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I was thinking last night, about how many CDs I've purchased recently. It transpired that since I've been using Napster and/or Spotify, my CD purchasing rate has gone up 50% or so, but the amount of "duffers" purchased has dropped significantly.

Does anyone else find this, or are you more likely just to use the subscription to listen?

I'd be interested to hear what other folks have found...

It's an interesting point.

Likewise, I find my excessive purchasing of music hasn't really slowed down despite being able to Spoftify albums first.

I still, like many it seems, need to have the actual CD in my possession. The hi-rez/Lossless downloads I've acquired do sound great but I somehow feel bereft without the packaging and bumpf.

Co-incidentally, my rates of vinyl purchasing have increased.

Charlie Jefferson:

I still, like many it seems, need to have the actual CD in my possession. The hi-rez/Lossless downloads I've acquired do sound great but I somehow feel bereft without the packaging and bumpf.

Same here.

I dont use subscriptions services, but certainly use things like Last.fm to listen and also to audition/discover/choose music before I buy it on CD.

fatboyslimfast:

I was thinking last night, about how many CDs I've purchased recently. It transpired that since I've been using Napster and/or Spotify, my CD purchasing rate has gone up 50% or so, but the amount of "duffers" purchased has dropped significantly.

Does anyone else find this, or are you more likely just to use the subscription to listen?

I'd be interested to hear what other folks have found...

It's the same for me. Although i have a Spotify subscription i still mainly use the service to audition albums before i buy on cd or for finding/trying out new music,but i dont ever see me using it as my sole/main source of music

Its the opposite for me. I now rely on Spotify for 95% of my music and have only bought some CDs for listening to in the car and the occasional band who are not on their catalogue, yet. With downloads at low bit rates and importing CDs onto the PC there was a justification to have the CD as a quality backup. But now, with Spotify you can download albums onto the PC and make up playlists and listen to them off line. So Spotify itself is the back-up. (Thank goodness or else I would be bankrupt, buying numerous, expensive, rare Swedish prog rock albums off Amazon at £20 plus a pop).

Best of all in my system Spotify sounds amazing, with loads of spine tingling moments. Rhythm, timing, dynamics, sound stage, detail, separation, bass, treble, midrange are all there in spades. I have got some sort of synergy going on that makes it perfect for me.

The one thing I would love to be able to do is to borrow a really good CDP and plug it into my amp and listen to some CDs again. That would be a true comparison with Spotify. I doubt that it would be significantly better as neither itunes nor WMP nor LastFM are at all better than the sound from Spotify. Even if it turned out to be a simply amazing sound, I would not give up on Spotify due to its cheapness for me, as I dont buy the CDs and the sheer size of its catalogue.

I have always bought many cd's (have a huge collection) ... but since listening to spotify, I have bought much more, as I now listen to bands/tracks that I have never heard of before

I often pop into charity shops and get used cd's for £1-£2 each, or buy the really good ones off ebay

I buy them, then burn the 2 or so tracks that I really enjoy, then never use them again and listen to the cd's that I have burned

 

i don't think i am buying more, but i have been buying better.  removes a lot of the risk of ending up with a duff 'un.  doesn't always help though, my bose pc speakers are awful, i've had to cover the bass ports and turn the bass down on the pc.