No,bying CDs is not cheaper.I still have collection of 200+ CDs and 300+ LPs .And I enjoy physical media,not playing particular track,but entire album.Today,there is so much beautiful music all over the world,awaiting to be explored.And I am not going to buy any more CDs or LPs.My family is using Deezer( family option),myself only Tidal premium,which costs me abt 5 euro per month,and I am very happy with that.When I want to hear something new to my taste,just stream...No more physical media.

I still buy CD's too. For me it has a few advantages:

• Sometimes they're cheaper than the digital version, but this is probably the exception to the rule. I don't like subscriptions so every subscription I have is subject to close monitoring and scrutiny.
• My car is 14 years old. I hardly use it as everything I need is within walking distance. I won't replace it as long as it does what it needs to do. I don't want to replace the CD-player with an ugly after market unit.
• Some of my CD's are autographed by the singers / band members. Not that easy with digital media. Well maybe I should buy NFT's instead.

Of course there are advantages and disadvantages for everything, for example:

• Research indicates that the carbon footprint of a CD is lower than that of streaming if you've streamed the album more than 27 times.
• The nice thing about physical media is that you own it forever. I continually see tracks in my streamed playlists going dead because its been removed from the service's catalogue for some reason
• Streaming services have a tendency of changing their storage or transmission format (take for example, when Tidal suddenly turned on the MQA switch). This may or may not be an improvement that you may or may not want.
• There can be hidden quality differences in streamed media vs. physical media, either due to CODECs
  • Example 1: Netflix vs. Blu-ray - although you can watch the same movie via both in "Dolby Atmos" - the streamed version cannot be lossless - whereas the physical media version can (but might not be....)
  • Example 2: Some music labels watermark their tracks stored on streaming services' storage - so, although you're streaming a lossless file, you're still getting weird lossy-CODEC-like artefacts
• Streamed services suffer from dropouts, either due to the QoS on the stream itself, or because the stored track has an error. Then again, scratched CDs skip, so this might be a tie.
• Very few streaming services offer multichannel music (which is becoming trendy, and which I've listened to a lot for the past 20 years) and none of them offer lossless multichannel music (which I listen to a lot - but I might be weird...)
• I've got LOTS of CD's that I listen to a LOT that will never make it to the catalogues of any streaming service - not only because I have "unique" taste in music, but because some tracks are old... (For example, try finding the movie "My Dinner with André" on any streaming service. Or find the Verve release "Mona Lisa" by Densil Pinnock and Bill Coon. You can't.)

Of course, the simple solution is not an "OR" but an "AND" To quote an old SNL commercial for a product called Shimmer - "It's a floor wax AND a dessert topping!" I stream music every day. I also play CDs, SACDs, and DVD-Audio Discs every day. And, lately, I've also started playing Dolby Atmos music tracks from Blu-ray...

Cheers
-g

Geoff Martin wrote:

 

• Very few streaming services offer multichannel music (which is becoming trendy, and which I've listened to a lot for the past 20 years) and none of them offer lossless multichannel music (which I listen to a lot - but I might be weird...)

Cheers
-g

No, you are definitely not ‘weird’ ;-)

MM

The big drawback of CD's, mainly when using a B&O Cd player, is the replacement of the lasers. I would play a lot more CD's if replacement lasers were easy to buy and replace. This is where streaming has a big advantage over CD's. 

Millemissen wrote:

Geoff Martin wrote:

• Very few streaming services offer multichannel music (which is becoming trendy, and which I've listened to a lot for the past 20 years) and none of them offer lossless multichannel music (which I listen to a lot - but I might be weird...)

Cheers
-g

No, you are definitely not ‘weird’ ;-)

You can't make such a far-reaching blanket statement based on one, insignificant piece of information... but thanks.  ;-)

Cheers
-g

Geoff Martin wrote:

Of course there are advantages and disadvantages for everything, for example:

Research indicates that the carbon footprint of a CD is lower than that of streaming if you've streamed the album more than 27 times. The nice thing about physical media is that you own it forever. I continually see tracks in my streamed playlists going dead because its been removed from the service's catalogue for some reason Streaming services have a tendency of changing their storage or transmission format (take for example, when Tidal suddenly turned on the MQA switch). This may or may not be an improvement that you may or may not want. There can be hidden quality differences in streamed media vs. physical media, either due to CODECs Example 1: Netflix vs. Blu-ray - although you can watch the same movie via both in "Dolby Atmos" - the streamed version cannot be lossless - whereas the physical media version can (but might not be....) Example 2: Some music labels watermark their tracks stored on streaming services' storage - so, although you're streaming a lossless file, you're still getting weird lossy-CODEC-like artefacts Streamed services suffer from dropouts, either due to the QoS on the stream itself, or because the stored track has an error. Then again, scratched CDs skip, so this might be a tie. Very few streaming services offer multichannel music (which is becoming trendy, and which I've listened to a lot for the past 20 years) and none of them offer lossless multichannel music (which I listen to a lot - but I might be weird...) I've got LOTS of CD's that I listen to a LOT that will never make it to the catalogues of any streaming service - not only because I have "unique" taste in music, but because some tracks are old... (For example, try finding the movie "My Dinner with André" on any streaming service. Or find the Verve release "Mona Lisa" by Densil Pinnock and Bill Coon. You can't.)

Of course, the simple solution is not an "OR" but an "AND" To quote an old SNL commercial for a product called Shimmer - "It's a floor wax AND a dessert topping!" I stream music every day. I also play CDs, SACDs, and DVD-Audio Discs every day. And, lately, I've also started playing Dolby Atmos music tracks from Blu-ray...

Cheers -g

I haven't owned a CD in more than 15 years, when I ripped all 400+ of them and then sold them, because my toddler daughter at the time kept destroying them and we had no convenient place in our NYC apartment to put them out of her reach. I have an extensive vinyl collection, and I listen to streaming music (Deezer Hifi and Apple Music).

But I just committed to buying a Beosound 9000 MK3 with very few hours on it, which should be installed soon, so I went out to buy some CDs--some favorites I already own on vinyl, along with some I haven't come across easily on vinyl or with bonus material. My favorite record shop has a good selection of used CDs, and after buying both new and used vinyl, I was pleasantly surprised at the cheap cost of most CDs. Although vinyl will always be my favorite, I have no real preference for which way I listen to music at the moment I feel like listening to music, so I'm looking forward to getting back into them--especially on the 9000.