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Who would win in a fight: Music subscription, or music ownership? (Poll Closed)

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Total Votes: 1,069
11 Comments

  • Ney Mello - 14 years ago

    As a professional Mp3 quality is quite bad to my ears, specially on acoustic music such as real jazz and classical , so why pay for a travesti when you can pay for the best -uncompressed-wave file when you own? All compression formats take parts of the music out and you can hear it of course. That is not necessary with CDs and uncompressed wave downloads (if you must) , but consumers are duped into using third rate quality MP3s, apple '"lossless'' ( hellooo?)..etc.. when they use compressed files of ANY type. With our current level of technology this is inadmissible and absurd for those who love music .

    Since the 60s via record clubs up to 2010 digital download, satisfactory selection has never been available via subscription services and a CD or vinyl is not lost when your iPod crashes ( happens way too commonly) and you simply loose all your money which amazes me.

    File download is not a practical option for real music content security. And it is too fragile and subject to too may digital problems with file losses.

    Subscription is only viable for users who listen to a very narrow range of music, who don't care about bad audio, and who don't mind paying multiple times for the same files when their mp3 players drives break and loose all the files. Computer backup file storage is another ridiculously time consuming and unnecessary step with file download. Many of us are too busy for that and don't want our hard drives clogged with tons of music files, including mp3s.

  • S. Casey - 14 years ago

    Music subscription is cool until you want to change devices. That's a given, right? What's not a given however is that music that you 'purchased' thru that service (Hello, Zune Marketplace---Microsoft). I was a subscriber to Microsoft Marketplace's 'Zune Pass' subscr. service, but was very surprised when the music that I occassionally 'purchased' thru the service would not play on anything other than a Zune device. That was frustrating---it was that pesky DRM (digital rights management) files in the music that would not allow it to play on Anything but a Zune. Because of this I am only now interested in purchasing music and that music has got to MP3s only (DRM free). Beware! There's nothing like having to buy your beloved albums twice simply because you bought copies w/ DRM included because you didn't pay attention. A subscription service is nice, but you can't burn them and share with friends....or take it with you if you want to export the music. Subscription services tout that they help
    you to expand your music knowledge thru an introduction to 'new' music--music that you will not 'buy' until you know whether you like it or not. Don't Pandora and other free streaming services offer this for free?? Well, there you go. Pandora even offers a direct link to iTunes where you van buy whatever you hear that you would like to own! Viola! Now, where's the benefit to subscription?!

  • pawzonthepage - 14 years ago

    When I'm in the mood for a certain song I want to know it will be there -- tomorrow or twenty years from now. The same goes for books and movies. I don't want to find that some mood or world I want to live in (for this is what the arts evoke) is out of reach because of some business dispute or the distributing company going out of business or any other whim of a bunch of strangers.
    BTW, another great option, not mentioned, is the public library. While there's no guarantee your local library will keep your favorite CD or book or DVD forever, libraries are much more stable than online businesses. And they're totally free to use.

  • Deuce Brown - 14 years ago

    I would like to use a subscription service, but since Spotify is currently unavailable in the US and no one else has a model that I like, I am still participating in the "own" model. Ideally, if all music was available through a subscription service, you could have any song you want on your hands at any time. However, the downside is that, as a music artist or DJ, you still want to have an actual copy of songs to modify and do with as you see fit.

  • CNMiles - 14 years ago

    I like to own my music. It doesn't have to be a CD, though I prefer it. I am intrigued by the subscription model however. The idea of being able to listen to whatever I want whenever I want sounds great... in theory. I see many saying that many artists can't be found on subscription services, so that's something proponents will need to make up for. I don't like the idea of paying a monthly fee for a service without being able to own the music, but the internet radio, ala LastFM, is exposing my to new music that I wouldn't hear otherwise. That said, it has exposed me to a lot of crap I would never listen to as well! Ha!

  • David Brewster - 14 years ago

    There is still a great deal of older music from many genres that is not licensed by any subscription service to make me stop haunting places like Portland's Vinyl Resting Place and go totally digital.

  • carlos - 14 years ago

    Depending of the use. For domestic, subscription without paying (publicity or network provider pays) for professional, ownership (top quality 320kps)

  • Jenni - 14 years ago

    I can rarely find music I want on subscription services. At the moment they still seem to cater to only certain groups. It also still seems to be quite hard for young bands to get their music on to them.

    I think it's going to be quite a few years before subscription is big enough for me to switch.

  • Seth Reineke - 14 years ago

    I go for own. As a musician, I love exploring the final product. The album art, the photography in the booklet, reading through the lyrics and credits, etc... You can't replicate that with a subscription service, even if you offer a PDF of the booklet. It just isn't the same.

  • Richard Allen - 14 years ago

    I agree as a dj, I want the CD in my hands to do as i please. I don't like the quality of PAID downloaded mp3, but for free they are good to keep as a spare until i get the real thing.

    I agree the music i like is hard to find on limewire...and I support artist who I think are REAL, not fake and who don't swear use the N word or don't need auto tune......they are getting harder to find these days.

    Check out myspace page Zydeco music I think is the next big thing....

  • Eric - 14 years ago

    It's gotta be ownership. I listen to a wide variety of music from many countries and no subscription service has half of the albums I listen to.

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