A Rant About Music Streaming Services and Cellular Tech

[BbAltered]

Hello. I'm an older guy. Some of my music collection I have bought three separate times. I first bought Miles' Kind of Blue as an LP. Later, I bought the same music as a cassette so I could listen to it in my car and on my "boom-box" (yeah, I'm old). And then I bought it again as a CD for the improved audio quality. This same can be said about a large portion of my music collection.

 

And I am NOT down to buy this music a fourth time as an mp3 from a music streaming service - not the least because of the well-recognized downgrade in audio quality the mp3 technology provides.

 

And anyone with a sound mind can foresee that there will be another music technology in 10 years or so, and another effort by business to encourage us to buy the music all over again.

 

I agree with those who say "buy the music; support musicians". And yet I've already bought it three times - I think I have done my part for musicians. (In addition to working an 8 hour day to put on a music show and getting paid $50 - repeatedly.)

 

So that's pretty f'ed up. Now the current cellular technology makes it real easy to buy the music again - and makes it real difficult to get the music I have already bought onto the cell phone. I have an iphone 8, and to buy the music again, all I need to do is go to the Apple web site, enter in my account and credit card info, and then press buy now. No problem. But to move the CD music I have already bought requires that I first rip the CD to my computer, and then transfer it to my phone. AND, if I ever want to add to the music on my phone, I cannot just add another song onto my phone from my computer - doing that erases ALL the music I have already transferred to my phone. To add another song onto my phone, I have to rip the new song to my computer, and then transfer ALL the songs I've already loaded into my phone plus the new song. This means I have to keep those CD files on my computer hard drive against the day I want to add a new song to my phone. The technology allows the cell phone to store and play audio from CDs, but has been rottenly hobbled to make it difficult for me to enjoy the music I have bought, and to encourage me to buy the music again.

 

These days, I am looking for a nice Song Walkman: CD quality audio, quick and easy loading, and I don't have to give away my personal info to a large corporation who makes money by selling my personal stuff to advertisers.

 

I gotta go practice: practice doesn't cheat me.

[Docbop]

Hello. I'm an older guy. Some of my music collection I have bought three separate times. I first bought Miles' Kind of Blue as an LP. Later, I bought the same music as a cassette so I could listen to it in my car and on my "boom-box" (yeah, I'm old). And then I bought it again as a CD for the improved audio quality. This same can be said about a large portion of my music collection.

 

And I am NOT down to buy this music a fourth time as an mp3 from a music streaming service - not the least because of the well-recognized downgrade in audio quality the mp3 technology provides.

 

And anyone with a sound mind can foresee that there will be another music technology in 10 years or so, and another effort by business to encourage us to buy the music all over again.

 

I agree with those who say "buy the music; support musicians". And yet I've already bought it three times - I think I have done my part for musicians. (In addition to working an 8 hour day to put on a music show and getting paid $50 - repeatedly.)

 

So that's pretty f'ed up. Now the current cellular technology makes it real easy to buy the music again - and makes it real difficult to get the music I have already bought onto the cell phone. I have an iphone 8, and to buy the music again, all I need to do is go to the Apple web site, enter in my account and credit card info, and then press buy now. No problem. But to move the CD music I have already bought requires that I first rip the CD to my computer, and then transfer it to my phone. AND, if I ever want to add to the music on my phone, I cannot just add another song onto my phone from my computer - doing that erases ALL the music I have already transferred to my phone. To add another song onto my phone, I have to rip the new song to my computer, and then transfer ALL the songs I've already loaded into my phone plus the new song. This means I have to keep those CD files on my computer hard drive against the day I want to add a new song to my phone. The technology allows the cell phone to store and play audio from CDs, but has been rottenly hobbled to make it difficult for me to enjoy the music I have bought, and to encourage me to buy the music again.

 

These days, I am looking for a nice Song Walkman: CD quality audio, quick and easy loading, and I don't have to give away my personal info to a large corporation who makes money by selling my personal stuff to advertisers.

 

I gotta go practice: practice doesn't cheat me.

 

I'm definitely not a big fan of streaming because of how they screw songwriters and record artists so we're the same there. I too am old and have gone from LPs and reel to reel, to cassettes, and on to C, But buying MP3 and streaming are two different things. Since you mentioned Apple you can either buy a MP3 or Apple's format and own the tune or you can subscribe to Apple Music (or Spotify, Amazon, etc) pay a monthly fee and access to a gigantic library of music and music videos. I was buying all my music even today buying MP3 for listening, transcribing, and such but finally tried streaming. As a musician wanting to listen to lots of music to learn for gigs or study streaming is really handy. Who cares if it's not audiophile quality if you're getting it for studying the music. So buying digital files is difference from subscribing to a streaming service.

 

I used to have a iPhone ages ago and then I could burn my CD's onto my computer and put them on my iPhone if I wanted. These days I have an Android phone and Amazon music streaming and using the Amazon app I have the whole library available without doing anything and I download tunes if I want for listening if I don't have a good network connection. So it's easier than you think. Also ripping your CD to your computer is fast and depending on the tool you use can be better quality than a MP3. Also I try to by downloads from services like Bandcamp so artist is getting more that way and you can select from many formats from basic to high quality formats.

 

As for the future buy physical media is going the way of the dodo bird. All companies want to move you to subscription based everything, not only music, movies, books, magazines, TV but look to things like cars, grocery shopping, anything they can create a monthly payment for. Your quality of life will depend on how many subscriptions a month you can afford. They don't want to people own stuff anymore because then your spending is unpredictable from a business forecasting viewpoint. Worse they are in the beginning of getting rid of cash and everything being digital transfers. It like the days of the "company store" coming back only digital this time around. You'll work and get digital funds transferred to your bank. All your subscriptions will automatically get their money transferred and what's left you wave your cellphone to pay for. Just look at the modern wallets they sell today they hold credit cards not cash. Young people view cash as something cavemen used.

 

The world moves forward whether we like it or not.

[El Lobo]

My solution is my old ipod. I don't know how old it is. It can't be more than 20, may be 15. I plug it into my car stereo. I have hundreds of tunes on there, maybe thousands. I add tunes by connecting it to my old desktop computer.

[zxcvbnm098]

Hello. I'm an older guy. Some of my music collection I have bought three separate times. I first bought Miles' Kind of Blue as an LP. Later, I bought the same music as a cassette so I could listen to it in my car and on my "boom-box" (yeah, I'm old). And then I bought it again as a CD for the improved audio quality. This same can be said about a large portion of my music collection.

 

And I am NOT down to buy this music a fourth time as an mp3 from a music streaming service - not the least because of the well-recognized downgrade in audio quality the mp3 technology provides.

 

And anyone with a sound mind can foresee that there will be another music technology in 10 years or so, and another effort by business to encourage us to buy the music all over again.

 

I agree with those who say "buy the music; support musicians". And yet I've already bought it three times - I think I have done my part for musicians. (In addition to working an 8 hour day to put on a music show and getting paid $50 - repeatedly.)

 

So that's pretty f'ed up. Now the current cellular technology makes it real easy to buy the music again - and makes it real difficult to get the music I have already bought onto the cell phone. I have an iphone 8, and to buy the music again, all I need to do is go to the Apple web site, enter in my account and credit card info, and then press buy now. No problem. But to move the CD music I have already bought requires that I first rip the CD to my computer, and then transfer it to my phone. AND, if I ever want to add to the music on my phone, I cannot just add another song onto my phone from my computer - doing that erases ALL the music I have already transferred to my phone. To add another song onto my phone, I have to rip the new song to my computer, and then transfer ALL the songs I've already loaded into my phone plus the new song. This means I have to keep those CD files on my computer hard drive against the day I want to add a new song to my phone. The technology allows the cell phone to store and play audio from CDs, but has been rottenly hobbled to make it difficult for me to enjoy the music I have bought, and to encourage me to buy the music again.

 

These days, I am looking for a nice Song Walkman: CD quality audio, quick and easy loading, and I don't have to give away my personal info to a large corporation who makes money by selling my personal stuff to advertisers.

 

I gotta go practice: practice doesn't cheat me.

 

Are you using a PC or Mac for ripping and storing your songs?

[Husker]

AND, if I ever want to add to the music on my phone, I cannot just add another song onto my phone from my computer - doing that erases ALL the music I have already transferred to my phone. To add another song onto my phone, I have to rip the new song to my computer, and then transfer ALL the songs I've already loaded into my phone plus the new song. This means I have to keep those CD files on my computer hard drive against the day I want to add a new song to my phone.

 

Things like this are why I'll never use Apple products. Plug my phone in, copy something over. Android for the win.

[S_Gould]

I'm wondering if you guys who can't seem to add a single song to your phones from a Mac have checked the "manually manage music" box in iTunes?

[jerrythek]

 

I am always able to add single or multiple files without reloading everything. Just check the Manage Manually option and you"re good to go.

 

Jerry

[EscapeRocks]

Let me third that.

 

A third of my library on my iPhone has been manually added by me

[Jonathan Hughes]

Fourthing that manually adding stuff to an iPhone is no problem. I haven't done it quite some time because with Apple's iTunes Match service (also included with Apple Music), the stuff in your iTunes library that you've loaded in from CD or whatever is automatically available on your iPhone.

[bfields]

I ripped my CD collection and uploaded it to Google. I also subscribe to their streaming service. I think it works pretty well.

 

These days if I read about some music I can go find it and be listening in seconds. In normal times I can do that while I'm on the bus to work.

 

I do have some mixed feelings about it all, but in a lot of ways it's an incredible time to be a music geek.

[Docbop]

I try to rip as much as I can to my computer so take less space and can move to my other computers. Plus ripping is fast not like having to record to tape which had to be in real time. The more I use my computer as my music center the more of my old CD collection I sell off or give away. Simple is good.

[Anderton]

Here's what I did.

 

1. Buy an old Android phone. It doesn't need a SIM card, all it needs is a microSD slot. Get one that can accept a high-capacity micoSD card, like at least 256 GB.

2. Download VLC player (or any other music player) on to the phone. You don't need a SIM card for wi-fi access.

3. Buy a honkin' big microSD memory card and stick it in the phone.

4. Rip the music you want to your computer (sorry, there's no way around this).

5. Connect the Android to your computer, where it will look like two disk drives: the phone and the card.

6. Drag the songs over to the card, and tell VLC that's where it should look for songs.

 

Now you basically have a solid-state iPod with a ton of memory, internet access if you want to play games or check out the news, and it will cost you next to nothing. The only caution about an old Android phone is the OS would not have been able to be updated past a certain point, and it's probably porous as hell from a security standpoint. So, don't do any online banking on it

 

The Android will have a 1/8" jack so you can use normal headphones, but when taking walks, I have Bluetooth ear buds.

[Joe Muscara]

Since neither of my primary computers have an optical disc drive (2017 iMac and 2018 MBP), I have to rip CDs with a 2010 MBP that I keep around for stuff like that. It doesn't do a great job of uploading to my iCloud Music Library probably because of the older version of macOS or iTunes on there. But once it's up there, I have that album available on my iPhone, iPad, and both current Macs. I'm sure if I got an optical drive for one of the new Macs it would work better.

 

As far as paying artists multiple times, Miles is dead and so are most (all?) of the guys in the Kind of Blue band. OTOH, I buy (bought) CDs from smaller bands at shows, from their web sites, etc., put the disc in my CD collection, and continue to stream their album on Apple Music. I don't mind letting Mingo Fishtrap or Keesha Pratt Band or Carolyn Wonderland double dip.

 

Audio quality? I hear you. Most of the time I don't notice the lesser quality though.

[Anderton]

I tend to prefer non-cloud-dependent solutions, because the "faux iPod" doesn't have problems with dropouts, hotels that charge stupid amounts for wi-fi, telecommunications-challenged countries (or states, LOL), or bandwidth limitations when using uncompressed files. I also find the drag-and-drop way to get files on/off it convenient, because I'm always adding and removing files during the course of doing a project.

 

Since my actual phone is an iPhone, if I could get (and afford!) one with a terabyte of memory, then I could put my files on there, and have room left over for all the iPhone stuff. Until then, the faux iPod may be low-tech, but it's cheap and bulletproof. Also, the battery lasts forever, because it doesn't have to connect to wi-fi, or run background apps.

 

There's an electronics store around here that takes trade-ins, and it just about gives away old Android phones and tablets. Probably most metropolitan areas have something similar.

[Docbop]

I tend to prefer non-cloud-dependent solutions, because the "faux iPod" doesn't have problems with dropouts, hotels that charge stupid amounts for wi-fi, telecommunications-challenged countries (or states, LOL), or bandwidth limitations when using uncompressed files. I also find the drag-and-drop way to get files on/off it convenient, because I'm always adding and removing files during the course of doing a project.

 

Since my actual phone is an iPhone, if I could get (and afford!) one with a terabyte of memory, then I could put my files on there, and have room left over for all the iPhone stuff. Until then, the faux iPod may be low-tech, but it's cheap and bulletproof. Also, the battery lasts forever, because it doesn't have to connect to wi-fi, or run background apps.

 

There's an electronics store around here that takes trade-ins, and it just about gives away old Android phones and tablets. Probably most metropolitan areas have something similar.

 

I use Amazon Prime Music and you can download music to your phone which I what I do for a some album I like to listen to at the gym or other places where cell reception sucks. I think all the subscription services have option to download local copies of music for offline listening. Streaming music has been around a few years now and they seem to have all the bases covered for different listening situations.

[EscapeRocks]

Since neither of my primary computers have an optical disc drive (2017 iMac and 2018 MBP), I have to rip CDs with a 2010 MBP that I keep around for stuff like that. It doesn't do a great job of uploading to my iCloud Music Library probably because of the older version of macOS or iTunes on there. But once it's up there, I have that album available on my iPhone, iPad, and both current Macs. I'm sure if I got an optical drive for one of the new Macs it would work better.

 

 

Joe, I have the Apple USB Superdrive Works great with both my older 2013 MBP and my late 2018 Mac Mini.

[Anderton]

I use Amazon Prime Music and you can download music to your phone which I what I do for a some album I like to listen to at the gym or other places where cell reception sucks. I think all the subscription services have option to download local copies of music for offline listening. Streaming music has been around a few years now and they seem to have all the bases covered for different listening situations.

 

I used Google Play that way, but when it went to YouTube music, I couldn't find a way to upload my music and have it appear in the cloud (although it does show up in the library on my computer). Maybe I should try again, it was early days. It also occurred to me that maybe you can only access music that exists in the real world, and it's stored on a giant Google server somewhere. So you're not downloading music from your library, but from Google's library as long as it coincides with yours.

 

For me, the problem with downloading on demand for offline listening is that I'm a music glutton/junkie - I want everything available, all the time, whenever I want it. The problem with any phone-based solution is having enough memory in the phone to hold my entire music library along with all the phone stuff. Waiting for that terabyte iPhone...and hoping I'll be able to afford it