[CanadianMaestro]

Why should you care how I buy music?

I don't give a baboon's red arse how you buy your music.
I do give a hoot about the bigger picture -- if MQA worms its way into most of the future DACs and music market, not to mention its illicit proprietary lock on music rights, we all will end up paying an MQA tax (aka "stupidity tariff"), whether or not we use MQA-compatible gear.

[Elizabeth]

Here is a link to  Amazon, you can join the "suckers" paying $66 for MP3, $94 for vinyl, or $138 for CD. I sic(HAVE) no beef with that if that's how you roll. Why should you care how I buy music?

Why not also list the $0.99 Cds? And the $3.95 LPs? on Amazon? Because they do not support your argument? Locally I have a couple of good used LP and CD stores. Plenty of great music for less.

[Krutsch]

Then why are you posting here?

Good question... I will stop.

[witchdoctor]

I don't give a baboon's red arse how you buy your music.
I do give a hoot about the bigger picture -- if MQA worms its way into most of the future DACs and music market, not to mention its illicit proprietary lock on music rights, we all will end up paying an MQA tax (aka "stupidity tariff"), whether or not we use MQA-compatible gear.

Hmmm, I am happy to pay an "MQA" tax if it means more new MQA releases like the new White Album. Pirating is what screwed up the music industry and degraded SQ through low bit rate MP3's.
I am paying Tidal $20 a month and if Bob Stuart gets a cut good for him, as long as they keep dropping new albums in MQA every week.

[CanadianMaestro]

^ You don't actually OWN any of this streamed music, right? Unlike buying $1 CDs and $3 LPs from stores/Amazon. Pride of ownership. Priceless.

  Renters.....

[witchdoctor]

When I buy music I like buying BRD or SACD. But there is no way I could keep up buying the volume of music being released in MQA each week, regardless of how deep my pockets are, there is no practical way to store that many CD's regardless of my "pride" in ownership. 

[Anonamemouse]

Good question... I will stop.

Cake for all!!!

[Elizabeth]

I do not think pride of ownership is important here. To me renting a huge base of music may be practical for folks. Specially if they do not already own a large base of music. If I did not already own the thousands of albums I do, I am certain I would be streaming. No question.
The idea of ownership is losing out Young people are renting not buying EVERYTHING. Look at the death knell for DVD movie sales. No one is buying movies anymore. All streaming services.
Seems enough Music lovers are still buying albums to support the production system..
So that is good. I cannot say I want to see that end at all.
But physical music media may die if MQA dominates.. Seriously. One of the problems with a monopoly is it always wants to be bigger, more control. And MQA is not going to be any different.

[CanadianMaestro]

^ True.

Selection is still meagre -- esp for classical albums.

given a CHOICE, many still buy musik, and choose not to stream. Maybe not the market-movers (young people), but still buyers (actually, the crowds of young(er) folks who buy LPs from brick  stores are still noticeable. Not sure why it's so).

[skunark]

I dont know how Tidal and Qobuz competes in Europe but i suspect once Qobuz starts up in North America and offers a slight better interface, audiophiles will flock over.   Ive been using Tidal for a few months and even though i can play MQA on one DAC, its not worth the inconvenience to play through a desktop/laptop. Tidal MQA library is horribly lacking, difficult to search and recommend tracks have nothing to do with my play history.  I hope Qobuz doesnt have that superficial limitation of requiring a windoes/mac os.   From what i can tell mpd and upmpdcli have the support for Qobuz hires.   

Again, the only MQA game in town is tidal, and tidals MQA library is weak.  Yes there are other ways to get MQA, but they are even lessor known. 

I signed up to a streaming service for three  reasons, first not all music are making their ways CD and Vinyl. Second, cd and vinyl prices have increased, yea you can still find good prices. Third, convenience, guests can play practically any song  they want and I can listen to that song i heard on the radio that night.    With Best Buy halting CDs sales, there are few places to buy music other than online, and im sure CDs sales in general will continue to slow down. 

[CanadianMaestro]

regardless of how deep my pockets are, there is no practical way to store that many CD's regardless of my "pride" in ownership. 

I used to own lots of box sets of CDs. I ripped them to Flac, and sold them off on the online marts. Space freed up. Somehow, streaming doesn't interest me. With the amt I have invested in my rig, physical media always had an attraction for me, and also downloads bought from places like Presto and Pro Studio Masters.

[Krutsch]

^ True.

Selection is still meagre -- esp for classical albums.

given a CHOICE, many still buy musik, and choose not to stream. Maybe not the market-movers (young people), but still buyers (actually, the crowds of young(er) folks who buy LPs from brick  stores are still noticeable. Not sure why it's so).

Many, but not most, by a wide margin:

https://www.theverge.com/2018/3/22/17152120/digital-downloads-cd-vinyl-riaa-2017-report

A few month old, but worth a read.

Streaming music is taking over the recording industry, and there’s no clearer sign of it than this: digital download sales have fallen so much in the past few years that they’re now smaller than sales of CDs, vinyl, and other physical media, which hasn’t been the case since 2011.

Last year, nearly two-thirds of all revenue — over $5.7 billion — came from streaming, an increase of 43 percent. Compared with $1.3 billion last year for digital downloads, whereas physical media, while also falling, only declined to $1.5 billion.

Unless you want nothing more than to listen to the White Album, again and again, at some point you will have to accept streaming into your "rig".

 

[witchdoctor]

I wouldn't mind buying the new White Album to get the 5.1 mix that's included along with the CD.

[Elizabeth]

Spending money. Let's see.  I spent $33,000 in the past eight months on....
Stereo equipment. How much on music? $147.
Actually the Music has been paying ME! IF I subtract the money fro selling LPs while weeding my LP collection I spent -$2,363. on music.
I already OWN far more music than I can possibly really listen TO!
If all you own is The White Album?  Well WHAT have you been doing???
If I play each album I own in some sequence, not repeating, say ten hour a day...
I could manage the LPs in about a year. Ditto another year for the CDs...
And with weeding, I really enjoy the albums that are left. So I could live with them forever, and nothing else.. anyway.

[CanadianMaestro]

Liz, lend me some dough?

Patience. Med researchers are working on extending lifespans to 100+ (they did it for fruitflies years ago LOL -- those critters live only hours/few days normally). With or without mental faculties intact (e.g. hearing, memory) LOL.

I have 3 portable drives feeding my digital player: 1. "Favorites" 2. "Classical" 3. "Non-classical". Would take me about a year to play all 18/7. Culled most of library last year -- resell, gifting, etc.

Funny thing is that none of it's MQA.....

[CanadianMaestro]

 at some point you will have to accept streaming into your "rig".

Nope. 

[Anonamemouse]

at some point you will have to accept streaming into your "rig".

And listen to music in watered down quality of unknown sources? Uhm... No.
But I doubt you understand this.

[CanadianMaestro]

And listen to music in watered down quality of unknown sources? Uhm... No.

 

Too many are just following the crowds and hailing polls/stats. Populism is certainly rising in some circles. Too bad. For them.

cheers

[witchdoctor]

I listen to MQA in the near field in my desktop rig in a very similar setup to what they use in a studio It is very inexpensive and extremely enjoyable.
Master Tape Quality Authenticated file decoded through a proper DAC (check) + JBL monitors in the near field (check) + direct signal path through my pre-amp (check)= one happy camper for not a lot of scratch.

Now if only I could get a pair of those humongous towers James demoed in Toronto for a near field setup (can you imagine  ) my life would be complete.

[Krutsch]

And listen to music in watered down quality of unknown sources? Uhm... No.
But I doubt you understand this.

Bad mastering is orthogonal to the delivery format. With a well-mastered album, I am sure you could distinguish an MP3/320 from a Redbook equivalent, or even a high-res release encoded with MQA.

And, I'm also sure you know all about the mastering/recording/delivery chain for everything in your collection, right?

I suspect that you don't see the irony of your statement. The key design center of MQA was to solve that very problem - authenticating the mastering/recording chain, all the way through to delivery to your DAC.

Checkmate