This is something I've always been very against, but I'm started to feel swayed more toward the digital format recently. 

There are some pros and cons I see to the argument of physical verses digital. Some of these apply to be personally, possibly not to you, but could do if we're in similar situations.

Physical:

+ Feel more like you own it.

+ Artwork and liner notes.

+ (CD) Can be ripped to digital for backup. Some other retailers may give digital for free as well. So you get both.

+ Can be sold on, if you choose to.

- Takes up house space. Becomes a real issue when your collection starts getting up toward 1000 or more.

- Gathers dust (I have a dust allergy). 

- Can get broken, discs scratched or in one case of mine, completely stop working without any visible damage.

- Can't play them in the car due to no CD player, only USB port. 

- Haven't found a decent, non expensive CD that worked for long for years (I play my CDs currently through my blu-ray player and TV, which uses two lots of electricity so isn't ideal). I more often find myself playing music through my PC anyway. I don't remember when I last played an album I own from the actual disc.

Digital:

+ Often cheaper than physical when new (but not always).

+ Instant delivery.

+ Wider availability of the music I like. Too many great albums I've wanted to own are not in my collection due to hefty import charges.

+ Doesn't take up physical storage space. 

- Can't be sold on if you don't like it/go off it.

- Potential for loss. 

- (Amazon) may not receive the best quality mp3 files. Also no guarantee of getting mp3 not another format (last digital album I got, accompanying a CD purchase that I had to wait for, arrived in wav files that wouldn't play in the car). 

Thoughts? My current inclination is to have my favourites on CD and sell some stuff I don't like so much (because storage space is an issue). 

Physical copies, be it CD, cassette, vinyl, DVD, VHS, game disc, I have it forever as long as I take great care of them. There's a reason that there's so many old copies of old albums that still play great, because they've been taken care of. Plus I can buy used and can get well-cared for albums for cheap or cheaper prices, you can't get used digital copies. 

Also, nothing beats going into a record store and browsing the aisles waiting to see something you know or have an album cover catch your eye. Digital music takes away from the personal experience of buying an album.

Digital is more convenient, for sure. Before the lockdown, I was a heavy Spotify user, because it's easier than using CDs or loading shit on my phone. It means I can't always listen to exactly what I want, but there's shitloads more which I don't own that I can explore.

During this lockdown, I have been exploring both my physical (CD) and digital (downloaded and ripped) collections, and they are reasonably extensive. I have been culling out digital shit I don't really like, since I got a huge share of digital music from my younger brother.

Personally, it's horses for courses. If I'm home in front of my computer, physical media is fine. If I'm in the car or at work, Spotify is far easier, and there's more than enough to keep me entertained. I still love buying CDs, but the offerings at physical music stores these days are pretty pathetic, so I don't buy many. If they were easier to find, I'd buy more. However, that's not going to stop me checking something out on the internet if I can't find it.

I remember a Tool fan complaining at the release of their most recent album that they weren't going to listen to it until they could find it on CD or vinyl - and it wasn't initially physically released like that in New Zealand. The last two CDs I bought were Sacred Reich's Awake and Acid Reign's compilation. I had heard both before on Spotify. That wasn't stopping me from buying either, because I value those bands' music.

I do use Spotify though but mainly to see if something is worth buying.

I should think more like you but every time I run out of space I always manage to find another slot to fit a few more in.

Try the direct link to Dropbox, I could upload it here, but getting the site to accept is a pain in the arse.

https://www.dropbox.com/home/Photos?preview=DSCF3674.JPG" rel="nofollow - https://www.dropbox.com/s/0pwhlb7x6501yzc/DSCF3674.JPG?dl=0

http://imgbox.com/KhlFH7Xf" rel="nofollow">

I stream it, I like it, I buy the CD.

I stream, I don't like it (or at least not that much), I don't buy the CD.

Simple.

The only music I have on my PC that I don't own on CD is because the download was free and legal, which usually means it isn't on CD.

I like to have the CD. It might be a genre thing because the music I like tends to have really good artwork. My friends outside of those who also like rock/metal tend to like commerical music where the average artist's idea of an album cover is their own picture, pretty much every time. I don't see that there's much joy to owning the physical like that. But since I like metal when effort is put into artwork the physical is a must.

So Never on the poll. I also can't imagine selling anything I currently own.

Looks like you could squeeze another shelf under there. That'll keep you going a while. 

A lot tidier than mine!

When it went wrong it was because it completely lost power. It had a disc stuck inside of a film I'd literally bought that morning. It was only then I found out that the player was designed with no mechanism to manually eject the disc tray and this be able to retrieve the disc. I had to send it away for repair with the disc still inside. I went wrote a note to alert the technician about that, sent the disc's case with the player and asked them to retrieve my disc no matter what, providing my email address if the postage cost to return it was an issue.

They just threw it all away with no response. I was livid. I actually came out on top because Amazon fronted me an insane amount of credit to replace the movie (which I ended up doing with a digital copy and then still had credit to spare), but it got me thinking. What if I'd not been watching a DVD at the time but listening to a CD? Especially a CD that it would be difficult if not impossible to replace? 

This is the most expensive CD I've ever bought:

It cost me around £30. It shouldn't have done, because Royal Mail whacked a near £10 import fee on it, because the sender, the artist himself, declared the customs forms incorrectly (it should have been a $15 2CD plus a FREE poster, but it was declared as a $15 2CD plus a $10 poster). Anyway, this was a crowd-funded release, so copies were very limited even without considering that it had to be sent from the US and as it came out in 2016 and this happened in 2019, three years down the line meant that there was no copies available anymore.

It is the very definition of irreplaceable. So when my player went wrong and I was unable to get my DVD back, it really got me thinking over what could have been done if I'd happened to be playing this or something else rare at the time?

I've barely played any CDs from the disc since that day. 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Sony-CFDS70B-CEK-Classic-Boombox-Radio/dp/B01EG2LCGI/ref=sr_1_4?dchild=1&keywords=sony+cd+player&qid=1590314918&sr=8-4" rel="nofollow - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Sony-CFDS70B-CEK-Classic-Boombox-Radio/dp/B01EG2LCGI/ref=sr_1_4?dchild=1&keywords=sony+cd+player&qid=1590314918&sr=8-4

It lasted for some time, but eventually started randomly skipping CDs. 

I later had one of these:  https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B01IVQW8SQ/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1" rel="nofollow - https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B01IVQW8SQ/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

It was shit quality and paused between every track. 

This was the last one I had:  https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00Z3F9UJ4/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o03_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1" rel="nofollow - https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00Z3F9UJ4/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o03_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1

It played one CD and then promptly malfunctioned. 

I haven't owned an actual CD player since. 

Alex and I even have a load of doubles from when our collections got merged after marriage. We've never even sold any of those. I keep thinking that if we did it would be just our luck if the one we keep gets damaged somehow. We're very careful, but you never know. 

If something like this happened to me with a disc stuck inside that thing would be coming to bits!

Surely the sender should have refunded you that fee in this case by the way?

As for sender, I got this from the artist himself. Legally he probably should have done, although there may have been an issue over who's law applies to an international sale, but I choose not to press the issue. I did inform him that I was whacked with a fee to receive the CD, but I omitted why because I don't think he was making much money off of crowd funding a physical release, it was basically fan service. I think he probably broken even at best. If I'd bought it from a label or a business that would have been different. But I decided not to try to claim money back from the artist himself, especially considering he had previously given me a CD of the first Lascaille's Shroud album for free. 

Always thought that maybe I should have got the fucking poster laminated though. 

adg211288 wrote: Always thought that maybe I should have got the fucking poster laminated though.