Why media fans want to escape algorithms with CDs, DVDs and vinyl

pkthunder

I’ve been going through my own personal revival of physical media - mostly audio. I don’t miss streaming at all. Every CD I buy gets ripped to a NAS that hosts the music behind Navidrone where I can stream to my vehicle using Play:Sub (thanks to Tailscale for enabling all of this to work for me!). I am just so enamored with being able to get the best of both worlds - my own music, anywhere. I do wish I could figure out some sort of recommendation system to find new magic, though. Obviously not to steam new/unowned songs, just to point me in a direction next time I go to the store.

Frieren

For me, the easy one is books. I love books, both for their content and as physical objects. I love my pdf folder with a million papers, documents, etc. Sorted and easy available. But mentally it does not compare with my library. In a trip I will bring my tablet to read books. It is practical and if a book does not click I have many more. At home I prefer the physical thing. None of them comes, at least directly, from algorithms. I add books to my list of purchases when they get mention on YouTube, another books, news, or even here. Many years ago I used Amazon book store suggestions because they were extremely good. But that was the time before enshitification when they were trying to give you the book the you will like the most not the one that will give them more profit.

mnnuu

I'm an avid tape collector, and I especially love the small 'mixtape' labels. Every month, I get two or three mixtapes from a handful of little labels. They can have anything on them. It's always exciting to get one in the post and sit down to listen to it.

mistyvales

I never stopped buying. Let's just say my collection of various physical media is.. unruly at best. Moving is a pain but I don't look back. Note that I do still stream and buy digital on Bandcamp though.

smackeyacky

I used to like to buy TDK tapes second hand and listen to the mixes. Almost every one had something obscure on it I loved but they have dried up over the last 12 months.

intrasight

You can escape algorithms by choosing what you consume, regardless of what platform you're using. I had digitized my CD collection 15 years ago. but I never listened to those. I purchase misic directly from artists (Bandcamp), I don't buy physical media. And if their stuff is also on Apple Music, that's where I listen.

bsoqk

I am a "media fan" and algorithms (going back to last.fm) have make me discover so much music that it's not even funny. The idea of "escaping algorithms" is a net negative for me.

jonplackett

I just finished making a ‘physical’ music system for my daughter. The inverted commas are because it’s actually all MP3s that are stored on a phone. But the phone is in a box Connected to a speaker Running an app I made that plays playlists when she places an nfc card on the box Basically it’s a bootleg Yoto / Tonie box but completely free, and our own music. Also got a desktop app where I download stuff, make plays lists and it auto syncs to the phone. She actually really likes it. Having a physical sense of what you own feels good! I wish I could take all the credit but Codex helped, a bit…

OroPla

I never went to streaming in the first place. It never seemed like a good deal for anything.

pinheadmz

If you live in Brooklyn check out Night Owl Video !

winwang

99% of my music consumption is through offline playback of mp3's or youtube content. I don't use playlists nor shuffles, just repeat.

tarkin2

I enjoyed the social aspect of listening to music: talking to my friends about the latest release. But when everyone's has their little music bubble that's lost. I guess the music companies found that less profitable than having you plugged into their recommendations.

bmacho

Don't y'all fell like just reading its title is poisoning you, or at least ruining your mood? There is no possible acceptable article with this title.

sdcfgy

I’m going back to CDs and ripping them because I’m fed up of shit disappearing from streaming services. Plus having to pay for access. Plus the crappy offline experience. Plus the crappy apps you have to use. Plus the devices that play them have a million other distractions I want to avoid. Oh and all the shite that is promoted constantly. It’s a race to the bottom and I’m done with that.

euroderf

The dichotomy of streaming media versus owning physical media - it's like the difference between an automatic transmission and a manual transmission. Do you want the car to drive you? Or do you want to drive the car?

teeray

Easy, the social contract around streaming has become enshittified. The agreement used to be, “pay us every month and we give you access to a vast catalogue that you could never hope to accumulate yourself.” Sounds great, sign me up. Now people have a dozen streaming subscriptions and a search engine to locate content among them. The joke is, that one specific movie is often not on any of them. Or if it is, it’s on the one you have to watch a bunch of ads for.

jareklupinski

personally have been ripping 60/90 minute youtube sets to cassettes using a really nice automatic cassette recorder/player i got for cheap because no one uses cassettes anymore i guess

ShinyCyril

Physical media (especially in the film space) remains sometimes the only option if you don't want to compromise on quality. Sadly you have to compromise in other ways: unskippable trailers/copyright warnings for example. I do worry that Bluray is just becoming more niche and the studios/distributors will do away with it in favour of their own streaming platforms. I apologise for the self-promotion, but I started https://www.dvd.club for this very reason, hoping to find a like-minded community of physical media enthusiasts, willing to share their collections with each other.

bwv848

As a classical listener, I never really prefer streaming services. Each classical piece is usually dense and requires multiple passes to memorize and process. While one of the fun parts is comparing different interpretations by different musicians, we usually eventually settle on one or a few versions, like some folks, me included, prefer Furtwängler for anything Germanic, despite his recordings are more than 74 years old (albeit remastered multiple times). The only new recording I listened this year is Chris Thile's well anticipated Bach Sonatas & Partitas Vol. 2.

anal_reactor

I guess it'll come across as obnoxious if I say I never actually used streaming services. I just never liked having to be connected to the internet at all times, and I liked having all my music collection on my private device. When I feel like I want to stream music, I use online radio. I have a few gems in my library that are hard to come across online (because nobody else cares but I do). I've always been a digital hoarder. I'm not a fan of movies and shows, so I can't share my opinion here.