Balancing time for music: Discovery/acquisition vs. listening


I have limited time to devote to my music/audio hobby.  I love listening to music on my server whenever I get a chance (and this is listening as a destination activity).  But I am also aware there is an incredible amount of music out there to be discovered.  Liking many different genres only expands the music I want to discover.  So, I have to decide how best to use my time:  Listening, or discovery/acquisition.  I discover music largely via internet radio (nearly infinite choices).  I acquire it through a variety of means, from recording music from various sources to buying CDs on line or visiting record shows.  But every minute spent adding music to my collection is a minute spent not listening to music on my system.  What to do?  What do you do?  I know many will suggest Tidal as a way to eliminate the acquisition phase, but I am reluctant to pay a monthly fee, and I have been able to stump Tidal when I have had access to it (stump it, meaning I was able to find music not offered on Tidal - mostly obscure stuff, but, there you go).  I'd appreciate any input you can give me on how you handle this dilemma.  TIA!
bondmanp

Showing 2 responses by gdnrbob

I am just getting into this, but compared to Tidal, Spotify has a much better offering for just about every genre.
At $10 bucks/month, it is a great deal for me. Though not as high a bitstream as Tidal, I find it totally acceptable.
Even ClassicsOnline(now defunct) didn't offer as much. The Naxos recordings that weren't available there, were on Spotify.

Though Spotify isn't on the cutting edge of fidelity, I do not find it significantly worse than Tidal. In fact, I hardly notice the difference.
Bob