Do you still buy physical formats?

[Richey Edwards]

With the widespread availability of streaming and digital downloads that can be listened to on pretty much any portable device, does anyone still buy CDs or Vinyl?

I still like actually having a physical product I can hold and look at the artwork, read the lyric sheet etc even though I do copy the music to my ipod. For me the package is often as much part of the experience as the music is and downloading music and only having a JPEG of the front cover doesn't quite cut it.

[Miguel Sanchez]

Yes.

[RiG]

1 hour ago, Richey Edwards said:

With the widespread availability of streaming and digital downloads that can be listened to on pretty much any portable device, does anyone still buy CDs or Vinyl?

I still like actually having a physical product I can hold and look at the artwork, read the lyric sheet etc even though I do copy the music to my ipod. For me the package is often as much part of the experience as the music is and downloading music and only having a JPEG of the front cover doesn't quite cut it.

Yes, for pretty much the exact same reasons that you list however I have found myself downloading more stuff off Amazon, Google Play etc. especially if they are a lot cheaper than getting the physical copy. That said once I get the CD I rip the music to my laptop, upload to the cloud then stick the CD away on a shelf for eternity.

Still, nothing beats popping the CD out of the case for the first time!

[HenryHill]

Yes. I listen to them in the car. Cant be arsed putting stuff on my phone and bluetoothin.

[beefybake]

Most of my music listening is now straight from Youtube,  so I purchase very little of any description.

My daily work is running my retail website, and then there is messaging, and emails, on my phone. 

It's quite a relief to buy real books, from bookshops, and borrow from libraries., rather than digital books. 

I noticed recently, that the sales of vinyl are very much on the up.....

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-41747615

[Shandon Par]

Mainly from charity shops. Anything in specifically after I’ll buy and download through iTunes on my phone but I like seeing what cds and books are kicking about charity shops if I’m passing one. 

[BallochSonsFan]

Yes.

Still buy vinyl. Only buy CDs if I can't get the vinyl.

MP3 is convenient so it's how I listen more often, but I'd never stop buying physical copies unless it was impossible to buy it on a physical format.

[itzdrk]

Spotify only for music

[tongue_tied_danny]

Very rarely. I don't have a turntable so vinyl is out of the question. I've only bought about 2 or 3 CDs in the last year and they've been impulse buys when I've been wandering around aimlessly. I can't remember the last time I purposely set out to buy a CD. I've got a couple of hundred CDs in my bedroom gathering dust. Most of them haven't been played for a least a decade.

I generally just watch YouTube videos.

[Menzel]

Only stopped buying vinyl because I need to somehow get my record collection shipped over here, which will take time and effort to do.

[Busta Nut]

I fucking love collecting a physical format. A few are unopened due to Spotify etc.

[DanMc99]

slightly off topic but it's still kinda relative , youngsters these days don't understand the excitement of going to Global video and renting a DVD out, it's just all there for you now which is obviously good to an extent but there's no excitement in just been given something straight away compared to waiting 

[bob the tank]

I'm a charity shop cd buyer, but only started buying in them when I was on the road a lot for work. I have got some really fantastic albums this way, but I've noticed lately that the turnover has virtually stopped and not much for sale post 2010. I've still got my old all bells and whistles turntable but it's never used, and my wife bought me a record player for Christmas last year which hasn't been out of the box, as I don't miss my old vinyl (400+ albums) and wouldn't even consider paying £25 - £30 for an album

 

 

[Trackdaybob]

It's just different these days. Not wrong, not right, just different.

I mix it up with a combination of CD's, MP3, Bluetooth, etc. My current car has a 6 CD changer but no bluetooth which I do find annoying occasionally. 

Mrs TDB's 15 year old daughter streams, downloads, etc and it doesn't seem to bother her in the slightest that she's no physical attachment to any of it. It's all disposable as far as she's concerned.

Probably bothers me more than her but she just doesn't look at it that way. Doesn't even consider it. Big thing at the moment is her friend's parents have bought a tv that's got bluetooth. Really important apparently but I was like "and that's better how?" 

Meh!

[Ross.]

46 minutes ago, DanMc99 said:

slightly off topic but it's still kinda relative , youngsters these days don't understand the excitement of going to Global video and renting a DVD out, it's just all there for you now which is obviously good to an extent but there's no excitement in just been given something straight away compared to waiting 

Sounds like you are still a nipper yourself. I recall going to AZAD Video(Other geographically specific chains may apply) and renting VHS tapes, as well as Megadrive and SNES games...

[DanMc99]

1 minute ago, Ross. said:

Sounds like you are still a nipper yourself. I recall going to AZAD Video(Other geographically specific chains may apply) and renting VHS tapes, as well as Megadrive and SNES games...

AZAD shut down when i was young i went there too but global was handier. still got my megadrive somewhere

[BallochSonsFan]

slightly off topic but it's still kinda relative , youngsters these days don't understand the excitement of going to Global video and renting a DVD out, it's just all there for you now which is obviously good to an extent but there's no excitement in just been given something straight away compared to waiting 

Agreed.

Friday night routine for me as a kid was going to Global once a fortnight to rent 3 movies - one for me, one for my folks and one we'd watch together - and a chippy from Pepi's for dinner. Global let you rent on a Friday for return on a Sunday.

It's crazy to think that I'm 38 and don't consider myself to be particularly old and yet things that were common when I was younger are now completely alien to many folk.

[DanMc99]

44 minutes ago, BallochSonsFan said:

 

Agreed.

Friday night routine for me as a kid was going to Global once a fortnight to rent 3 movies - one for me, one for my folks and one we'd watch together - and a chippy from Pepi's for dinner. Global let you rent on a Friday for return on a Sunday.

It's crazy to think that I'm 38 and don't consider myself to be particularly old and yet things that were common when I was younger are now completely alien to many folk.

 

Mines was Global and top up on swedgers and an insane amount of irn bru  from haddows or mcdiarmids in dumbarton

[Gaz FFC]

Last week I bought 4 Stereophonics albums from music magpie on CD to complete my collection. Only cost £8 with delivery.

I buy on CD for the van and when I'm in the house I will fire up a playlist on You tube and Chromecast it so I can play on surround sound.

I'm a winner that way

[L. Brilliant]

Spotify has kind of taken over for me... no real regrets except that for stuff that's not there i just dinnae listen any more. Bit of a shame. Quite conscious of not really supporting the making of music this way but it's so convenient; streaming in the car via bluetooth especially.

I do buy vinyl occasionally but only the absolute creme. Takes a lot of space but it's nice to have.

I know it's another conversation, but i quite like that you can always hear something before you buy it - much more meritocratic than the era when you bought stuff based on marketing. Or, basically anything other than what it sounded like. But i've not really been paying for everything i do like, so it's not perfect either.