Your Favourite Music Format

[Girl-with-the-Thorn]

What's the format you prefer to buy or have music in? Vinyl, cassette, CD, mp3, etc?

I always used to be more into mp3- file sharing mostly as it's so easy- but lately I've been starting to buy CDs more and more. I like having all the tracks in a physical form, with the lyrics and artwork, and the feeling of contributing to an artist's career. I think it's because I've been becoming more passionate about music in the last 6 months or so. I've been listening to it more intently, having stronger opinions about it etc.

I don't buy all the CDs of every single artist I have on my iPod through downloads- many of them I don't like enough, and only have a few songs. And anyway, I'd go broke because I binge on music. But I have started to buy the music of the artists whose songs I really love and listen to a lot. So to answer my own question, mp3 for convenience, but CDs for conscience, posterity and passion.

Sorry for the long post, just wanted to know what other people think.

 

[kyleleonard]

cassette cos they're retro and sexy, and the spines look better, and easier to read than cds/vinyls

 

[I am a Ghost]

78's and cylinders.

 

[Sphinx]

Vinyl - physical format is divine - 12" artwork and gatefold sleeves do I need to go on

 

[GingerSnap]

Vinyl - physical format is divine - 12" artwork and gatefold sleeves do I need to go on

I agree. I miss the experience of unwrapping the plastic and having the whole experience of coverwork, inner artwork and more extensive liner notes. I miss the days when everything was automatically being sold in vinyl.

 

[Shipwrecked Escapologist]

Vinyl - physical format is divine - 12" artwork and gatefold sleeves do I need to go on

Couldnt agree more. Just replaced my turntable.

I still like my I Pod as well though !

 

[kurious oranj]

I switch between buying CD and vinyl.

I know I probably should be more into mp3s and filesharing given my age (18) but i've never really enjoyed it at all. Yeah, you can get music quickly and free but it's a pain in the arse to be faffing about with technology constantly (I don't like the idea of my music collection existing only on my hard drive) and I really enjoy artwork, liner notes and knowing that a band gets paid. I also like simply going out and buying records and perhaps straying down musical avenues that I wouldn't have if I had just downloaded from itunes. The idea of there being nowhere to buy physical music in the future sickens me.

I really love vinyl but I can't buy as much of it as I would like. CDs are cheaper a lot of the time, especially on new releases when you might end up paying at least £5 more for vinyl. Also I like being able to put music onto my ipod because I listen a lot on the move. I buy quite a lot of old vinyl though which is much more reasonably priced and both sounds and looks wonderful. I have around 300 singles from the 60s/70s that i've amassed from various old or dead relatives and many LPs old and new. I don't buy many new vinyl singles now, but then again I don't buy many singles full stop. Oh and I sometimes get old cassettes, gotta love 'em. So in conclusion, i'm for physical formats but vary within that category.

 

[Billtwasreallynowt]

Vinyl, though I find 12" awkward (oo-er missus)

I love the 7" format, hence most of my Smiths/Moz stuff is the 7" variety.
The physicality of vinyl wins hands down.

 

[mikael]

I recently started entertaining the idea of getting a lot of music that I love (mostly 50s-60s stuff) on 7"s instead of CDs or mp3s. I put maybe a dozen 7"s of songs that I love on watch on ebay. One sold for $990 and another for £660. So as much as I would love to have a lot of original 7"s of my favourite artists and songs, it'll probably never happen

 

[ref227]

I used to collect CDs but then for a while I got really in to foreign music that was terribly expensive to buy, seriously $40 for a CD? No thanks. So I got used to using my ipod for everything to the point where I don't even have a decent CD player anymore and it's a pain to rip songs from CDs on to my computer. I still buy CDs from the artists I really, really love but I do it a lot less.

I'm trying to get in to the habit of buying vinyl because I love having cover art and everything but I have so little right now and my record player really stinks.

All and all I really love being able to open things and have something nice and tangible but at the same time I love the simplicity of my ipod and mp3 files.