TheBig3

Albums as the Art Form, so tapes, vinyl, cd's, whatever. Do you still buy them at brick-and-mortar stores or is it all downloads at this point?

Feel free to state why.

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jackhammer

Oh definitely and if anything I have bought more C.D's the past couple of years than over the past ten years. I don't think I could call myself a music fan if I just sat there all day downloading anything and everything. Wait a minute....

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gunnels

I download most of my music, but I wish I owned most of it on a hard copy. I find it much more rewarding to actually be able to hold your music in your hand.

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Alfred

I download almost all of my music. The cream of the crop are the ones that I actually buy.

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storymilo

Same as the others really. I download whenever I feel like but if I'm sure I'll like and album then I'll buy it.

mr dave

i prefer buying albums but it all depends on availability. like Jack White sang in Store Bought Bones - you can't buy what you can't find.

even though one of the first things i do with new albums is to rip them to my pc i still like having the physical copy. especially when there's worthwhile packaging, liner notes that offer insight into the artist and their compositions, photos, posters, stickers, patches, etc.

while i used to defend downloading based on the idea that limited availability justified the piracy i've changed my views on the matter. sites like youtube, myspace, and lastfm make it incredibly simple to sample music legitimately. if it's something i'm going to want to listen to more than a handful of times then it's worth my eventual dollar, and if not then i don't need the mp3 as some kind of e-music collection competition.

although in one of my most bone headed moves of the last decade i tossed about 300 cd cases and booklets because i was moving and didn't know what to do with them. horrible horrible mistake.

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TheBig3

To both of you: what would you say is the value in having the music; As gunnels says to "hold the music in your hand."

I think i generally find myself in this camp, but I also still pay for my downloads and I think its just generally cheaper to use iTunes than go to a Newbury Comics or a Best Buy.

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storymilo

Umm... are you my dad? He packed pretty much all of his CDs into huge booklets and threw away the cases (though kept the liner notes) and now both him and I regret it

mr dave

well it was 2003 but, no. and well. no. there are no mini daves running around out there.

at least he kept the liner notes

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Dieselboy

I buy albums all the time, both used and new releases. I probably buy slightly more than DL these days.

The value of owning it has a few importance's for me.

- I don't get to go to many shows at all, and so I use that as my way to support the artists I like.
- Buying something makes me much more inclined to give it multiple listens. I used to do the whole e-collection thing, DL'ing 10 albums a day on demonoid, and trying to listen to everything. Then I realized I wasn't even listening to some of it, and even the stuff I enjoyed would only get one play. It got boring. I basically just find myself caring a lot more, and looking around at reviews online as I listen to it, to see what others think.
- I also really enjoy the experience of looking through every booklet while ripping the disc to flac on my machine.