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2015: The Year of Streaming - The death of physical media & downloads?

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Posted on January 28, 2015 at 18:12:42
AbeCollins
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This was sent to me by a member of an audio club that I belong to. I still have tons of CD rips to listen to as well as the occasional paid-for hi-res downloads. I also have Spotify, Pandora, iTunes Radio Streaming, and Amazon Prime Music streaming. I don't yet subscribe to a hi-res streaming service but I'm sure I will before too long.

Latest Nielsen report show, the obvious decline of the physical mediums and digital downloads in favour of digital streaming services. It seems, that 2015 will be a year of the streaming. Not only low, but also high quality music streaming services like Tidal etc. Only one medium, that is not mentioned here stays in the game. Vinyl! For obvious reasons?

Nielson Report



 

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RE: 2015: The Year of Streaming - The death of physical media & downloads?, posted on January 28, 2015 at 19:13:25
Garg0yle
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Seems about right.


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RE: 2015: The Year of Streaming - The death of physical media & downloads?, posted on January 28, 2015 at 19:48:43
Cpwill
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God help us all.
"Anyone who understands jazz knows that you can't understand it. It's too complicated. That's what's so simple about it." - Yogi Berra.

Cpwill

 

RE: 2015: The Year of Streaming - The death of physical media & downloads?, posted on January 28, 2015 at 19:52:20
Garg0yle
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Although I'm in the camp that likes to have files saved locally, as opposed to streaming.

Perhaps a carryover of low bandwidth days, and the fact that it is much easier to share the music with different devices when I have it saved on my own physical drive.
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RE: 2015: The Year of Streaming - The death of physical media & downloads?, posted on January 28, 2015 at 20:08:02
PAR
Well, maybe.

The chart from Neilson isn't very helpful as it shows % increase or decrease over one year 2013-2014 without indicating the actual revenue. No surprise that streaming may have grown by 54% as it has grown from a low base. For example I recall that Spotify reached its first 1 million subscribers only in the second or third quarter of 2014 (hoping that my memory is holding up). So that +54% may not represent a vast total revenue compared to other media as the value per stream is very low.

The decline in CDs nevertheless represents a major reduction in revenue whichever way you look at it as the value per unit is high compared to streaming.

The death of physical media will only occur when the copyright owners see that their support of physical media is uneconomic compared to other delivery methods. That depends not only on incoming revenue but also on the costs of production and distribution. The latter certainly give non-physical delivery an advantage.

 

As long, posted on January 28, 2015 at 21:25:15
JeffH
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as I can get EVERY release I want at REDBOOK or better quality I'll be a happy camper. It is the future. Hopefully, the days of free streaming will be over. We need everybody paying to get a premium product, a more complete library and get the artists paid.

 

RE: 2015: The Year of Streaming - The death of physical media & downloads?, posted on January 29, 2015 at 08:27:58
AbeCollins
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The streaming services offer a much wider selection of music but I find myself listening to ripped CD files and downloads more often. In addition to the CD rips on my music server I have boxes full of CDs and vinyl stored in the basement and a sense of security that goes along with it. I guess old guys like physical media. ;-)




 

Definitely the Future.....Hope to see more Lossless Streaming......nt, posted on January 29, 2015 at 16:45:27
Cut-Throat
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nt



 

RE: 2015: The Year of Streaming - The death of physical media & downloads?, posted on January 29, 2015 at 20:36:01
Windows X
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We're been sacrificing quality for convenience and we'll continue to do so until we're perished.

 

Brilliant -t, posted on January 30, 2015 at 07:11:24
Sordidman
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Posts: 13665
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A


"Asylums with doors open wide,
Where people had paid to see inside,
For entertainment they watch his body twist
Behind his eyes he says, 'I still exist.'"

 

RE: 2015: The Year of Streaming - The death of physical media & downloads?, posted on January 30, 2015 at 08:05:18
I forsee more audiophiles getting on the lossless streaming bandwagon, but it's not going to make downloads and CDs obsolete. I am now a Tidal user. Some of the album tracks available on Tidal are good versions and some are not. If the album has been remastered multiple times, you don't generally get to choose which version to stream. So audiophiles and dedicated fans will buy downloads and CDs to get the specific versions they want.

 

RE: 2015: The Year of Streaming - The death of physical media & downloads?, posted on January 30, 2015 at 09:05:51
AbeCollins
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We're been sacrificing quality for convenience and we'll continue to do so until we're perished.

I don't look at it that way. We have a lot more choice today than we did even a few short years ago. For the audiophile niche we have more high quality download sites then ever before AND we have more high quality streaming services. All of this in just the past two or three years.

Before the CD quality streaming services came online there were only low bit-rate services and some were fine for background music or listening in the car. But now we have services that are streaming true CD quality which we didn't have just a short year or two ago.

The sky is not falling for audiophiles! However, the chart does show the general trend in the mass market.

 

Had another "glitch" in my Internets this AM., posted on January 30, 2015 at 09:32:45
Sordidman
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Anyone with Squeezeboxes knows that a temporary 5 second loss takes down your squeezeboxes for a bit. Even the best of home networks, and ISPs, - lose their connections here in the USA. Internet Access is just low value. Streaming quality files REQUIRES more bandwidth, and bandwidth historically has been outrageously more expensive in the USA than the rest of the "industrialized" world. Plus, - with the more attacks on the poor and the middle class, and the new pay to play rules coming: access and needed bandwidth is going to be even more expensive.

In Europe, - people get a much better deal, and streaming higher quality files works better.

In the USA streaming services will cost more even for MP3 quality. As it is, people don't care about high rez. This will not kill streaming, it will just be more expensive, and it will not include hi-rez options. Hi-rez streaming in the USA is a non-starter.


"Asylums with doors open wide,
Where people had paid to see inside,
For entertainment they watch his body twist
Behind his eyes he says, 'I still exist.'"

 

RE: Had another "glitch" in my Internets this AM., posted on January 30, 2015 at 11:01:25
True hi-res streaming (e.g. 24/96 or 24/192) is still probably a ways away due to lack of demand. But even streaming at 24/192 FLAC requires less than half the bandwidth of Netflix-quality HD video. So even if hi-res streaming was available now and every single audiophile was signed up, it wouldn't amount to a blip on the overall broadband network traffic.

I also disagree on costs.

Tidal/WiMP lossless is $20, £20, or €20. So cheapest in the USA.
Spotify Premium is $9.99, £9.99, or €9.99. Also cheapest in the USA.

Land-line broadband costs are somewhat higher in the USA than most of Europe (25-30%), but not the highest in the world. I think Australia, New Zealand, Norway, Switzerland are worse for example.

But even at the most expensive rates, it's still a relatively cheap way for people to access new music compared to buying copies.

 

RE: 2015: The Year of Streaming - The death of physical media & downloads?, posted on January 30, 2015 at 13:16:20
Windows X
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Let's look back into the history.

We moved from tape reel to vinyl because it's easier to play and do maintenance works.

We moved from vinyl to CD because it's easier to play.

We moved from CD to file because it's easier to manage.

We moved from file to streaming because you can play anywhere on any devices now.

Now let's ask back to people using old stuff.

Do highend tape reel users find better audio quality in vinyl? No. Dynamic in tape reel is worth mentioning in every show it's demonstrated.

Do highend vinyl users find better audio quality in CD? No. CD is digital sound, vinyl is analog sound. They wouldn't say this if CD was that good.

Do highend CD users find better audio quality in file? No. I know a lot of people using highend Esoteric/dCS gears and none of them favor file over their highend CD transports.

Do highend file users find better audio quality in streaming? No. Some people argued that WAV is better format than FLAC in terms of audio quality. I don't think they'll like hearing it from streaming.

Now let's see how going above CD was like.

Moving to SACD, busted. Very niche market and failed to become mainstream.

Moving to DVD Audio, busted. HD DVD losing momentum to Bluray causing DVD-A in Esoteric P-03U becoming obsolete.

Moving to DSD2, busted. SACD market was sacked and effort to DSD was moved to elsewhere.

Moving to High Fidelity Pure Audio (BD-A), busted. They made some introduction in 2013 and haven't heard a word since.

Everyone loves choices. Everyone loves better things. Everyone loves easier things. But from past effort, better things died out and easier things earning the share.

Well, please don't be misunderstood that I'm against streaming trends. I too listen to streaming music and most of the time I enjoy good music too. But if we look into things objectively, they're all about being able to access easier, not about improving quality. As title of this topic suggested, I'm seeing more and more people going to pay for streaming services over physical media/downloads.

 

Meet "startup" classicsonlinehd.com, posted on January 30, 2015 at 14:24:35
srl1
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In January Naxos started offering lossless and hires streaming of classical music. They offer CD-quality lossless albums and many hi-res (24/44, 24/48, 24/88, 24/96, 24/192) choices. The interface isn't Spotify quality, but it'll get there. The advanced search includes sorting options and label searches. Go to the advanced search (you don't have to sign up to check out the inventory) and see the labels they have. Of course, they don't have the "big" labels like DG, Decca, Warner, but they do have CPO, Naxos, Oehms, Pentatone, and more. They even have liner notes or album booklets for most of their offerings. Right now I'm listening to a lossless stream of the new Steinway and Sons release "The Art of Bach" and can look at the booklet with a click of the mouse.

I have a "slow-ski" 10M connection thru the phone company, and the streaming works fine most of the time. The cost is $14.99/month through PayPal, and you get a 14-day free trial before the first billing. You can cancel at any time.

I just connected my PC to my home system with 50 feet of digital optical cable (fron the digital out of my Meridian Explorer USB DAC into my Musical Fidelity M1Clic preamp, and it sounds great. I control the PC in my living room with my Samsung Tab4 running VNC. When I get some money, I'll get a laptop for the home system for music-only work (Spotify, JRiver, ClassicsOnlineHD, etc.

I also run the ClassicsOnlineHD app for iOS on my iPod Touch, but because the Touch doesn't have as much memory as the iPhone, I'm limited to lossless through it for headphone listening. It's supposed to work properly with an iPhone.

I'm sure this is just the beginning of lossless and hires streaming services. The technology should work with the bandwidth available, not wait for the bandwidth to increase.

 

RE: 2015: The Year of Streaming - The death of physical media & downloads?, posted on January 30, 2015 at 14:33:56
srl1
Audiophile

Posts: 1337
Location: Florida Panhandle
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My problem is that I'm getting older (67), and no one else in my family gives a tick about my music system or my CD collection. I have thousands of CDs/SACDs, and I'm trying to figure out what to do with them. I have this horrible dream where my wife and kids just throw them in big plastic trash bags and haul them off to the dump. As more stuff is available from lossless and hi-res streaming, I can give away those CDs (unless, of course, they are among my favorites!). That's the plan, anyway.

 

RE: Had another "glitch" in my Internets this AM., posted on January 30, 2015 at 14:43:15
AbeCollins
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I have to agree with Dave_K. Internet bandwidth and reliability are not an issue for most broadband users in the USA for receiving streaming services. While not perfect, my internet rarely goes down and the bandwidth is orders of magnitude more than sufficient for hi-res music.

HD video streaming takes considerably more bandwidth and we enjoy Amazon Prime Movies, Apple TV movies, and Xfinity On Demand movies all the time.... and they all come across via broadband internet.

I also mentioned to Tony Lauck in another post that not all streaming services require a constant internet connection. Spotify will allow you to download a bit over 3000 tracks for offline listening for up to 30-days until you have to reconnect to their service briefly in order to maintain authorization.


 

RE: 2015: The Year of Streaming - The death of physical media & downloads?, posted on January 30, 2015 at 14:49:49
AbeCollins
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No one in my family cares about vinyl records or CDs. I have similar plans to give away my media to a young audiophile who will appreciate it.... but not for a few years. I still have plenty of life in me, I think. ;-)


 

It's a good thing your stereo does not have to rely on the electrical grid either........, posted on January 30, 2015 at 16:21:09
Cut-Throat
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Otherwise your power amplifiers would be sucking air.



 

Rolling brown-outs from the Enron, PG&E, deregulation monopolies -t, posted on February 2, 2015 at 10:38:43
Sordidman
Audiophile

Posts: 13665
Location: San Francisco
Joined: May 14, 2001
.


"Asylums with doors open wide,
Where people had paid to see inside,
For entertainment they watch his body twist
Behind his eyes he says, 'I still exist.'"

 

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