I was reading one of those click bait lists today, 10 Things Not To Buy In 2015. Nothing too surprising on the list, and one thing I definitely expected to see on the list was DVDs and CDs. It was there of course. I have mixed feelings about this. On one hand, I am a cord cutter. I have given up on cable/satellite TV and get my visual entertainment via Netflix, Hulu, and OTA broadcasts. Most of the time, it is enough for me and my family. We occasionally miss some sports, but overall streaming is far superior to pay TV. On the other hand, Streaming music is not something I've been able to get behind.
So, why the difference? First of all, movies/TV are consumed quite differently from music for most people. Movies and TV are typically consumed in one's home, and frequently are not watched multiple times, Yes, we have our favorites that we may watch over and over, but it is not uncommon to watch a film or TV show once and never watch it again. Music is a bit different, we favorite artists, favorite songs, favorite albums. Music has for decades been thought of as a collection, movies and TV shows now so much. This lends streaming to be better suited to visual media, as opposed to music. Being consumed at home with wifi, and frequently as a one time deal makes this media better suited for streaming.
Music streaming presents more problems.
1. Music is frequently consumed outside of the home where unlimited Wifi is not present. We listen in the car, at the park, at work, at the gym, and anywhere else. Unless you are lucky enough to have unlimited data on your smartphone, streaming music can quickly eat into your data limit. My listening habits at work alone, would come out to over 2.5 gigabytes a month, I only get three and already use close to two on other data. I can't realistically stream music using my data plan. Without some resolution in Net Neutrality and some competition among ISPs, home bandwidth may be limited in the future as well.
2. Streamed music frequently sounds awful. It is compressed to save on bandwidth, and the audio hardware in most smart phones is quite poor. Using a media player or laptop and local files gives you much more control. Media players are not always the best sounding in the world, but are almost always better than smartphones. Files and quality can be controlled at a very granular level if you rip from CDs yourself. Many players of local files can offer gapless playback as well, which is important for some albums and classical works.
3. With streaming you are usually completely dependent on external parties for access to what you want. You are dependent on the network provider for access to the service, and are dependent on the service to have the music you want. If your network is out, no music for you. If your favorite artist decides not to allow their music to be streamed anymore (Taylor Swift for a high profile example, not my favorite artist), then you are out of luck.
4. Your phone is important for other things. Draining the battery on streaming music may leave you without your phone for that important phone call, or tweet. Alternatively, a long unexpected phone call may rob you of your music for the rest of the day. Having an independent device lets you keep your phone dedicated to other activity.
Of course there are cons too. Need to carry an extra device, cost may be a bit higher for your collection, as opposed to monthly streaming fees, but that depends on what you buy. The second hand market can give you very competitive prices on disks. There is certainly a more significant time cost involved. These costs seem small to me in exchange for the quality increases and the control over the experience. Streaming still has a place, its great for discovering new music, at home if you can play it through a decent system it can sound good and be more convenient than swapping discs in and out. But for those of us who are serious about music, and listen frequently in many places, streaming is just not practical yet.
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