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Author Topic: Streaming vs. Local Files  (Read 1369 times)

Spike1000

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Streaming vs. Local Files
« on: June 29, 2018, 02:43:02 am »

Might cost me a fortune in CD purchases as a result though!
Isn't the aim/design/goal of streaming to reduce (eliminate?) the amount of physical media people buy in the future?

It's a shift in business model. Money will be earned from 'leasing' or 'renting' licences from whoever owns the right to currently sell on the licence to endless generations of customers rather than sell physical media.

Even JRiver are recognising that in the future fewer people will have their own local media collections and more people will use steaming services . . .  ;)

The same thing has clearly happened with video streaming, Amazon, Netflix, YouTube, catch-up/on-demand services etc has signalled the end of traditional broadcast TV, recording TV programmes and DVDs/Blu-Rays.

The problem is that you have x companies with y amount of shareholders  trying to protect their IP/business model/customer base/income stream in a competitive market. This results in z different, incompatible, closed source applications that can only stream their licenced subset of the available media. Make the most of being able to use one (well maybe a bit more than one) application to enjoy your media, it's only going to get worse.  :-\

The consequences of this is will be an even bigger boom in pirated media (but the law and technology will catch up with this) reducing income to the 'artists', reducing the amount and quality of the produced media. This may have other consequences of 'self produced' media (like YouTube) gaining popularity (I watch far more YouTube than broadcast TV) but that business model doesn't work for the content makers so that may lead to further a diversity of closed source media applications and so the game continues.

What would I want? The ability to watch/listen to/enjoy the content I want to watch, when I want to watch it, in the quality I want, and here's the thing that'll never happen. . . with just one app on multiple devices. . . . Very happy to pay (I pay for my UK TV licence, pay for my cable TV, I pay for the media I buy) maybe £100 a month. So I have £1200 a year available to someone who can do all of the above (if they can sort out the licencing)  :)


We're all doomed, I say, doomed   :'(

Spike

DJLegba

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Re: Streaming vs. Local Files
« Reply #1 on: June 29, 2018, 08:14:41 am »


I use streaming to find new music, and to preview albums that I want to buy. It's great for classical music, where there are often many different performances of the same piece. Radio-style streaming that presents a list of disconnected "songs" doesn't suit classical music very well, and finding specific works is possible but difficult with the streaming apps. They're designed to shuffle playlists, which is something I'm just not interested in.

I have definitely purchased more downloads since I subscribed to a streaming service, but I admit my use is not typical.
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AndyU

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Re: Streaming vs. Local Files
« Reply #2 on: June 29, 2018, 11:34:54 am »

I’ve had Qobuz - an excellent, European streaming service - for a few years, and gradually it has become my dominant source for music. A huge choice of recordings, in at least cd quality, with sleeve notes. What’s not to like. Still use MC, but Qobuz is now my go to source for music. And it lets me store a reasonable amount of music locally on my laptop and iThings so I’m not even dependent on internet.  As for movies, I subscribe to Netflix in winter (who needs movies in summer?), rent movies  from Apple, and occasionally buy a Blu Ray. Oh and I go to movies occasionally and concerts frequently. Nothing like the real thing!  Dunno what’s to become of MC. I guess I’ll keep upgrading every year for old times sake.
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MikeO

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Re: Streaming vs. Local Files
« Reply #3 on: July 06, 2018, 03:27:03 am »

Same sort of pattern, we don't have Quobuz in South Africa so I use Tidal (Hi Fi CD Quality and MQA pseudo Hi Res ) & Netflix

Certainly cuts down on PC Goggling time and manually adjusting tags etc

More time for music -- Goody Goody

Mike
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Jamil

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Re: Streaming vs. Local Files
« Reply #4 on: July 08, 2018, 10:20:58 am »

I despise streaming and will always have local files.  It makes sense for MC to add support for streaming, since CDs are slowly but surely reaching an end of life.  However, I prefer not to sacrifice audio quality in favor of low bit rate streams of audio.  Yes -- I know Radio Paradise streams FLAC, but I have zero interest in any music this broadcast plays.  So we are stuck with Spotify, youtube, Pandora, etc, etc, that I simply have no desire to pay for.

With CDs dying a slow death at this point, online lossless music purchases is my path forward.  Right now, the best site I see to purchase downloads is bandcamp.com.  Here I can get lossless downloads that are often 24-bit HD audio (but not always).  Heck, this site is superior to hdtracks in features, availability, support and popularity.  Additionally, you can often get music for FREE with an option to support artists you enjoy.

Tommay

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Re: Streaming vs. Local Files
« Reply #5 on: August 01, 2018, 02:46:52 pm »

Totally agree about Bandcamp, plus I hear that artists enjoy more download royalties from this site than from other similar sites.
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Spike1000

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Re: Streaming vs. Local Files
« Reply #6 on: August 02, 2018, 02:38:42 am »

often 24-bit HD audio

Don't fall into the trap of cognitive bias and judge a book by its cover. There's much more to the sound of reproduced music than the number of 'bits on the box'. The marketeers know that 'bits can sell' so it's obvious what they will sometimes do but more isn't always better.

Spike

Manfred

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Re: Streaming vs. Local Files
« Reply #7 on: August 02, 2018, 04:24:23 am »

see other discussion thread:
https://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php/topic,116773.0.html

Apple TV has grown 709 % this fall!!!

https://www.digitaltveurope.com/2018/04/26/conviva-apple-tv-leads-growth-as-streaming-viewing-hours-ramp-up-dramatically/

Apple has the market power and money to consolidate everything under one umbrella (my opinion)?!

Locally I have ~700 BD+DVD. This year I have bought no movie BD's anymore and I have using streaming services. Because of audio quality I purchase Concert BD's and HighRes Audio Music this year (a lot). I use sometimes Tidal. I will also purchase in the future some TV series like Homeland because I have purchased them in the past. For brand new TV Series I will use a streaming service.
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