Current Events > Does anyone still use physical media for music?

(+) Yeah! (+)

Just curious if anyone still uses vinyl, CDs, or even cassettes for listening to music as opposed to streaming it. I recently got a new car that does not have a CD player so I have been getting used to Spotify and while it's awesome to just ask my phone to play any song I want, I do miss how when you were driving with a CD or cassette it felt like you had more of a relationship with the album. Songs that you may not have initially liked can become favorites because you get repeated exposure to them.

I don't really make topics here I am just curious if anyone still likes physical media for music and if so what they use.

I use all formats.

I do. Im physical on everything but gaming. My music, movies, and books will always be physical. I have both vinyl and CDs. I tossed out my cassette tapes though. Those were mostly just mix tapes and recordings of vinyl.

archizzy posted...

I do. Im physical on everything but gaming. My music, movies, and books will always be physical. I have both vinyl and CDs. I tossed out my cassette tapes though. Those were mostly just mix tapes and recordings of vinyl.

I'm huge on physical gaming. If it were readibly available, give it a shot.

I don't really listen to them directly, but when available, I prefer to buy my music on CD and rip them myself.

Vinyl for collection and the interactive experience. CD for a quality backup and I use streaming/mp3s for regular listening.

My ~350 CDs say hello.

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Man I'm so jealous you have a CD player in your car lol, I am seriously debating buying an external player for mine.

archizzy posted...

I do. Im physical on everything but gaming. My music, movies, and books will always be physical. I have both vinyl and CDs. I tossed out my cassette tapes though. Those were mostly just mix tapes and recordings of vinyl.

I'm mostly physical on gaming because it is cheaper but I have been debating going digital for the Switch 2. I like being able to sell games if I don't want to keep them, but I also only have so much room and I have so many physical games already.

Honestly, I have been have been of two minds lately, really wanting to downsize while also wanting to have the albums, books, games, and such that are meaningful to me physically. It's been tricky trying to balance the two things lol

...At the same time I have also been considering getting a cassette walkman again for nostalgia but I am not moving forward with that, it's not a great format, I just miss it sometimes lol

Vinyl but that's it

Humanish posted...

My ~350 CDs say hello.

Wow that's so many, I think all my childhood into adulthood CDs combined added up to less than 40 lol, how do you organize them, and do you listen in your car or do you have a home CD player?

I rip my CDs and put the music on USB drives for the car. Never trusting a slot loading CD player again.

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Man I wish my car had an aux input, I'd have to get a specialized USB CD player that is around $100, but I might, I do miss the ritual of listening to CDs during my commute lol.

Crazy that new cars are being made without an aux input.

I put all my CDs onto ITunes on my 2008 computer and then put them on my phone. A mix of digital and obsolete.

I prefer CDs. I dont like the sound of mp3s and whatnot, but I guess in a car the sound isnt great anyway. But I hate putting anything on my phone.

CDs in my car.
Just purchased Iron Maiden -Seventh Son

The only music CDs I get these days is if they come packed into whatever limited or collector's edition of a video game I'm buying.

Like when I got my bloodstained curse of the moon 1 and 2, river city girls 1 and river city girls 2 from limited run games these 4 games came with the game's complete soundtrack on CD. I'll then rip these CDs to my PC (yeah I still have a dvd burner on my PC, lol) and then transfer a copy of the MP3/flacs to my phone.

My car also still has a CD player in it but I haven't used it since I got it.

I do in the sense that I buy CDs and rip them to FLAC. Id never actually listen to a CD, but that process is better than paying for lossy music.

When possible, I buy music on CD and rip it. I probably have 2000 or so. I've always bought a lot of used CDs.

tankboy posted...

When possible, I buy music on CD and rip it. I probably have 2000 or so. I've always bought a lot of used CDs.

you must have an archive then.

Will_VIIII posted...

Vinyl but that's it

We need to compare collections at some point. I haven't played my vinyls in a few years.

But back to the original question, do musical instruments count as physical media?

Problem with me is I don't do incremental backups, I backup the same thing and add to it.

So it's chaotic at this point.

I dont even know anywhere I could buy it if I wanted to.

Glob posted...

I dont even know anywhere I could buy it if I wanted to.

There are ways. The bigwig streaming companies are the reason why CD/DVD drives do not exist on your computer.

Nah. When I buy CDs I just rip them to my collection and listen to them digitally.

Yes.

I have around 400 vinyl records and probably a similar number of CDs. I also stream, and it is very convenient. I'm not against it at all.

But sometimes you just can't beat browsing through a physical collection and playing some music (doing it on a screen doesn't count). And listening. Not just having it on in the background while I do other things.

Yes, I regularly buy records. I listen to the radio at work and watch music videos on YouTube, but records are still the primary way I like to listen to music.

I just bought a AT-LP120XBT-USB last year and have purchased like 30 vinyl albums.

Also, bought a pair of Edifier R1280DBs + an Edifier T5 Subwoofer to listen to it with, as well as bookshelves to give height to the speakers.

In total I've likely spent over $2000 on everything.

That AT turntable is really nice for the money.

no

If I want to buy music I'll get the CD but I don't listen to the CD.

MI4_REAL posted...

There are ways. The bigwig streaming companies are the reason why CD/DVD drives do not exist on your computer.

There probably are ways, but Im not aware of a single place in the city I live in that sells music as physical media.

El_Dustino posted...

Wow that's so many, I think all my childhood into adulthood CDs combined added up to less than 40 lol, how do you organize them, and do you listen in your car or do you have a home CD player?

organized alphabetically on a bigass shelf. sometimes I listen in a car, mostly in my home player though.

If I buy music its physical media.

Mostly I just listen to it via youtube, though.

Quatrerwin posted...

We need to compare collections at some point. I haven't played my vinyls in a few years.

But back to the original question, do musical instruments count as physical media?

I only started collecting last November but it's getting sizable

The last album I bought was the Weezer green album when it came out, so...

Still busy CDs all the time. At last count I've got close to 4000. It's one of those collections that if you can't find something you like in it, then you just don't like music.

i have cds that are not available anymore digitally or physically. i have a cd player to play them on. so i listen to them

I still buy cds and vinyls to support the bands.

I borrow a differnt DVD from my library every week.

I only use CDs, other formats just aren't good enough

Does an iPod count? Or music on my phone?

I still rock the iPod classic and I primarily listen to music directly on my phone from my iTunes account.

I very rarely stream, or use discs, cassettes, etc.

I buy CDs. My car still has a cd player. I hate that newer models don't

Humanish posted...

organized alphabetically on a bigass shelf. sometimes I listen in a car, mostly in my home player though.

What player do you have for CDs? I've seen some nice modern ones but they are expensive.

I mostly just collect and use for decorations limited edition cassettes or vinyl that artists release if I really liked their album. I don't use them to actually listen to tho.

Only Vinyl

Haven't touched a CD or cassette in years.

Most of what I listen to is digital though.

My car is capable of using auxiliary, but my phone doesn't have anything on it, so I just use CDs.

El_Dustino posted...

What player do you have for CDs? I've seen some nice modern ones but they are expensive.

You can get good CD players very cheap second hand, or even in charity shops these days.

I got a Marantz M-CR502 for 60.