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What makes you pick a particular Music format?

Condorsat

Condorsat

Audio Enthusiast
For me ... far back as I can remember ... it was what ever hard media seemed to be prevalent and readily available/affordable to me at the time.

When I was crumb cruncher ... Vinyl ... teenager (just got my license) 8 Tracks .... later cassettes ... 8 Tracks became obsolete ... then CD's became commonly available/affordable .

In 2000 ... visiting the thrifts ... dollar bin days (plentiful & inexpensive inventory) .. got back into Vinyl ... CD's became more affordable used (in mass) ... started to buy more of those.

MP3's in cars ... streaming web sites becoming popular .. in 2012 started setting up streaming rigs.

Anyway ... the audio systems I've put together ... have always been the cart being pulled by the media horse.

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That's a good question. If I'm going to pick up some old classic rock I don't already have or something I'm not sure I'll be interested in, I may look for cheaper vinyl $5 or less).

Or if I want a really nice pressing or audiophile stuff, I may pick up a more expensive pressing.

If it's more routine (new release by artist I like), I'll typically just pick up the CD for $10 or so.
 
Dominance of the number of recordings I own in that format. For example: 3500+ LPs. 10 CDs. 30-40 blurays and DVDs. 8 DVD-As. 5 SACDs.

Therefore I've invested heavily in turntables, arms, cartridges and phono stages over the years. Jeez, I didn't even have a CD in my home until this century. I don't think that I've played a CD more than 5 times in the last decade. Why would I buy them under that circumstance? Blu-rays and DVDs get more play time due to the visual aspect accompanying the music. 99.999% of my music listening is LP and I don't see that changing quickly.
 
Access to a library of music, now. Therefore streaming. Then I build my own collection as I find viable options along the way with vinyl and cd's.
 
I don't pick any format in particular: actually have some of my favorite recordings in different formats (for example, for some Toscanini recordings made for RCA I've got the 78 rpm, 45 rpm, LP, R2R , LP and CD releases and in some cases even the XRCD ones!). I always have the hope that some format will display better sound than the rest but keep my mind as unbiased as possible (in this and in other subjects as well).
 
Surprising amount of FM radio. I have a few good public radio stations in the Seattle area. XM too when I can work around reception issues. Hard media these days is almost exclusively CD. Love my LP's but I'm so fussy about my listening/care ritual that I rarely take the time for them. I still dabble in cassette recording and would love to goof around with R to R but the maintenance/refurbishment of the machines is intimidating. I'm about ready to dive into downloads now that I feel the fidelity is worthwhile. I like to indulge in all formats but bread and butter these days is radio and CD.
 
Here in Rockford, only one public radio channel. For jazz and blues I like. So it is CD and vinyl with additions from garage sales and used record shops. I've only bought one $30 record. Got rid of 8 tracks years ago. Still have cassettes I could listen to , but don't. Don't yet have streaming gear. On horizon. May be too much hassle for streaming.
 
My vinyl is #1, CD's are OK, I don't want you all to fall off your chairs, laughing, but I use Directv and Verizon's feeds about six hours during the day, and I don't find it too shabby. Have you tried it?
 
Freddymac2 said:
My vinyl is #1, CD's are OK, I don't want you all to fall off your chairs, laughing, but I use Directv and Verizon's feeds about six hours during the day, and I don't find it too shabby. Have you tried it?
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I use Dish Network feed (Sirius XM) on my Hopper DVR .... Optical out to Schiit Modi 2 Uber Dac .... sounds good to me.
 
For me it's been a chase for fidelity. That meant open reel tapes back in the day (and currently for analog) and hi-res lossless digital files today. Technology has always led the cart and we have sure seen a few formats get pushed out over the years.


Dr. Morbius said:
MP3 & Flac files on my computer are just too dang convenient to bother with most of that other stuff. I gave up on vinyl in 1984.
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What did you do between 1984 and 1999, when MP3's were finally publicly available?
 
Currently it is CD's ripped to my Win 10 hard drive and running that through JRiver to a brand new Schitt Modi Multibit. I like the variety of playlists I can listen to without ever leaving the chair. That said however I have been working on a couple of TT's and have recently been given a s-load of vinyl with the promise of more to come so am interested in that media again after all these decades. Likely I will rip vinyl to make FLAC files out of them at some point. As for streaming, meh, can't get a good enough bandwidth from our sole provider here to stream HiFi Tidal, the only streaming company I would be interested in. Even if I could I would likely just use these services to audition new music and then go and buy what I like.
 
I grew up with CDs as a 90s child, so that just makes sense to me. I listen to vinyl and tape, but those have issues with noise and/or sound that CDs simply don't have. That doesn't mean I don't enjoy them; they just aren't #1. Plus, good-condition vinyl is ridiculously expensive compared to a CDs (especially used CDs) and the CDs are easier to get onto my hard drive, which is where all the music ends up. At first it was portable music players when I hadn't gotten into hi-res yet, but same concept.

loopstick said:
I don't wanna know what I'm gonna hear next.
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That's a huge reason for my PC as my primary source instead of the CDs themselves. My music is usually shuffled unless I'm in the mood for a specific artist or album (even then shuffling isn't off the table). My secondary source, my iPod, is almost always on shuffle as well. I like the surprise element, but I like add to that the stipulation of music I have picked out for myself (on the hard drive) that can't repeat. We have some good shuffling multi genre radio stations around here, but they don't hit on anywhere close to all my genres.
 
JoeESP9 said:
The only mainstream media I've never had any interest in is 8 Tracks.[/QUOTE

Guess that puts us on different planets, Joe. I done got 1500 of the plastic suckers. A few here, some more here...a batch here...all neatly organized in a portable system on wheels even. Came with 500 of them. Got no answer other than had a '68 Camaro vert that had a GM player in it. Guess it just offered a lot of variety of diff tunes...plus had a portable player, and one in the garage. At this point probably a hook in with the musical history, sure not the fidelity aspect! I feel "ThatToolman" cringing about now.

For better sound fresh well cared for LP's worked, until that one party took care of the serious listening. Got a mess of them...still lookin' .

Cassettes were OK, but they often tangled as did the 8 tracks, esp the long long spools. The sounds were alright, if you went either "high" or "metal", but it left a kind funny metal taste in your ears.

Then the CD's were the thing. Rows and and Rows of them. The music was bright, clean and clear...but don't ever leave them in the car with widows closed in the summer. Warpville! And they were $20 a pop...and now?

Now into the mp3 formats,climbing the wall of sound there, about to try the FLAC level, but wait, I hear there's yet a better mode to go to and copy.

Streaming? Not sure? Unlike some out there, I do like predictablity and depending upon the mood, I try to fit it as closely as I can with what I got.

We alls got different routes to follow. There ain't just one that fits us all. Thank God for that! Ever end up at a gathering with that so called background music just isn't far enough in the background?

I've ranted. SBI

Q2
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Agree with Quadman. At that time, if you wanted music in your car 8track was about only choice. You could not be cool without one. Early cassetes sounded pretty bad til the tape inproved.
 
Listened to all manner of Music formats available equally as they have come out over the years from the 60's to present day! R2R,CASSETTES,EL-CASSETTES,FM TUNER,VINYLS,8-TRACKS,CD's,why I even had WIRE RECORDERS:)
 
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