Computer Audio Is Dead.

[multiham]

Just like most products we talk about here, computer audio will become a niche item. It will have a limited amount of users, but I don't see it ever returning to the position it once held.

I can remember going to college back in the mid 80's and bringing my boom box and about 200 cassettes that I had made myself. It was one of the most important items I brought to school. Moving my son this weekend to college. He has grown up in a house that has always had higher end audio equipment. So what is he bringing to school? Headphones, his phone, and his computer. Everything is streaming. Trust me, an 18 year old can find any song somewhere on the internet. He could care less about what we would classify as low quality recordings. It is what his generation is used to.

Times are a changin'

[IM3CPO]

The guy who wrote the article got it all wrong. Computer audio is not dead. This doesnt even remotely make any kind of sense. Digital playback devices like phones, iPads, etc., are still computers. Storing your music locally on your network and playing it on another device in your home is still streaming. What he actually meant (but didnt state) is that music services will replace music ownership.

So, will music services replace music ownership? Almost certainly and the reason will be due to no access to distribution. Apple, Amazon, Google, and Facebook are becoming the only way to distribute items that can be virtualized.

[PHC1]

Originally Posted by IM3CPO

The guy who wrote the article got it all wrong. Computer audio is not dead. This doesnt even remotely make any kind of sense. Digital playback devices like phones, iPads, etc., are still computers. Storing your music locally on your network and playing it on another device in your home is still streaming. What he actually meant (but didnt state) is that music services will replace music ownership.

So, will music services replace music ownership? Almost certainly and the reason will be due to no access to distribution. Apple, Amazon, Google, and Facebook are becoming the only way to distribute items that can be virtualized.

Nope, you are confusing the terms of true "streaming". Streaming from your NAS or other device that holds the downloaded/purchased content is not "On Demand Streaming" as the current trend is.

In order to "store" something on your "computer" be it iPhone, iPad, computer etc... one needs to "buy" and "download". Downloads are Nearing Extinction.

"Hey, the woolly mammoth also had a good run. But despite a decade of relatively strong sales, the paid download now looks headed for the music industry’s waste bin.

Just this week, Nielsen Music put some numbers on this meltdown. During the first half of 2018, sales of song downloads tanked 27.4% to 223.1 million, from 307.2 million during the same period in 2017. Separately, album downloads slipped 21.7% to 27.5 million units, down from 35.1 million previously."

https://www.digitalmusicnews.com/201...loads-extinct/

The current trends seem to clearly indicate that any kind of "ownership" be it physical media or purchased "downloaded" content is going the way of the Dinosaurs.

[JemHadar]

I wonder how millennials will react when the streaming servers go down for more than one day.

FWIW is see the value of physical media collections only increasing once millennials realise they don’t own anything but are spoonfed some sugar coated licensing deal obscured by eula legaleze nobody understands.

But then...maybe they just don’t care.

On a small tangent...to my Horror some movies or series will never be released on blu ray. So one is forced to subscribe to netflix, amazon and stack a lot of boxes.

I do hope the next season of “The Expanse” will be released on blu ray by Amazon.

[PHC1]

Originally Posted by Jem666

I wonder how millennials will react when the streaming servers go down for more than one day.

FWIW is see the value of physical media collections only increasing once millennials realise they don’t own anything but are spoonfed some licensing deal obscured by eula legaleze nobody understands.

But then...maybe they just don’t care.

Millennial's moto is "No Ownership, No Problem". Prioritizing "Experiences" to "Ownership" is the trend which is perhaps significantly different than the previous generations. There have been quite a few articles written on the topic.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/blakemo.../#182f0e4a522f

[JemHadar]

Originally Posted by PHC1

Millennial's moto is "No Ownership, No Problem". Prioritizing "Experiences" to "Ownership" is the trend which is perhaps significantly different than the previous generations. There have been quite a few articles written on the topic.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/blakemo.../#182f0e4a522f

It sure will be an experience when servers go dark...or content is removed or censored for whatever reason.

There is a perverse irony at play here. “Millennials don’t own stuff but are themselves owned by a handful of tech companies”...George Orwell couldn’t have imagined this...

[IM3CPO]

Originally Posted by PHC1

Nope, you are confusing the terms of true "streaming". Streaming from your NAS or other device that holds the downloaded/purchased content is not "On Demand Streaming" as the current trend is.

Let me further explain what I am saying...

On demand streaming SERVICE SUBSCRIPTIONS are different than streaming content you own (aka: NOT a subscription service) from your local network to yourself. But only in that you continually pay for access to the online subscription model.

They actually are the exact same thing from a technological perspective.

EDIT: Which again, is why I said the guy wrote the wrong article. This has nothing to do with computer audio being dead. You actually need computer audio for any of this to work.

[W9TR]

Both our houses are in rural areas and connectivity is a challenge. I would say availability is 95%. That 5% failure rate is really problematic in that it happens randomly and mostly at inconvenient times.

Availability of my locally stored content is probably around 99.99% and the 0.01% failure rate is due to IT support incompetence. I am IT support.

[JemHadar]

Originally Posted by W9TR

Availability of my locally stored content is probably around 99.99% and the 0.01% failure rate is due to IT support incompetence. I am IT support.

This post deserves “the Smile of the Day” award 🥇 [emoji38]

[PHC1]

Originally Posted by IM3CPO

Let me further explain what I am saying...

On demand streaming SERVICE SUBSCRIPTIONS are different than streaming content you own (aka: NOT a subscription service) from your local network to yourself. But only in that you continually pay for access to the online subscription model.

They actually are the exact same thing from a technological perspective.

EDIT: Which again, is why I said the guy wrote the wrong article. This has nothing to do with computer audio being dead. You actually need computer audio for any of this to work.

Technically speaking YES. From all other aspects NO. A flat fee a month that opens up ALL of the available music on whatever subscription service database to the listener is far and beyond paying for each individual download whatever the price may be for such. From financial point of view a subscription service offers FAR more value. For what would amount to less than a dozen paid downloads a month, one would have access to the same content and a MILLION others to boot. That's what Millennials want.