n/a votes (17)):
Radio: 12 votes, 17.1%
Music originating from a CD: 36 votes, 51.4%
Music originating from the Internet: 12 votes, 17.1%
Music originating from mixed sources: 7 votes, 10.0%
Other: 3 votes, 4.3%
It's due for a good DEGAUSSIN'

How do you buy and listen to music?

Reply #21 –
I usually buy single tracks from iTunes or rip CDs from the local library (which is allowed in Germany) to FLAC and MP3. Sometimes, when I want to have an album badly and the library doesn't have it or the disc is too scratched to make an accurate copy, I buy the CD from the store and rip that one (again, to FLAC and MP3). Then I listen to the MP4 / MP3 files on my computer or my portable players. When driving, I usually listen to the radio or burn some of the files from the PC to a CD-RW and play that.

How do you buy and listen to music?

Reply #22 –
I miss the choice "I download album previews from the internet and buy them later on a (SA)CD if they are really great."

On my PC however I got a quite huge media library, containing, amongst others, ripped CDs (OGG and FLAC formats) as well as downloaded stuff (MP3, APE, WavPack)...
audiophile // flac & wavpack, mostly // using too many audio players

How do you buy and listen to music?

Reply #23 –
I use my iPod for everything.

At home it is connected to the hi-fi for playback via speakers.

In the car it is wired directly to the inputs of a small power amp as I don't listen to the radio.  If I needed to listen to a radio I would just get a head unit like the JVC KD-PDR31 which has iPod connectivity and control functions.

I also use HQ headphones with the iPod.

I can't understand why/how so many people listen via a computer.  The fan noise would rule that out for me.

How do you buy and listen to music?

Reply #24 –
Quote from: brownianm on
I can't understand why/how so many people listen via a computer.  The fan noise would rule that out for me.

Not at the volume levels I listen at.

Besides, with the right soundcard and speakers/headphones, a computer can be a very high end audio playback device, especially when the source is a lossless format.
flac > schiit modi > schiit magni > hd650