Has Streaming made music lose it's allure?

Puffin

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You can listen to any genre of music at the touch of a button and gain access to millions of albums. I long to go back to the days when you had to hunt for your preferred music and artists especially if your tastes were not mainstream. There were many shops you could visit and browse through the racks and sometimes you were lucky and sometimes not. It was the thrill of the chase.

If you were looking for new music there were Samplers which put me on to a lot of artists I didn't know and were cheap and fun to listen to. There were stores that specialised in deletions often stuff from the US, one particular shop was The Slipped Disc in Clapham Junction. I spent a lot of money there and had a ball listening to Jazz and Soul artists on 45 and LP for very little money.

FOPP were good for hunting sessions and had a lot of artists that you would not find in HMV or Our Price. Remember Harlequin Records they were good too IMO. When Tower Records first appeared they had a massive range of stuff but you had to go on a hunt.

When streaming I find myself jumping around listening to part tracks and then moving on. For me it's all too easy and not as satisfying as it was, but sadly the old days are gone and one can only look back with nostalgia and maybe blurry rose coloured spectacles.
 

Jules_S

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I get where you're coming from. The excitement of "discovering" an artist for yourself purely on a chance encounter browsing the racks in a record shop. Word of mouth recommendations from your mates. Even a mention of an unknown artist by another artist you know, when they're being interviewed in NME or on Saturday morning telly. Somehow these experiences counted for something.

I speak as a non-fan of streaming (past the point of internet radio anyway) so yes, perhaps I'm biased. I understand some of the appeals, but they just don't appeal to me. Having seventy-twelve gazillion tracks available at my fingertips is not appealing to me, and just a waste in all honesty. I'm never going to listen to it all and I can't help thinking you're right, that it does tend to discourage building a long-term relationship with an artist IF streaming is your only source. The temptation to keep jumping from one thing to another, to another etc is there, and you may never go back and re-listen. If you're using it to discover bands and then go on to buy (physical or download) music for repeated listening, or you create a playlist based on that artist or genre, that's a different matter. It does make me beg the question though - is listening to radio much different if that's all I were to do? It's someone else curating a list of stuff that I may never hear again. That said, Radio Paradise is going to bankrupt me with the list of artists I have put in my "must buy this" list!

FOPP were good I agree, in much the same was as Silverscreen used to be for DVDs (especially world cinema). I'd often take a punt on new things when I came across them for a few quid in a sale - don't mind "wasting" £3 where I'd never take a chance at a tenner.

I think it's still possible to discover music in the old-fashioned way, by frequenting independent record shops (who, in the main, have knowledgeable and passionate owners and staff) and also record fairs, where diving into a brown box of LPs under the table can yield all sorts of discoveries! It's fun, and that's part of the attraction, that you're finding out for yourself rather than having an anonymous algorithm that doesn't really "know" you find out on your behalf.
 

StingRay

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No, it has done the opposite for me. Discovered loads of new music. No shops near me. Before streaming made lots of mistakes buying albums I not play after a few times. I can hear most of the new releases as soon as out. Before streaming my music interest was low as only had my collection to play.
 

griffo104

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No streaming is far better for me when hunting new stuff out.

when I was younger I used to do the rounds of the underground record stores myself looking for hard to get music, imports, etc..

But now I enjoy doing a session where I try a new band or genre and then just follow the subsequent recs. Yes, most maybe rubbish but I find loads of stuff I would never had bought due to it being a gamble and costing my hard earned. Streaming has taken the gamble away.

Also with youtube blogs/reviews and written blogs on the net I find more people I'm aligned to and that has opened up far more music then buying magazines back in the day.

Streaming reinvigorated my love of music after it had started to wane.
 

Nopiano

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It’s a voyage of discovery for me, is streaming.

However, I agree that the ease of ‘surfing’ can distract from listening. Hence, I still make time for listening to whole works or discs on CD and LP.

There seems to be a hierarchy of faff merged with concentration.

1. LP = most faff but I listen to whole sides or albums.
2. CD = easier than LP, but it plays until I decide otherwise.
3. Streaming = easy as pie, but too easy to switch or come back another time. I mostly just play a track, then it stops (Though I can play the whole album or ‘start from here’. )
 
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Jubal

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I’m with the likers. For new (to you) music, features like “customers also listened to” on Amazon are brilliant. As is the ability to instantly sample something you see mentioned on a forum. I deliberately hang around the thread on here for that reason.

Enjoying a settled listening session is a matter of discipline but I’ve been fast forwarding past the album tracks I don’t like since tape decks had the feature so I don’t see the difference.
 

Edward

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Streaming for me has been a wholly positive experience. At the start I simply jumped around with no sense of purpose. These days I tend to concentrate on particular genres, artists or composers and use streaming to do a deep dive to discover more.

Tidal I consider simply as a library similar to a book library.

Still love spinning vinyl though. :)

E
 

garn63

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No..in fact I've never listened to such a broad selection of music.
If shopping and owning stuff is high on your agenda then I guess there would be high chance that you could be down on streaming. Each to their own.
*Accumulating "stuff" can be a curse when you age.
 

Puffin

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Thanks for all your replies. I can see that everything that has been said is very valid as we are all different. I used to have a massive CD collection, many I simply threw away as I had grown tired of them and some I sold. Those that I still have I find I don't listen to anymore as my heavily pimped and modified Marantz 63 is sadly no contest for my streaming set up.

I have a turntable and tons of vinyl but even though the deck is pretty good it still pales in comparison to the SQ from streaming.

Yes, streaming has put me on to lots of artists I would never have tried or known of before and the Spotify weekly "Release Radar" and "Discover Weekly" are a good way to find more unknown stuff.

I am just getting old and reminiscing about the good old days of my youth.
 

Gizza

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No, it has enabled me to broaden my taste in music and avoid having to to take gambles on buying albums from artists I love, that turn out to only to have 2 or 3 decent tracks on them. I own many albums that fall into this category! Even the best artists release 'so-so' albums during their careers.
 

JAD

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For me, one negative of streaming is the loss of the great albums that grow on you over time. Grateful Dead , American Beauty and Uncle Tupelo, Anthology lay pretty much unheard in my CD rack for a decade before I finally got them. you just don’t get that with streaming. other negative is the sheer mind boggling choice on offer, it sometimes does my head in. Flip side of course is the new artists you stumble on and that can be pretty exciting.
 

MusicMan76

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Yes, I do agree, when I ran a deck, you carefully selected an LP and listened to the full album. But do I miss all the faff, snap crackle and pop...and constant up and down of it all.....NOPE. But if the faff of vinyl was not there, would we flick between albums...I think yes. Why, because how many albums can we name where every track is awesome! For me not many. Always one track you flick past.
 
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Rayymondo

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As is the ability to instantly sample something you see mentioned on a forum
Funnily enough I have just done that after reading the review of the Synthesis A50 Taurus Integrated Amplifier by @George 47 I went off to listen the Sparklehorse track mentioned via Youtube then purchased an album for a couple of £ on Amazon.
I would have probably never got around to purchasing this from a shop if I could even find it, and like others have said above, one of the main advantages is to be able to sample before you buy. I do remember some record shops had little booths where you could listen on headphones but it's much easier these days.
I tend to make purchases of CDs or download albums rather than "stream" but unless its a charity shop gamble I try and listen first via Bandcamp, YouTube etc.
I still find lots of new artists or material by having a search around sites like Bandcamp where you can listen to most but not all of the music on offer. I did used to enjoy a rummage around the record stores but did make quite a few mistakes with purchases which wouldn't really happen now with the try before you buy model.
 
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MVJ

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I struggled for a long time with streaming & just jumped around from track to track album to album.

I listen extensively to CD & Vinyl but now mainly via the WAYLTRN thread I use Spotify for checking out new recommended music & play the whole album. Then unless it's pants I keep it in my library for a few listens and either delete or buy a hard copy although sometimes they will remain in my library & get played.

I like streaming but it will never replace my CD player or TT as a main scource.
 
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dari

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I long to go back to the days when you had to hunt for your preferred music and artists especially if your tastes were not mainstream.

"Oh mercy, mercy me
Things ain't what they used to be" ;)
 
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Mouldy Old Dough

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I find streaming great for convenience and discovering new music and artists. Initially I ripped most of my CDs, but found that becoming a pain with bad rips and album art, not to mention the backup schedule for maintaining it. I work in IT and it almost felt like a second job. I have Apple Music and find the interface and algorithms great in suggesting similar music to what I have just listened to. I have tried Tidal and Qobuz but wasn't impressed. Last year, I bought a turntable (Project DC EVO with many upgrades) and have loved going through all my old vinyl from when I was young. A couple of weeks ago, I bought a Marantz CD60 CD player, and again I have loved going through all my old CDs. I was never going to re-purchase all my CDs on vinyl and I had racks of stuff that I wasn't getting to enjoy.

I love the tactile element of physical media.

I feel I now have the best of all worlds.
 
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PeteVid

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Streaming , three observations that have become apparent to me for good or bad.

1. We all , more or less, now have the same record collection. No going round your mates house to listen to an LP or borrowing it to record.

2. Pre streaming, if you wanted to hear a song from the 1970s , for example Colin Blunstone's 'Say You Don't Mind' , if you didn't own it the only way you could hear it was on the odd occasion it might be played on the radio , it probably wasn't even available to buy in record shops. And this was true for hundreds if not thousands of singles and albums.

3. When I was a young teenager and perhaps only owned a dozen albums and some singles I had no problem deciding to what to play whereas now literally spoilt for choice.
 
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rabski

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Streaming has increased my listening and expanded it.

My serious listening is still vinyl first, CD second. I use streaming for background listening and to check out new (to me) music and artists. In the past, I'd have heard something I liked, bought the album and then regretted it, as there was only one track I really liked. Now, I can listen to the entire album streamed. If I like it, I'll buy it on LP or CD. If I don't, I've saved a packet. If there's just one track I like, I'll keep it as a 'favourite' in my streaming source. If it disappears at some time in the future, I've not lost much.
 

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