Modern trends have been shifting from physical to immaterial formats, for all cultural products, not just music. Thus, you can nowadays find files for books, movies, tv-shows, and, for the main purpose of this blog, music, for just about any genre each.
You can also stream music, on your computer over many websites, and even on the go, over your smartphone or tablet.
I'm a 'modern old school person', meaning that I like physical formats more than their digital counterparts, for several reasons, although I can easily acknowledge the gain of space at home, gain of weight for going out, and environmental benefits of the latter.
Indeed, files can be stored on usb keys, external hard drives, and take far less space than their cd and dvd or bluray counterparts, and the most recent models for these tools have been further reduced in physical size, all the whilst widely enlarging their capacity.
I do stream music at home, discovering new artists or just listening to them over youtube, or even live mini concerts /dj sets on yt or facebook, so all this is a nice convenience to have.
As a person with anxieties, I almost always go out with music and headphones ; it used to be with cassette tapes, later with MiniDiscs (how many of you knew these formats?). Both took space, and had both advantages and disadvantages compared to cds and required less space than taking cds and a cd-walkman, but the gain in files taken inside a smartphone is undeniable!
On the other hand, I do not use streaming music services on my phone, due to two reasons: costs in subscription to the service/s, and extra costs for DATA usage, as both of my options for DATA are expensive, so I copy some of my cds to the phone's SD-card.
As to discs, their benefits for me, thus far, and why I prefer to continue with them, at least at home :
Not relying on digital streaming, which takes a lot of bandwidth avoids streaming glitches, interruptions in airplay, and allows to use our non-Fiberoptics internet connection for other purposes. On the same level, when the internet is down but electricity isn't, discs can always be listed to/watched.
Audio quality : despite improvement to file compression and their streaming, discs still sound better to me, even plain cd's, but more so for SACD, or audio dvds and /blurays, which far surpass what files and their streaming ever done - as long as I don't have a multi-channel file to compare with.
Tracks : not only a cd or especially dvd/bluray offers better quality, but also easier track access and continuous listening, without pause for loading the next song on the internet, and not interrupted by ads, which are ever present everywhere, including free versions of streaming services, which force paying to reduce or get rid of these ads.
Often, but not always, disc editions have more tracks than their digital equivalents - although the reverse have also been seen in many albums from many artists, not to mention that some artists release some of their albums only as downloads, making the choice for listening limited to one source.
Costs in storage : depending on how many discs you have, you may need more than one tower, which is a one time buy per tower for all of its capacity - contrasted with potential hard drive or USB flaws that may require buying again to store the same discs once more in their digital forms. If you need extra hard drives to host music live concerts or multi-channel or HD files, your costs in hard drives will probably exceed those of physical discs+shelves/towers.
Costs of files VS discs : most often, files for individual albums will be equivalent or cheaper than their brand new physical counterpart, but files won't ever be sold second hand, contrary to discs. I know that as a person who tends to buy second hand, and very rarely brand new (mostly on sale), my total budget for the equivalence in files would far exceed the one I pay for my physical editions, but if you have a monthly subscription and don't pay individual albums, your total may be less than mine - that depends on so many variables that you'd have to calculate for your own needs.
On the other hand : costs of imported albums VS digital : if you don't find a second hand for your imported disc, it'll be far cheaper to buy it digital than new from the country of origin+ taxes.
Legality : the legal status of physical property, including discs, have been official for many years, allowing you to buy, sell second hand, offer or bequeath, but the legal status of files is far vaguer, and unless this changed since my last research on the subject, you buy, the file is yours, and no one has legal access to it.
I cannot ascertain the differences in environmental/ ecological impacts of physical VS digital, as even digital requires manufacturing all the hosting websites and your own storage units, and I don't know if it's more or less than those for the production of discs, their boxes, art and eventual booklets.
Overall, I prefer physical editions but do use online streaming when I compute, or to discover new artists ; or for those rare extra tracks for digital editions, or even more rare digital-only albums that I like. I really like taking a disc out to listen or watch, and for all the many special editions that offer many extra tracks in disc form only (which is the case for quite a few musicians that I like).
What about you ? are you a minimalist, preferring digital ? do the artists you listen to release only digital or special editions only on this format ?
Are you old school, liking discs lined on shelves/in towers ?
What impact does your format choice have on your budget compared to the other format ?
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