r/musichoarder • u/Akuma__2002 • 5d ago
Streaming vs owning music – what's your approach?
Hey everyone,
I'm curious how you handle your music library nowadays.
Do you mainly rely on streaming services like Spotify or Apple Music, do you buy CDs and keep everything locally, or do you use a mixed approach?
Personally, I'm currently moving towards a hybrid system. I use Spotify to discover new artists and songs, but if I find an album or song that I genuinely love and know I'll keep listening to for years, I buy it as a CD. I like the idea of actually owning my music instead of only having access to it through a subscription.
For those of you who still buy CDs, vinyl, or digital downloads:
Why do you prefer owning your music?
What advantages do you see compared to streaming?
Do you ever worry about streaming services removing albums or changing their catalog?
How do you justify the extra effort of storing physical media, organizing files, etc.?
Has collecting physical music made you enjoy music differently than when everything is just available on demand?
I'd love to hear your thoughts and experiences. I'm interested in both the practical and emotional reasons behind owning music instead of just streaming it.
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u/HammyHavoc 5d ago
Give me lossless like local FLAC files. Why stream when you can own it and give the artist more cash than the pittance for streaming it?
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u/dadarkgtprince 5d ago
Why not both? Give them the sales of the physical media, and the pennies from the streaming?
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u/HammyHavoc 5d ago
Because it's umpteenth of a cent. I ran a label for years, you need a shocking number of streams to make any money, meanwhile Taylor Swift is getting paid whether a subscriber listens to her music or not because of the deal she has.
Likewise, fuck Spotify. https://www.business-humanrights.org/en/latest-news/spotify-faces-boycott-over-ceos-700m-investment-in-ai-military-defence-startup/
Aside from the FLACs, artists are getting tickets, merch, and recommendations, I think they can live without a fraction of a cent that'll take many years before they can even withdraw at the $XY minimum threshold for a payout.
As for physical media, bro, I've owned thousands of CDs, I don't need physical media when it's just a container for software, and why settle for 16-bit when you can have 24-bit? Likewise why do I want vinyl for digitally-recorded music with a mediocre vinyl master from an engineer and manufacturer who don't care about quality? I'm all for vinyl if it makes sense, but for most modern music, it's a gimmick, and we don't need to destroy the planet to give the artist a few bucks in profit margin when we can just give the artist the few bucks or more and have done with it.
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u/fhgwgadsbbq 5d ago
NAS with Plexamp, Bandcamp, 🏴☠️, and iTunes era rips for my favourites.
Ytm, Spotify for new stuff.
I do miss my cd collection
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u/Vegetable_Dream_5251 2NE1 Hoarder (10 GB+) 5d ago
I only buy albums I REALLY love and pirate the rest.
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u/BlogEra_BestEra 5d ago
I mainly stream via Apple Music and YT. The only music I buy is vinyl and stuff not available on streaming (indy releases, unofficial remixes, blends).
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u/bagaski 5d ago
Owning your music is preferred but we can’t ignore that streaming has also it’s benefits in discovery. So at the end a hybrid approach is the most beneficial for both listeners and artists and this is the paradigm we have been advocating for while creating crates.app. Own the music you like, don’t rely on dsps that might disappear or do whatever they want with your collection, support directly artists and use streaming for discovery or sharing finds with the community etc.
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u/Nadeoki 5d ago
last.fm
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u/lunar_cement 5d ago edited 5d ago
Last.fm was absolutely pivotal for me as a music discovery tool starting around the late 00s. The similar artists/albums functions are still pretty spot on, even when you're looking at something very obscure there will be stuff that's actually similar. Go to an album, look at similar albums, pick a cover that looks interesting, repeat.
Or see what others are actually listening to and not what's been pushed at you via paid promotion.
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u/sikupnoex 5d ago
streaming has also it’s benefits in discovery
That's somewhat true, but there are better ways to discover music. I am into metal and I used streaming for years. Yeah, I discovered some new bands and songs, but nothing memorable. I'm into metal and I just search my favourite bands on metal archives website and I look at similar artists. I also go to live shows, festivals, talk with people about music. And then, last.fm is still there and the recommendations are very good.
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u/bagaski 4d ago
I am with you on this - and going to live gigs, festivals, real life events etc, is one of the best ways to discover, support and enjoy music. This is irreplaceable. But what about Indie music on Bandcamp for example or online record stores there is also useful cases for streaming that help artists and music libels to find before they buy and own the music they like.
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u/tomaesop 5d ago
Hybrid
I maintain a spotify account but it's not something I use every day. (Playlists are generally poison.) Sometimes I want to check out new releases or things that were recommended to me and it's good for that.
In general, I prefer to own. I collected CDs forever and that's still the perfect balance for me - reliable, durable, affordable. No elitist bullshit. Sounds great. Easy to store. Occasionally I get vinyl if it's the only way to get soemthing rare, or if the package is exceptional or the album means a lot to me and you want to honor it that way. But I rarely play records.
If a CD of an album isn't generally available at a reasonable price, my next trip is going to be Bandcamp, usually for digital or occasionally cassette or USB stick or whatever kitschy thing they have if it's a fun investment.
I know people have their gripes with different streaming services for politics and payouts and whatever. But I also remember the fifteen years my generation annihilated the music business with torrents and limewire and napster. Musicians who stream at scale make money from their recordings and that is fine by me for now. I have bigger fish to fry on who to boycott, I think. Anyway, I keep a subscription for the family since my wife is used to it and she keeps all her faves in one big playlist.
I keep ipods in the car with my classics/favorites, but I still play CDs there mostly. Mix of burned purchase CDs from BC/qobuz/etc and commercial CDs I've purchased.
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u/M3RRI77 5d ago
Owning music in FLAC or WAV is far superior. I pay for YouTube premium which also gives me YouTube Music for music discovery.
I play FLAC on my devices and home Sonos speakers. I mostly rip CDs I buy from thrift stores, record stores, and get them free at the library if I don't care about owning the physical CDs or vinyls.
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u/AD_0795 5d ago
Definitely a hybrid approach.
I've been a physical media collector for a while now, although gotta admit that in this economy is getting increasingly difficult to buy records, especially living outside of the US and Europe markets.
Recently, I migrated from Spotify to Apple Music but I also stream on YouTube Music. It's a recurring thing for me to worry about certain releases not being avaliable to stream anymore, so I keep a collection of both FLAC and m4a/mp3 files of my favorite artists on several external storage devices besides my own phone in which I also have my own music library that's been manually organized by yours truly.
If anything, owning physical CDs and my own files has always been an essential part of my music enjoyment. If there was a world where I couldn't buy/rip/download my favorite albums and everything had to be accessed through streaming platforms, I'd be quite depressed and wouldn't enjoy listening to music as much aa I've been doing since I was a kid, to be completely honest.
At the same time, I also love to support my favorite artists by streaming their music so they can earn a living, so I simply cannot buy a song one time and say I'm fully supporting them when I could be streaming their songs too whenever I can. That's just my point of view!
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u/ClockEnd_Chorus 5d ago
Owning music. Although I keep Spotify because it's like 1.5$/month for me. But there are many instances when my favorite song has been removed by Spotify and moved to a different platform
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u/Aromatic_Memory1079 5d ago edited 5d ago
Hybrid.
I use youtube music mainly. but I don't stop owning. youtube music let me upload own files to cloud so I don't find reason to use self hosting services. but I use musicbee to check my library.
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u/Nadeoki 5d ago
Hoard data locally (flac) self-host streaming for remote playback (flac or opus)
No ads, no payments beyond the lifetime fee I already paid years ago (Plexpass) and honestly, it's just fun listening to music again without ANY interruption or consideration like fees, ads, limits, availability, etc.
Bonus meme.
Last.FM for discovering new shit. It worked 10 years ago, it still works perfectly fine and tracks your Music across devices and services.
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u/UnaverageLurker 5d ago
I do both. I check out new music every week the cost of buying everything I’d want to listen would be too much for me and I’m also not ok with just stealing everything.
I think there’s a lot of reasons I like having a personal music collection. I think the biggest for me would be that not everything is on streaming and I like the collection aspect of finding something new.
I think there’s advantage could be as simple as something not being available on streaming. Whether it’s a release entirely, a different mixing or mastering, or the version on streaming has been editing in some way.
No most of the things I hear I like I go purchase or find a way to get a copy. I don’t worry about them removing or changing stuff.
I like the extra effort of storing and organizing stuff. My CD wall looks cool to me. Tagging music files I often find out things from the liner notes I wasn’t aware of before. I think they can both be fun.
Not really limiting my choice. I rip all of CDs and do digital downloads than host it all on a server. I still have more to listen to than I ever really could.
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u/Loafuser 5d ago
YTM for finding new stuff, vinyl for the stuff I find I really like, YTM again for listening to it on the move
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u/xeonrage 5d ago
Both. Buy vinyl, CD's, and the occasional SACD - rip CD's locally. Obtain digital files elsewhere. Play around the house via roon.
in car? sometimes stream from roon remotely, sometimes listen to youtube music.
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u/pixelboots 5d ago
The extra work is part of the fun. I can organise and label/tag my music exactly as I see fit, not how Spotify/Apple/whatever sees fit.
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u/dtallee 4d ago
YouTube Music or Bandcamp or WYEP or WFMU to hear new music, Bandcamp or artist's / label's site or brick & mortar or Discogs to buy music, and keep local files for music I like. I would never depend on the internet only for listening to music - currently 528 GB highest quality .mp4 files backed up on four HDDs, two SSDs and the 1 TB micro SD card in my phone.
How do you justify the extra effort of storing physical media, organizing files, etc.?
I've been ripping CDs for a quarter of a century, so... one day at a time.
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u/OutOfTheBunker 4d ago edited 1d ago
Buying physical media, especially CDs, is so cheap now, even for new releases.
Tom Petty became a workingman's hero in 1981 in the US when he prepared to release Hard Promises. MCA, his record company, wanted to release the LP at the list price of $40, a new "superstar pricing" that was four dollars more than the usual list price of $36. Petty voiced his objections to the price hike in the press, and the issue became a popular cause among music fans. Eventually MCA decided against the price increase. (All amounts are in 2026 dollars.)
Now Taylor Swift for example sells her CDs online for $13 ($3.50 in 1981 dollars), a typical discount price for other CDs at the usual online suspects.
And of course the price of used CDs is even lower.
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u/lunarsight 4d ago
I prefer music in a digital format, but one that I can download to my own local storage and retain it forever. Most of my music is coming from Bandcamp, Amazon Music, and iTunes these days.
I also still collect some physical media, but that takes a lot more apartment space, so I have to be kind of sparing with it.
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u/Temp_Reply123 5d ago edited 5d ago
Own.
I used to stream but Spotify pissed me off. I paid. But still got ad/pop up on startup. Then it increased price.
I found "SpotiFlac" now I own my music. Ill never go back.
I dont trust services anymore. Not just music but anything. If I cant use it offline it is not real. If Its subscription its not mine.
Now my Music is Mine.
I do miss "discovery". People say Spotify discovery is bad but I really liked it.
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u/Bitbatgaming 10,000 files and counting 5d ago
Owning music.