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Just give me the fucking mp3 or flac files, subscriptions should be advertised as radio, not a music "library". I've been bitching about the industry burning do

Just give me the fucking mp3 or flac files, subscriptions should be advertised as radio, not a music "library". I've been bitching about the industry burning down my shelves for years now... it's unfathomable how much people rely on these stupid streaming services. That said, I'd still gladly pay for the music discovery, I just have started to feel cheated out of my money over the years doing so. Should I really be paying $10/month to listen to the same songs I listen to every other month. I don't go on a music collection binge all that often you know. And then poof, it's gone.

bigbubba 6y ago
On the plus side, pirating music has never been easier. Just rip the audio tracks from youtube with youtube-dl. Coverage is pretty good and so is the audio quality (I am not an audiophile.) No need to sleaze a private tracker invite off IRC or anything like that.
psychometry 6y ago
last.fm is still going strong. Send your plays there from pretty much any service/app and you'll start getting recommendations.
- thefunnyman 6y ago
  Huge fan of last.fm. I haven’t been using their discovery features (though I may start now that you’ve mentioned it), but I absolutely love all the listening statistics they offer. I find it super interesting to see how my listening habits and music taste evolve over time , as well as seeing which tracks I come back to most.
fivre 6y ago
Good news! Bandcamp is exactly that (giving you your choice of FLAC or MP3 or whatever, without DRM, and available for download again so long as Bandcamp continues to exist) and is good for artists, since it's an actual album sale, so none of the nonsense associated with streaming payouts. It's good for discovery also, since while Bandcamp Daily is a marketing tool, it's still written by music nerds who do a good job curating music from local scenes and odd genres. Indie labels also often run storefronts on Bandcamp, and are a decent way of finding the same, as most release music from their local area or with a similar sound. It's different from algorithmic discovery, and requires a bit more effort, but IMO it's worth it to explore on your own, and a fun way to learn something more about an album or track than streaming services' "Chill Hip Hop Beats To Study/Relax To"-style personality-void mood-based curation. Bandcamp isn't perfect, to be sure. It's not as good for older music (though there are niche labels like https://habibifunkrecords.bandcamp.com/ https://habibifunkrecords.bandcamp.com/ that dig up old recordings and re-release them digitally) or big-name artists on major labels, but there's so much music available nowadays that you usually won't be at a loss for something to listen to, you just won't always be able to find a specific track as easily as on Spotify. Their mobile app also isn't great, and really needs to add a way to download tracks for offline listening, but hey, no music service is perfect, and I'm fine using a mix of both it and Spotify where one offers a better experience than the other.
- hanklazard 6y ago
  Bandcamp is such a great service. Pretty much all artists and labels that I care about have a presence there and I really like that I can archive FLAC files of everything I buy. Too bad there’s not a similar drm-free service for movies! (Please chime in if you know of one)
jeegsy 6y ago
Amen. For all the convenience of streaming, it really seems like we have gone steps backwards.
musicale 6y ago
Streaming a song multiple times seems wasteful compared to just downloading it once. Not to mention that on youtube (etc.) you can get stuck with obnoxious advertisements before and after the song.

bigbubba 6y ago

On the plus side, pirating music has never been easier. Just rip the audio tracks from youtube with youtube-dl. Coverage is pretty good and so is the audio quality (I am not an audiophile.) No need to sleaze a private tracker invite off IRC or anything like that.

psychometry 6y ago

last.fm is still going strong. Send your plays there from pretty much any service/app and you'll start getting recommendations.

thefunnyman 6y ago
Huge fan of last.fm. I haven’t been using their discovery features (though I may start now that you’ve mentioned it), but I absolutely love all the listening statistics they offer. I find it super interesting to see how my listening habits and music taste evolve over time , as well as seeing which tracks I come back to most.

fivre 6y ago

Good news! Bandcamp is exactly that (giving you your choice of FLAC or MP3 or whatever, without DRM, and available for download again so long as Bandcamp continues to exist) and is good for artists, since it's an actual album sale, so none of the nonsense associated with streaming payouts. It's good for discovery also, since while Bandcamp Daily is a marketing tool, it's still written by music nerds who do a good job curating music from local scenes and odd genres. Indie labels also often run storefronts on Bandcamp, and are a decent way of finding the same, as most release music from their local area or with a similar sound. It's different from algorithmic discovery, and requires a bit more effort, but IMO it's worth it to explore on your own, and a fun way to learn something more about an album or track than streaming services' "Chill Hip Hop Beats To Study/Relax To"-style personality-void mood-based curation. Bandcamp isn't perfect, to be sure. It's not as good for older music (though there are niche labels like https://habibifunkrecords.bandcamp.com/ https://habibifunkrecords.bandcamp.com/ that dig up old recordings and re-release them digitally) or big-name artists on major labels, but there's so much music available nowadays that you usually won't be at a loss for something to listen to, you just won't always be able to find a specific track as easily as on Spotify. Their mobile app also isn't great, and really needs to add a way to download tracks for offline listening, but hey, no music service is perfect, and I'm fine using a mix of both it and Spotify where one offers a better experience than the other.

hanklazard 6y ago
Bandcamp is such a great service. Pretty much all artists and labels that I care about have a presence there and I really like that I can archive FLAC files of everything I buy. Too bad there’s not a similar drm-free service for movies! (Please chime in if you know of one)

jeegsy 6y ago

Amen. For all the convenience of streaming, it really seems like we have gone steps backwards.

musicale 6y ago

Streaming a song multiple times seems wasteful compared to just downloading it once. Not to mention that on youtube (etc.) you can get stuck with obnoxious advertisements before and after the song.