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In Reply to: RE: What's a good internet service posted by ph5y on June 02, 2017 at 16:30:29
When you say internet service do you mean a music streaming service and not an internet provider?If so:Unfortunately you live in the USA and, as yet, won't have access ( or easy access) to probably the best, Qobuz. However all streaming services can only offer what is licensed to them by the record ompanies. The result is that none have anything like full coverage of the whole recorded music catalogue. It is somewhat piecemeal and unstable as the companies can ( and do) withdraw repertoire, license it only for given periods etc.
If you are happy to put up with good but lossy sound then Spotify Premium may be the nearest to what you want. It seems to have the most comprehensive repertoire of all as far as I can judge. Yes you can make playlists get full albums etc. They all provide that. Searching is, however, like most such systems only as good as the search terms that you type in. Unfortunately one does not necessarily know which terms the search engine uses as the key identifiers for a given piece of music. I don't think that e.g. release date or, say, 1982 version, is necessarily amongst them.
Choice also depends upon how much you want to spend a month.
As this is the hi-rez forum however then, if that is an important criterion, then Tidal is your service.
Edits: 06/03/17Follow Ups:
Thank you for your helpful reply! It looks like I will have to download from various sources to my own computer or server and then have software that can list and play files from different vendors in a variety of formats. Do the players provided with Apple or Amazon or Windows handle most of the file formats out there or are there big limitations? I'm sorry these are dumb questions but I started out in the analog era and I'm having trouble keeping up with all these compatibility issues. Thanks for any additional info you can add!
It's never too late to turn back the clock.
If you are limited to downloading then, again, you will find the repertoire available to you limited particularly if you specifically want a particular recording of, say, historic interest or provenance.
There seem to be two types of service for purchasing a download . There is the quick and easy type like Apple and i-tunes or Amazon Music but which are limited to lossy formats like the now outdated MP3 or the more up to date AAC etc. Big pop music catalogues is my impression.
The other type work more like online record shops with a degree of specialist interest e.g HDTracks. Not so straightforward as i-tunes as you may need to install a special download manager or at least be competent in dealing with zipped files and file management on your computer.
Given what I think you are wanting then you sound like a serious record ( or "recording" as I guess we need to say these days) collector. I really think that the only way you will meet your desires is to go for all the options; downloading, ripping from CDs and subscribing to at least one streaming service. I do this as a reasonably serious classical music collector.
If you accept that is a reasonable strategy to find the repertoire that you want then you need a way of storing and playing it.
The players that come as part of your Windows or IOS system have lots of limitations including the formats that they will deal with. Most people on these forums will use proprietory file management/storage/playing software and, often, specialised ripping software as well, some of which will also automatically handle the cover art/metadata side of things. Storage is usually outside of the computer itself using either directly attached storage e.g. USB HDDs or by using network storage (NAS).Whichever is chosen will depend upon your broader requirements, for example could there be more than one user at a time, would you want to access the music files and player in different rooms ( perhaps also at the same time?
Without writing a lengthy response I will just say that as a Windows user I am very happy using JRiver MC file handling/playing software ( you can also rip with it) and dbpoweramp with its Perfect Tunes extension to handle all of the tagging. There are free trial periods available for both so I would suggest downloading them and playing away until you feel comfortable using them. Thereon they are a one off purchase ( not an annual subscription). JRiver handles just about every format, audio and video, known to mankind ( for now :-)).
If you are an Apple person then you will need to rely upon other inmates to help you choose what to do as I know even less about Apple than I do about Windows.
(-:
It's never too late to turn back the clock.
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