How do you consume your music?

[CJay]

Nowadays there are more ways than ever to listen to music. Personally, I've always been an iTunes man, despite its horribly bloated nature, with sprinklings of Spotify thrown in every so often. I used to download loads of music, but I cleared my library a while ago and now pretty much only have music that I actually own - around 1300 songs. The main times I listen to music are while driving and during the evenings if I'm working on assignments.

I was chatting to my friend last Saturday about this. He's an avid Spotify user, and just streams whatever 'curated' playlists he fancies. I've tried this a few times since then with Apple Music, but I just find myself skipping songs after 30 seconds because they don't appeal to me. The idea of listening to someone else's playlist just doesn't seem right to me, but it is probably a good way to discover new music.

How do you consume music?

[Magic]

With a bit of salted butter and pepper.

[Giggles]

I've a Spotify subscription but there's so many podcasts I listen to, I gave up listening to music altogether. I don't think I've opened Spotify in about 6 months.

Had an epic collection of hundreds of albums at one time when I was into music, but every CD went into a skip when I moved a few years ago,

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Spotify subscription and I create my own playlists.

[phonics]

I've lost my collection of mp3s (400gb and 120gb) respectively through loss or failure of hard-drives and have never had the heart to bother going back (ever since the death of the Kazaa/Soulseek era, downloaidng music just isn't as interesting) so I just listen to a few custom playlists on Spotify/whatever Discover Weekly throws up. If I'm looking for music I'll use /r/hiphopheads as a jump off point (I have a bot that messages me once a day with every single that has been posted on the subreddit) and then click through related youtube videos if I like the sound of it.

[CJay]

With a bit of salted butter and pepper.

You should have said with some Salt-N-Pepa.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

You should have said with some Salt-N-Pepa.

Yeah but Magic is too shit to have thought of that.

[Jimmy Floyd]

These days I'm exclusively Spotify (I pay for the full bells and whistles version).

[CJay]

I've lost my collection of mp3s (400gb and 120gb) respectively through loss or failure of hard-drives and have never had the heart to bother going back (ever since the death of the Kazaa/Soulseek era, downloaidng music just isn't as interesting) so I just listen to a few custom playlists on Spotify/whatever Discover Weekly throws up. If I'm looking for music I'll use /r/hiphopheads as a jump off point (I have a bot that messages me once a day with every single that has been posted on the subreddit) and then click through related youtube videos if I like the sound of it.

How does Discover Weekly work? Just newly released music based on what you've listened to?

[Jimmy Floyd]

It's not newly released - more a sort of selection of stuff that you haven't listened to before, based on what you have.

Mine will generally come up with a fair few songs I know, and then some good stuff I've never heard of (old or new) and then some incredibly random tracks like a Dutch indie band or something thrown in for no good reason.

[phonics]

It's an algorithm based on your saved Playlists/Radio/Search.

There's Release Radar which is only stuff released in the past 10 days or Discover Weekly which uses the entire Spotify catalogue, the amount of artists I've never heard of but which chime with me is really good. The hit ratio is immense, I'm not sure how they do it.

[Jimmy Floyd]

That said, they've put The Proclaimers - Over and Done With on my Discover Weekly this week so maybe the algorithm needs a bit of fine tuning.

[Giggles]

I'd be interested to see what's on mine but I cannot find it anywhere in the app. Is it Spotify desktop only?

[Offshore Toon]

Spotify is pretty awesome for new music. I use YouTube sometimes since Spotify doesn't cover everything. iTunes doesn't get fired up too often these days.

[Jimmy Floyd]

I'd be interested to see what's on mine but I cannot find it anywhere in the app. Is it Spotify desktop only?

It's on the app. Pops up on my homepage as I use it all the time, maybe try typing in 'Discover Weekly' somewhere?

[Giggles]

Found it, absolutely no idea of most of the names on it and the first couple I started were tripe.

It really is a wasted tenner for me (twenty when you consider I'd a Google Play Music sub for 18 months that I'd forgot about until a few months ago). What's the difference these days between free and paid? Back in the days when I signed up the free one only let you use it on a PC and had ads every 3 or 4 songs.

[phonics]

Go into your Playlists section. It should be in there.

[Raoul Duke]

I've had a Spotify subscription for years. In terms of consumption I solely listen through my headphones/mobile when I'm travelling, or very occasionally at my desk. I don't actually have any audio equipment at home :|

I find the algorithmically-generated playlists like Discover Weekly pretty great. I tried Apple Music for a month or so but didn't really find Beats1 enough of a differentiation to be worth switching.

[CJay]

Found it, absolutely no idea of most of the names on it and the first couple I started were tripe.

It really is a wasted tenner for me (twenty when you consider I'd a Google Play Music sub for 18 months that I'd forgot about until a few months ago). What's the difference these days between free and paid? Back in the days when I signed up the free one only let you use it on a PC and had ads every 3 or 4 songs.

I think free is ads on desktop, and ads + limited skips and forced shuffle and mobile. Could be wrong.

I think I'm in a similar boat to you - I listen to 3 or 4 different podcasts a week, which covers at least 3/5 of my overall commuting time. When you think about it Spotify really is amazing value for money if you use it daily.

I totally forgot about Google Play actually. Never used it before. Any good?

[Giggles]

I think free is ads on desktop, and ads + limited skips and forced shuffle and mobile. Could be wrong.

I think I'm in a similar boat to you - I listen to 3 or 4 different podcasts a week, which covers at least 3/5 of my overall commuting time. When you think about it Spotify really is amazing value for money if you use it daily.

I totally forgot about Google Play actually. Never used it before. Any good?

Basically the same as Spotify with a more orangey UI. Almost identical content and loads of generated playlists.

[Pepe]

I don't listen to music frequently. When I do it is either free Spotify or one of the few CDs I had in my car (Abba, Barry White, David Bowie, Daft Punk, and some Mexican pop.)

[Spammer]

Torrents mainly. Never seen any need to do anything else, although I don't have many outlets for discovering new shit and I'm horrendously out of teach with the current music scene as a result. I've been working on the assumption that it's all a load of shit and if anything is any good then I'd probably hear about it eventually, but I've got a couple of mates who insist there's lots of good stuff out there so maybe I should change to a format that enables me to listen to stuff outside my current catalogue.

[phonics]

For an example of Discover Weeklys awesomeness. I just turned it on and the first track was this song from seven years ago with under 30k hits on YouTube that I'd never heard before.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6F9nmtfwNB0

[Lewis]

My ten year old iPod is still going strong (aren't they quite desirable these days?), but I haven't put anything new on it for ages.

[Reg]

Almost exclusively Spotify now. I mostly make my own playlists but their Discover Weekly and Release Radar are really good actually. I haven't really looked into their curated playlists much (although "This Is: J Dilla" is :drool:). I use Spotify offline (my downloaded playlists on there) when I'm out.

I miss buying CDs and still stick one on occasionally, but can't justify the cost at the moment. I have some LPs and the start of a P-Funk collection.

The only radio show I regularly listen to is Jamie Cullum's jazz show. He does it really well.

[Giggles]

There's so many on this board are into all that hibbidy dibbidy funk hiphop stuff (the hiphop thread rarely sleeps).

Aren't you all white men heading for your 30's?

[Mike]

Mostly spotify.

[Smiffy]

.....

[Spoonsky]

There's so many on this board are into all that hibbidy dibbidy funk hiphop stuff (the hiphop thread rarely sleeps).

Aren't you all white men heading for your 30's?

ffs :D

I still mostly buy CDs, but I don't listen to very much new music honestly. Most hip hop and new music in general comes to me through my friends. I like YouTube for randomly finding new things (Marijata :cool:). I used to have so much energy to listen to music and recently I just don't care so much.

[Giggles]

ffs :D

I still mostly buy CDs, but I don't listen to very much new music honestly. Most hip hop and new music in general comes to me through my friends. I like YouTube for randomly finding new things (Marijata :cool:). I used to have so much energy to listen to music and recently I just don't care so much.

You would have always struck me more as the vinyl type.

[Dark Soldier]

Piracy. Haven't bought any music since I was about 17. Easy to do and the sites I'm on have collections based around genre, labels, artists so to find something new is easy as fuck.

[Pepe]

I've bought cds from Wal-Mart's bargain bin.

[Pepe]

Also I really don't like looking into new music, I just listen what I've always had.

[wullie]

I had three months of Spotify for a quid which was alright, but with the only difference really being a short ad every few songs I occasionally use the free version but then otherwise my own music. Moving house made me switch to buying digital rather than CDs.

[The Merse]

At home, on the likes of today or a Sunday afternoon, by vinyl, cd or casette. It's not due to some weird belief in a better audio quality (I have my library as FLAC anyway), but rather just to interact with the physical media and enjoy full albums rather than shuffling through 10,000's of songs I've downloaded on Spotify.

Otherwise, on the go or for shorter periods at home - it's Bandcamp or Spotify.

[Giggles]

At home, on the likes of today or a Sunday afternoon, by vinyl, cd or casette. It's not due to some weird belief in a better audio quality (I have my library as FLAC anyway), but rather just to interact with the physical media and enjoy full albums rather than shuffling through 10,000's of songs I've downloaded on Spotify.

Otherwise, on the go or for shorter periods at home - it's Bandcamp or Spotify.

:D

What exactly do you do with it?

[The Merse]

:D

What exactly do you do with it?

Take it out, put it on, reset the needle, rewind the casette - whatever... I didn't have any digital music until 2004ish, so it's something I'm still set in my ways with. Plus, there's reading of sleeve notes, lyrics from the inlet etc.

[Reg]

:D

What exactly do you do with it?
There is something nice about putting a CD/LP/cassette on. It's partly the time investment - committing to a whole album rather than clicking through songs or sticking a playlist on.

[Giggles]

I never realised you can't listen to a whole album in order on Spotify.

[The Merse]

I never realised you can't listen to a whole album in order on Spotify.

It's habit to skip around on Spotify.

Plus, as I say, it's the interaction - changing the side, handling the liner etc.

CD's aren't really the same as casettes and records in that regard, but I have a lot of CD's that aren't on Spotify or iTunes, so they're retained for that reason more than anything else.

[Alex]

I still buy quite a lot of it physically, although not as much as I used to. I own an absolutely ridiculous amount of CD's, moving them to a new house would be a fucking nightmare at this point.

I manage, and listen to, it all via iTunes though. So the actual physical copies are very rarely listened to. It's weird, I know. I'm a bit of a freak when it comes to tagging and maintaining my music library too, and iTunes gives me all the various boxes with which to do that.

I always listen to things a full album at a time as well. Except for when I'm out running, that's the only circumstance where I'll go with a self-created playlist instead.

[CJay]

Digital purchases didn't last long as 'the main' way of doing music, did they? I know physical music shops have been dying for a long time now, but streaming has been very popular since around the start of the decade. The iTunes store and whatever else equivalents were amazing at the time, but I'm sure they're on the way out considering one album costs more than a whole month's subscription to a service that has basically any album you can think of.

[CJay]

Reg, what radio stations do you listen to? I find it hard to believe people listen to Radio 1 / Capital / whatever all day every day. They literally play the same 20ish songs on repeat, or at least that's what it feels like. It's on in our office sometimes and I find I know the words to songs of artists who are totally unknown to me.

[Raoul Duke]

There are a couple of markets where downloads are still number one (Germany and Japan) but it's primarily streaming now, except for hi-res music. There's compression tech on the way to enable that to be streamable, after which there'll be no real reason to store your own copy of media.

Spotify has been going for about 10 years, but streaming has only really become the mainstream in the last 1-2 really. iTunes was about a decade too.

[Reg]

Reg, what radio stations do you listen to? I find it hard to believe people listen to Radio 1 / Capital / whatever all day every day. They literally play the same 20ish songs on repeat, or at least that's what it feels like. It's on in our office sometimes and I find I know the words to songs of artists who are totally unknown to me.
I agree, yeah. I couldn't listen to a station all day. That was just one of the poll options I clicked because:

The only radio show I regularly listen to is Jamie Cullum's jazz show. He does it really well.

[Spoonsky]

You would have always struck me more as the vinyl type.

True. More accurate would be to say that I'm the type to buy a record player because it's cool, buy some vinyls of favorite indie albums, listen to them for two months and then stop using it for years.

Which definitely didn't happen.

[Jimmy Floyd]

I don't even think twice about the tenner a month or whatever it is for Spotify. Improves my quality of life by a much higher percentage than that is a percentage of my income.

[ItalAussie]

I don't listen to music at all, which some of my friends find baffling.

Just doesn't do anything for me.

[Mazuuurk]

Spotify. I've had a subscription for as long as I can remember now.

[Bernanke]

For an example of Discover Weeklys awesomeness. I just turned it on and the first track was this song from seven years ago with under 30k hits on YouTube that I'd never heard before.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6F9nmtfwNB0

This is tight.

And yeah, Spotify, naturally. Discover Weekly really is some black magic stuff.

[Giggles]

http://worldwideinterweb.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/white-gangster.jpg

[Adamski]

Spotify for me. I don't tend to create my own playlists as I just skip those after 20 seconds or so.

I almost exclusively listen to full albums at a time and have a mess about in Discover Weekly and Daily Mix every few weeks.

[Kikó]

I have a Google play account. It's pretty decent.

[Offshore Toon]

http://worldwideinterweb.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/white-gangster.jpg
To be fair, that's not too far off for Phonics.

[Offshore Toon]

I've just seen the poll. Wtf is Deezer?

[Giggles]

I've just seen the poll. Wtf is Deezer?

Similar thing to Spotify I think. Very popular here but I think that's just because 3 give you a subscription with a contract. Vodafone do Spotify or Sky Go with theirs.

[Offshore Toon]

No, but Spotify offer Headspace for free if you have a student subscription, so I went for it but the guy's voice on Headspace is so irritating and there's no alternative. To cancel I had to tweet Spotify, who said they'd cancel my subscription and refund me for the monthly payment last week and I have to sign up again. I'll be much more wary before taking freebies int he future. Proper ballache.

[CJay]

Can't believe I put in Deezer rather than Google Play Music, tbf. It's big somewhere, I'm just not sure where. I'll take Giggles' word for it.

[Offshore Toon]

I'm sure at least one person must use Tidal as well.

[CJay]

Probably bigger somewhereinamerica than over here. There aren't any massive audiophiles on this board I don't think? Assuming that's the main draw factor for Tidal.

[wullie]

I used the Tidal store once. It was good as it was the only legal place to get the album but it's a terrible website otherwise, impossible to browse or search properly.

[Raoul Duke]

Deezer is big in France

[Boydy]

I don't listen to music at all, which some of my friends find baffling.

Just doesn't do anything for me.

I'm almost like this but not quite as bad. I just find it boring on its own and if I'm listening to it while doing something else then I just find it a distraction.

That all goes out the window when I'm drunk though.

[Magic]

I've just properly discovered Spotify (as in paid for it) and I simply love it. LOVE IT.

Got a Chromecast audio for my living room and need to get a Sonos Play now for the kitchen/diner so I can funk out whilst cooking.

SOUND.

[Spikey M]

Look at old man Johnson trying to be down with the kids.

[Raoul Duke]

I've just properly discovered Spotify (as in paid for it) and I simply love it. LOVE IT.

Got a Chromecast audio for my living room and need to get a Sonos Play now for the kitchen/diner so I can funk out whilst cooking.

SOUND.

Check out Discover Weekly (an algorithmically-generated personal playlist).

[Waffdon]

Check out Discover Weekly (an algorithmically-generated personal playlist).

So good.

[Magic]

Check out Discover Weekly (an algorithmically-generated personal playlist).

Ta, will do.

Looking at Sonos Play 1. Nothing else seems to compare really. I'll wait until it comes down though.

[CJay]

I want a Homepod when they come out. :drool: It would be amazing for the kitchen.

[Giggles]

I found the kitchen the best place for the Home too. Much more useful there.

[Magic]

Apple though. :(

[bruhnaldo]

I gave up listening to music altogether.

this is one of the most hurtful sentences i've ever read

[bruhnaldo]

I have Apple™ Music® and it's fantastic.

[Giggles]

this is one of the most hurtful sentences i've ever read

I don't have any time for it with podcasts.

[Toppedogge]

Spotify is the only source for me. I didn't know for ages that it shared on Facebook what you were listening to once and got ripped for listening to love songs. Premium is a bargain.

[Spikey M]

I have Apple Music an a 3 month trial. It's alright, but Spotify is much better.

[CJay]

I found the kitchen the best place for the Home too. Much more useful there.

How's the sound quality? That's my issue with the current devices on the market - they look like they'll sound crap. Homepod seems to be more about sound quality and less about assistance, but still with that functionality. Goes without saying that I won't be able to afford it. :(

[Giggles]

Sound is fine for me, I'm not really what people refer to these days as an 'audiophile' though (dear headphones, etc can fuck off) and I only listen to podcasts on it anyway. The bit of music I tried was grand, fairly low toned.
The assistant is miles better than anything apple do, unless they have some dramatic improvement in the next few months, but by all accounts the homepod will match a lot of high end stuff for people who like music. Only way they can justify the price is if people think it's Sonos good.

[Raoul Duke]

The audio quality will be good but Siri is bobbins.

[Magic]

Sound is fine for me, I'm not really what people refer to these days as an 'audiophile' though (dear headphones, etc can fuck off) and I only listen to podcasts on it anyway. The bit of music I tried was grand, fairly low toned.
The assistant is miles better than anything apple do, unless they have some dramatic improvement in the next few months, but by all accounts the homepod will match a lot of high end stuff for people who like music. Only way they can justify the price is if people think it's Sonos good.

It's apparently turd when compared to Sonos. Alexa is marginally better but still nowhere near.

[Giggles]

It's apparently turd when compared to Sonos. Alexa is marginally better but still nowhere near.

I don't think they were ever meant to be, hence their price.

[hfswjyr]

For what it's worth, I love my sonos play 1.

[Adamski]

Play 1 is amazing, thought the price was pretty reasonable for what you get. Just about to buy my third one for upstairs.

[Magic]

I don't think they were ever meant to be, hence their price.

Unless I'm missing something they're pretty similarly priced.

[Giggles]

Unless I'm missing something they're pretty similarly priced.

You're right too. Well 45% more expensive is still a pretty big jump, but I still didn't realise that the Home was so expensive there. I got mine for $99 from the US last year.

[Giggles]

One good thing about Spotify is that it seems to notify me now when a band or singer I listen to has a new release, which is the only time I deliberately listen to music.

[Pen]

Is there much difference between Apple music and Spotify? I didn't bother changing to Spotify after having Apple music for free for the trial period. Is it worth the hassle to change?

[phonics]

Spotify seems to have more stuff and the Algorithmic Playlists > Apples Radio stuff.

[mugbull]

Apple will slowly buy the commercial rights to various artists until Spotify is left a shell of its former self, unfortunately. Then you'll have to use their service.

[Magic]

Apple will slowly buy the commercial rights to various artists until Spotify is left a shell of its former self, unfortunately. Then you'll have to use their service.

Spotify is worth more than the entire music industry combined.

[Toppedogge]

Anyone wanna swap playlists? I'm always down for listening to new stuff.

[Giggles]

Nope.

[Pen]

Not after a playlist swap, but would like to know what hfswjyr is listening. I picked up a few bands from you on the old board and at the moment I'm kind of stuck with what I know and would like some new stuff in the mix.

[hfswjyr]

Well that's super nice to hear that I'm better than Spotify? =)
Funnily enough, I've just signed up for a mobile phone deal that gives me Spotify Premium - first time I'll be using it.

Which bands from my recommendations did you enjoy? I've been travelling a lot recently, so unfortunately not a lot of time to catch up on new music.

[mugbull]

Spotify is worth more than the entire music industry combined.

And Apple is worth more than either

[Reg]

Discover Weekly is indeed great. As phonics said, the hit ratio is amazingly high. Their suggestions for your created playlists are good too.

I haven't had a lot of luck with Related Artists (which I think is just 'other artists who listeners of [selected artist] also listen to').

[Pen]

Well that's super nice to hear that I'm better than Spotify? =)
Funnily enough, I've just signed up for a mobile phone deal that gives me Spotify Premium - first time I'll be using it.

Which bands from my recommendations did you enjoy? I've been travelling a lot recently, so unfortunately not a lot of time to catch up on new music.

I think you introduced me to Manchester Orchestra and a few other bands quite a while back and most recently to Los Campesinos that I also really enjoy.

[Adamski]

Take the Scandinavian circle jerk to the call of duty forums lads.

[mugbull]

Discover Weekly gives you songs that you would get individually from songs on your playlists, as opposed to songs from your playlists as a whole. If you're good at Spotify, you'll listen to all the songs on your DW before you ever listen to the playlist itself. Do better.

[Pen]

Take the Scandinavian circle jerk to the call of duty forums lads.

Learn you geography Boom-lite.

[hfswjyr]

Still love both Manchester Orchestra (new album soon, some new songs on youtube) and Los Campesinos (new album Sick Scenes was amazing, as was their live show!).

As I said, haven't had much new music these past two years, but here's a selection (in a poorly sorted reverse chronological order). Hope something suits you =)
Would love to hear any new recommendations also.

Lorde - Melodrama
The xx - I See You
Band of Skulls - By Default
James Vincent McMorrow - We Move
Torres - Sprinter
Torres - Torres
CHVRCHES - Every Open Eye
The Jezabels - Synthia
Noah Gundersen - Carry the Ghost
Brandon Flowers - The Desired Effect
Vance Joy - Dream Your Life Away

[Reg]

Discover Weekly gives you songs that you would get individually from songs on your playlists, as opposed to songs from your playlists as a whole. If you're good at Spotify, you'll listen to all the songs on your DW before you ever listen to the playlist itself. Do better.
Worst. Explanation. Ever.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/7/79/The_Simpsons-Jeff_Albertson.png

[Giggles]

My discover weekly is full of country and southern US hick rock.

[Pen]

Still love both Manchester Orchestra (new album soon, some new songs on youtube) and Los Campesinos (new album Sick Scenes was amazing, as was their live show!).

As I said, haven't had much new music these past two years, but here's a selection (in a poorly sorted reverse chronological order). Hope something suits you =)
Would love to hear any new recommendations also.

Lorde - Melodrama
The xx - I See You
Band of Skulls - By Default
James Vincent McMorrow - We Move
Torres - Sprinter
Torres - Torres
CHVRCHES - Every Open Eye
The Jezabels - Synthia
Noah Gundersen - Carry the Ghost
Brandon Flowers - The Desired Effect
Vance Joy - Dream Your Life Away

Thanks. Will give the ones I don't know yet a try. It's a good sign that there are bands and albums that I like on that list as well. Great to hear that Manchester Orchestra are making a new album and I thought Sick Scenes was great too.

[Magic]

Bottling a Sonos. My Edifiers in the livingroom are incredible for half the price. Need to figure out how to put two bookshelf speakers in the kitchen though...

[Magic]

UE Megaboom + Chromecast audio seems the best of both worlds.

[mugbull]

Worst. Explanation. Ever

I was fucking drunk when i wrote that, my bad for the vitriol which seems to have come from nowhere at all. However, the point i made is still true. DW's alright though.

[Reg]

I was fucking drunk when i wrote that, my bad for the vitriol which seems to have come from nowhere at all. However, the point i made is still true. DW's alright though.
Vitriol for me? I was just playing around, maaan.

--
Tidal are expected to make Jay-Z's new album available on Spotify etc. late this week. So it was basically "subscribe, pay us $10/20 for one extra week of this album."

[Magic]

PRIME ONLY:

Amazon Echo for £79.99 coming up...at that price I am definitely getting it, mediocre speaker or not.

[Boydy]

Oh yeah, Prime Day. What stupid shit that I don't need will be on offer?

[Magic]

Poor people. :(