You probably won't find any good music there, either.

We live in an era where parody has become reality. Our society and politicians are from Idiocracy. Our record production is from Spinal Tap.

Why adjust levels when you can have loudness?

I feel this way also, but I'm moving more towards Vinyl, and more and more I make it ONLY about music I REALLY love or even moreso, older bands that are pioneers of their styles and download the rest, usually for free.

In the interest of money I've had to move to mostly downloading music, but if I REALLY love a band I have to own it in some form.

What I mostly like to do now is buy cds of only newer bands who are my favorites, and if it's an older band (meaning 80s or earlier) who pioneered a certain sound then I like to buy it on vinyl, then rip the album off youtube or download from bandcamp to put on my itunes and ipod cause I don't have a working record player and even if I did I couldn't listen to music while out.

I like the mix of old and new of having an older album on Vinyl and being able to look at it while listening to the downloaded version on my ipod.

I stopped into a Cheapo recently, which is a local music store chain, and one of the last still going. I was pleasantly surprised by the size and number of people in there, but also by the selection. I didn't expect Anaal Nathrakh or Orange Goblin, but they had large numbers of both. Definitely stopping there again on Friday.

There was even a release on cassette.

While I was an avid collector of CD's back in the day, I've gone the way of streaming for convenience reasons and haven't looked back either. It sure was nice to get home with some new albums with that new, awesome smelling jewel case but all in all just finding an album on Spotify or Tidal is so much more convenient. What's not on those two streaming services is probably on iTunes anyway, and if not, I won't fret to be honest. It's an endless sea of music out there that's so readily available anyway, and I'm good at navigating through that sea, never in my life using Spotify playlists to find new stuff. Or else I wouldn't be here, right?

However, I buy albums I like on iTunes though more like symbolic support of sorts. As a musician myself I'm of course concerned about the income of artists these days, but when the old guys owning the record labels finally embrace the future, which I think they will, that will fix itself I believe.

This is how I feel. Being able to see someone mention an album on here or in a review on this site and pull it up and start listening in less than a minute is just too convenient and such a cool thing.

I have never had the luxury of owning a hi fi vinyl rig. Always a cd transport with headphones and a amp. The thing is most experts I tend to read about will tell me that a great vinyl system will sound much "better" for lack of a better term from me. But at the same token will cost twice as much as the cd transport. Because it is not just as simple as buying the vinyl system there are extensions that go along with that vinyl system. So unless you're wealthy it is much safer to go with the cd transport and a amp.

I don't think it's necessarily that expensive, just that, like with the "PC Master Race" scum, audiophiles with high-end vinyl setups try to fool people into thinking you must spend thousands and thousands of dollars when that's just not true, as a way of making themselves look cooler than they really are.

I do NOT think this is the end of owning music, specifically owning music physically.

Yes, streaming and buying albums or songs as digital files only is the big thing and I'd guess way more people are doing that than buying physical media. It might be this way for the foreseeable future too. But there are still a lot of people that like to own a physical copy.
Whether its a vinyl record, CD or even cassette tape, a lot of us like to own and collect music on physical formats. A lot of people also like the ritual of simply popping a cd in a disc player, dropping the needle on a record, etc., and listening on nice speakers or headphones AWAY from any personal computer or phone. This can all be done without internet too. This is especially the case for people who spend all day staring at screens and working with technology. For many of us, it's a more intimate time with the music we love.

Also, vinyl records have big artwork, lyric books, good feel, good smell, cool special editions, possible extra items, have admirable sonic characteristics depending who you ask, etc. etc. CDs actually have everything vinyl records have in terms of physical content but on a smaller scale - physical booklet with lyrics & art, back insert art and the CD itself is sometimes a work of art. Sound wise, you can get the same quality through FLAC albums (assumming the FLAC album and CD album aren't different masters!), but my point for the CD is that a lot of us appreciate the physical format in addition to the music. The same with tapes and honestly, any other physical format out there.

For collectors, getting a band's first press of their first album is equivalent to getting the rookie card of an athlete LOL

So in general, the amount of people owning physical music will shrink, but there will be a good amount of people still invested into it due to collectors and people who enjoy unique listening experiences whether for the tactile approach and/or sound.

I'm also not against digital only music or streaming. I think it's useful and I stream from time to time as well as buy digital only albums (especially if I can't find a physical copy or I don't have the shitload of money to buy an out-of-press physical album). All my digital only albums are accessible through the wonderful foobar2000 program on my computer and it gets much use as well. But I just love looking through my hard-copy collection, choosing the album to play at home or on the road, looking through the lyrics and artwork, admiring the presentation of an artist's work, etc. etc.

It is pretty discouraging to see the number of folks in this thread who’ve given up on physical media.

I love CDs for some stupid reason. Love digging through bins and getting new stuff in the mail. Been collecting them since I was a kid. Probably about 20 years. Just let’s keep them around another 20, 30, 40 years. Then I can die and you guys can do whatever you want.