Who still buys music?

[Annihilist]

I know most people download music for free. Does anyone still buy music?

I collect CDs. I sometimes download music I intend to buy, or if I don't care about it enough to pay for it. But I mostly buy CDs.

Buying mp3s from Amazon or iTunes doesn't count. Yeah, you pay for it, but you're not actually buying the album, I think. I'm a bit of a purist like that. I won't pay for downloading music - for me, it's either a hard copy or it's free.

Your turn - buy music or download?

[Aceo]

I have a CD collection of around 90 but I now buy most of it on iTunes since donwloading is just so convenient.

[EvanED]

Buying mp3s from Amazon or iTunes doesn't count.

If that's your standpoint, you may want to edit the question so that it reflects it.

[Annihilist]

Buying mp3s from Amazon or iTunes doesn't count.

If that's your standpoint, you may want to edit the question so that it reflects it.

I just deleted the poll, if that satisfies.

[Microscopic cog]

I (illegaly) download most of my music, and I'll usually buy my favourites on CD or vinyl.

[Bassoon]

I usually wind up buying CDs of bands that I like, although I am aware that most of the profit from CD sales goes to publishing companies and not the band. However, it's nice to have the liner notes and album art in a tangible form. I really like liner notes.

[ConMan]

I have a massive collection of CDs (as in I seriously need to buy a new CD rack because all my existing ones are full and there are still large stacks of CDs on my bookshelf), that I have bought for many reasons.
* I like to legitimately own as much of my music collection as I can
* It's fun to trawl through the bargain bins of CD stores, particularly second-hand ones
* By buying an album, I expose myself to more songs by an artist than just the ones I'm already familiar with
* The line dance choreography competition I enter has the (in my mind archaic) rule that all music must be supplied on a legitimately bought CD

I have a large collection of illegitimately downloaded MP3s, because:
* Sometimes it is really hard to track down certain CDs (that were only released in Japan, or that were released once when CDs were first invented and never printed again)
* Sometimes the music isn't even available for legitimate purchase (quite a few game soundtracks, or versions of songs that were never put onto an album)
* I am incredibly lazy

I have a small collection of MP3s purchased from iTunes, because:
* The album is hard to find in physical form
* I really only want the one song
* The song was never released on an album available in Australia
* I randomly have iTunes credit

[Proginoskes]

I have a massive collection of CDs (as in I seriously need to buy a new CD rack because all my existing ones are full and there are still large stacks of CDs on my bookshelf), that I have bought for many reasons.
* I like to legitimately own as much of my music collection as I can
* It's fun to trawl through the bargain bins of CD stores, particularly second-hand ones

Ditto on both of these.

* By buying an album, I expose myself to more songs by an artist than just the ones I'm already familiar with

Only listening to single songs means you have a short attention span.

Also:

* My entire music collection won't fit on my hard drive. ****, even my Zappa collection won't fit there ...

I have a large collection of illegitimately downloaded MP3s, because:
* Sometimes it is really hard to track down certain CDs (that were only released in Japan, or that were released once when CDs were first invented and never printed again)
* Sometimes the music isn't even available for legitimate purchase (quite a few game soundtracks, or versions of songs that were never put onto an album)

This also applies to guitar/bass tablature.

[PatrickRsGhost]

I have a massive collection of CDs (as in I seriously need to buy a new CD rack because all my existing ones are full and there are still large stacks of CDs on my bookshelf), that I have bought for many reasons.
* I like to legitimately own as much of my music collection as I can
* It's fun to trawl through the bargain bins of CD stores, particularly second-hand ones
* By buying an album, I expose myself to more songs by an artist than just the ones I'm already familiar with
* The line dance choreography competition I enter has the (in my mind archaic) rule that all music must be supplied on a legitimately bought CD

Ditto on all accounts, except the last one, since I don't do line dancing. They won't even let you use legitimately-downloaded mp3s uploaded to an mp3 player? If so, that sucks. Would make it easier than lugging around a shitload of CDs to every competition.

Whenever I get ready to buy a CD, I usually use the following procedure:

1. Is the artist/group/band/music genre familiar?
If "Yes", proceed to step 2. If "No", put CD back on rack, or move on.

2. Look at the track listing. Do you recognize at least one song?
If "Yes", proceed to step 3. If "No", put it back.

3. Can you listen to the other tracks in-store?
If "Yes", listen to other tracks. If "No", put it back.

4. Do you like the other tracks?
If "Yes", buy the CD. If "No", put the disc back, go home, and download just that one song via Amazon.

Luckily, Amazon will let you listen to up to 30 seconds of each track on a CD, so you can decide whether to buy a physical copy, or just download the mp3s.

I applied a similar technique as above when I took possession of my biological dad's CDs. My biological dad has been in the nursing home for a while now, and his former AIDS nurse/counselor had retrieved all of his belongings from his landlady. We went down about a month ago, got them, and brought them home with us so that we could keep them safe and out of the elements. I'd gone through his entire collection and ripped them all to an external hard drive that also has some movies of his I ripped. The CDs I liked I kept; the others my adopted dad will sell on eBay for me. There were a ton of CDs, mostly musicals (he was an actor with the local theater company), but some rock, classical, meditation (he had a bunch of the "Echoes of Nature" CDs that were very popular back in the 90s), and a few other genres. Because of his collection, my collection has now doubled. I have twelve plastic storage bins that are the perfect size for CDs. Eleven of them are completely full; one still has some room.

I would listen to the CD, then after having ripped it, if I liked it, I would copy it to my own music library on the computer, and put the CD aside, until I decided to take a break from ripping, and reorganize the physical library. If I didn't like it, after I ripped the CD, I'd put it in another box marked "Sell".

I have a large collection of illegitimately downloaded MP3s, because:
* Sometimes it is really hard to track down certain CDs (that were only released in Japan, or that were released once when CDs were first invented and never printed again)
* Sometimes the music isn't even available for legitimate purchase (quite a few game soundtracks, or versions of songs that were never put onto an album)
* I am incredibly lazy

Most of my illegitimate mp3s are for Reasons 1 and 2. I have both "Tank!" and "The Real Folk Blues" from Cowboy Bebop, and they're both the versions as heard in the series. There's an mp3 album out there that has these, but they don't sound the same.

Same thing goes for the theme to "Howl's Moving Castle".

If you look hard enough, on Amazon or anywhere else that sells used CDs online, you might find the hard-to-find stuff. I found the first Deep Forest album, released in 1993, that way. I remembered my dad having the single cassette tape, which had "Sweet Lullaby" on one side, and "Deep Forest" on the other.

Sometimes you can find gems in pawn shops or thrift stores. I found a Trio album, "Trio and Error", which features one particular song that was once used in a certain car commercial back in the late 90s, at a local pawn shop about a year or so ago. I need to give it a listen and rip part or all of it.

I have a small collection of MP3s purchased from iTunes, because:
* The album is hard to find in physical form
* I really only want the one song
* The song was never released on an album available in Australia
* I randomly have iTunes credit

Same reasons why I go to Amazon. Although with Amazon, like I said before, you can probably find the album in physical form, albeit used. Once in a while I'll get enough points from online surveys to get a $25 Amazon gift card or two, which I will, then use it to either download mp3s, or let it build up for something else. I've gotten many an mp3 that way. Also, once in a while I'll cash in my coins at the Coin Star machine at the local Ingles, which allows you to opt for an Amazon gift card, which waives the sorting fee.