I am pretty much referring to music that you actually own in one way or another, not music from Spotify, Deezer, SoundCloud, YT (Music) or whatever provider you use to stream music.

I am a bit old-fashioned and I prefer to have actual ownership of the music. I have a bunch of vinyls, some physical CDs that I use for backup (basically I rip them again if I ever have a problem with the already ripped files on my PC - also saves time because I can skip the albums that I own on CD when backing up my computer) and that I also buy because they’re cheaper, and finally I source the music from wherever I can find (mostly on Bandcamp when I can buy it). My rule of thumb is to keep .flac files on my PC and .mp3 on my phone, as the storage is lower - but sometimes the formats in which songs are available vary.

How are you keeping your music? Is it a digital or physical/analog environment? If it’s digital, which is the format of your choice? Why did you find it better for yourself than the rest?

(Sorry if this might not be the appropriate community for this question)

  • I really like tapes, if only because they’re a very versatile and accessible format. The tech behind them is also simple in a way I really like. I enjoy world building and because tapes and their readers are so relatively simple, they fit in well with worlds where there is technology but no huge supply chains and economies of scale to make more complex things practical.

    I also like mini disks because they’re so interesting in how they work.

    Not much of this is relevant to the music I suppose, but it’s why I have these things and music on them.