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[Poll] Music: Rent or Buy? (2018)

As a basic approach - Rent or Buy your music?


  • Total voters
    223
  • Poll closed .
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Whaleblue

Southbound
Another year on, and interesting to see if much has changed here.

From 2016:
http://www.pinkfishmedia.net/forum/showthread.php?t=183896

From 2017:
http://www.pinkfishmedia.net/forum/threads/music-rent-or-buy-2017.196718/

As I said originally:

I've put this in Audio, as although it's about the music, it's about the mechanism of play.

The question I pose is a simple binary choice. I'm sure there are many shades of grey, so pick the one closest to what you feel represents your stance right now.

So, the choice remains simple. FWIW I now buy a very small handful of albums a year, those that I both wish to support with a relatively significant financial input and ensure I'll always have access to. I voted 'rent' as that's my primary mode of consumption.

Votes cannot be changed, and you can only see the poll state once you have voted. Your vote will be publicly visible.

So, where are we in 2018?
 
Not too sure how to answer this one, a mixture of Spotify and podcasts has now virtually entirely replaced radio for me and Spotify probably represents a majority of my 'listening' but that is mostly background. If I'm 'actively' listening (for want of a better term) vinyl and CD still dominate!
 
@WAD62, the choices are set in stone as it’s partly a tracker, year on year.

@djftw, I think you’re in the Buy camp. Just my interpretation of what you say, though.
 
Used CDs are very cheap. A paid one-year subscription to CD quality Qobuz costs £200. That's about 40 CDs (not counting box sets which are cheaper) or 3.3 CDs a month. Since I already own most of the music that I am interested in, I see no point in streaming. And the music is mine to keep. No need for an internet connection.
 
Nice one Whaleblue. This is a genuinely interesting nugget of research and a really forward thinking contribution to the community.
 
Purchased media for me at the moment, although this may change as subscription services become cheaper.

For now, I'm buying secondhand CDs to explore new music - and buying key albums from favourite musicians as a HD download (when available). The current low value of second hand CDSs make this an attractive proposition as the collection is personally curated, cheaper than streaming, and once ripped, the CDs are a collection back up that can be stored in the loft.

Over the last few days, I've taken advantage of the Winter Music Magpie sale (ends 14/1/18) and purchased 36 CDs - and with the discount / 2 for 1 offer, the final price per CD came to roughly £1.69.
 
Why only 2 options? I use a mixture of streaming ripped CDs, CDs, and Spotify/Amazon and also, occasionally YouTube.
 
Why only 2 options? I use a mixture of streaming ripped CDs, CDs, and Spotify/Amazon and also, occasionally YouTube.

I see no difference between a CD, a ripped CD or a download.

You can either buy music or rent (stream content you don't own).
 
The rental services are poor on back catalogue and I do not trust them to continue carrying (long term) the more obscure "niche" music I tend to seek out.
Besides, if they go bankrupt the catalogue goes with them; to say nothing of the occasional service interruption which I experience already.
 
Good on you Whaleblue. This will be very interesting.

Until about a year ago I was very much a CD only fella. I don't have vinyl and used to buy lots of used CDs. I'm talking 20-30 a month.

Now I have a Tidal subscription, all my CDs are ripped and I rarely handle a CD.
 
For those that are at more-or-less 50/50 I suggest you don’t vote. Apologies, but I have to stick to the same binary choice of the last two years in order to make year-on-year comparisons meaningful.
 
I rent but also buy if I like it but the bought ones just go on a shelf. I listen to the rented version..
 
@Tony L , perhaps you could sticky this for the two weeks I’ve set it to run?

If you could also take the superfluous second ‘still’ from the Buy option that would help my OCD!

[Edit] Thanks!
 
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I really like Tidal Masters (MQA streaming).
Alas, Redbook streaming sound quality is still below what I get from playing local files or CDs. When it comes to classical music I almost always buy what I really like if there is no Tidal Masters version available.

So much happier than before about streaming but still firmly in the Buy camp.
 
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