Thank goodness !
Had an OCD moment tor two there

Having a wall of Blurays like Jerry's CDs, plus an ever expanding vinyl collection, I just didn't have room for CDs any more. I've been using an Innuos Zen Mini for the past 6/7 months, but as they are about to launch new models, I'm tempted to go for their full width 2TB Zen with linear power supply. Highly recommended Mike, particularly if you can plug it directly into a DAC via USB.

I've still kept all my CDs - I prefer to own something physical when I pay money for something!

Kids will learn eventually. We've all been there

Indeed, an EMP won't affect my CDs.

Shame about the loss of power, then...

I was just reading back through this thread - I read this post again...



There's a film there - "The Event". Set in 2023, Microsoft accidentally unleash a virus that hits every single network based product in the world (making a change from just their own), erasing all data worldwide. Almost everything has shut down on a global scale, as pretty much everything was software driven/controlled. No phones, no streaming services, no computers. No Spotify, no YouTube, no social media. Those annoying ads along the lines of "what happens after this dog farts will leave you speechless" no longer exist. Teenagers from all walks of life (the ones wearing Nirvana smiley t-shirts even though they were born in 1998 / tracksuit clad chavs / those wearing their trousers round their knees to show you how trendy their undercrackers are etc) lose their entire music collections, with no back up to fall upon. Suddenly, buses are silent. Chavs (called Crazies) cruise the streets - silently. Cars lie abandoned everywhere, left by owners who used to rely upon SatNav. Those who decided to show off with 'whole house control systems' are now prisoners.

Over the following decade, HMV goes out of business due to the lack of headphone sales. Figures for teenage pedestrian deaths drop drastically. Hearing loss in younger people is eradicated. Due to the lack of computers and the Internet, local high street stores make a huge comeback, neighbourhoods flourish. And vinyl sales continue to soar as everyone resorts back to physical formats. This leads to an oil crisis. America bombs another country because it wants more oil - not for their gas guzzling muscle cars, but to manufacture more records. This causes an all out global nuclear war (a backlash by those in the digital domain). Everything is destroyed. The only survivors being Technics SL1210s. A small group of underground survivors sift through the rubble in hope of finding records to play. Thankfully, there's no telly, so there's no Sunday afternoon ads begging for £2 per month to provide survivors with a Keith Monks cleaning machine.

That's all I have - I didn't think about it too much....honestly.

Having moved largely from CD to live streaming, I find that my listening behaviour has changed hugely.
I had expected to have large playlists which duplicated my CD collection. But that hasn't happened at all.
Most listening sessions are a voyage of discovery, using the streaming service's search facility to discover new recordings. It's amazing the things that crop up and can be tried at the click of a mouse.

Even the old tried and trusted musical favourites are treated differently. If I fancy some Mendelssohn piano trios, for example, I often sample quite a few then settle on the one that takes my fancy.
I guess it might be different for non-classical music - how many recordings of Made in Japan or London Grammar are there? Just the one - maybe a Deluxe Edition, whatever that means.  But there are dozens of different recordings of the 2 Mendelssohn piano trios.

So - I don't actually care that I don't have the physical media - I just revel in the new possibilities and vast musical catalogue that streaming offers.  It's a totally different proposition for me.

Until a couple of weeks ago I had subs with both Tidal hi-rez and Spotify Premium.
Much to my surprise I found myself using Spotify pretty much exclusively. So I let the Tidal sub lapse on March 23rd.
Yes, Tidal has a little (but not hugely) better transparency. But that is only noticeable in direct comparison, imo. Just used to play music for its own sake I find Spotify perfectly satisfying - in fact, I love it!

Tidal drawbacks include the huge psychological one that it is owned by Kanye West. It also has a habit of buffering before and very occasionally during play - Spot is instantaneous and glitch free. Maybe the buffering thing is due to my internet connection? Spot has a better music catalogue, although there are some items Tidal has that Spot doesn't - but generally I don't care about that, Spot has so much!!

I've done back to back comparisons with CD and Spotify Premium (hi bitrate) - almost every time I prefer Spotify. Which is not what I was expecting at all.

I only use CD now on the few occasions when the recording I want is not in the Spotify catalogue.

Wow, that's really interesting.  I like Spotify a lot but cannot get the SQ up to where it is for CD playback, although it can get close with some material.  As for convenience, it's my go-to for music at work and I use it at home for listening to material I don't have, too.

Remind me: how do you connect Spotify to your DAC, and what DAC are you using?