Library employee here, hopping on to remind people that libraries tend to have large CD collections for patrons to browse and check out! Some libraries even have listening stations in-house, or disc readers you can check out. And it's free! I'm always going to recommend checking out your library's collection if you want to get back into physical media (bonus perk is that, at most libraries, it's also free to sign up for a card).
My local library has a whole-ass vinyl collection as well! I was able to get The Fall's complete Peel sessions for like two dollars! *USE YOUR LIBRARIES!*
as usual, libraries are a godsend. i am so happy that we live in a world where such vast quantities in so many different mediums are available basically for free, thank you so much for your work
I mean, without libraries, Snare wouldn’t have been able to listen to that one song on Lady Gaga’s Artpop that was removed from streaming because of who was on it for his video on the album.
I’m a high school teacher, and even the kids are talking about the importance of physical media nowadays. Universal taking their music off of TikTok was a huge wake up call to them tbh
yeah, i just saw a girl go viral on tiktok talking about this same thing (saying it would be terrible to lose all of this if anything more extreme were to happen). & then i came across this video. we're slowly realizing that we should be collecting physical media too :) i must add, that this mentality isn't entirely new to Gen Z; i remember like 5 years ago it was trendy for teens to show off their vinyls. a lot of us wanted to start a record collection too, but the record players are so expensive :/
HELLO MICHAEL T SNARE IM THAT DUDE YOU MET AT THAT ONE SHOW LAST YEAR (it was caroline polachek!!!) I hope you also are doing amazing as well and yes I still love Good At Falling :))
A good middleground is MP3 players. The physical size is pocket-compatible, and you get the convenience and breadth of a digital library with none of the distractions a phone desperately tries to seduce you with. I'm still using a SanDisk Sansa, and since physical buttons are king, even with wired earbuds I can still navigate tracks from pocket.
the apple music app still lets you treat it like an ipod with itunes sync so that what i use. you don’t need a subscription or anything, as long as you have a computer
I use a Sony mp3 player from 2010 for training, it's been the most resilient device I have owned, it's literally glued with superglue in one part and all covered in sports tape because of the sweat but it still has a decent sound quality
I have two ancient iPods, one a silver Nano I've had for at least a decade and a half and a cherry-red Touch which my sister gave me when she got a nicer phone which works fine but has some screen water damage. I tend to load these up every few months with truckloads of records I haven't heard yet which aren't on Apple Music, many downloaded from Bandcamp and the Internet Archive, others being personal rips or rarities I found here and there or got from friends. Every now and then late at night I'll turn out all the lights and listen for several hours on a moderately fancy pair of headphones just spacing out and letting the music wash over me. It's a good time.
The thing we take for granted with physical media is the art design. We only see the front cover on streaming when theres a back cover, liner notes, gatefold. Some records came with posters and lyrics and other goodies.
and that is why I got into them in the first place. All you see on streaming is the front cover like you said, while on CD or Vinyls you get SO much more! it really helps you appreciate an album so much more
Quite which is why I'm currently in a middle (albeit not cheap) ground of using Roon. It gives me some of the nice visual elements of physical media with the convenience of being able to use a modern device to access it rather than a discman! Plus it has been a way of reconnecting with the music as I've gone back and gradually re-ripped all my CDs something I hadn't really done for more than a decade whilst they've gathered dust in my loft.
I am indeed an audio gobbler. And therefore, I agree with him. We're too overexposed and it makes it, in the weirdest way ever, really hard to find new music to get into.
It feels expensive buying CDs because we’re all conditioned to not buy media anymore. Between Netflix, Spotify, free-to-play games, Game Pass, etc, we’re just used to not owning anything. It’s all subscriptions.
It feels expensive because it is expensive lol. If I bought a CD for every album I want to listen to it would be thousands and thousands of dollars. I grew up with CDs in the 90s and it was expensive then too lol
They are expensive if you buy them new, honestly if you go to a second hand shop they're dirt cheap and you can get a bunch of them for some change but physical media is not fore everybody since it's more of a hobby, however I would encourage people to still get the files specially for smaller artists as their music could be gone one day
I mean, you can still download it for free, and own it. No need to pay for any subscriptions. Spotify + EZBlocker works wonders for a free uninterrupted listening experience at my PC, and i have loads of albums downloaded on my phone for when i go somwhere, and it costs precisely nothing.
I actually find myself listening to the radio a lot because...I sometimes feel exhausted by choice. I also like the idea of people all across my city sorta maybe listening to the same thing at once. We're so in our own bubbles and disconnected from each other nowadays.
Same. I rediscover radio recently not only for the car commute but when stay at home. For example (I'm Italian) I listen a lot an rock radio and a local alternative radio. Thanks to this I rediscovered old songs ( I forget how Neil Young is great) and new bands like the last dinner party
Yes! I cancelled my Spotify subscription almost a year ago and I listen a lot to chirp radio out of Chicago now. They're independent and play a lot of different stuff!!
I have a love hate relationship with radio. I live in the Netherlands and as far as I am aware there are no real analog channels that do non stop songs of a specific style or genre. You get the whole thing modern hits+dj and ads. I like the variety, especially when they run some sort of list that listeners have voted on. What I dislike so so much is the advertisements. the situation is honestly egregious. However at night the frequency of the dj interruptions and the ads lessen quite a bit which is when I find myself enjoying the radio the most.
I ended up having to borrow a car without AUX or BT and thought I'd miss having my playlists and the ability to play whatever album I wanted, but I think I'm gonna miss the radio once my car gets fixed. It's real liberating to give up that sort of power strangely enough
seeing mic in places other than him talking to cameras in his rooms [which are him talking to his cameras in OTHER rooms] was actually really nice to see! love your content man!
I’m 24, I started buying CD’s regularly when I was 17. My first car didn’t have an aux port or Bluetooth connectivity. It gave me a deep appreciation for the format and the idea of committing to just one album. I spent a lot of time driving to and from school and delivering pizzas, and it taught me to love prog rock/metal, specifically Periphery II. I spun that CD so many times in that old Jeep that it skips consistently at the end of the second track. Not necessarily anything of importance or relevance, but it’s cool to see other people appreciate the format that people still think I’m crazy for enjoying more than Apple Music or Spotify.
As an avid vinyl/cd collector, I really enjoyed this video. Sometimes, I feel the need to reavaluate my consumption habits, and I think this video helped shed a light on that. Thank you, Mr. Snare (We need a full performance of Billions, though)
I decided to start revamping my CD collection this year too! I think owning physical copies of albums can really help you appreciate them more as “art” rather than solely “content.” Plus, it’s a more effective way to support smaller artists since lord knows streaming doesn’t pay well
That Electronic album you passed at 17:00 is super good, it’s a collab album between Benard Summner of New Order, Johnny Marr of The Smiths, and Pet Shop Boys! Highly recomend checking it out!
I absolutely DID NOT expect "Naacho Naacho" to be mentioned, but said mention did send me through several layers of dry wall. Really cool to here references to a song that my PARENTS listen to lol. Love your content!
i like to listen to music off of CDs, the radio and digital files, i have apple music but i really enjoy sitting down and listening to stuff i own or stuff off of the radio
radio is absolutely phenomenal. i got lucky to get a really good internet radio for WAY too cheap and ive been loving it so much. its nice to get excited to hear something pop up again, i had ceremony by new order come up on the radio while i was doing my makeup earlier and it was the most stoked ive been to hear a song outside of a live setting in years
When you mentioned at the end of the video that we should do something about the fact that we're losing touch with art that we love because of content (bad paraphrasing), that really hit me. I've been really hating jumping on a bandwagon, instead of listening to the random quiet/spacial music that I absolutely love
So my aunt started moving later last year and has been giving me CD’s as she cleans out her old home, the audio quality difference is amazing but what’s even better is discovering artist such as U2 or Honeymoon Suite, and it’s amazing how we’ve all paid to be convenienced. I don’t think my mom understands why I’m keeping so many but it’s the matter of what happens if digital media falls or we see a revival of CD’s like we are with vinyl. Overall I just really like the points your making Mic they truly resonate with me and keep me eager to find more artists (also I had that James Taylor CD before you lol)
I think my mother had that on tape. There's a live version of a track and at the end it has James saying "motherf**kin!'" on it. She was most offended! This was the pre warning era
I like experiments like this. I've been through vinyl, 8-track, cassettes, and CDs prior to the streaming age, so seeing someone who's just hit the last bit of that history of physical media in music go through this is fascinating. I usually set myself a challenge around this time of year, so I'm listening to emo and emo-adjacent music for 40 days. The genre's fairly unfamiliar to me, so I experience a bunch of new music every day. Working inside a limitation uncovers a lot of stuff I hadn't noticed before. Hope you do more things like this!
16:07 that's mostly because the internet has allowed communities to form over the most niche things so everybody is subscribed to tons of niches rather than one main collective consciousness that you're referring to with pop stars and such.
As somebody that’s been trying to transition from tv/movie streaming to watching my old physical media collection (or more accurately converting and watching them through Jellyfin), this couldn’t have come at a perfect time
Jellyfin is awesome! I've got all my ripped CDs plus bandcamp and Qobuz purchases on there. Now I can stream my 2500 song collection easily 😌 Ripping DVDs takes longer but I've been working my way through that too. It's rewarding to know that the files are all actually mine. Hope you've been enjoying your server so far 😊
Bruhhhh I have been having so much fun listening to random unlabeled cassette's and CD's it's just overall exciting. An excitement that streaming could never offer of true random discovery. Not knowing what is going to be on there or play next is a musical thrill, Spotify just cannot do that.
This makes me so happy because I’ve been slowly collecting CDs (and am just starting to collect cassette tapes too… we’ll get to vinyl eventually lol) for a couple years now and so many people think I’m crazy for it. But I have huge anxiety problems and (even without social media) there genuinely is something so comforting and grounding to me about having physical media on you: feeling the vibrations, having to go out of your way to press the buttons, using headphones that connect directly etc.. This is going to sound cheesy but it genuinely is a nice reminder that I’m still alive and here. And I always tell people that I’m living in the best time for it because I still have the option to go to streaming if I really want to! And the fact that I can choose between the two serves as a nice reminder that I still have agency even amidst the internet.
.... 10:42 caught me off guard and scared tf out of me. Physical Media should have never died. We may have more music than before and people like me have been able to just go direct to consumers but we lost appreciation for art, lyric sheets, artist notes and every song that isn't a single.
i just love seeing one of the best music reviewers out there to openly embrace the power of cd's. this makes me feel a bit less stupid to still buy them haha
I transferred my 300+ CD collection to digital back in 2012-13. My vinyl collection got a bit bigger since then, but otherwise, I listen to mp3s. I do not regret it, and I tend to listen to a lot of full albums. I do feel you on not being able to keep up. There's a lot of music, and my branching out has had to be whittled down. I know I'm missing something great out there, but hopefully someone I respect turns me in that direction.
totally agree with what you said at the end--i'm taking a social media break and feel a lot less overwhelmed by all of the music discourse. i actually have been returning to a lot of favorite albums I hadn't thought of in a while!
I'm not a "disc fanatic" myself, I carry music on mp3 for practicality. But I always keep an archive of discs, not just music but computer files too, on laser disc as they are effectively immune to solid-state bit rot and hard drive failure. I do still use streaming to browse and preview media, but the songs I buy get burned to disc so I own them forever.
I really appreciated this reflective vlog type of video (and the glimpses of Cat the Snare), it also reminded me of how much I love CDs as a medium to connect with music and that I really need to repair my CD player 🥲 lots of greetings from Germany!
This was a unique and fun concept for a video! Almost 2 years ago I started a vinyl record collection because I wanted physical copies of the music I dearly love, and getting the chance to play a record and actually take time to listen to it is an experience all of its own.
Great video. I'm a fan of the secret third option: listen to files not streaming, mostly ripped CDs, Bandcamp downloads and bundled downloads from vinyl.
What an amazing video. I've been trying to get more into CDs over the last few years and it is definitely a great experience (partially because of you constantly showing off your collection). I love driving to the sound of a CD and actually paying attention to everything as opposed to hopping from song to song on Spotify.
Playing music on my CDs or records always feels so much better than on streaming for the exact reasons in this video! When streaming, I skip around songs or albums after like a minute or so, and I’ll click around to tiktok before a song even finishes. I don’t always use physical media for music listening, but when I can, it always feels better
I feel like returning to manual download, or even buying an mp3 player, has basically all of the benefits with less of the downsides. Thank you for the crash twinsanity ost usage btw lol
Ripping the CD and copying the songs to an mp3 player could bring the most of both worlds, tbh, especially if it can connect with the earbuds or something similar.
Wow, I did nearly this exact same experiment at the exact same time that you did and also just posted a video about it to my youtube channel haha. Must be something in the air about music streaming these days. I just started getting tired of algorithms throwing sooo much new music at me all the time, and realizing that I barely had an idea of who of my actual favourite artists were releasing new music anymore. It's all just a little too much, but the convenience is so hard to break :(
Even though I have a subscription to Spotify, I actively don't use it to listen to new music. I make playlists with a huge majority of the songs that I have in my music collection, whether it be physically or digitially purschased. I get a hold of new music from friend recommendations, seeing what pops up in my social network feeds, and looking through the internet. I suppose it is more work than what most people would want to deal with, but I find it very satisfying, and it is always great hearing something new that connects with you, Enjoying the video!
You know who'd be a GREAT pick for a DDD? Everything Everything. Yet another British band with a wide discography, and they're not too well known, so the DDD format would be a perfect introduction to them! Please consider. Their new album Mountainhead JUST CAME OUT!
btw, you don't need to "keep up" with music. You can just find the music you like, and just listen to it on repeat, then maybe when you randomly find some new songs you like, you can add that to the list of music you listen to on repeat. That is how I do it, and it works great. (though I often just put on one or two songs I want to listen to, and just listen to it on repeat)
I stopped listening to music while commuting and embraced CD listening more. Together with leaving my phone at home more often when I leave the house this has been game changing. I'm not self interrupting my thoughts by looking at my phone, and I don't skip songs as often anymore. Music feels more like a goody to me than before. I enjoy it more conciously. Sitting down and listening to a song feels like having a nice glass of wine. And my sleeping improved a lot. I enjoyed your perspective on this!
I realized that when I listen to streaming services, ill only listen to one or maybe two songs from an album. Even from artists i love! But when i started my CD collection, it really encourages you to listen to the whole album! I feel like I have come to love my music when i listen to it in this way. I also have an iPod 5.5 running RockBox and i popped a few songs and albums i bought from Bandcamp. I love exploring music there! I found an artist whose music i love which ive never heard of prior to bandcamp: Sufjan Stevens
i loved this style of video, definitely keep making more of these! i'm buying my favorite albums on CD to have this sense of belonging, just like how i buy my favorite books. and that's a great way to spend money wisely, you don't need to buy every single thing you like, just buy what's more precious to you and you'll never regret the money you invested
11:56 here to clarify that Naatu Naatu (the original telugu version of the track) was taken off US streaming services sometime in late 2023. Naacho Naacho (the hindi version) is still up, but it's borderline unlistenable since I'm so familiar with the version sung in its original language.
Oh wow, I was at the Harvard Square Newbury comics last weekend for the Bleachers listening party! Small world, hope to see you at a concert sometime to say thank you for making awesome videos like this one!
With all the talk about your dads in The National, I find it funny that you managed to jumpscare me with a prominent shot of some Cirith Ungol albums at 17:28, the lead singer of which is *literally* my dad, wow! What are the odds? Keep on keepin’ on Mic!
I remember last year I was searching a song from my childhood. then found out the song is not on RUclips or on any other streaming platform. I had to download the song from a forum from 10 years ago. It is such a disappointment when a song you like exist only on CD and there is no legal way to download it.
While I didn’t fully quit streaming, I started prioritizing it less back in 2021 and made CD’s my primary listening platform! It’s done a lot in shaking my relationship with music for a lot of the reasons you explained! I feel less anxious about being ‘up to date’ and I find my self a lot more connected to the music I love! Another interesting effect it’s had is that I’m not invested as much into listening to playlists. I might put one on now and then but I tend to vastly prefer listening to whole albums. Funny how things can work like that. But yea great vid!
1:34 is the music video for can't cool me down by Car Seat Headrest. I hope this is a sign that we are getting a new DDD, but if not, it is also just cool knowing that Mic knows if them
This is very true to me. I collect physical media for lots of reasons... But to listen more deeply is so meaningful to me, I love laying on the floor of my room, listening to a record play, or going on walks with my walkman. It's so freeing to not worry about my phone or feel the need to scroll.
As do I. I tend to think of Spotify not as a replacement but as a reference. There are things I'd discover that I'd like so much that I'd buy a copy at a record store. The beauty of collecting music; still rather easy to do in this format, whereas movies/TV pivot towards streaming and is increasingly an overexpensive hobby, while video games are all but digital these days (the closest you'd get to easy physical access is the Switch, but even then...)
Loved the vlog-style format! I'm using my bike to commute more now and I find that I prefer listening to a CD than to a playlist. Being able to shuffle on streaming makes it feel like I have to find the perfect song that will cure my Monday, which is a lot of pressure, but the variety and narrative of a CD gives me the same comfort of a podcast.
The format of the CD itself has been what's getting me back into it. While streaming doesn't stop you from sitting and listening to an album through, I find that I end up fidgeting around playlists and such. Physical media generally, I like the process of it all. I'm settling towards using mp3s while mobile and feeling like a change from the streaming paradigm though.
Ok I'm back after watching and this was such a fascinating experiment! Especially when you talked about how so much music doesn't have a "home"--that totally activated my librarian brain and now I kind of want to do my own deep dive on music (and other intellectual property) that doesn't have a "home" and how that affects the distribution of information etc. So thank you! I've also been taking a bit of a pause from social media and starting to read more (a librarian reading?? What will she do next? 😂) and it's been so great for my mental health. Case in point: I'm seeing The Strokes tonight and while concerts are normally a bit anxiety-inducing for me, I spent half my day reading and I'm the calmest I think I've ever been at a show. May have to build up my CD collection now, I'm determined to get it to a point where it rivals my book collection! Also I would love to see more of these kinds of videos although I could never ask you to go a month without music. That's like going a month without food! I'm sure anyrhing you come up with would be super cool though. I'll for sure be watching!
I finally put my whole collection directly on my phone and I felt the same way, I was really surprised how much more I was engaged in the songs. Playing music that you actually own, from artists you supported, and can manage how you want, it adds something special to it.
An all radio month would be cool. When I worked security, I ended up listening to the radio more than I ever had. I found myself surfing the various radio stations. I'd listen to modern rock, then 90s country, then oldies. Rediscovered lots of songs
The issue you mentioned about losing formless media happened to me this year. I loved a lofi playlist called "Love Hurts". One day I decided to check out that video and I found out it wasn't available anymore. The worst part is that I never got the chance to write down the songs and the artists so it's basically a lost treasure for me.
All the songs you wanted to listen to from internet that had no CD releases you could by burning them in a blank CD, you could make a CD with your own playlist. It's for personal use only so it's all legal.
I've been kind of stuck in a rut with music recently. I'm sick of all the stuff I have saved on Spotify, but none of the new songs I've been listening to are really hitting. This is really making me want to bust out my old stereo and play my CD collection again.
There's also a case of "owning" the media you like to be made here. Spotify, Netflix, even gaming companies now, have made it so that everything we consume we do not own, but instead it is lent to us for an extended period of time. They can get rid of it if they deem it necessary, if you don't pay, or if they don't want the music from a specific artist for whatever reason anymore. Sometimes even the artists themselves can take the music away (ie Neil Young, Joni Mitchell). With physical media (and even downloadable tracks in the past like in ITunes), you own the media, nobody can take it away from you.
Seconding this. You don't really own a copy of something unless you can accidentally sell it at a yard sale. Otherwise, all you're paying for is a non-transferrable single seat license.
Oh gosh. Most of the music I listen to isn't available in any physical form at all. I adore physical media and want so badly to preserve it, but I could never live this way as things are right now because... I would be missing most of my music. I would be so sad. I don't think I could ever become someone who uses the radio (never have been!) because I don't listen to most of what is played on there and I feel the desire to skip and loop my own music in private too much to even just let Spotify play randomly lol
I really enjoy physical media and how it’s something that I just own. I don’t really want to go all in with a CD player, but I really want to go without the hassle of streaming services, and I can still put it on my phone. They also look awesome on a shelf.
this is such a great video, probably going to do that too. a good connection to music is so important and physical music is just perfect to maintain it. thanks for the inspiration 💿🎶
You don't need a disc to feel connected to music, you're all so gullible, have some self control, you don't need all this outdated crap, its inferior in every possible way.
@@whentheworldwasatwar8717 I actually in fact have a cd and vinyl collection and I personally feel more connected to music listening to it in that way. I meant putting my phone away and just enjoy physical music, it’s not “outdated crap”, it’s original and inspiring.
@@whentheworldwasatwar8717 gullible to what? i don't need someone to tell me that listening to physical media will make me feel more connected because if you collect it yourself you would know. being able to just quickly find music through streaming services while coinvent doesn't feel the same. buying each individual album, putting each disc in without the ability to easily skip or choose individual songs from any album makes it more connected especially when there's no phone involved. i'll often put on a full album on spotify and leave my phone but it still doesn't feel the same.
@@sampeter_hCds have better sound quality than cheap ass streaming and artist make more money 💴 buying their music and u own it No internet required 😅😅😅😅💿💿📀📀🤙🤙🤙
causally seeing the downtown of my city in a random news broadcast about the snowstorms on a channel i just discovered was pretty cool! anyways nice video and cool challenge, i want to try to find my watch the throne cd that I thrifted in 2021 to listen to in my car now
Back in 2019 I lived several months in a home without internet, I was only able to go to a library for an hour or two each week to do practical things online and I rationed my limited phone data so I could use it for navigation apps. I soon discovered all my CDs were from when I was a young teenager and felt really cringe all these years later. I also discovered how much music I love that I don't physically own. Noting what songs you miss is a neat idea. Wish I'd thought of that. I also found that I paid more attention to things, my day felt more intentional and life felt a lot slower. Apart from times I'd be stressed trying to plan out the practical things people were pressuring me to do online only. I also found it made me more in tune with what's left of popular culture. I watched what was live on TV, I listened to music that I bought after I had over heard it in a store or on the radio. I do remember times before the internet but living it again in your older years is interesting.
1. Digitalize your owned music (or get it via some otharrrr ways) 2. Go through your library, select your all time favourite songs/whole records and copy them into one folder 3. Transfer this onto your cell phone 4. In your music app, set it to shuffle mode 5. Enjoy your very own radio where you never know which songs will be played next, but it will definitely be a song you love I did this once, took me a few days, but now i have a bit over 60GB of mp3s on my phone any i don't need neither spotify nor deezer or any other streaming apps. Also, no internet connection? No Problem, since it's all on the SD card anyways ^^
weirdly impeccable timing! I also quit streaming, but for completely different reasons (and for the forseeable future, not just for a month). Economically, streaming makes me anxious - I don't like knowing I'm "buying" music, or movies, tv shows, anything, that can just be removed off the platform, or changed. It doesn't really feel like owning it. So I went back to an old iPod, have been slooowly (album by album) downloading music I had saved on spotify to itunes and just knowing I'll have this music forever, and I get to stay with my most prized favorites, is delightful! Great video :)
Just got introduced to this channel for the first time by searching online for “What are the best music related RUclips channels” and after a few videos today I’m hooked. Thanks for the content, humor, and general great discourse on the overall topic of music! Looking forward to binging this channel over the next few weeks/months!
This is an instant favorite video of mine on this channel. Please please please do more in this style as well as other formats that echo this more personal commentary in regards to music and music related things. Thanks!
Love the video! It was fun to see it because I'm actually kind of a physical media consumer myself in terms of music enjoyment: even if I don't have a cd reader in a bag that I bring around, I almost all of the time buy or borrow CDs at shops and librairies, then save them on Itunes on my Mac, then transfer on my phone. I wanted to add a few things to what Micheal just said: - Listening to albums you bought/borrow is REALLY different from listening to them in streaming services. You change far less from genres, or even artists in a single listen. And usually I never listen to made up playlist, except if it's a compilation album. You also put far more interest in what you listen. Maybe is it because I don't want to waste 10€, or just because I'm really curious, or maybe even simply because I have not much of a choice (the storage on my phone isn't that big, so I cannot put my whole CD collection on it, and frequently delete stuff to add some others), but I usually listen to the same albums over and over, until I really know by heart every single title. This could seems dumb, but some of my favourites albums are ones I didn't had much connections with in the first place, and it's those frequent revisit that lead me to like them more - Something Micheal doesn't talk at all, is all the physical plus that an album actually offers. Albums usually have small books in it, with pictures, lyrics and extra contents, that widen the aura and ideas of the project you're listening to. Even if I'm definitely not a "merch guy", I definitely love those because when I listen to songs, I like to have a visual in my head, and these elements help me to make this visual clearer and more coherent with the artist's ideas - Strolling in cd stores is so much fun! Even if there are lesser and lesser, I always love to just wander through the cds alley, and think "Oh, I loved this one, it's been ages since I haven't heard it", or "Oh I've heard many good things about this one etc.". It's the same thing as streaming services you'll say, but I don't think so. It takes more time (meaning you are more conscious and careful about what you see), and the choice is more random with physical medias. In cd stores, I could easily find an album I absolutely dispise next to the one I love the most, and it's thanks of this variety that I found some of my favourites albums of all time. - I don't know how it works in other countries, but in France, we have in every cities a LOT of librairies, and usually most of them let you borrow cds, dvds and other stuff. Because I'm a student and I don't have enough money to spend 171$ on a single day, it's at thoses places that I usually borrow most of the stuff I listen to (It's 15$ a year :o ). Like in librairies, they usually put recommanded albums, or classics on display, and it's also a great way of discovering new and very different stuff (and REALLY discovering them. Listening to 1 minute of 1 song of an artist isn't disovering it) Anyway, what I wanted to say is that you absolutely DON'T need a cd player hanging from your belly h24 for you to quit streaming services. It's extremely easy to import CDs on phones! And in fact, that doesn't mean at all that you need to quit streaming services definitely. I personnaly use both, and I'm doing really fine! Sorry for the long comment, thanks to the one who read it all.
I recently bought an iPod and a bunch of cds via lots off of eBay. I think it’ll be a good way of music consumption and I’m excited to get started on it. Definitely agree with feeling “distant” from music
in regards to hearing about "yes, and" irl, for me it was the opposite experience. i was slightly shocked to hear it blasting on the speakers at my university's food court on the day it was released :)
Great vid. The EXPERIENCE of music is lost in today's streaming environment. And not just talking about the listening aspect -- but the experience of going to a record store, searching for a specific album or stumbling upon music that is an instant classic to you...Being in line at MIDNIGHT SALES for a new album release. Reading liner notes, absorbing the artwork....All of these aspects are what made me fall in love with music. So I'm looking forward to a heavy resurgence of CDs and other physical product again. Treat streaming for what it is....a convenience....but we can't replace it with the EXPERIENCE of music. No comparison.
Listening to music in the form of albums is how you really do justice to how the artist originally intended for their music to be enjoyed (maybe not for stuff like singles). It's sad that nowadays most music is listened to based on what an algorithm gives you rather than how the artist intended for you to listen to them.
not to say it's bad to enjoy music as singles by themselves, as I do all the time as well, but just that there's a general lack of appreciation and lack of patience most people have for longer-format music listening that I think is sad (which is why I'm glad cd's are making a come back of sorts)
Feels like you made this harder for yourself by listening to the CDs directly. Ripping to a lossless format and getting a player that supports that high quality audio will always be the happy middle ground between physical media and streaming. Also- buying CDs from non music-focused places like thrift shops and library sales will always be better than buying used from a music store imo. Unless it's something specific I'm hunting for- I don't spend more than a dollar per CD these days. EDIT - you can also keep up with single releases until albums come out physically without a streaming sub using RUclips/YTMusic really easily.
I loved watching you geek out about music in the moment in real life. That was really nice and charming to see. Would absolutely love to see more video formats like this from ya.
As someone from Indonesia, the convenience of streaming has made me fall in love with album and listening to album. Back before Spotify, i have to pirate individual songs and put it on my phone or flashdrive. Nowadays it's only around $4-$5 per month of every songs in the world vs $10-$20 for one CD (after conversion).
Library employee here, hopping on to remind people that libraries tend to have large CD collections for patrons to browse and check out! Some libraries even have listening stations in-house, or disc readers you can check out. And it's free! I'm always going to recommend checking out your library's collection if you want to get back into physical media (bonus perk is that, at most libraries, it's also free to sign up for a card).
Cosigning this as well!! Libraries are a phenomenal resource for CDs
My local library has a whole-ass vinyl collection as well! I was able to get The Fall's complete Peel sessions for like two dollars! *USE YOUR LIBRARIES!*
as usual, libraries are a godsend. i am so happy that we live in a world where such vast quantities in so many different mediums are available basically for free, thank you so much for your work
And Kanopy, a video streaming service accessed with a library card. There are a lot of music documentaries on there
I mean, without libraries, Snare wouldn’t have been able to listen to that one song on Lady Gaga’s Artpop that was removed from streaming because of who was on it for his video on the album.
I’m a high school teacher, and even the kids are talking about the importance of physical media nowadays. Universal taking their music off of TikTok was a huge wake up call to them tbh
It was actually Universal that pulled their music, but yeah. It does seem like a lot of younger people were shaken by it.
@@chickentendies6930 thanks for the correction! great profile name btw
@@astronaut4291It seem like what is old will become new again
HBO taking off a bunch of shows and making it “lost media” also made me realize this for tv and movies
yeah, i just saw a girl go viral on tiktok talking about this same thing (saying it would be terrible to lose all of this if anything more extreme were to happen). & then i came across this video. we're slowly realizing that we should be collecting physical media too :) i must add, that this mentality isn't entirely new to Gen Z; i remember like 5 years ago it was trendy for teens to show off their vinyls. a lot of us wanted to start a record collection too, but the record players are so expensive :/
Who's up Mic'in there Snare rn
just mic'ed my snare so hard
dunno, i'm diving deep in my discog rn
she deep dive on my discog till I mic my snare
my videos are worse than mic the snare’s 😎😎
like significantly worse
@fantaguyreal she sub on my like til I lie
HELLO MICHAEL T SNARE IM THAT DUDE YOU MET AT THAT ONE SHOW LAST YEAR (it was caroline polachek!!!) I hope you also are doing amazing as well and yes I still love Good At Falling :))
Let's gooooooo!!!!
I hit pause at that time in the video just to look for that comment 😊 that's wholesome
came down here to find this we love a reunion
I was at Caroline polachek last year. It must have been the same tour. Party on Mic!
Great video!! I thought I was the only owner of the Chris Gaines cd!
A good middleground is MP3 players. The physical size is pocket-compatible, and you get the convenience and breadth of a digital library with none of the distractions a phone desperately tries to seduce you with. I'm still using a SanDisk Sansa, and since physical buttons are king, even with wired earbuds I can still navigate tracks from pocket.
the apple music app still lets you treat it like an ipod with itunes sync so that what i use. you don’t need a subscription or anything, as long as you have a computer
Yeah, I end up digging out my old iPod on long road trips or flights where I don't have access to internet
I use a Sony mp3 player from 2010 for training, it's been the most resilient device I have owned, it's literally glued with superglue in one part and all covered in sports tape because of the sweat but it still has a decent sound quality
I have two ancient iPods, one a silver Nano I've had for at least a decade and a half and a cherry-red Touch which my sister gave me when she got a nicer phone which works fine but has some screen water damage. I tend to load these up every few months with truckloads of records I haven't heard yet which aren't on Apple Music, many downloaded from Bandcamp and the Internet Archive, others being personal rips or rarities I found here and there or got from friends. Every now and then late at night I'll turn out all the lights and listen for several hours on a moderately fancy pair of headphones just spacing out and letting the music wash over me. It's a good time.
I’ve considered picking up a refurbished Nano and using that for less distracted music listening.
The thing we take for granted with physical media is the art design. We only see the front cover on streaming when theres a back cover, liner notes, gatefold. Some records came with posters and lyrics and other goodies.
Exactly.
The ownership experience is certainly irreplaceable, which is why I still buy CDs even though I end up ripping it and loading them to my phone.
and that is why I got into them in the first place. All you see on streaming is the front cover like you said, while on CD or Vinyls you get SO much more! it really helps you appreciate an album so much more
Quite which is why I'm currently in a middle (albeit not cheap) ground of using Roon. It gives me some of the nice visual elements of physical media with the convenience of being able to use a modern device to access it rather than a discman! Plus it has been a way of reconnecting with the music as I've gone back and gradually re-ripped all my CDs something I hadn't really done for more than a decade whilst they've gathered dust in my loft.
Don't forget the art in the disc/label itself. Some of them are damn beautiful.
‘Audio gobbler’ is wild
Yum yum! 😂😂
a music munch, if you will
I love being an audio gobbler
I am indeed an audio gobbler. And therefore, I agree with him. We're too overexposed and it makes it, in the weirdest way ever, really hard to find new music to get into.
It feels expensive buying CDs because we’re all conditioned to not buy media anymore. Between Netflix, Spotify, free-to-play games, Game Pass, etc, we’re just used to not owning anything. It’s all subscriptions.
New physical music was always non-trivial purchase. That's why second-hand music stores and discount racks were a thing.
It feels expensive because it is expensive lol. If I bought a CD for every album I want to listen to it would be thousands and thousands of dollars. I grew up with CDs in the 90s and it was expensive then too lol
They are expensive if you buy them new, honestly if you go to a second hand shop they're dirt cheap and you can get a bunch of them for some change but physical media is not fore everybody since it's more of a hobby, however I would encourage people to still get the files specially for smaller artists as their music could be gone one day
That's the communist takeover plan - to have you detach from the idea of owning property.
I mean, you can still download it for free, and own it. No need to pay for any subscriptions. Spotify + EZBlocker works wonders for a free uninterrupted listening experience at my PC, and i have loads of albums downloaded on my phone for when i go somwhere, and it costs precisely nothing.
I actually find myself listening to the radio a lot because...I sometimes feel exhausted by choice. I also like the idea of people all across my city sorta maybe listening to the same thing at once. We're so in our own bubbles and disconnected from each other nowadays.
but what if that song is Radioactive by Imagine Dragons like it always is
Same. I rediscover radio recently not only for the car commute but when stay at home. For example (I'm Italian) I listen a lot an rock radio and a local alternative radio. Thanks to this I rediscovered old songs ( I forget how Neil Young is great) and new bands like the last dinner party
Yes! I cancelled my Spotify subscription almost a year ago and I listen a lot to chirp radio out of Chicago now. They're independent and play a lot of different stuff!!
I have a love hate relationship with radio. I live in the Netherlands and as far as I am aware there are no real analog channels that do non stop songs of a specific style or genre. You get the whole thing modern hits+dj and ads. I like the variety, especially when they run some sort of list that listeners have voted on. What I dislike so so much is the advertisements. the situation is honestly egregious. However at night the frequency of the dj interruptions and the ads lessen quite a bit which is when I find myself enjoying the radio the most.
I ended up having to borrow a car without AUX or BT and thought I'd miss having my playlists and the ability to play whatever album I wanted, but I think I'm gonna miss the radio once my car gets fixed. It's real liberating to give up that sort of power strangely enough
seeing mic in places other than him talking to cameras in his rooms [which are him talking to his cameras in OTHER rooms] was actually really nice to see! love your content man!
I’m 24, I started buying CD’s regularly when I was 17. My first car didn’t have an aux port or Bluetooth connectivity. It gave me a deep appreciation for the format and the idea of committing to just one album.
I spent a lot of time driving to and from school and delivering pizzas, and it taught me to love prog rock/metal, specifically Periphery II. I spun that CD so many times in that old Jeep that it skips consistently at the end of the second track.
Not necessarily anything of importance or relevance, but it’s cool to see other people appreciate the format that people still think I’m crazy for enjoying more than Apple Music or Spotify.
Hello fellow prog-metal-on-CD-in-a-car listener. 🤘
As an avid vinyl/cd collector, I really enjoyed this video. Sometimes, I feel the need to reavaluate my consumption habits, and I think this video helped shed a light on that. Thank you, Mr. Snare (We need a full performance of Billions, though)
Hey, the Chicken Little soundtrack is surprisingly loaded tho.
one little slip!!
I had the movie on DVD and the soundtrack was in the bonus features. me and my brother would play Wannabe on loop for hours 💀
Chicken Little all around is an underappreciated masterpiece.
I decided to start revamping my CD collection this year too! I think owning physical copies of albums can really help you appreciate them more as “art” rather than solely “content.” Plus, it’s a more effective way to support smaller artists since lord knows streaming doesn’t pay well
That Electronic album you passed at 17:00 is super good, it’s a collab album between Benard Summner of New Order, Johnny Marr of The Smiths, and Pet Shop Boys! Highly recomend checking it out!
Lmao whats the name of the album, he passed too quick
It's their self titled debut.
@@AnInternetUser1 Ooohhh the name of the band is Electronic lmao. My bad I though you was referring to the electronic music genre
Electronic's eponymous debut is a classic.
I absolutely DID NOT expect "Naacho Naacho" to be mentioned, but said mention did send me through several layers of dry wall. Really cool to here references to a song that my PARENTS listen to lol. Love your content!
i like to listen to music off of CDs, the radio and digital files, i have apple music but i really enjoy sitting down and listening to stuff i own or stuff off of the radio
radio is absolutely phenomenal. i got lucky to get a really good internet radio for WAY too cheap and ive been loving it so much. its nice to get excited to hear something pop up again, i had ceremony by new order come up on the radio while i was doing my makeup earlier and it was the most stoked ive been to hear a song outside of a live setting in years
@@emmajeane it's almost impossible to find small artists on the radio💀
And the news on the radio is mostly disinformation 💀
When you mentioned at the end of the video that we should do something about the fact that we're losing touch with art that we love because of content (bad paraphrasing), that really hit me. I've been really hating jumping on a bandwagon, instead of listening to the random quiet/spacial music that I absolutely love
I also had the chicken little soundtrack on CD, it was absolute flames in my 5 year old pea brain mind and I am definitely not blinded by nostalgia
So my aunt started moving later last year and has been giving me CD’s as she cleans out her old home, the audio quality difference is amazing but what’s even better is discovering artist such as U2 or Honeymoon Suite, and it’s amazing how we’ve all paid to be convenienced. I don’t think my mom understands why I’m keeping so many but it’s the matter of what happens if digital media falls or we see a revival of CD’s like we are with vinyl. Overall I just really like the points your making Mic they truly resonate with me and keep me eager to find more artists (also I had that James Taylor CD before you lol)
I think my mother had that on tape. There's a live version of a track and at the end it has James saying "motherf**kin!'" on it. She was most offended! This was the pre warning era
I like experiments like this. I've been through vinyl, 8-track, cassettes, and CDs prior to the streaming age, so seeing someone who's just hit the last bit of that history of physical media in music go through this is fascinating.
I usually set myself a challenge around this time of year, so I'm listening to emo and emo-adjacent music for 40 days. The genre's fairly unfamiliar to me, so I experience a bunch of new music every day. Working inside a limitation uncovers a lot of stuff I hadn't noticed before.
Hope you do more things like this!
Bro check out Nya Slussen by Det är därför vi bygger städer and Liljekonvalj by Och sedan drunknade vi, they're two amazing swedish screamo releases
@@screwtapee I'll add them to the list. Thanks!
I also went through vinyl, 8-track, cassette, and CDs, but I've adapted pretty well to digital albums.
i love collecting records, discover a song i had taken for granted before...
it's such a feeling
Mic is much more stylish than I expected
Thus video is so delightful particularly with your editing style
16:07 that's mostly because the internet has allowed communities to form over the most niche things so everybody is subscribed to tons of niches rather than one main collective consciousness that you're referring to with pop stars and such.
I enjoy seeing what Mr Snare wears in the real world. I like the winter hat
As somebody that’s been trying to transition from tv/movie streaming to watching my old physical media collection (or more accurately converting and watching them through Jellyfin), this couldn’t have come at a perfect time
Love me some jellyfin!
Jellyfin is awesome! I've got all my ripped CDs plus bandcamp and Qobuz purchases on there. Now I can stream my 2500 song collection easily 😌 Ripping DVDs takes longer but I've been working my way through that too. It's rewarding to know that the files are all actually mine. Hope you've been enjoying your server so far 😊
Bruhhhh I have been having so much fun listening to random unlabeled cassette's and CD's it's just overall exciting. An excitement that streaming could never offer of true random discovery. Not knowing what is going to be on there or play next is a musical thrill, Spotify just cannot do that.
This makes me so happy because I’ve been slowly collecting CDs (and am just starting to collect cassette tapes too… we’ll get to vinyl eventually lol) for a couple years now and so many people think I’m crazy for it. But I have huge anxiety problems and (even without social media) there genuinely is something so comforting and grounding to me about having physical media on you: feeling the vibrations, having to go out of your way to press the buttons, using headphones that connect directly etc.. This is going to sound cheesy but it genuinely is a nice reminder that I’m still alive and here. And I always tell people that I’m living in the best time for it because I still have the option to go to streaming if I really want to! And the fact that I can choose between the two serves as a nice reminder that I still have agency even amidst the internet.
you know it's a great day when mic drops a new video
.... 10:42 caught me off guard and scared tf out of me.
Physical Media should have never died. We may have more music than before and people like me have been able to just go direct to consumers but we lost appreciation for art, lyric sheets, artist notes and every song that isn't a single.
i just love seeing one of the best music reviewers out there to openly embrace the power of cd's.
this makes me feel a bit less stupid to still buy them haha
I transferred my 300+ CD collection to digital back in 2012-13. My vinyl collection got a bit bigger since then, but otherwise, I listen to mp3s. I do not regret it, and I tend to listen to a lot of full albums. I do feel you on not being able to keep up. There's a lot of music, and my branching out has had to be whittled down. I know I'm missing something great out there, but hopefully someone I respect turns me in that direction.
totally agree with what you said at the end--i'm taking a social media break and feel a lot less overwhelmed by all of the music discourse. i actually have been returning to a lot of favorite albums I hadn't thought of in a while!
I'm not a "disc fanatic" myself, I carry music on mp3 for practicality. But I always keep an archive of discs, not just music but computer files too, on laser disc as they are effectively immune to solid-state bit rot and hard drive failure.
I do still use streaming to browse and preview media, but the songs I buy get burned to disc so I own them forever.
I really appreciated this reflective vlog type of video (and the glimpses of Cat the Snare), it also reminded me of how much I love CDs as a medium to connect with music and that I really need to repair my CD player 🥲 lots of greetings from Germany!
This was a unique and fun concept for a video! Almost 2 years ago I started a vinyl record collection because I wanted physical copies of the music I dearly love, and getting the chance to play a record and actually take time to listen to it is an experience all of its own.
Great video. I'm a fan of the secret third option: listen to files not streaming, mostly ripped CDs, Bandcamp downloads and bundled downloads from vinyl.
Pirating:🗿🗿🗿🗿🗿
What an amazing video. I've been trying to get more into CDs over the last few years and it is definitely a great experience (partially because of you constantly showing off your collection). I love driving to the sound of a CD and actually paying attention to everything as opposed to hopping from song to song on Spotify.
as someone who has never used a music streaming service, I see this as an absolute win.
Playing music on my CDs or records always feels so much better than on streaming for the exact reasons in this video! When streaming, I skip around songs or albums after like a minute or so, and I’ll click around to tiktok before a song even finishes.
I don’t always use physical media for music listening, but when I can, it always feels better
I feel like returning to manual download, or even buying an mp3 player, has basically all of the benefits with less of the downsides. Thank you for the crash twinsanity ost usage btw lol
Ripping the CD and copying the songs to an mp3 player could bring the most of both worlds, tbh, especially if it can connect with the earbuds or something similar.
Wow, I did nearly this exact same experiment at the exact same time that you did and also just posted a video about it to my youtube channel haha. Must be something in the air about music streaming these days.
I just started getting tired of algorithms throwing sooo much new music at me all the time, and realizing that I barely had an idea of who of my actual favourite artists were releasing new music anymore. It's all just a little too much, but the convenience is so hard to break :(
Even though I have a subscription to Spotify, I actively don't use it to listen to new music. I make playlists with a huge majority of the songs that I have in my music collection, whether it be physically or digitially purschased. I get a hold of new music from friend recommendations, seeing what pops up in my social network feeds, and looking through the internet. I suppose it is more work than what most people would want to deal with, but I find it very satisfying, and it is always great hearing something new that connects with you, Enjoying the video!
obsessed with this type of video and it’s not just because your peacoat / aviator / cd fanny pack look is so precious
One of my favorite videos you've made! Thanks Mic!
You know who'd be a GREAT pick for a DDD? Everything Everything. Yet another British band with a wide discography, and they're not too well known, so the DDD format would be a perfect introduction to them! Please consider. Their new album Mountainhead JUST CAME OUT!
he has a poll on his website, go vote there! better chance he'll see your recomendations there
YESSS!!!!! They are so freaking good and I'd love to hear more thoughts on their discography. Boiled eggs in suits unite! XD
btw, you don't need to "keep up" with music.
You can just find the music you like, and just listen to it on repeat, then maybe when you randomly find some new songs you like, you can add that to the list of music you listen to on repeat.
That is how I do it, and it works great. (though I often just put on one or two songs I want to listen to, and just listen to it on repeat)
Yeah, This dude focuses on the popular way too much. Who tf listens to Lil nas X and arianna grande? Highschoolers?.
users of streaming platforms@@DALTRON666
I was gonna say, as a person who almost never catches or knows about new releases, certain elements of his challenge wouldnt apply
@@DALTRON666i’m assuming you’re trolling but for the three likes you have, he’s a music content creator on the internet. it’s kinda his job.
Very happy we get to see the different fits Mr. Snare wears in his day to day life. The drip is off the charts! 📈
I stopped listening to music while commuting and embraced CD listening more. Together with leaving my phone at home more often when I leave the house this has been game changing. I'm not self interrupting my thoughts by looking at my phone, and I don't skip songs as often anymore. Music feels more like a goody to me than before. I enjoy it more conciously. Sitting down and listening to a song feels like having a nice glass of wine. And my sleeping improved a lot. I enjoyed your perspective on this!
I realized that when I listen to streaming services, ill only listen to one or maybe two songs from an album. Even from artists i love! But when i started my CD collection, it really encourages you to listen to the whole album! I feel like I have come to love my music when i listen to it in this way. I also have an iPod 5.5 running RockBox and i popped a few songs and albums i bought from Bandcamp. I love exploring music there! I found an artist whose music i love which ive never heard of prior to bandcamp: Sufjan Stevens
i loved this style of video, definitely keep making more of these! i'm buying my favorite albums on CD to have this sense of belonging, just like how i buy my favorite books. and that's a great way to spend money wisely, you don't need to buy every single thing you like, just buy what's more precious to you and you'll never regret the money you invested
11:56 here to clarify that Naatu Naatu (the original telugu version of the track) was taken off US streaming services sometime in late 2023. Naacho Naacho (the hindi version) is still up, but it's borderline unlistenable since I'm so familiar with the version sung in its original language.
Oh wow, I was at the Harvard Square Newbury comics last weekend for the Bleachers listening party! Small world, hope to see you at a concert sometime to say thank you for making awesome videos like this one!
With all the talk about your dads in The National, I find it funny that you managed to jumpscare me with a prominent shot of some Cirith Ungol albums at 17:28, the lead singer of which is *literally* my dad, wow! What are the odds? Keep on keepin’ on Mic!
2:13
Who’s that lady is a great song! Love the interpolation on Kendrick Lamar’s i
I remember last year I was searching a song from my childhood. then found out the song is not on RUclips or on any other streaming platform. I had to download the song from a forum from 10 years ago. It is such a disappointment when a song you like exist only on CD and there is no legal way to download it.
While I didn’t fully quit streaming, I started prioritizing it less back in 2021 and made CD’s my primary listening platform! It’s done a lot in shaking my relationship with music for a lot of the reasons you explained! I feel less anxious about being ‘up to date’ and I find my self a lot more connected to the music I love!
Another interesting effect it’s had is that I’m not invested as much into listening to playlists. I might put one on now and then but I tend to vastly prefer listening to whole albums. Funny how things can work like that. But yea great vid!
Love this video !!! It would be so cool to do a video on Eurovision, it would be so different !
1:34 is the music video for can't cool me down by Car Seat Headrest. I hope this is a sign that we are getting a new DDD, but if not, it is also just cool knowing that Mic knows if them
How did I not know that he'd done a Twin Fantasy review wtf
This is very true to me. I collect physical media for lots of reasons... But to listen more deeply is so meaningful to me, I love laying on the floor of my room, listening to a record play, or going on walks with my walkman. It's so freeing to not worry about my phone or feel the need to scroll.
I've done this before! A few times. Streaming is really convenient but CDs just give me that personal connection to the music that I love.
EXACTLY
Your section about formless music hits me right at home. A majority of my high school music playlist was a bunch of stuff I found on the internet
I Iove CDs and collecting them
me too
me too
Same
As do I. I tend to think of Spotify not as a replacement but as a reference. There are things I'd discover that I'd like so much that I'd buy a copy at a record store. The beauty of collecting music; still rather easy to do in this format, whereas movies/TV pivot towards streaming and is increasingly an overexpensive hobby, while video games are all but digital these days (the closest you'd get to easy physical access is the Switch, but even then...)
@@SchizoidMan1989 only pc games and indie games are digital only plenty of PlayStation and Xbox games are physical
Loved the vlog-style format! I'm using my bike to commute more now and I find that I prefer listening to a CD than to a playlist. Being able to shuffle on streaming makes it feel like I have to find the perfect song that will cure my Monday, which is a lot of pressure, but the variety and narrative of a CD gives me the same comfort of a podcast.
12:39 that's what piracy is for. if you like something, download an offline copy
The format of the CD itself has been what's getting me back into it. While streaming doesn't stop you from sitting and listening to an album through, I find that I end up fidgeting around playlists and such. Physical media generally, I like the process of it all. I'm settling towards using mp3s while mobile and feeling like a change from the streaming paradigm though.
Ok I'm back after watching and this was such a fascinating experiment! Especially when you talked about how so much music doesn't have a "home"--that totally activated my librarian brain and now I kind of want to do my own deep dive on music (and other intellectual property) that doesn't have a "home" and how that affects the distribution of information etc. So thank you!
I've also been taking a bit of a pause from social media and starting to read more (a librarian reading?? What will she do next? 😂) and it's been so great for my mental health. Case in point: I'm seeing The Strokes tonight and while concerts are normally a bit anxiety-inducing for me, I spent half my day reading and I'm the calmest I think I've ever been at a show. May have to build up my CD collection now, I'm determined to get it to a point where it rivals my book collection! Also I would love to see more of these kinds of videos although I could never ask you to go a month without music. That's like going a month without food! I'm sure anyrhing you come up with would be super cool though. I'll for sure be watching!
1:34 holy shit! I was just listening to that exact car seat headrest song before watching this video
I started last year. Never looked back.
I finally put my whole collection directly on my phone and I felt the same way, I was really surprised how much more I was engaged in the songs. Playing music that you actually own, from artists you supported, and can manage how you want, it adds something special to it.
An all radio month would be cool. When I worked security, I ended up listening to the radio more than I ever had. I found myself surfing the various radio stations. I'd listen to modern rock, then 90s country, then oldies. Rediscovered lots of songs
The issue you mentioned about losing formless media happened to me this year.
I loved a lofi playlist called "Love Hurts". One day I decided to check out that video and I found out it wasn't available anymore. The worst part is that I never got the chance to write down the songs and the artists so it's basically a lost treasure for me.
All the songs you wanted to listen to from internet that had no CD releases you could by burning them in a blank CD, you could make a CD with your own playlist. It's for personal use only so it's all legal.
I've been kind of stuck in a rut with music recently. I'm sick of all the stuff I have saved on Spotify, but none of the new songs I've been listening to are really hitting. This is really making me want to bust out my old stereo and play my CD collection again.
There's also a case of "owning" the media you like to be made here. Spotify, Netflix, even gaming companies now, have made it so that everything we consume we do not own, but instead it is lent to us for an extended period of time. They can get rid of it if they deem it necessary, if you don't pay, or if they don't want the music from a specific artist for whatever reason anymore. Sometimes even the artists themselves can take the music away (ie Neil Young, Joni Mitchell). With physical media (and even downloadable tracks in the past like in ITunes), you own the media, nobody can take it away from you.
Seconding this. You don't really own a copy of something unless you can accidentally sell it at a yard sale. Otherwise, all you're paying for is a non-transferrable single seat license.
I have been trying to listen to full album instead of just the song. So far so good!
Oh gosh. Most of the music I listen to isn't available in any physical form at all. I adore physical media and want so badly to preserve it, but I could never live this way as things are right now because... I would be missing most of my music. I would be so sad.
I don't think I could ever become someone who uses the radio (never have been!) because I don't listen to most of what is played on there and I feel the desire to skip and loop my own music in private too much to even just let Spotify play randomly lol
I really enjoy physical media and how it’s something that I just own. I don’t really want to go all in with a CD player, but I really want to go without the hassle of streaming services, and I can still put it on my phone. They also look awesome on a shelf.
owning music, even digital, is the best way to be intimate with music
Music is one of the things I love the most, and I've been feeling disconected to it for years now. Thank you for this video :)
this is such a great video, probably going to do that too. a good connection to music is so important and physical music is just perfect to maintain it. thanks for the inspiration 💿🎶
You don't need a disc to feel connected to music, you're all so gullible, have some self control, you don't need all this outdated crap, its inferior in every possible way.
@@whentheworldwasatwar8717 I actually in fact have a cd and vinyl collection and I personally feel more connected to music listening to it in that way. I meant putting my phone away and just enjoy physical music, it’s not “outdated crap”, it’s original and inspiring.
@@whentheworldwasatwar8717 gullible to what? i don't need someone to tell me that listening to physical media will make me feel more connected because if you collect it yourself you would know. being able to just quickly find music through streaming services while coinvent doesn't feel the same. buying each individual album, putting each disc in without the ability to easily skip or choose individual songs from any album makes it more connected especially when there's no phone involved. i'll often put on a full album on spotify and leave my phone but it still doesn't feel the same.
@@sampeter_hCds have better sound quality than cheap ass streaming and artist make more money 💴 buying their music and u own it No internet required 😅😅😅😅💿💿📀📀🤙🤙🤙
causally seeing the downtown of my city in a random news broadcast about the snowstorms on a channel i just discovered was pretty cool! anyways nice video and cool challenge, i want to try to find my watch the throne cd that I thrifted in 2021 to listen to in my car now
Back in 2019 I lived several months in a home without internet, I was only able to go to a library for an hour or two each week to do practical things online and I rationed my limited phone data so I could use it for navigation apps.
I soon discovered all my CDs were from when I was a young teenager and felt really cringe all these years later. I also discovered how much music I love that I don't physically own. Noting what songs you miss is a neat idea. Wish I'd thought of that.
I also found that I paid more attention to things, my day felt more intentional and life felt a lot slower. Apart from times I'd be stressed trying to plan out the practical things people were pressuring me to do online only.
I also found it made me more in tune with what's left of popular culture. I watched what was live on TV, I listened to music that I bought after I had over heard it in a store or on the radio.
I do remember times before the internet but living it again in your older years is interesting.
1. Digitalize your owned music (or get it via some otharrrr ways)
2. Go through your library, select your all time favourite songs/whole records and copy them into one folder
3. Transfer this onto your cell phone
4. In your music app, set it to shuffle mode
5. Enjoy your very own radio where you never know which songs will be played next, but it will definitely be a song you love
I did this once, took me a few days, but now i have a bit over 60GB of mp3s on my phone any i don't need neither spotify nor deezer or any other streaming apps.
Also, no internet connection? No Problem, since it's all on the SD card anyways ^^
weirdly impeccable timing! I also quit streaming, but for completely different reasons (and for the forseeable future, not just for a month).
Economically, streaming makes me anxious - I don't like knowing I'm "buying" music, or movies, tv shows, anything, that can just be removed off the platform, or changed. It doesn't really feel like owning it. So I went back to an old iPod, have been slooowly (album by album) downloading music I had saved on spotify to itunes and just knowing I'll have this music forever, and I get to stay with my most prized favorites, is delightful!
Great video :)
Just got introduced to this channel for the first time by searching online for “What are the best music related RUclips channels” and after a few videos today I’m hooked.
Thanks for the content, humor, and general great discourse on the overall topic of music! Looking forward to binging this channel over the next few weeks/months!
I wanna know what the “cannot listen to but wanted to” playlist ended up looking like haha
This is an instant favorite video of mine on this channel. Please please please do more in this style as well as other formats that echo this more personal commentary in regards to music and music related things. Thanks!
Love the video! It was fun to see it because I'm actually kind of a physical media consumer myself in terms of music enjoyment: even if I don't have a cd reader in a bag that I bring around, I almost all of the time buy or borrow CDs at shops and librairies, then save them on Itunes on my Mac, then transfer on my phone. I wanted to add a few things to what Micheal just said:
- Listening to albums you bought/borrow is REALLY different from listening to them in streaming services. You change far less from genres, or even artists in a single listen. And usually I never listen to made up playlist, except if it's a compilation album. You also put far more interest in what you listen. Maybe is it because I don't want to waste 10€, or just because I'm really curious, or maybe even simply because I have not much of a choice (the storage on my phone isn't that big, so I cannot put my whole CD collection on it, and frequently delete stuff to add some others), but I usually listen to the same albums over and over, until I really know by heart every single title. This could seems dumb, but some of my favourites albums are ones I didn't had much connections with in the first place, and it's those frequent revisit that lead me to like them more
- Something Micheal doesn't talk at all, is all the physical plus that an album actually offers. Albums usually have small books in it, with pictures, lyrics and extra contents, that widen the aura and ideas of the project you're listening to. Even if I'm definitely not a "merch guy", I definitely love those because when I listen to songs, I like to have a visual in my head, and these elements help me to make this visual clearer and more coherent with the artist's ideas
- Strolling in cd stores is so much fun! Even if there are lesser and lesser, I always love to just wander through the cds alley, and think "Oh, I loved this one, it's been ages since I haven't heard it", or "Oh I've heard many good things about this one etc.". It's the same thing as streaming services you'll say, but I don't think so. It takes more time (meaning you are more conscious and careful about what you see), and the choice is more random with physical medias. In cd stores, I could easily find an album I absolutely dispise next to the one I love the most, and it's thanks of this variety that I found some of my favourites albums of all time.
- I don't know how it works in other countries, but in France, we have in every cities a LOT of librairies, and usually most of them let you borrow cds, dvds and other stuff. Because I'm a student and I don't have enough money to spend 171$ on a single day, it's at thoses places that I usually borrow most of the stuff I listen to (It's 15$ a year :o ). Like in librairies, they usually put recommanded albums, or classics on display, and it's also a great way of discovering new and very different stuff (and REALLY discovering them. Listening to 1 minute of 1 song of an artist isn't disovering it)
Anyway, what I wanted to say is that you absolutely DON'T need a cd player hanging from your belly h24 for you to quit streaming services. It's extremely easy to import CDs on phones! And in fact, that doesn't mean at all that you need to quit streaming services definitely. I personnaly use both, and I'm doing really fine! Sorry for the long comment, thanks to the one who read it all.
U guys forgot about boom boxes 🗃️ u can play cds 💿 and listen to the radio 📻 on boom boxes 🗃️ big lots dollar trees 🌲 and target sell those
I recently bought an iPod and a bunch of cds via lots off of eBay. I think it’ll be a good way of music consumption and I’m excited to get started on it. Definitely agree with feeling “distant” from music
A moment of silence for all of the missed scrobbles.
in regards to hearing about "yes, and" irl, for me it was the opposite experience. i was slightly shocked to hear it blasting on the speakers at my university's food court on the day it was released :)
All i can say is.
If Spotify and every similar platform is gone, you'll own nothing. But your physical media would always be yours.
Great vid. The EXPERIENCE of music is lost in today's streaming environment. And not just talking about the listening aspect -- but the experience of going to a record store, searching for a specific album or stumbling upon music that is an instant classic to you...Being in line at MIDNIGHT SALES for a new album release. Reading liner notes, absorbing the artwork....All of these aspects are what made me fall in love with music. So I'm looking forward to a heavy resurgence of CDs and other physical product again. Treat streaming for what it is....a convenience....but we can't replace it with the EXPERIENCE of music. No comparison.
Well the records got a revival knos let’s pray 🙏 2025 cds 💿 are next to have a revival
I quit streaming and spent the money I would on a subscription on bandcamp, then the artists get a bigger cut and I get to keep the files.
Listening to music in the form of albums is how you really do justice to how the artist originally intended for their music to be enjoyed (maybe not for stuff like singles). It's sad that nowadays most music is listened to based on what an algorithm gives you rather than how the artist intended for you to listen to them.
not to say it's bad to enjoy music as singles by themselves, as I do all the time as well, but just that there's a general lack of appreciation and lack of patience most people have for longer-format music listening that I think is sad (which is why I'm glad cd's are making a come back of sorts)
Feels like you made this harder for yourself by listening to the CDs directly.
Ripping to a lossless format and getting a player that supports that high quality audio will always be the happy middle ground between physical media and streaming.
Also- buying CDs from non music-focused places like thrift shops and library sales will always be better than buying used from a music store imo. Unless it's something specific I'm hunting for- I don't spend more than a dollar per CD these days.
EDIT - you can also keep up with single releases until albums come out physically without a streaming sub using RUclips/YTMusic really easily.
I loved watching you geek out about music in the moment in real life. That was really nice and charming to see. Would absolutely love to see more video formats like this from ya.
YES
As someone from Indonesia, the convenience of streaming has made me fall in love with album and listening to album. Back before Spotify, i have to pirate individual songs and put it on my phone or flashdrive. Nowadays it's only around $4-$5 per month of every songs in the world vs $10-$20 for one CD (after conversion).