Don't forget the dinosaurs!

[Bryn]

Agree with most of this, taking issue only with the stream quality issue. . . .

With QOBUZ steaming, at least you get the opportunity to "import", (often in high resolution of up to as high as 192/24), and thus avoid any interruptions due to ISP vagaries during playback.

[hmvman]

When I got broken into 30 years ago the robbers had put all my opera boxed sets into a carrier bag and then left them. Perhaps they realised the local market for knocked off copies of Solti’s Ring was not that buoyant...

We were burgled soon after moving into this house twenty-odd years ago. The burglars took most of the pop CDs but left all of my classical ones. The kids saw it as a problem - a negative judgement of my musical taste. I saw it as a positive and was relieved my collection was safe!

I think I'm with LMcD, I still prefer to buy a physical product. The Penguin Guide was my bible when it came to choosing recordings and, Like LMcD, I would prefer to go for one with an interesting coupling rather than just the top recommendation.

I still play my LPs and also '78s' (and some cylinders) on wind-up machines. I enjoy the ritual of doing so

[Dave2002]

Within the first month of my Qubuz sub I reckon I’d listened to £300 worth of CD’s though I don’t own them. That’s not “nothing” but it is value for money.

I agree if that’s what you want to do, and have the money.

I did have a Qobuz subscription, but cancelled it. We can afford such subscriptions, but there’s not much point if we don’t use them. We still listen to CDs and radio. We are still hoping to attend some opera performances later this year, and the ticket prices are almost certainly higher than the Qobuz subscription, but that’s not by itself an argument for us rejoining Qobuz. I watch a fair number of YouTube videos.

There are people, even in affluent areas, for whom £150 a year is still a significant outlay. It is not “nothing” to them.

[LMcD]

We have a one -in one - out policy on books and CD’s . Perhaps the forum could offer a post mortem CD aftercare facility ? . Or there’s always the Oxfam shop ....

As it happens, I shall be visiting their Ipswich shop tomorrow!

[Richard Barrett]

Anyway, I don't think this is all about finger-wagging or trying to force people to catch up with new technology, it's just that (as with cylinders, then shellac, then vinyl, then CDs) if you don't catch up you're going to be missing out on things! including - looking at the original post - recordings recommended by BaL or whatever.

[LMcD]

Anyway, I don't think this is all about finger-wagging or trying to force people to catch up with new technology, it's just that (as with cylinders, then shellac, then vinyl, then CDs) if you don't catch up you're going to be missing out on things! including - looking at the original post - recordings recommended by BaL or whatever.

Increasingly, I find that I'm less and less interested in 'catching up with new technology'. It's fine when it works, but when it doesn't things can go wrong very quickly and on a large scale.
We tend to take our time over these 'advances' here in Suffolk, which is probably one of the reasons for our relentless cheerfulness.
I have enough trouble making sure that the CDs I do own get heard at least once in a while (why keep them if you're never going to listen to them?)
Duplicates or those I know I'm never going to listen to again are donated to charity shops.
I'm quite incapable of appreciating the benefits of higher bit rates. The last CD player I bought cost £8 (yes, from a charity shop), also plays cassettes and is easily transportable from room to room.

[Dave2002]

In fact there is though, because while CDs are all digitised at 44.1kHz/16 bit, many newer recordings are available to stream/download at 96kHz/24 bit, and to my ears the increase in bit depth can make a noticeable difference.

I agree about bit depth, rather less so about higher sampling rates. Also, the perceived differences may be due to other factors - such as remastering - but for whatever the reason might be worth having. SACD players and some other players can manage higher sampling rates and larger bit depth - e.g. Blu Ray audio.

It’s possible that a very good CD player would sound as good or better, but the elements of subjectivity and also economics do come into play. I believe there is a CD player which costs around £10k which sounds superb (allegedly), when paired with other similarly luxurious equipment, but that’s not something too many of us would contemplate.

[Bryn]

I agree if that’s what you want to do, and have the money.

I did have a Qobuz subscription, but cancelled it. We can afford such subscriptions, but there’s not much point if we don’t use them. We still listen to CDs and radio. We are still hoping to attend some opera performances later this year, and the ticket prices are almost certainly higher than the Qobuz subscription, but that’s not by itself an argument for us rejoining Qobuz. I watch a fair number of YouTube videos.

There are people, even in affluent areas, for whom £150 a year is still a significant outlay. It is not “nothing” to them.

Approximately 41p a day. That's less than a third of what I pay for my Internet connection alone. Easily covered by my no longer buying a daily newspaper (that's newspaper, not red-top).

[rauschwerk]

Although I have been fully retired for a year, I'm pretty sure that I do a lot less seriously attentive listening than some others on this forum and that therefore it wouldn't be worth my while to subscribe to a streaming service. If I spent a lot more time listening, I'm pretty sure that I would become much more interested in the latest recordings. I do use downloads wherever possible: my ageing ears are quite satisfied with 320k mp3. My CD shelves are overfull and I can count at least eight sizeable boxsets bought in the last few years which I'm still working my way through.

[Richard Barrett]

Increasingly, I find that I'm less and less interested in 'catching up with new technology'.

But you were the one complaining about BaL recommendations!

[LMcD]

But you were the one complaining about BaL recommendations!

Sorry, but you've lost me there!
It did occur to me that, should CDs become difficult or impossible to find, subscription rates for Qobuz and the like might just possibly rise to reflect the resultant reduction in choice.
I really don't think that my enjoyment or understanding would be enhanced by a higher bit rate or more sophisticated equipment, but that could well be because I wouldn't know what to listen out for.

[Richard Barrett]

should CDs become difficult or impossible to find, subscription rates for Qobuz and the like might just possibly rise to reflect the lack of choice that this would represent..

You mean like CDs became much more expensive after LPs were no longer obtainable?

[Ein Heldenleben]

Sorry, but you've lost me there!
It did occur to me that, should CDs become difficult or impossible to find, subscription rates for Qobuz and the like might just possibly rise to reflect the resultant reduction in choice.
I really don't think that my enjoyment or understanding would be enhanced by a higher bit rate or more sophisticated equipment, but that could well be because I wouldn't know what to listen out for.

It’s more likely that they’d go down largely because the marginal cost of each additional subscriber, once costs have been covered , is so tiny . But if one of the streamers gets in a monopoly or near monopoly position that could well happen. At the moment all the economic pain is being felt by the “content providers “ (see the curation strand) or as they used to be known musicians. That’s the real moral objection - even though Qubuz pay better than most it’s still a pittance really.

[LMcD]

I wonder if the CD will take as long to disappear as the cheque book. I can't remember how long ago it was that the disappearance of cheques as a means of payment was predicted, but one person who clearly wasn't convinced was the Secretary of the WI branch of which my wife is a member, as it was made perfectly clear that payment for the coming year's subscription was to be by cheque unless there was some compelling reason to employ any other method. The Office of the Public Guardian also insists on payment by cheque, at least where LPAs are concerned, and our solicitors also prefer them. So perhaps CDs will also be around for a good while yet.

[Edgy 2]

......... your local library may offer the Naxos library for free streaming which includes not only Naxos but also many other labels.

Best thing since sliced bread.
Most of my non cd listening is via the Naxos Library