"When was the last time you downloaded an mp3?" I download MP3s all the time.
I use WinAmp and I love using WinAmp. Just wanted to add a different perspective.
So for me, Spotify is a hot mess with regards to what is there and what is not and what versions of the albums are available. Also, it wastes bandwidth which is a luxury for me (I live in the countryside and have only a 4G connection with a 100G data cap) and the kicker: it rips off artists by paying out rounding errors -- for most artists, orders of magnitudes less than they used to make from the conventional record industry, which itself was a total ripoff.
So when possible, I buy CD's directly from the artist/label and rip them, or I buy MP3's from Bandcamp. Then I play them in WinAmp.
This isn't exactly Spotify's fault. There are a lot of good remasters. It depends.
> So for me, Spotify is a hot mess with regards to what is there and what is not and what versions of the albums are available.
Very true. All that stuff that isn't available for streaming would leave huge gaps in my collection. And for people that rely on streaming exclusively, it might be getting worse: Licensing deals end, favorite albums might disappear suddenly. Then you paid all those years and might end up with very little to show for it. Just remember how Netflix' catalog started to shrink. Is Spotify going to produce originals when that happens? Renting music is a bad idea.
> So when possible, I buy CD's directly from the artist/label and rip them, or I buy MP3's from Bandcamp. Then I play them in WinAmp.
Great. However if you're already buying from bandcamp, why would you opt for the lossy MP3 versions of those releases?
Point is, it doesn't let me choose. It arbitrarily selects one version of an album which is not necessarily the one I want.
Great. However if you're already buying from bandcamp, why would you opt for the lossy MP13 versions of those releases?
I can't hear the difference :) However, if I were to burn them out to CD-R, which I've done a couple of times, I would use the lossless version. I'm happy that I have the option.
True.
> I can't hear the difference.
That's ok. However a lossless version allows you to switch formats in the future, create lossless and lossy copies. Building a library with lossy audio is a choice you might regret at some point.
The vast majority of my library is actual physical CD's, so I'm good there at least :)
This is not spotify's fault btw. Some bands have original record and the remastered version available. It is decided by the label/band.
Some bands think the original version is flawed, hence why they remastered it. Others might have been forced a remaster on them by label, or simply know that fans value both versions.