Music Streaming Services, what do you roll with?

[Surf]

Since nobody buys effing' CD's anymore I guess but vinyl is back like a mother???

Does anybody stream a service that DOES NOT double as their phone carrier? On some level is that even possible?

I think I'm about to start the Premium Spotify but I wanna keep my little digital songs for as long as my memory card holds up. I like old music so if you do as well, outside of YT which do you use?

Hep a brotha out.

[MajorHoy]

Since nobody buys effing' CD's anymore . . .

Sez who?

I don't stream music; I still buy CD's.
(And my tastes definitely tend to be older music these days, though perhaps older than your tastes.)

[WestPhillyPunisher]

I roll with Pandora (the free version, don’t mind the commercials) and it’s been good to me. I haven’t bought CD’s in years, hell, where can you buy them anyway as they’re disappearing from brick and mortar stores.

[VGCinema]

I'm personally a Spotify guy. I've been using it for over a year at this point I think.

[MajorHoy]

. . . I haven’t bought CD’s in years, hell, where can you buy them anyway as they’re disappearing from brick and mortar stores.

The Barnes & Noble store nearest me has a small selection of CD's (as well as a supply of vinyl albums), but I normally buy my CD's online these days (or sometimes at library book sales).

[Tofali]

I'm more obsessed with podcasts and audio books these days than music and whenever something hits my fancy I sign up with Tidal for a month or two and then i'm done.

[Surf]

Sez who?

I don't stream music; I still buy CD's.
(And my tastes definitely tend to be older music these days, though perhaps older than your tastes.)

Well, I went looking for a CD of a recent popular artist in the summer. Best Buy first, had a clearance on all their CD's. Target, the selection of physical music fists on a square standee and it's sharing space with some books. There hasn't been a national retailer specifically for music in many, many moons. I get that IF (and that's by the rational of some of the podcasters I listen to who actually don't have physical CD players anymore, which is ludicris to me) you actually want a CD, you'll have to order it like from one or two handfuls of places but to walk into a brick and mortar specifically for that I think has long since gone. I ended up having to go to the only brick and mortar local record stores and the clerk literally sold me a digital copy burned to a disk. A legal bootleg for all intents an purposes. This was a major artist with a 2018 project and not even a way back recording. I was kind of stunned. Vinyl is growing and probably have an easier time locating those than anything.

There are a couple CD's that came out this year that I'm going to have to breakdown and get from Amazon I guess, I'm not an Amazon guy so...

I'm more obsessed with podcasts and audio books these days than music and whenever something hits my fancy I sign up with Tidal for a month or two and then i'm done.

Good point, there are a handful of podcats that I listen to religiously. Even if I do pick a service I'll still have to have another avenue to keep up with the podcasts. I don't know anyone with Tidal. Is there a premium tier like Spotify has? I guess you can jump in an out of it like that but do you get to download? I want to keep mine.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

Well, I went looking for a CD of a recent popular artist in the summer. Best Buy first, had a clearance on all their CD's. Target, the selection of physical music fists on a square standee and it's sharing space with some books. There hasn't been a national retailer specifically for music in many, many moons. I get that IF (and that's by the rational of some of the podcasters I listen to who actually don't have physical CD players anymore, which is ludicris to me) you actually want a CD, you'll have to order it like from one or two handfuls of places but to walk into a brick and mortar specifically for that I think has long since gone. I ended up having to go to the only brick and mortar local record stores and the clerk literally sold me a digital copy burned to a disk. A legal bootleg for all intents an purposes. This was a major artist with a 2018 project and not even a way back recording. I was kind of stunned. Vinyl is growing and probably have an easier time locating those than anything.

There are a couple CD's that came out this year that I'm going to have to breakdown and get from Amazon I guess, I'm not an Amazon guy so...

All the streaming services out there have pretty much killed CD sales. Best Buy used to have a large selection but that's dwindled to almost nothing, FYE (For Your Entertainment) stores used to have an absolutely humongous selection, but the entire chain went belly up years ago. Like MajorHoy said, vinyl has become more readily available these days.

[kjn]

I mainly use Spotify (free tier, manually muting the ads) among the streaming services, along with a batch of Youtube. I still buy some records, but often as not via Bandcamp or iTunes. The physical CDs I've acquired lately have all been directly from the artists.

Within the musical (very indie) circles that I frequent, Bandcamp seems to be the most popular form of distribution.

[KOSLOX]

I like Spotify the best, but since we have a bunch of Echos we subscribe to Amazon Music's family plan.

If we used Google Home I'd probably have Google Play Music, which I also like, but I hate saying "Hey Google". They should have given their assistant a name.

[MajorHoy]

. . . FYE (For Your Entertainment) stores used to have an absolutely humongous selection, but the entire chain went belly up years ago.

Not exactly . . .

We still have five locations here in Connecticut, including one in the same mall where it appears the first one opened back in 1993 (according to wikipedia).

And while more locations may be closing over the next few months, it has not gone under completely.

https://stores.fye.com/index.html

[Tofali]

Good point, there are a handful of podcats that I listen to religiously. Even if I do pick a service I'll still have to have another avenue to keep up with the podcasts. I don't know anyone with Tidal. Is there a premium tier like Spotify has? I guess you can jump in an out of it like that but do you get to download? I want to keep mine.

Answer for Q1. I've never subscribed to Spotify so I can't compare the two but i remember there was different tiers . Q2 Yes you get to download a lot of albums but you can't keep any (more like Netflix )

[WestPhillyPunisher]

Not exactly . . .

We still have five locations here in Connecticut, including one in the same mall where it appears the first one opened back in 1993 (according to wikipedia).

And while more locations may be closing over the next few months, it has not gone under completely.

https://stores.fye.com/index.html

Do tell. I stand corrected. There were several stores in the Philly area and they all closed, so I assumed the chain sank.

[Reb]

Spotify but when I'm on an Apple phone, iTunes