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Will audio streaming devices push out computer audio?

Just wondering what everyone thinks. There are many audio companies making streaming devices, some even allow the use of hdd, nas devices with music files. Sony, Marantz, Aurender, Bluesound, Sonos, Cocktail Audio, Bryston and others. Will these devices push out computer audio? Will they get better with time and push out turntables?
Will digital make albums obsolete......with time?
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tomcy6's avatar
tomcy6
2,533 posts
 

I think that streaming will become what most people use. You will be able to buy downloads if you want, but why buy a download if you can always stream the same album with the same quality?

Bandwidth for streaming and storage capacity keeps increasing for the streaming sources while cost continues to go down. My internet provider allows me over a terabyte of data a month now.

They have the thorny problem of sorting out who gets paid what while keeping the service at a cost that listeners will pay, though. Musicians will have to get paid fairly for their work or they’ll quit recording music.

Digital sound quality will keep improving for a long time to come. No need to get into a digital vs analog discussion.

I think that artists will still want to make albums and people will still want to listen to them. There will always be a market for singles as well. The future of digital audio looks good to me.

junzhang10
252 posts
 
On the contrary, the faster advancing digital technology enables computer audio. Physical media will be phased out. Audiophile nowadays are very lucky with streaming media. Like digital camera and film camera, digital audio will be the only survivor. No one is shoot film camera now. Audiophile equipment company will have to adopt the new technology. The so called cloud computing translates into music streaming.

shadorne's avatar
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shadorne
7,467 posts
 
Before albums you had 78’s. Albums became possible because of RIAA compression and electrical amplification and the 33 speed meant you could get close to an hour of music on two sides of vinyl.

Currently the CD is the physical media that determines an album (just over an hour or enough to fit Beethoven’s 5th)

Once physical media disappears then the concept of an album will likely whither and we go back to individual tracks like 78’s or complete performances of a work or live show in a digital package.

i just bought Otis Redding Live at the Whiskey in 96KHz 24 bit as one complete digital package with 65 tracks.... it is already happening.
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lowrider57
5,393 posts
 
I think computer audio is here to stay and will even grow once the availability of CD’s becomes limited. Too many people have made the investment of time and money to ditch their hardware and music collections. And music files will survive due to iPods, tablets, and other portable devices.
Streaming is the future, but will coexist with computer audio. The younger generation will stay with streaming since many of them have never owned a CD. Many have never even paid for music since they share files with their friends and online associates.
And I’m afraid albums won’t matter anymore to the listener, even though I think record labels and bands will still present their music in an album form for download or streaming. Or as stated above, music will be available in some kind of digital package.

There are a lot of people like myself who will not commit exclusively to streaming due to the fact that you don’t own any of the music. If you stop paying the music service, you lose your playlists.
The reason I have kept my collection of vinyl and CD’s is that I like to own these recordings and their various packaging; it’s something tangible. I also like to have a music collection on my computer. With streaming, it’s paying a monthly fee to lease the music.

ps: It was Beethoven’s 9th that needed to fit on a CD; 76 minutes. But this story may only be folklore.


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