Anything - Hot Take #1

[jimfisheye]

The curious thing developing with streaming is unique mixes and masters coming and going. There's a lot of bs in surround sound land to begin with with faux mixes still getting released too often. The mostly stereo affairs with just some awkward reverb in the rear (and now up top with the extended formats). People following the streaming services since the lossless options went live recently are talking about mixes being replaced with lesser fidelity versions and surround mixes being replaced with mostly stereo faux surround mixes. I'm not on the pulse of this. It's a lot of polite "modern" stuff I'm just not into. Someone is going to be collecting all this though and I think streaming is ultimately going to result in multitudes of rare mixes. Most or many of them will be intentional crap though. I think this is all copy protection gone wild behavior. There are genuinely lossless streaming options now and that leads to the industry losing their collective mind and freaking out and pulling things down.

Interesting times for sure. I think it's more important than ever before to keep a collection of the stuff you like. It can disappear from official outlets overnight and the only way you'll get it back is to talk with someone who saved a copy themself.

[bluorangefyre]

I use Apple Music for streaming, mostly because I adopted iTunes once it became available on Windows, and so I had a great starting point with my library being there already. But I still buy vinyl, which believe it or not the streaming has helped me with. I look at it as a try before you buy approach. A great example is 'The Visitors' by ABBA. I originally added it to my streaming library. Eventually, I purchased the digital album, and then went onto Discogs and bought the original vinyl pressing. I've also done the reverse, as I did with 'Back From The Dead' by Halestorm. I got the vinyl at a concert of theirs in Pittsburgh, and eventually added one song on the streaming library, before buying the digital copy outright. I don't buy physical or digital media all that often, since it would get very expensive very quickly. For $10 a month, I can at least hear the album, and determine if it's worth getting. This way, I don't end up being stuck with the debut album from Lila McCann for all eternity or until the CD gets lost in a move as a noted physical example. And any iTunes user of a certain vintage got stuck with a U2 album, as a noted digital example.

Where I do have an issue with streaming is that it took me a good long while to build my digital collection, and Apple sometimes tries to change what I intend to have. This happened with the song 'Renegade' by Styx. I have the original version, yet when Apple wants to play it in lossless, it wants to use a re-recorded version. No, you give me 'Renegade' in its original glory, dammit! The fans at Heinz Fi-- sorry, Acrisure Stadium, get fired up to the original.

[Son of Nothing]

And any iTunes user of a certain vintage got stuck with a U2 album, as a noted digital example.

Don't get me started on that. Oh, whoops, you did.

I don't mind being gifted a U2 album. I'm not a fan, but I don't hate them. What I do mind is that I don't subscribe to any streaming services, including Apple Music. Yet sometimes (usually after a work MS Teams call) my iPhone suddenly decides to play some random track from that U2 album even though I asked for no such thing. And takes over my lock screen with that damn album art. I just want that to stop.

(Back on topic: yeah, definitely part of my hesitation about subscribing to some service is they get to decide what they supply, and they can revoke access to something I want, because licensing deals change or the shenanigans jimfisheye mentioned. Also: subscription. I'd rather pay up front and keep it. Sure, I might lose it, but at least that's now my responsibility.)