Buy Music or Movies?

[imoldernu]

Am out of touch...
Do you buy movies or music? Either as a download or on DVD/CD/Blu-Ray? (not Netflix or Amazon).

The follow-up question is why? Do you watch movies over again? What about music? How many times or how often do you go into your collection?

As to the music, during the "not too illegal" years I downloaded about 4,500 songs for free, from Napster. and haven't found anything recent that I'd pay for, from the current popular artists. (Can't understand the words from most).

Am getting back to the music from the 50's, thru the early 80's, and have a full collection of Classical Composers which am rediscovering again for the third time around.

Just curious about how big a part music plays in the culture of those who are in their 40's, 50's and 60's, and whether these age groups are a major factor in the entertainment market.

 

[RE2Boys]

For music, I just listen to Pandora or Youtube. Figured out how to connect my smartphone to the car stereo and listen to whatever genre I feel like while driving.

Movies, never got into buying, just rent DVDs or stream.

Have been known to rip music from a Youtube video for replay in mp3 devices at times for some oldie but good tunes.

 

[Just_Steve]

bittorrent for movies and music.

 

[Nemo2]

Right now, pretty much all we listen to are Mark Knopfler CDs...........love his lyrics.

Movies - very few that I could watch more than once, Zulu, The African Queen, and to a lesser degree Pulp Fiction, being a few exceptions.

 

[ERD50]

I have a pretty large collection of music, but purchased a little at a time. Nowadays, I might pick out a box set of something special, and add it to a 'wish list' for DW to buy for me on a special occasion.

When I come across some great music, and I think I should have that in my collection - but a trip to youtube is usually enough for me to get my 'fix'.

Not much of a movie person, but we have a small collection of DVDs. Rent or library or netflix is good enough.

 

[Sarah in SC]

Netflix and Spotify for me.

No longer buy any music, really, though when Sturgill Simpson came to town last year, I bought his vinyl album and talked to him a bit at the merch table. I try to support touring musicians as I've had a few tell me that they needed gas money to get to their next gig. Unlikely that is Simpson's case these days, though.

 

[ejman]

I have several thousand LP's that I cycle thru as the mood moves me. I also have many CD's and Spotify, Pandora hooked to my stereo system thru my laptop. To my misfortune however, I find that when I start playing Pandora or Spotify I quickly start looking for something else to do, like read a book or browse on the computer or whatever. CD's a little better in holding my attention but not much. With Lp's however I quickly find that I can't read or browse, the music draws me in and whatever I'm doing I have to stop and just listen. And then after 20-25 minutes I have to get up from my easy chair and change the record. Pain in the ass I tell ya'

 

[ERD50]

... I find that when I start playing Pandora or Spotify I quickly start looking for something else to do, like read a book or browse on the computer or whatever. CD's a little better in holding my attention but not much. With Lp's however I quickly find that I can't read or browse, the music draws me in and whatever I'm doing I have to stop and just listen. ...

That's been my experience with compressed music (mp3's or most music streams). The detail stuff that gets thrown out as part of the compression algorithms isn't noticeable to me right up front, but after 10 minutes I jut lose interest. The lack of detail just sucks the life out of it for me.

I haven't noticed that with LP versus CD, the convenience and concern over wear and an inadvertent needle skip means I mostly listen to CD level quality music. I wouldn't be surprised if that effect occurs between CD and LP for some people, but I'm also a little skeptical after getting a better understanding (and doing some listening tests) of just what 16 bit and dithering with filtered white noise accomplishes.

-ERD50

 

[HFWR]

I still buy a CD occasionally, or maybe a concert DVD, though not many lately. I have a few movies, but have found that I rarely watch them, so they're mostly taking up space...

I have over 300 vinyl albums, and about that many CD albums, most of which has been ripped to mp3.

I have used Pandora and Amazon Music, though not often. In fact, I find I don't listen nearly as much as in the old days. Perhaps it's because the classic rock I grew up with is now 40-50 years old, and there's only so many times you can hear "Freebird" before you contemplate piercing your eardrums with a rusty drill bit...

I do use youtube frequently, to discover new (to me, at least) music and artists. Have been gravitating toward jazz fusion. If I find a good artist or band, it may not convince me to buy a CD, but I will keep watch for any local concerts.

 

[Badger]

For less than the cost to buy one movie I can watch it and 10s of thousands of others on Netflix and listen to music on Pandora. Included in that cost are also endless TV shows that I never saw or heard of that I now enjoy without commercials. One day I may even see my first "Game of Thrones". Maybe. Not much music today is of interest to me and I'm not going to spend the time to wade through it all to find 1 or 2 songs that do appeal. So Pandora and You tube works out just fine for me.

Cheers!

 

[bUU]

My spouse is a big music fan, but has latched onto subscription music rather than buying (much). It is a set cost every month, expecting (I suspect) that it is a semi-permanent cost for practically whatever music one wants to listen to.

Similarly, we pay for subscription video entertainment (currently just HBO) to satisfy those needs. Occasionally I will buy certain box sets for certain film or television series, but truly only ones that I could envision us sitting down to rewatch during a dry period on television (like the summer - starting today the backlog of programming on our DVR is completely exhausted, so tonight we'll watch something on disc).

 

[jim584672]

I get most movies from the library and I am glad I didn't pay for any as most of them are junk. Cancelled Netflix many months ago. For music I usually do some streaming around the Internet.

 

[Big_Hitter]

I buy both vinyl and CD. I have close to 1000 of each. We listen to a lot of music.

I think streaming/mp3 sounds like crap, especially compared to vinyl.


We rarely buy movies.

 

[splitwdw]

Listen to the free version of Pandora. Like that you can find new artists just by typing in a song title. Don't buy cd's any more.
I do buy dvd's. I don't go to movie theaters. I buy movies, documentaries and instructional dvd's. I buy PBS shows that I like, Foyle's War, Inspector Lewis. I always seem to be doing something at home, cleaning or working in the garage. I put the dvd's on while I'm working and it takes a couple of viewings to see the whole thing. I trade with friends and family. If I get tired of a dvd or don't like and no one wants it, I donate it to the library.

 

[Dawg52]

I have a fair collection of CD's, but probably haven't purchased one in the last 5 years. Never bought a movie.

 

[Sojourner]

I bought hundreds of albums on cassette and then CD in my youth (70s, 80s, and 90s) but really haven't purchased much music in the last 10 years or so. These days it's too easy just to cue up Pandora or Spotify and hear pretty much any kind of music you want.

As for movies, I went through a phase where I was acquiring lots of them on DVD and then Blu-ray, but like others have mentioned, I eventually came to realize that I hardly ever actually watched any of them more than once. There are maybe 10 movies total that I own on DVD or Blu-ray that I watch with any sort of regularity. Things like certain scary movies around Halloween or certain holiday-themed movies around Christmas -- stuff like that. I don't buy movies on disc or from iTunes or anywhere else, and I don't rent from Redbox. Streaming and satellite exclusively nowadays.

 

[bmcgonig]

For music, I just listen to Pandora or Youtube. Figured out how to connect my smartphone to the car stereo and listen to whatever genre I feel like while driving.

Movies, never got into buying, just rent DVDs or stream.

Have been known to rip music from a Youtube video for replay in mp3 devices at times for some oldie but good tunes.

That's all exactly what I do too


Sent from my iPad using Early Retirement Forum

 

[Cassius King]

I'm very picky on the movies that I buy versus rent to watch. Matter of fact I ask myself the question of whether or not I plan on watching the movie several times before I consider buying it. I love Akira Kurosawa movies and old Samurai movies. So most of my collection are Criterion Blu-Rays of these. Others are classics that I can watch over and over, Pulp Fiction, Caddyshack, Fear and Loathing, etc.

I love music and it's quite different. I have XM in my car and at home. 90% of the time its on the Grateful Dead channel or BB King Blues Channel. I agree with what was said above. Downloaded music doesn't come close to vinyl or even CD. The only music that I have bought over the last several years are Super Audio CD's. And those are few and far between as what's available is limited. Lots of Blues, BB King, Buddy Guy, Junior Wells, Albert King, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Robert Lockwood Jr. And then there's Pink Floyd in 5.1 SACD. These should be owned by everyone! Allman Brothers, Allison Kraus, Bob Dylan.

I do buy, but am very picky in spending my money on things that I will get lots of play out of.

 

[Big_Hitter]

I love music and it's quite different. I have XM in my car and at home. 90% of the time its on the Grateful Dead channel or BB King Blues Channel. I agree with what was said above. Downloaded music doesn't come close to vinyl or even CD. The only music that I have bought over the last several years are Super Audio CD's. And those are few and far between as what's available is limited. Lots of Blues, BB King, Buddy Guy, Junior Wells, Albert King, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Robert Lockwood Jr. And then there's Pink Floyd in 5.1 SACD. These should be owned by everyone! Allman Brothers, Allison Kraus, Bob Dylan.

I do buy, but am very picky in spending my money on things that I will get lots of play out of.

I listened to American Beauty (CD) this morning in the car - first copy I got was in 1974 on an 8-track my older brother gave me. Love that record.

DW has been hitting up the resale shops and buying older CDs and records for a few bucks a pop. She actually found some Jr. Brown and George Thorogood CDs I didn't have. As far as new CDs go, I tend to buy stuff like James McMurtry, the Old 97s and the Blasters, stuff like that. Bands I've actually seen live.

 

[Aerides]

I have bought the occasional movie when it slips into that odd black hole of non-streamable, or non-cable, stupid-price-streamable, and it's cheaper to pick up a copy on ebay.

I am also able to watch movies over and over (a few rare ones) and those I will buy - pretty much has to have Meryl Streep in it to qualify.

 

[DrRoy]

I have 400+ CD's, and regularly cycle through them. I still buy some music, but not much new stuff. I have gone digital with about half of my buying over the last few years, mostly adding to artists that I already like, finding old songs that I had lost track of, or discovering previous, little known artists that are in my interest area.

I do have a couple dozen movies, and occasionally watch them again.

 

[Sarah in SC]

Big Hitter, if you are a McMurtry fan, check out a few of my other favorites in that genre: American Aquarium, Turnpike Troubadours, Slaid Cleves, and Chris Knight. And of course the artist whose vinyl I bought at his show, Sturgill Simpson.

 

[FUEGO]

I haven't bought any music or movies for at least 10 years (other than DW spending a few bucks total on some rare songs she really wanted).

Way too much content for free or by paid subscription (Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime, etc) to bother with maintaining a library of content myself (even if it were free).

Oddly enough tonight we were jamming out to some old vinyl at our rental house here in Kentucky. That's something I've never done since listening to nursery rhymes back in the 1980's. I love asking the kids "what kind of CDs are these big black things?". The experience was kind of cool, but kind of not. DW asked why it was scratchy (I'm guessing dust on the record and/or needle). I grew frustrated flipping through the hundreds of albums in the collection and finding not a single Johnny Cash album (it takes about 6.5 seconds to listen to this via Youtube).

 

[Big_Hitter]

The experience was kind of cool, but kind of not. DW asked why it was scratchy (I'm guessing dust on the record and/or needle). I grew frustrated flipping through the hundreds of albums in the collection and finding not a single Johnny Cash album (it takes about 6.5 seconds to listen to this via Youtube).

sounds like you need to update your turntable and amplifier - when is the last time you changed the cartridge? I have a ton of cash vinyl.


even on a crappy (70s) high school system vinyl sounds 10x better than mp3/stream

 

[Big_Hitter]

Big Hitter, if you are a McMurtry fan, check out a few of my other favorites in that genre: American Aquarium, Turnpike Troubadours, Slaid Cleves, and Chris Knight. And of course the artist whose vinyl I bought at his show, Sturgill Simpson.

I bought slaid cleves' first cd when it came out...gosh 20 years ago?

I listen to all those bands on outlaw Sirius xm. love them all!