Why I don't agree that music downloads will be dead by 2020 | TechRadar
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Downloads aren't dying because the format's sh1t, even though it is a bit in real terms (no physical copy so no real artwork/lyrics attraction, still doesn't sound 'right' in the main, thrill of purchase is gone).

Downloads are dying because nobody in their right mind pays for truly disposable, autotuned drivel in an age of immediate audio and video via any method you could ever want. Radio that endlessly plays the same songs, streaming, YouTube, wall to wall coverage of the few singers who the industry allows. Remember when a rapper calling themselves a rockstar would have been laughed at? Until rock makes a true comeback the industry is just a series of niche stars in personal terms for the consumer. Rock is what will get the vast majority interested again, so that they'll eventually branch out and buy the odd pop tune.

And it really will be 'the odd pop tune'. Unless acts cut the filler when pretending to have made an album, and 90+% are guilty even historically, the artists will be surviving on crumbs from the singles market.

Gender is also a massive issue. All the current, reasonably new stars who aren't rappers are women. No self-respecting bloke is buying a Taylor Swift or Adele album. And they're the biggest stars around. Tom O'Dell's a tough sell for the average bloke , and what other male singers are there?

The industry playing it safe isn't just achingly dull, it's suicide.

Out of interest, does anyone here still buy current music even twice a year? Even singles?

Bought two CDs this month, let alone this year.

Do you mind me asking who? The last bands I liked were Royal Blood and Hurts, both Brits, both from last year IIRC.

Not at all. Garbage and Beth Orton. Both new releases (i.e. not remasters or any of that, actual new material).

I think the last physical album I bought was in 2004. I have bought a few digital albums but again the last one was in 2014 sometime. Youtube means I can play any song I can think of. Spotify/deezer means I can stream a playlist of songs.

Interestingly, I play music in the car from a memory card. I last updated it in 2014 and most albums on there are pre- 2013.

The last digital album I bought was the latest Radiohead one but that was mainly because it was released digitally a month or so before the CD. The quality of the encoding is so bad (iTunes) that I'm going to probably buy it on CD and rip it at a better quality. It's truly terrible, with noticeable hissing sound in the quieter parts of tracks and, although I'm no audiophile, there are rubbles and pops that don't sound intentionally like they're meant to be that way. Will know once I compare it to the CD version.

Anyone know if you can request a refund from iTunes and how you go about it?

Yes, but only within the first 14 days of purchase IIRC. You start at the standard 'help' and go from there I think.

Last physical album I bought was The Cure collection (B-Sides and the Best of, both as little books with CDs in the covers).

I don't think I've ever bought any download music. I did look at replacing all those cassettes I threw away, because they were so stretched that they were unplayable (Now 1 - 25, for example, a lot of Phil Collins, Police etc.), but I've never gotten around to it.

I don't use a streaming service. And I don't download "illegal" copies.

That said, I'm going through a non-music phase, where I just don't want to hear music, I listen to podcasts and audio books in the car and when I'm out with the dog.

Album wise, anything new I would buy would only be from Amazon as local retailers would not stock them ( French bands, metal, Japanese imports)
I actually think the £15 Spotify charge for 6 premium licenses is good value.


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I have bought a few CDs for my daughter in the last couple of months. Andy Black, (whoever he is) and some other bands who I have heard of but can't remember at the moment.

When they start offering a good selection of downloads on a lossless format (eg FLAC rather than MP3), then I'll start buying music digitally. Until then I'll stick to CD's

Saspro and I did a test a few weeks ago that was comparing two MP3 ( 128, 320) and lossless extracts of songs and the results surprised us. For car radio and TV amps, and music streamed via AirPlay and Bluetooth, you couldn't really tell them apart. So for the majority of people's kit, streaming is fine.


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The music companies are missing out. They could offer lossless at a price premium and make more profit. Sure, many would still buy the cheaper MP3's, but people like me would pay extra for Flac.

It's supply and demand though, for the endevour to be actually worthwhile, the entire catalogue of music would need to be made lossless, and that would require storage and bandwidth.
For the amount of people that would want to download lossless music files - even if it was just to replace their current music libraries, would probably be prohibitively expensive and not recoup costs back.

I only listen to music in my car and through speakers connected to my computer, lossless wouldn't improve my listening experience - and I wouldn't have the storage capacity to have all my digital music files in lossless format anyway.
I suspect that the vast majority of people listening to digital music downloads are in the same camp as me.

Mark

Nobody is going to download a 4gb album when they can have it in 320k MP3 in a matter of seconds.

For FLAC to work you have to take the process back to the original recording to make it worthwhile.
A 24bit 192k FLAC file is pointless if ripped from a CD or if the recording was mastered for CD. The added jitter & quantisation noise etc from re-sampling the original 16bit 44.1k source makes it worse than the original.

If you're recording at 24bit 192k (E.G. to get the required dynamic range for classical as CD is 40db out) then FLAC is a viable medium (who wants to carry SACD with them). But the additional cost of recording & mastering it is never going to be viable as your market is tiny.