In the post-CD world of music, the challenge is to keep our favorite songs forever even though we have nothing physical to hold and protect. If your computer crashes or you lose your smart phone, can you recover all your favorite songs you’ve bought over the years? (Or stolen.)
Digital music is in a total state of chaos. I have songs in Windows Media Play, iTunes, Google Music, Amazon Cloud Player, iTunes Music Match and I have rights to listen to albums in Rdio, Rhapsody and Spotify, plus I own about 1500+ CDs. No one site can play all the songs.
My favorite way to listen to music is via Rdio. Rdio plays on all my computers at home and work. It plays on my iPod touch, iPad 2, and it plays on my TV/stereo through a Roku box. However, it doesn’t play all the albums I own, nor out-of-print albums, but it does play millions and millions of songs, so for 90% of what I want it’s excellent. However, for those favorite songs it doesn’t have, it ruins the whole concept of subscription music.
For example, one of my favorite albums is No Guru No Method No Teacher by Van Morrison. It’s now out-of-print, and I recently discovered that when the song “Thanks for the Information” disappeared from my Songs Rated 10 playlist. I thought I had it on CD, but evidently not. I did have it on LP, but I got rid of my LPs years ago.
I probably didn’t get it on CD because it was on Rhapsody and Rdio and I got used to it being there, and thought it would always be there. I was wrong, it’s been pulled. I just ordered a used copy on Amazon for $10.25 + $2.98 shipping. I’m sure I could have gone and found a stolen copy, but I’m not into that. Once I get it I can rip it and put the songs on Amazon and Google. I’m not renewing iTunes Music Match.
The problem is my favorite way to play my favorite songs is via playlists on Rdio. Over time some songs disappear from subscription music services because the album goes out-of-print. I HATE THAT! I’ve been trusting subscription music services for years, and slowly it’s becoming obvious that if you really love a song and want to play it for the rest of your life you have to buy it.
But buying digital songs is iffy. I’m trusting Amazon to always preserve the songs I buy from them – but what if Amazon goes out of business or gives up on Amazon Cloud Player? How long will Amazon, iTunes and Google back up music if you buy it from them? And what if they don’t sell the songs you want?
I should consider the CD as my master copy for life, but the CD format might not last that much longer. Is the MP3 any kind of real archival medium?
Because music goes out-of-print and gets removed from Rdio and Rhapsody I’m going to have to change the way I listen to music. I might need to move my playlists to Amazon Cloud Player (and maybe Google Music) and then use Rdio and Rhapsody as tools to discover music. When I find a great song I want to listen to the rest of my life, I’m going to have to buy it and put it on Amazon Cloud Player. I’m paying Amazon $20 a year to store the 20,000 songs I own so I can play them from all my computers and mobile devices.
Or I could stick with Rdio and just let out-of-print songs become forgotten songs. I wish there was a way to upload out-of-print songs I own to Rdio so I could keep all my songs in one library. Rdio is far superior to Amazon Cloud Player for managing playlists. I can’t even find a way to delete a playlist on Amazon Cloud Player.
Why can’t I have all my music in one place where I can play it from all my devices? Life was so much simpler when I had LPs and all the music I owned was on one bookshelf. But back in those nostalgic times, I could only play that music in one place. Now I can play my music anywhere, if I can keep up with all my song files.
JWH – 10/28/12
Auxiliary Memory 
Where else do you play your music than in your home? Ok, maybe at work but that doesn’t require 20,000 songs to get through the day. Ok, maybe traveling but more than likely you will listen to a book. My point, having access to all of one’s music everywhere isn’t necessary because really most of the listening is at home. Buy an extra cd player..lol
Once you realize the convenience of subscription music you want to be able to play any song you can think of by tapping a few keystrokes. When the subscription service can’t provide a song, you fall back to your personal library – an extra annoyance. When I build a playlist I want any song I can think of available for the playlist. Well, why not? I’ve gotten used to the magic of computers.
I very seldom play CDs anymore. Too much work. I like to play music in this order: home computer, work computer, TV/receiver in the den, and on my iPod touch in the middle of the night when I get insomnia. If I’m awake at 3:23 am and feel the need to hear “What About Me” by Quicksilver Messenger Service, I don’t want to get up and find the CD. Right now I can check Rdio, Rhapsody and Amazon Cloud Player from my iPod touch.
I have organized my CD as well as LP collection alphabetically. It would not take me more than a minute to get either and place on its respective player. But I guess that won’t work if you don’t want to get out of bed, your chair, off the floor…
We can call it convenience or laziness, but I’ve gotten hooked on having my songs a mouse click away. Or a finger poke. It’s pretty neat to be in the dark at 3am and pick out a song to go back to sleep to without getting up. I carry my iPod touch everywhere. And I keep it by my bedside at night.