Streaming Is To Audio What Red Plastic Cups Are To Wine

Streaming, CDs, vinyl records, and shellac records all have their place.  All of them sound good on my system although vinyl sounds a bit better.  A lot depends on what is available on each format.  I have about 2,000 CDs, about 750 vinyl records, and about 4,000 shellac records.  I listen to mostly jazz, classical, acoustic blues, and some varieties of rock.  The streaming services have limited choices for jazz and classical, and what they have for jazz is often a poor recording.  I often have no choice, but to listed to a CD or a record.  On the other hand, sometimes I find something very useful from a streaming service that I don't already have.  For example, I am missing some of Beethoven's Quartets played by the Vegh Quartet, and I just found both the 1950's recordings, and the 1970's recordings online.  I would not want to give up any of these formats because they are all useful to me.

We lost power and internet a few weeks ago.   I have a generator and a whole house surge protector so I was listening to records, CDs and FM while my neighbors had no lights or heat.    That's the beauty of physical media , it's yours.... you own it.   

It is all about the music. 

I enjoy my LPs, but they are definitely a hassle relative to streaming. Same with CDs which I also utilize.

Most albums sound better with streaming, but not all. Vinyl is good, but after each listen the quality declines, however slightly, each time. There are a few vinyl albums I prefer, but for 98% of my listening streaming is the media for me.

Yeah I agree with Santa Barbara I gave up vinyl sold my Thorens turntable with Rabco arm after hearing the first C.D. My first player the disc was vertical. Have no interest in streaming either although do enjoy those red plastic cups for milk. The Cabernet Sauvignon goes in s proper glass. A high end SACD player wins hands down. Honestly do not see what the fuss with records is all about. I gave away about 150 of them in the 80's. Just my two cents.

@billstevenson +1 

"streaming is a search engine"