# what kind of classical buyer are you?



## deprofundis (Apr 25, 2014)

*1-You order everything cd you wait all the freaking time
2- you go to the record store in case you find something sweet the store has to offer
3- pretty mutch both?
*
Im mostly 1 i had to order everything very rarely my music available, and im not mutch 2
some record or ockay interresting but ,normally i have to order everything since people
are not fascinated by franco-flemish composer like i am and renaissance has a whole.

Just in the last 2 mouth i order 5 cd two hyperion
Jacquet de mantua
Pierre de Manchicourt

This could be long im still waiting

Than on naxos rooster

Neidhart an old germanic composer relatively obscur to me
Manuel Cardoso +lobo split cd of portuguese polyphonic missa
Antoine Brumel how silly of me i allready have this missa on brabant but
there is aditional Brumel i dont have so ...

:tiphat:


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## brianvds (May 1, 2013)

Option 4: Don't buy music at all. No longer necessary, now that we have YouTube.


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## SixFootScowl (Oct 17, 2011)

When I figure out something I want, I buy it. Fortunately, I have the spare cash to do that, but I do shop for best deals. I usually buy off of Amazon or Ebay, but do like to make regular visits to my local music shop, Dearborn Music, and will try to make purchase their to support them as it is nice to browse physical racks of CDs once in a while, so I would hate to see such stores driven out of business by online sales. Dearborn music has a nice selection of classical, new and used.


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## jailhouse (Sep 2, 2016)

I haven't bought music in like 10 years. I listen to too many things (would have zero money) and know too much about the internet to do that now.


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## Guest (Oct 12, 2016)

Economically i tend to side with Keynesian than classical


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

Very impulsive buyer.


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## SixFootScowl (Oct 17, 2011)

Pugg said:


> Very impulsive buyer.


It's fun that way!


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## Weston (Jul 11, 2008)

I buy CDs and mp3s on line (often auditioning first through streaming). What's a music store?


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

Weston said:


> I buy CDs and mp3s on line (often auditioning first through streaming). What's a music store?


No music store in Tennessee? You are kidding us?


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## CDs (May 2, 2016)

#2 I love browsing the many racks. I pretty much always buy something I wasn't intending on buying. I love record stores!


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## EddieRUKiddingVarese (Jan 8, 2013)

Vinyl just give me vinyl, I'm a member of VAA- Vinyl Addicts Anonymous


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## poodlebites (Apr 5, 2016)

EddieRUKiddingVarese said:


> Vinyl just give me vinyl, I'm a member of VAA- Vinyl Addicts Anonymous


Same here. I buy most of them second hand and from both sources, the interwebs and brick and mortar shops. My local dealer has just bought a collection of +3000 classical lp's and I'm looking forward to see what's going to be in the racks in the next few weeks.


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## EddieRUKiddingVarese (Jan 8, 2013)

poodlebites said:


> Same here. I buy most of them second hand and from both sources, the interwebs and brick and mortar shops. My local dealer has just bought a collection of +3000 classical lp's and I'm looking forward to see what's going to be in the racks in the next few weeks.


Wow that's quite some habit, me I've only got 2000 or so I try not to count!

I'll let you know when the next VAA meeting is on.


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## poodlebites (Apr 5, 2016)

Ha! I think you understood me wrong. I haven't got +3000 CM lp's. The shop I use to visit every Saturday bought the collection from somebody else. I'm expecting to buy some of those 3000 though! I hope he puts them for sale a few every week and not all at the same time...
And yes, please let me know when the next meeting's on!


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## Merl (Jul 28, 2016)

I mainly buy back- catalogue from EBay and Amazon. I download anything else that I don't want a physical copy of. I just bought the Haitink LSO Beethoven cycle on individual discs rom Amazon and Ebay (i've had it for ages in FLAC on my hard drive) as it worked out far cheaper than buying the cycle as a box set. Got the whole lot for £6. I've picked up full symphony cycles of other composers this way too. And yes, I'm impulsive.


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## Simon Moon (Oct 10, 2013)

Option 3 would best describe me. 

I take almost weekly trips to brick and mortar stores. I buy a combination of CD's and vinyl.

The chances of serendipitous discoveries are too enticing not to browse the racks. If I only ordered music from artists I was already familiar with, my collection would be devoid of so much incredible music. Not to mention plenty of used CDs for low $$.

Almost all of the vinyl I buy are recordings that do not have a CD or hi res download release.

I am also increasing the number of hi res downloads I purchase, not that I have a hi end solution to play them back. Extremely satisfying. I hardly buy any CDs online anymore. 

Great stuff from HDTracks, HDTT, Yarlung and a few others available on native DSD.


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## Guest (Oct 12, 2016)

All my cd's are bought "on line",I look for bargains but not only because it is cheap.This week I purchased the Mozart Pianosonatas /Brendel because I saw it here on TC.The last time I give much attention to the baroque period and Bach in particular.
I like to build a discography wich is broad but has to reflec my taste.
If possible I look for editions with a booklet but sometimes I can buy a big box for the price of 2 or 3 full price cd's.
I know where to look and I am spending much time searching for interesting cd's.


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

OP: The kind that's been burned too many times by trusting professional reviewers, rather than auditioning myself before purchasing.


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## Kjetil Heggelund (Jan 4, 2016)

I buy cd's sometimes but mainly listen to spotify these days. When I want something in the car or it isn't on spotify, I go bananas at jpc.de or amazon, or right from the label.


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## Guest (Oct 12, 2016)

No.3. I get most of my CDs/LPs from Amazon 3rd party sellers, but I also enjoy browsing bins in actual record stores, but I have to drive about 70 miles to find one with a decent classical selection. (Usually Amoeba Music in San Francisco.) Since I retired in June, my wife put me on a budget of $150 a month--I used to spend around $300 a month.


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## Guest (Oct 12, 2016)

Kontrapunctus said:


> No.3. I get most of my CDs/LPs from Amazon 3rd party sellers, but I also enjoy browsing bins in actual record stores, but I have to drive about 70 miles to find one with a decent classical selection. (Usually Amoeba Music in San Francisco.) Since I retired in June, my wife put me on a budget of $150 a month--I used to spend around $300 a month.


oh dear...........


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## Guest (Oct 12, 2016)

^^ Yes, it's hard being married to a reasonable person.


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## EddieRUKiddingVarese (Jan 8, 2013)

Kontrapunctus said:


> No.3. I get most of my CDs/LPs from Amazon 3rd party sellers, but I also enjoy browsing bins in actual record stores, but I have to drive about 70 miles to find one with a decent classical selection. (Usually Amoeba Music in San Francisco.) Since I retired in June, my wife put me on a budget of $150 a month--I used to spend around $300 a month.


My VAA (Vinyl Addicts Anonymous- we take those with a CD habit too) meeting group is getting bigger all the time...........


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## ArtMusic (Jan 5, 2013)

deprofundis said:


> *1-You order everything cd you wait all the freaking time
> 2- you go to the record store in case you find something sweet the store has to offer
> 3- pretty mutch both?
> *
> ...


Of the three options you listed, I (1) most of the time.


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## rspader (May 14, 2014)

No record store nearby so any CD purchases are online or from the thrift shop, but their stock is dwindling and most of their classical stuff falls into the "Laserlight - Best of" category. Every now and then, though, someone dumps something good. For the past year I have had a subscription to Spotify and can stream that to my hifi or, with my iPhone, to the car stereo. Since Spotify came along, my CD purchases have decreased dramatically.


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## MartinD28 (May 22, 2016)

I download from iTunes. I still believe in purchasing music for a fair price. 

When everything can be gotten for free off the internet I hope we're not surprised when people can no longer afford to make great music.


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## Manxfeeder (Oct 19, 2010)

Pugg said:


> No music store in Tennessee? You are kidding us?


Well, there's Ernest Tubb's. Not much Schoenberg there, I'm afraid.


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## Blancrocher (Jul 6, 2013)

Kontrapunctus said:


> No.3. I get most of my CDs/LPs from Amazon 3rd party sellers, but I also enjoy browsing bins in actual record stores, but I have to drive about 70 miles to find one with a decent classical selection. (Usually Amoeba Music in San Francisco.) Since I retired in June, my wife put me on a budget of $150 a month--I used to spend around $300 a month.


I find it's better to put myself on a per diem rather than a monthly allowance, which I'd inevitably blow in a few days.


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## Casebearer (Jan 19, 2016)

My preferred order is:
- going to concerts 
- buying vinyl or cd's at the concert of the concert I've actually visited (it's mostly cd's you can buy nowadays)
- buying vinyl or cd's at the concert of previous material of the group I've just listened to
- buying second hand vinyl in thrift stores for on average 1 euro per album. This is my main source for 'new' listening (apart from YouTube). This works excellent for classical music (as there is hardly any demand for it) and other types of unpopular strange music. It doesn't work that well for jazz, prog and modern classical music. There is hardly any supply or the demand is too big.
- putting new vinyl or cd's on my wish list for people that insist on giving me presents
- buying second hand vinyl for commercial prices in specialized shops (we have at least three here within 8 miles)
- buyng new vinyl (often including downloads) or cd's of new releases, especially of jazz and prog music. I try to be very selective but sometimes can't resist the urge.

In general I make it my policy to only buy stuff for commercial prices that isn't marketed in a professional big scale way by the music industry. I hate these so called stars and their marketeers, the advertisements that are constantly getting in the way of real communication and the people that try to hype stuff or sell me that. A lot of stuff that is hyped now will be extremely cheap in a few years because hypes go by. I might even like Renee Fleming when the hype is over.


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## Casebearer (Jan 19, 2016)

MartinD28 said:


> I download from iTunes. I still believe in purchasing music for a fair price.
> 
> When everything can be gotten for free off the internet I hope we're not surprised when people can no longer afford to make great music.


I believe in that also and I think it's very important. But why then do you buy your music through Apple maybe the biggest corporation on earth? Where do you think the profit goes? Better buy directly from small labels or the groups themselves.


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## Casebearer (Jan 19, 2016)

rspader said:


> No record store nearby so any CD purchases are online or from the thrift shop, but their stock is dwindling and most of their classical stuff falls into the "Laserlight - Best of" category. Every now and then, though, someone dumps something good. For the past year I have had a subscription to Spotify and can stream that to my hifi or, with my iPhone, to the car stereo. Since Spotify came along, my CD purchases have decreased dramatically.


Yes and you've become one of millions that say "Power to Spotify" instead of "Power to Musicians". Not that I'm satisfied with myself. I listen through YouTube a lot which also has it's dark side.


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## Heliogabo (Dec 29, 2014)

I'm number 3. 
There are still some good record stores with fine classical sections in Mexico city, but offer has decreased dramatically in the last few years. I like to go there, and find some nice stuff and ocasional bargains. This is the best experience, but many of my searchings can't be satisfied this way, so I order some other things that I can't find. Sometimes wait is too long and when I receive my items my musical interests has changed, but I know that sooner or later I'll be interested in them again.
Since I'm here in TC, I've been searching a lot of stuff. So many atractive music, new performances, etc. And you know, "man's desire is the desire of the other".


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## Bruckner Anton (Mar 10, 2016)

Listen - read - buy or leave


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## LesCyclopes (Sep 16, 2016)

"Order CDs"? Did I wake up in the 1990s? 

I listen to whatever I want on Apple Music, download and organise them in playlists. It's great for when you want to listen to a wide spectrum of works by a composer or check out the same music on different instruments (organ, harpsichord, piano). 

I haven't touched a CD in months and can't say I miss them.


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## juliante (Jun 7, 2013)

CDs and vinyl for me. Spotify to discover and test. I still love to have that physical and synaesthetic relationship with an album or CD that I love. Streaming devalues the product for me. Illogical I know. Also - collecting! - love looking at and pawing through a well ordered music collection... However I confess I buy a lot second hand.... go to as many classical concerts as I can though.


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## Marinera (May 13, 2016)

deprofundis said:


> *1- you wait all the freaking time
> 
> *


*

^
My own thought staring right back at me. Option 1*


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

LesCyclopes said:


> "Order CDs"? Did I wake up in the 1990s?
> 
> I listen to whatever I want on Apple Music, download and organise them in playlists. It's great for when you want to listen to a wide spectrum of works by a composer or check out the same music on different instruments (organ, harpsichord, piano).
> 
> I haven't touched a CD in months and can't say I miss them.


If that's make you happy, so be it, I like to buy CD'S thank you.


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## SixFootScowl (Oct 17, 2011)

Pugg said:


> If that's make you happy, so be it, I like to buy CD'S thank you.


It is much fun ordering CDs and having them arrive in the mail. I have no desire to listen to music on You Tube or download tracks online.


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

Florestan said:


> It is much fun ordering CDs and having them arrive in the mail. I have no desire to listen to music on You Tube or download tracks online.


The exiting from reading the booklet and recording information, nothing beats that.


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## Marinera (May 13, 2016)

^
I don't mind waiting for cds usually, much.. though 'fun' is a bit of a stretch in my case. Often you'd find me checking my email 3 minutes after ordering whether they were dispatched or not already. And afterwards every 5 minutes on order progress until I get them. I drive even myself a little crazy sometime, nevermind everyone around. However, when I used to buy from stores, and unfortunately I had only very small music store nearby while it was still operating and another thing, often times I couldn't find what I was looking for.. additionally I really like getting good deals online, who doesn't really. Anyway, I can rationalize of course and come up with the very long list of reasons why cds are better than downloads, but I don't even care for rational back up, because having cds is immensely satisfying psychologically for me and anyone could debate pros and cons about it ,but this won't change how I feel about owning the physical recording, so that's the only option that's acceptable to me. There's nothing practical that can be gained from enjoyment of music, so why not get even more pleasure from the quality format, nice presentation. I know, it's decadent and hedonistic of me , but that's the point...and I think the point of listening to music


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## LesCyclopes (Sep 16, 2016)

Florestan said:


> It is much fun ordering CDs and having them arrive in the mail.


People say the same about buying books. I shrug and go back to my beloved Kindle


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

LesCyclopes said:


> People say the same about buying books. I shrug and go back to my beloved Kindle


Not the same, you have to hold the book and smell it.


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## Judith (Nov 11, 2015)

I don't know where to begin on downloads such as Spotify. I just order or buy CDs. That way, I feel as though I have a collection!!


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## SixFootScowl (Oct 17, 2011)

Pugg said:


> The exiting from reading the booklet and recording information, nothing beats that.





Marinera said:


> ^
> so why not get even more pleasure from the quality format, nice presentation.


Yes it is nice to read the booklets (and I have learned a lot about some operas that way) and its fun to organize your shelves of CDs. Sometimes you get these very beautifully packaged sets in hinged boxes with nice artwork.



LesCyclopes said:


> People say the same about buying books. I shrug and go back to my beloved Kindle





Pugg said:


> Not the same, you have to hold the book and smell it.


Yes I hate reading online. Books are wonderful, you can carry them with you and no worries about the battery dying. Love the smell of books!


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## Mal (Jan 1, 2016)

Not everything is on Spotify, and your favourites may be pulled. Plus there are some dodgy cut offs, probably to make you buy the CD... I confronted Spotify about this and they say they just put up what they get from the companies. So not great product testing then.


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## Casebearer (Jan 19, 2016)

Personally it worries me a lot that the young generation deliver themselves to big companies and think they're hip and the rest of us is outdated. It's not just about the pleasure of owning your own physical copy, it's about preventing big companies exerting complete power and control over the artistic content that reaches us.


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## Blancrocher (Jul 6, 2013)

Casebearer said:


> Personally it worries me a lot that the young generation deliver themselves to big companies and think they're hip and the rest of us is outdated. It's not just about the pleasure of owning your own physical copy, it's about preventing big companies exerting complete power and control over the artistic content that reaches us.


I appreciate the rationalization--but I think that like me you're just another damned music-collecting addict :lol:


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## LesCyclopes (Sep 16, 2016)

Casebearer said:


> It's not just about the pleasure of owning your own physical copy, it's about preventing big companies exerting complete power and control over the artistic content that reaches us.


I would like to understand what you mean by that. How exactly does buying CDs from record labels prevent big companies from exerting this control? Is it not the same big companies selling content via CDs or iTunes?

The upside with iTunes is that I no longer have to buy a CD without listening to it, or even buy it at all if all I want is a single song on it. Also, no waiting for the CD to arrive in the post, of course.

By the way, you can make CDs with the music you download, if you like the idea of owning CDs.


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## Jos (Oct 14, 2013)

Vinyl only for me.
As Bigshot said somewhere on the forum: "cheap and plentiful". 
I also stream from YT or soundcloud or other sources.
Got rid of my cd's and the player a few years ago, except a few for in the car.


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## Omicron9 (Oct 13, 2016)

3.

I'll find something I like on YT; then head over to amazon. Hardly a week goes by that I don't buy something on amazon. It's great that they now include used copies; makes it easier to locate OOP CDs.

Regards,
-09


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## schigolch (Jun 26, 2011)

I buy now online almost all the material.


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## Mal (Jan 1, 2016)

Maybe I was bit harsh on Spotify, the cut offs are few and far between... just one happened at the end of a Karajan Bruckner performance, grrrrrrr... I had to buy the CD and was angry at DG for wrecking my listening experience, and angry again at them forcing money out of me! Not angry for long , after all the music is worth any pain & money, just have to accept marketers pull fast ones...

CD marketers are just as bad, bought a second CD from a "reputable seller" and the case was all cracked, I guess they could argue it was the postman's fault, but on close inspection the ebay image was different! They had the cheek to ask me for a photo of the cracked case before giving refund. They can't even take proper photos & tell me to take 'em! I gave 'em one star and now I'm ignoring 'em. I don't trust any marketers, I'm hiring my own string quartet; go straight to the artist, (if only...)

P.S I do use Spotify Premium, so some money does stream away to the artists - in any case, if they're any good they can make money playing live, like Mozart did.


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## CDs (May 2, 2016)

LesCyclopes said:


> I would like to understand what you mean by that. How exactly does buying CDs from record labels prevent big companies from exerting this control? Is it not the same big companies selling content via CDs or iTunes?
> 
> By the way, you can make CDs with the music you download, if you like the idea of owning CDs.


From what I understand is that when you buy a song or album from iTunes you don't actually own the song. You just bought a license to download the song to your iTunes account. So if the label or iTunes decides to no longer make that song available they have the right to remove that song from your account. So you are at their mercy.
But with a CD they can't do that. Once you bought it it's yours and the labels can't remove it from your collection.

Yes you can burn it to a CD but (for me) it's not the same I like to have an official copy of the CD with the booklet.


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## Blancrocher (Jul 6, 2013)

Still irritated about the increase from $3 to $4 for shipping on Amazon. Terrified of another price increase in the future.


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## Triplets (Sep 4, 2014)

deprofundis said:


> *1-You order everything cd you wait all the freaking time
> 2- you go to the record store in case you find something sweet the store has to offer
> 3- pretty mutch both?
> *
> ...


Record Store? What's that?


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

Blancrocher said:


> Still irritated about the increase from $3 to $4 for shipping on Amazon. Terrified of another price increase in the future.


 Not only that, they keep raising the $$ amount one must spend to get the free shipping!


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

Triplets said:


> Record Store? What's that?


I remember them fondly: Tower; HMV, Korvettes; all in NYC. The glory days!!


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## Casebearer (Jan 19, 2016)

CDs said:


> From what I understand is that when you buy a song or album from iTunes you don't actually own the song. You just bought a license to download the song to your iTunes account. So if the label or iTunes decides to no longer make that song available they have the right to remove that song from your account. So you are at their mercy.
> But with a CD they can't do that. Once you bought it it's yours and the labels can't remove it from your collection.
> 
> Yes you can burn it to a CD but (for me) it's not the same I like to have an official copy of the CD with the booklet.


Yes, this is an important aspect and should be enough reason to stick to cd's or vinyl. There are many more aspects to it but I'm too tired after this week's work to go into it. But expanding on this specific aspect: all the big companies are in a transition from the previous model where you bought something that you personally owned after buying it, to selling a 'license to use' (in different forms). 
You see the same thing with software companies. They all want to sell you online versions of their software on the basis of a monthly subscription. They do this for several reasons. The primary reason being that new 'innovative' versions of their software often did not offer much of a progress and consumers tended to stick with the old version they were satisfied with and that did not generate enough and stable income for these companies. In other words investing in a new version is a risk with uncertain profits. With monthly subscriptions they have a much more predictable and steady cashflow and are less dependent on real innovations and the success of them in the market. The selling argument is always that it is 'so convenient' for you as a consumer. They don't tell you much about the downside which is you don't own it and they can change terms and prices whenever they want. Once the hip masses have delivered themselves to these companies and competition is low prices will be rising.


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## SixFootScowl (Oct 17, 2011)

Casebearer said:


> Yes, this is an important aspect and should be enough reason to stick to cd's or vinyl. There are many more aspects to it but I'm too tired after this week's work to go into it. But expanding on this specific aspect: all the big companies are in a transition from the previous model where you bought something that you personally owned after buying it, to selling a 'license to use' (in different forms).
> You see the same thing with software companies. They all want to sell you online versions of their software on the basis of a monthly subscription. They do this for several reasons. The primary reason being that new 'innovative' versions of their software often did not offer much of a progress and consumers tended to stick with the old version they were satisfied with and that did not generate enough and stable income for these companies. In other words investing in a new version is a risk with uncertain profits. With monthly subscriptions they have a much more predictable and steady cashflow and are less dependent on real innovations and the success of them in the market. The selling argument is always that it is 'so convenient' for you as a consumer. They don't tell you much about the downside which is you don't own it and they can change terms and prices whenever they want. Once the hip masses have delivered themselves to these companies and competition is low prices will be rising.


Like a bunch of sheep being led to the slaughter!

When I got my first driver's license, leasing a vehicle was unheard of (except perhaps for company fleets). Now it seems everybody is leasing. Very hard to find an actual price for a new vehicle anymore. It is so much easier to suck someone into a higher priced vehicle with a low monthly lease amount than the full sticker price.


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## SixFootScowl (Oct 17, 2011)

Blancrocher said:


> Still irritated about the increase from $3 to $4 for shipping on Amazon. Terrified of another price increase in the future.


Yeah, I remember that. Didn't think about the next increase but it has been $4 for a long time. I can still get $3 shipping half.com and shipping varies considerably on ebay from free to exorbitant.


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## SixFootScowl (Oct 17, 2011)

hpowders said:


> I remember them fondly: Tower; HMV, Korvettes; all in NYC. The glory days!!


As a teen I bought a lot of vinyl at Korvettes in Southfield, Michigan.


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## staxomega (Oct 17, 2011)

Grab everything that interests me, What CD I'm in the mood for. 

No vinyl, not a fan of surface noise, off center pressings, insufficient dynamic range and movements being split up.


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

> Grab everything that interests me, What CD I'm in the mood for.


That's the spirit.


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