Interesting question Chris and my only real change over the last decade has been switching to a music server to play around 70%+ of my music as FLAC, rather than CD (is that streaming?). I'm still using JRiver and like the interface as I can flip through the album art to help select what takes my mood. I use Spotify pretty much just for discovery (no real change there), or playing albums I don't think it's worth buying, but would like to hear - I don't tend to wander aimlessly much, I'd rather do that through my own library. Spotify is more cumbersome to use than JRiver and I still buy CDs that I want to own, despite the fact they'll sit in a draw and rarely if ever emerge again after being ripped and the cover art scanned. I still don't own a Pi, my server does all I need.

I have slowed right down on purchasing though, mostly as I think 4,500+ albums is probably enough to be going on with and the fact I don't have the budget since being retired, I need to buy whisky too! The net effect of this, is I'm spending more time delving into my collection. I tend to buy most of my CDs direct from the artist now, which is nice as they can sign it. I think I've bought less than 20 CDs this year and a few LPs. That's a massive drop, but not because of Spotify.

As always, I play albums from start to finish as I really don't like playlists - great for parties though.

So I still buy music, especially if I can put pound notes into the hands of people I like. But I'm buying much less, not so much because of Spotify, but because I was in danger of neglecting the music I already have, which is kind of your point maybe?

I just looked at my Last.fm stats and over the last 30 days I've played 1300 songs and the top 10 artists I've played have been 7 from my own library and 3 from Spotify - so that guess of 70% was bang on. Got quite a surprise when I looked actually, Miles Davis = 391 plays, busy boy that Miles!

So yes, I think I'll be playing the music I own for many years to come - streaming Spotify is a useful addition to my music enjoyment, but not a replacement and I don't think it ever will be, unless I tire of the music I already own.

And isn't it comforting to see that David Brooks is still David Brooks - not everything has to change

Retirement is hard work you know, it takes effort to get it right

Gigs themselves are a little less, but I go to more festivals now, as I have the time (and a tent with a woodstove) - so the capital outlay and amount of live music consumption is about the same.

I think geography has more to do with less gigs though Martin - not being rude to the Welsh (I am half Welsh anyway), but culturally there aren't the audiences here for much outside mainstream entertainment. You can sell out St. David's Hall with Lulu, but tonight Vladimir Ashkenazy and the Philharmonia are playing Sibelius 2 and Sayaka Shoji, Brahms Violin Concerto. It's not even half sold, so if people don't go, they don't come. So I have to travel for gigs, as many artists won't cross the bridge for a handful of ticket sales. Ed Sheeran however sold out 4 nights in the Principality Stadium, so that gives you an idea what floats their boat?

When I was in Dorset, a trip to London was easy, drive in, park, gig and home by about 1.00am. Now a London gig has to be an overnight stay and works out expensive. A 50 quid night out previously has now become a 150 quid night out!