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Comment by Arzh | Hacker News Reader

That's because 99% of the time the streaming service for music is better than trying to build your own library. It also seems to have a lot less attribution than video stream right now so people don't have to pay attention to where they can stream a specific song, they can use just about any app and get what they are looking for.

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> That's because 99% of the time the streaming service for music is better than trying to build your own library.

What good is "better" if songs disappear every now and then?

That's the 1% of the time that it's not better. Using a streaming service doesn't stop you from buying albums or song that you really want to keep around for a long time.

One major drawback to me is the recurring cost. My feeling is that building an offline library that you truely own is much cheaper than using some streaming service with monthly recurring costs that inflate over time.

After ten years maybe, I have too much of an eclectic musical taste to get away with that.

Only if you never listen to new music. CDs cost around $10, which is your Spotify sub cost per month. Imagine only listening to one new album every month.

The streaming service is superior for discovery, but inferior for long term use. It's not a good library when an artist can remotely disable a song. I can always add new discoveries from Spotify to my personal archive. I have the best of both worlds.

Depends on your tastes. If you only really care about say 100 ish or fewer CD's worth of music then you can easily hit that and save money vs a streaming service. So for someone like me they are a complete waste of money.

Remember, 70 years * 10$ / month ~= 8,400$ for music over a lifetime. By comparison you can easily buy say every piece of music by Bob Marley and your done no need to ever do so again.

Sure, if you really care about music then a service is great.

Even then, your figure of $8400 is very optimistic. Assuming 1% inflation per year people will pay $20 per month in 70 years.

I believe that the parent comment is calculating the cost in 2018 dollars.

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