I find the subscription services too expensive. I guess it may make sense for those who have a huge appetite for many songs, but I like really like a smaller number which supplements free streaming services. I have my offline stored library and will add to it when I hear a song I would like to add. I use that collection when I am offline and/or i really what to here a group of songs with a certain theme, but use the free services when I want variety.
Running the numbers, the subscription services just don’t measure up, the cost for one month far exceeds the cost then if I buy and really not worth the price. I remember when Pandora was something like $37/year, that to me was reasonable and at the correct price point for me and how I listen, Also it was annual, so it was not a continuous drain which is how monthly subscriptions feel, but felt like I bough myself a gift for a year.
I do like how Apple reminds me of the subscriptions I have open with monthly reminders of the renewal charges, it helps keep them in check, and how it does really add up fast. I don’t like how Apple makes it hard to buy a song, with no obvious way to go from lets say Pandora, or Apple music directly to itunes to buy (though for Pandora I believe it used to be a function, perhaps Amazon music). I believe this speaks volumes of how they would like to keep people indebted by subscription.
I subscribe to Pandora – the fact that I now get infinite skips, can replay (some/most) tracks and other little things makes it worth it to me now. Once upon a time, you only got six or ten skips an hour even as a subscriber which was a joke.
But I do buy music as well. Often I find something new on Pandora and then favorite it, then once a month or so I wind up buying half of my new favorites (the other half I’m content to just hear when they come up). Once in a while, I come across a new artist I like enough to purchase an entire album. Amazon often has CDs with a digital version that gets added instantly for download so, if it’s not more than an extra buck or two I go with that. If not, I just purchase it digitally.
No. I have a huge appetite for new and old music and listen to music throughout most days. I find $10/month for Spotify far less than I used to spend on CD’s. Plus, my wife and I split the subscription (thanks offline mode). I still occasionally buy music but it is becoming much more rare.
I still spend a significant percentage of my income on recorded music in physical form. I think I have 5 mp3s from iTunes and a couple of albums from bands on bandcamp that did not have physical CDs (so I made them myself with whatever the best quality file download they had).
I’m a lot less wiling to pay for an experience than I am for the thing that gives me the experience; I can’t think what good a subscription service would do me so I don’t foresee ever using one.
I never stopped. I’ve always been baffled by the concept of radio–why would I want to listen to music I haven’t specifically chosen???–and the subscription services, by and large, add to that the inability to choose any song I want (many artists not on Spotify, etc). I’ve switched from buying CDs to buying digital and that’s all.
Nope, I have the Amazon prime music subscription which is perfect, I buy very little music these days. I’ve put that budget towards attending more live music. I still like CDs, but in my small apartment, storage space is at a premium
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Never went to a streaming service. I’ve got like a month of music in iTunes, and it’s all the good stuff. Costs me nothing a month.
Plus, right now the cable internet is out, and if we had streaming, the house would be musicless. iTunes always works. And the songs don’t disappear because someone changed a licensing agreement, decided they don’t want to carry that anymore.
I’ve never actually gone down the subscription model route. I listen to the free streaming services, and I buy the albums I like through iTunes and Bandcamp. If you asked me fifteen years ago, I would have said, what’s the point of not owning a physical copy, but I’ve been converted, sorry. I haven’t even owned anything that could play CDs or DVDs for at least five years.
I had free trials of Spotify, Rhapsody, and Amazon Music Unlimited, and dropped all of them. I usually listen to my own collection, supplemented with a couple of free services.
I mainly listen to classical music; my local library offers a free streaming service, Naxos Music Library, with an enormous catalog. If there’s something I want to hear that I don’t already own, Naxos usually has it. Any music purchases I make these days are MP3s from Amazon, although I’ll occasionally pick up a used CD from a thrift store or library sale. I can’t remember the last time I bought a new, shrinkwrapped CD.
I pay for Pandora One (or whatever they call it) and use it when I just want something generic to listen to. But mostly, I still buy CDs, but pretty much only *used *CDs. It’s a lot cheaper that way. I immediately rip them to an old XP machine that I call my “audio PC” and which is connected to my stereo. On the rare occasion I buy downloaded music from Amazon or whatever, I always burn it to a CD for a backup. I like knowing that I own a copy that isn’t going to go away.
I briefly paid for Pandora, but wasn’t happy with their shallow library. Forgive me for sounding hipster, but I’ve yet to find a streaming service that gives enough ‘deep cuts’ variety to hold my interest.
I mostly stream my existing music collection accumulated from over the decades (which is thousands of hours worth). For music I don’t yet have, scrounging used CDs at record stores is dirt cheap compared to streaming or iTunes. I’ll buy from Amazon a small number of niche genres that I otherwise can’t find, such as video game soundtracks.
Not really… I’ve bought some songs from emusic.com lately, (getting more and more frustrated with their selection,) and itunes, mostly because I got an itunes gift card from family.
Really very satisfied with my Spotify premium service, especially the ability to download custom playlists to a phone and play them offline.