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Frustrated by music streaming services


Reisr30

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I have a large cd collection but my car no longer has a CD player ( I think they are being removed from new cars).

 

I notice that the versions of songs on streaming services don’t match the version on my cd. Example I’m a big New Order fan; I bought the substance CD many years ago. But the Amazon music versions don’t match the ones on the CD. It’s not just old songs a Tame impala song changed on me as well. What’s up with that? ?

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I have a large cd collection but my car no longer has a CD player ( I think they are being removed from new cars).

 

I notice that the versions of songs on streaming services don’t match the version on my cd. Example I’m a big New Order fan; I bought the substance CD many years ago. But the Amazon music versions don’t match the ones on the CD. It’s not just old songs a Tame impala song changed on me as well. What’s up with that? ?

 

You had me at New Order. I’ve found the same thing, however, my huge CD collection remains in boxes in my basement after my move last year, partly because streaming is so convenient and partly because I no longer have a CD player. I find streaming music via Pandora, I❤️Radio, iTunes, Amazon, etc., through my Bluetooth speakers too convenient to consider purchasing a player and breaking out the hundreds of CD’s I own even though they’re not the same versions.

 

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You had me at New Order. I’ve found the same thing, however, my huge CD collection remains in boxes in my basement after my move last year, partly because streaming is so convenient and partly because I no longer have a CD player. I find streaming music via Pandora, I❤️Radio, iTunes, Amazon, etc., through my Bluetooth speakers too convenient to consider purchasing a player and breaking out the hundreds of CD’s I own even though they’re not the same versions.

 

BLT is one of my favorites and i do listen to the streaming version on amazon; I just miss the one I remember listening to in the 80s

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I have a large cd collection but my car no longer has a CD player ( I think they are being removed from new cars).

 

I notice that the versions of songs on streaming services don’t match the version on my cd. Example I’m a big New Order fan; I bought the substance CD many years ago. But the Amazon music versions don’t match the ones on the CD. It’s not just old songs a Tame impala song changed on me as well. What’s up with that? ?

 

I know you didn't ask for any suggestions, but this might be helpful:

 

I haven't had to copy CD music to a computer, in a looooooooong time. But I think that should still be possible. If you do that and add the songs to a cheap MP3 player, then you can enjoy your favorite music in your car (and save some money).

 

Also, if you have an Apple computer or iPhone, I'd suggest buying music on iTunes instead of Amazon Music because iTunes lets you hear a preview of the song before you buy it. That would allow you to get a good sense of whether you'd be buying the version you're looking for.

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I recently upgraded my system to two music services (Spotify and Calm). I am in the market to borrow and convert files to flac or other lossless “compressiins”. My car uses memory cards fir it’s music system.

 

I would love to get early Renaissance through baroque recordings to copy for a fee. There are few things in the classical period and beyond that would interest me.

 

Just an offer. An outright purchase is also doable.

System:

McIntosh MA5200

B.&w DM 3000 speakers in pristine condition

I have a rega 3 but no room to set it up yet.

 

Please response vie PM. THANKS

— The notably misspelled

GALLEHADESQUIRE”

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  • 1 year later...

I haven't subscribed to any music streaming service beyond Amazon's basic level one that's bundled with Prime membership. I rarely listen to that, but I do know something about music streaming because music is my biggest hobby and I regularly participate in another forum dedicated to it.

According to what I've read, a lot of these streaming services are just lazy.  Their catalogs aren't curated by music lovers who know what they are listening to.  Their catalogs are just files that some license holder has leased to them.  Because of this and because of bad contracts a lot of artists signed, there are many examples where the streaming service has a later rerecording done by the original artist instead of their original "hit" version.  I'm sure there's also some censorship going on, and that's been true for a long time.  I have numerous cds where there was an "explicit" version and then a more "family friendly" censored version.  Sometimes that involved masking certain words in certain songs, and other times certain songs were removed from albums because they were deemed too risque for the Walmart crowd.

I agree with the suggestion to just rip your own music cds to play in your car.  Why pay a monthly fee to stream music that you already own.  I understand paying for streaming if you want access to new music and don't want to buy it as a download or on some physical medium, but if you are listening to stuff you already own it isn't hard to rip a cd and play the resultant mp3 files in your car.

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  • 11 months later...
On 10/17/2020 at 4:38 AM, thedanNYC said:

 

I know you didn't ask for any suggestions, but this might be helpful:

 

I haven't had to copy CD music to a computer, in a looooooooong time. But I think that should still be possible. If you do that and add the songs to a cheap MP3 player, then you can enjoy your favorite music in your car (and save some money).

 

Also, if you have an Apple computer or iPhone, I'd suggest buying music on iTunes instead of Amazon Music because iTunes lets you hear a preview of the song before you buy soundcloud likes. That would allow you to get a good sense of whether you'd be buying the version you're looking for.

iTunes also has its advantages. But recently, the cost of subscription has increased significantly.

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It's funny how I have changed my opinion about streaming over the past year.  Because I kept reading about new Atmos mixes being released on streaming services that weren't available to buy on any physical medium, I decided to explore streaming more fully.

I first tried Amazon's "unlimited" streaming service because the cost was low (free 3-month trial, inexpensive streaming stick).  I was so frustrated.  Even listening in stereo was frustrating because their service kept reverting back to lossy compressed files even though I had it set up to listen to the highest quality available.  I'd hear two songs in full fidelity, and then the quality would drop back.  If I skipped back to the beginning of the track, it would revert to full fidelity.  I never could figure out why it did this since I certainly had more than ample bandwidth to stream high quality music.  Worse, however, was Amazon's implementation of Atmos music.  Basically they won't let you actually listen to Atmos on any system that's capable of actually playing discrete surround sound.  You can stream it on your phone to stereo earbuds, or you can listen on a "smart" speaker where all of the drivers are built into one cabinet.  You cannot listen to Atmos on an AVR that's capable of decoding it.  I struggled to get this to work for a month, getting no helpful information from anyone at Amazon, until I finally got the answer from another customer on Amazon's forum: I couldn't get it to work because it simply would not work. To do what I wanted to do required buying an Apple device and subscribing to Apple Music.

I've never owned an Apple product before.  I cannot say that I love their 4K streaming device, but it does at least do what it says it will do.  And I have been able to listen to Atmos mixes, some with great pleasure and others wondering who thought their mixing choices made any sense.  Given my age I'll probably always prefer listening to physical media, but I cannot argue that streaming can be very convenient.  But perhaps the best part of subscribing to a streaming service is the ability to listen to stuff in full to decide if I actually want to own it on a physical disc.  I've definitely decided not to buy some things after listening to them that I previously would have just purchased, hoping that I would like them.  In that way, the subscription sort of pays for itself.

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