AIBU to miss buying CDs and having a physical music collection?

[Greyblankie]

everything is digital now, Alexa, Spotify, Amazon music etc … I miss buying actual albums, having collections, the art work, the different album covers, the thrill of having a physical collection of your favourite artists - the thrill of a new CD being placed amongst your collection …

Anyone else miss this? Do people actually buy CDs anymore?

DP is a technophobe and doesn't even have the Internet in his home, so still buys CDs. Actually, I usually buy them for him as gifts. Saves me from having to think of something else.

We have a separates system in the living room, with amp connected to wall speakers. The television can also connect to the speakers via the amp. We have a turntable, Blu-ray/DVD/CD player plus a twin cassette deck hooked up to the amp too. I can also plug my phone into the audio socket with an audio cable, and play streaming radio or my own downloaded music, or YouTube or Amazon music etc.

In the bedroom we have an X box series X that can play 4G, Blu-ray, DVD and CD. It's connected to a soundbar, to which I can also Bluetooth audio from my phone or tablet.

In the kitchen we have a portable radio/ CD player that also has an audio/auxiliary socket so I can plug my phone in and play audio through it .

I think that's all bases covered, for us, anyway.

I have a Majority Homerton 2 Internet/DAB Radio with CD Player in my workroom. Looks nice and fairly compact. I think I got it from Richer Sounds. And a Pure DAB clock radio with CD Player in the bedroom. Again from Richer Sounds.

You are being VU. CDs are still for sale. I generally pick them up from charity shops for 50p each. There's loads of dross to wade through but there are some good bargains.

I kind of get you, I have started buying things rather than streaming.

Bought the entire friend's collection for £50 which is linked to my amazon account

I think I'll buy the next Beyonce album as well

My 16 year old has a cd collection. You are being unreasonable

I got a cd player for Christmas three years ago. I love buying CDs and listening to a whole album. A couple of weeks ago I bought Madeleine Peyroux and Olivia Dean in the same week, very indulgent but they're both brilliant albums.

It's the opposite of indulgence to limit yourself to two new albums when you could pay less for a streamer and listen to tens of thousands of albums.

Still have my original CD collection (and a few 80s LPs but no player), still buy CDs but less than in my youth. I have a stereo in my bedroom, reasonably new car, use the digi box to play CDs in the lounge but do use Alexa too.

But I'm 52 and love music.

We've got my husband's late father's Kenwood black hi-fi stack in the kitchen diner which was top of the range in 1993 and it's perfect (radio, plays vinyl, CDs, cassette tape, not forgetting the graphic equaliser) and still in immaculate condition. Apparently his mother told his father the speakers were far too big (they are 54cm tall) and powerful so after a couple of days it was packed off to their loft...😂🤣

Play loads of CDs at home. As I don't have a cd in the car anymore, husband spent days transferring my favs onto a memory stick so we don't need subscribe to Spotify or anything else...

Who is stopping you?

personally, i hate cds and dvds. They take up a lot of space. Dust magnets

Just asVinyl have made a huge comeback, so I hear are cassette tapes! Apparently. I also continues to buy CD’s and have a huge collection. One of the reasons that I bought my car was that it had a cd player. Incidentally, I have a lot of story and music tapes for pre school children and wanted my grandson to have them, and amazed to find that Argos still sells cassette players. It’s also nice to ‘own’ your music, subscription to Spotify means all your music is only on loan.

I'm lucky where I live as we have an HMV shop which is really good and well stocked.
I make a point of visiting there from time to time and buying a CD as I would be upset if the shop closed down. They sell a lot of musical merchandise in there too, so it's locally very popular.
Although I have a Sonos I still get CDs out sometimes for variety.

Oh,as far as the 80s!!! Sooo long ago, you must be young!
Mine go back to the 60s as does my vinyl

My DS has a massive CD collection. He's 15. It's his birthday this week so I went into HMV to get some CDs from some hip hop artists I've never heard of, and it was rammed with teenagers. They had lots of vinyl too. I was thinking what a shame the massive HMV in Piccadilly Circus closed down as I could have taken him there and droned on about the olden days!

My DS (16) has recently dug out my CD collection and a CD walkman. He takes that out instead of his earpods and phone.

Oh dear,poor you!

CDs in the 60s? Are you from a more evolved planet than Earth?

My 15th year old also has loads of CDs and vinyls, she’s always wanting to go to hmv and gets loads in the post. She got her cd player at a car boot sale. I def think there is a big come back and artists are releasing limited editions etc of new songs.

I never got rid of my CDs or vinyl and I'm glad of it because jumping around subscriptions due to theoretical notions of ownership isn't for me. I still have DVDs too but my player is at the end of its life so I need something better now. All this streaming is a con - it's a restricted access market model with perpetual payments built in.

We still have our old CDs, and cassettes. Don't bother much with new music as I refuse to pay for subscription services. If I pay for something then I want to own the physical item, which is then mine to keep, lend or give to someone else should I choose. What a massive racket, all these subscription things.

I don't miss them... I still have them

I was just thinking this.

I would love something inexpensive that I could call up to play music in my house.

Is that what the Echo Dot is?

I actually don't understand.
I have my phone but don't use it for music as its always pinging for messages and calls.

Any advice so welcome.😚🙏

The sound quality is a massive consideration for me for classical music especially. Some of the CD recordings that were released in the 1980s and 90s including ones that were remastered from previous media are just super, incredibly rich and detailed, and I've heard them on streaming platforms where loads of that richness is lost. It's a step backwards, why would you want that?

There are plenty of lossless streaming platforms now which are technically better than CD (although I'm not sure anyone's ears can hear the difference.)