Preferred music collection medium?

[CiG]

You wouldn't download a beer. Support physical beer formats.

 

[Vilden]

I would if it was possible though.

 

[Master_Yoda77]

 

[dwellerINTHEdark]

CDs for me. The only place I really listen to them is my car, but I have a long enough commute so it's all good. Never got caught up in the vinyl hype but I can see its appeal. Don't have a cassette player. Outside of driving, I mainly listen to Spotify, especially on my daily walks on the beach.

 

[Phylactery]

I do most of my listening in the car as well. My drive to work is around an hour so it's usually enough time to get through a full album. Then I can give it a repeat listen on the way home or listen to something else.

 

[The Butt]

CDs or digital downloads. I don't care enough to buy vinyls, and cassettes are hella inconvenient but still kinda cool anyways so whatever.

 

[Psychonaut]

CDs and vinyl. A lot of my vinyl are classic rock and I believe that's the format that stuff should be listened on, but more metal has been creeping in. I prefer to interact with the music physically. It's part of the experience for me when I can actually find time to sit and listen to an album. I hate downloading. I can't fathom paying for music and not physically having it in my hand. I moved my collection last year, even after selling off a bunch of it. It sucked hard but it's only temporary pain.
992 vinyl
2950 CDs

 

[CiG]

I never thought of tapes as inconvenient, vinyl is though.

 

[EternalMetal]

I'll never understand why people would prefer to have digital media. First of all, I don't trust any computer or game system enough to prefer paying for digital downloads and even though I don't illegally download either, I'd still only download legitimately as a last resort. I can only imagine having bought as many albums digitally as I have physically only for my computer to suddenly crash without being properly backed up beforehand.

Well a large part of the reason why people prefer digital media is convenience. A lot of people dont solely listen to music in a room decked out in hi-fi gear, and even if that is a part of their listening environment, there are many advantages of having your media digitized for on the go use. You can hook an iPod or smartphone up to almost any car or bluetooth device (as is the method I see a lot of my friends use at parties and social gatherings), whereas with physical media you need a dedicated and more bulky player to achieve the same result.

Sure, you could just rip your cds to MP3/FLAC/etc, but a growing section of the population is giving up/doesnt have a PC with CD-rom drive to do so. This process becomes further complicated if you want to digitize vinyl or tapes (I do not have the technology to do either one). So why not just cut out the process of converting the media and simply just download it once to a drive? Not backing up the data/being willing to re-download is user error, not a caveat of digital media.

It looks like I made my judgement based on some shit article that was incorrect. Still, I don't want a CD collection, they take up too much space and I don't really give a shit about them, once I've ripped them, I also don't think I could sell the ones I don't like, so it's shit value.

I keep my cds as a physical backup to my digital collection, and for being able to take the booklet out and read it when I sit down and give an album the attention it deserves. More than 90% of my CDs are in pristine condition (except for the occasional case that was probably cracked when I bought it) since I rarely ever bring an original CD out of it's case to play it. To me, the value of owning the cd lies mostly with the knowledge that I contribute monetarily to the music industry and at least marginally promote the artists I like.

The real reason for me though, is that the booklet, liner notes, and legitimacy of the pressing is part of the album's art and part of a larger history of my biggest passion in life. I like the thought of owning and continuing to accumulate something of a museum for this music, so I can have a place to not only listen to it, but immerse myself in a subculture that I can identify with and continue to learn of the array of influences that went into its development during formative years I was too young to have witnessed myself. I try not to get too carried away with it though because space is obviously an issue. Sometimes I'll look on some collectors pages to see someone with every pressing of The Number of the Beast since it was released, for example. That's just hoarding to me.

Herein lies the only true advantage of physical media. It adds a physical identity to the music that you listen to and enjoy, and I admit to having the same sort of ephemeral joy when it comes to owning a vinyl or cd. Part of the experience of immersing yourself in an album is being able to flip through the booklet, appreciate the artwork, and read the lyrics and liner notes. It does add authenticity to the experience and I do enjoy this part of the process myself, but I have to admit that a lot of this is somewhat superficial. I find more joy in the older stuff by researching it's significance, appreciating the album art, year of release, and lyrical content than just simply holding a physical piece of the media in my hands. Music's power is in it's audible reproduction, which can be enhanced by a physical counterpart that is ultimately optional.

I do not consider digital media to be a collector format, but I did feel the need to justify why it is usually the best choice when it comes to playback. As per the thread title however, id have to say CDs for me. Collecting vinyl is ultimately more difficult when it comes to older metal albums and is more expensive. I reserve vinyl for either all time favorites or those albums that were originally mastered and meant to be played on vinyl. Cassettes comprise very little of my modern collection; I dont even have a tape deck anymore, so I cant really enjoy them atm. I am trying to reject the hoarder mentality in which I was raised, so in the end im not really obsessed with obtaining an overly large collection, though it is inevitably the end result when you want to acquire lots of music.

 

[Funerary_Doom]

My most preferred are CDs. I have probably close to 1000 CDs. However, I've recently really liked the connivence of bandcamp and Itunes. The downloads never disappear that way and I can re-download if needed. I really don't like clutter and since I'm in an attic I have to make use of the space I have. I don't mind digital copies as long as I can access it on my phone or re-download. Bandcamp's setup is really nice. Anyone else use it? Also pretty cool way to follow record labels and listen to what's been released. The only thing I don't like about it is that people can follow you and like an email is sent out to them whenever you buy stuff. I don't know who most those people are, and I think them getting an email if I buy shit is a little weird. The privacy settings need to be better but otherwise I love the site.

https://bandcamp.com/funerary_doom <--my bandcamp collection. It's a neat site and I love that I can just listen to my collection on my phone and or redownload albums.

I love LPs and vinyls but again, the clutter. Right now my vinyl is stored in a pile and it looks kind of disorganized. Also, it's a pain in the ass to listen to them because I have to set up the record player, the speakers and everything. It's a nice experience but then again you can't even overplay the music because vinyl isn't meant to be played countless times.

Don't own many cassettes because I have no means of playing them.

 

[Satanstoenail]

CDs. I also love vinyl but I've only recently got my turntable working properly again and started purchasing. Record fairs are fun.

 

[PhlegethonVeins]

Digital for quality and convenience, vinyl to sate physical/collector needs and intimate listening experience.

As for comments on mainting vinyl, ive found its pretty darn easy with anything pressed in the last decade or so. Ive never had something arrive sounding worn, and only have one record that sounds bad compared to its digital press, but it was clearly done on low gram vinyl with a hot CD master, kicking the treble through the roof.