For many years I had my CDs copied to NAS storage but even with RAID disks it went catastrophically wrong when control units failed on two of these devices. CDs were of very variable quality with remasters appearing at frequent, costly intervals. Streaming dispenses with the storage and sorting of thousands of CDs. It also means I can generally acquire the most up to date version of an album very quickly and even compare it to earlier versions.
The only problems are the quality of the product provided by the streamer and the internet connection. Most of the rest is humbug. If I wanted to get aesthetic pleasure from playing music I would have a very fancy record deck on a very fancy stand and loads of beautifully covered and stored albums, but I don’t.
I am not sure if this is completely related, but is there an audible difference when streaming flac files from a NAS using roon rock to the dev or when you store the music files on a (large) SSD build into the roon rock machine (NUC build into akasa silent case) and play them from there to your dev?
I struggle with this.... As a long-time music collector (some might say hoarder ;-), I get a lot of enjoyment out of it. And Roon is an ideal way of listening to it. But, I can see the great appeal of streaming services such as Qobuz and Tidal. If I was still young (68 yo now), I have no doubt that I'd just use one of these services and only collect the rare albums that I might not find on these services. I have done trials with both Tidal and Qobuz and must admit it is truly an awesome way to discover new music. I do worry, however, how musicians will survive in the long run. Only the biggest names make much from these services. And for the last 5 months no one is making money performing.
Sadly, my music collection - now about 3600 albums either ripped or download in FLAC - will have little legacy value to my kids or grandkids. Still, I've put a ton of time (and money) into acquiring, ripping & tagging so I don't see tossing it all any time soon. Still, I may just buy in to Qobuz or the like and cut down buying new music to own. I do have a bit of a fear that I'll just discover a lot more music that I'll then feel inclined to buy. Hard to teach an old dog new tricks.
(24-Aug-2020, 15:31)mdconnelly Wrote: [ -> ]… I do worry, however, how musicians will survive in the long run. Only the biggest names make much from these services. And for the last 5 months no one is making money performing.…
That is probably the main reason I still buy the music I really like, either as a download or if I can't get it as a download (many sites selling downloads have region restrictions which mean that they won't sell to customers in Australia). I'm happy to use Tidal as a means of auditioning music but if I like the music enough to want to play it with some regularity or have it in my collection, I prefer to buy it in some form in order to provide the artists with a higher royalty payment.
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David A - Agreed! When I find music I like that is relatively current, I first look to see if the artist has their own website from which I can purchase. Alternates then include sites like Bandcamp that ensure the artists get a high percentage of the price.
I know several musicians that are truly hurting over the last 5 months. Many would supplement their musical income by bar tending or waiting tables. Now they have little to nothing. Some cities do a nice job of supporting busking, but even that is not doing well because, well, people are not out walking nearly as much. I know there's lots of real sad stories during this time of Covid, but a world without musicians ... just sad.
Talking of struggling artists, a couple of years ago my wife and myself were in Bruges where my wife went out for a stroll on her own. When she came back she said that there was a bloke in the town square busking who looked and sounded just like Passenger, Michael Rosenberg, but was not singing any of his own tunes and was also selling CDs. It was indeed Passenger who brought out an album of covers not long after. Beware, all buskers might not be as poor as they initially appear. Rosenberg does this all the time wherever he is in the world.
My music (3,700 albums, 50% of which 24 bits) is stored on an external SSD connected by USB to my source Mac mini. I don't want to add another layer of risk by storing music on the network.
I have stopped listening to CDs and SACDs, although my Bluray player can play them, and mostly purchase new music online from various sites including Quobuz, HDtracks, e-onkyo,... except when some great music cannot be found as downloads, which has happened recently for the amazing Japan Three Blind Mice XRCD collection. So I could use DBPowerAmp once again. :-)
I have so far resisted the urge to move back to vinyl because of the sheer space used up by the LPs. Although it remains very tempting.
I have also a Quobuz subscription that is very well integrated in Roon, just magic to find music. The Qobuz streaming quality is high, although I can hear a difference compared to playing local files.
Cheers,
Bernard