I Sold my CD Player!!! Streaming sounds so incredible!!!

Quoting Mahler 123:  itturns out that there isn’t a single software program that I’ve encountered-and I’ve tried many, including Roon-that can organize Classical Music. I can find CDs faster on my shelf than in the media libraries. Also many of these recordings were not big sellers-perhaps 20,000 units- and some are recordings dating back decades. The availability of these recordings in the services such as Qobuz is spotty as their availability ebbs and recedes.
 

Replying to Mahler123>

Like you I listen to Classical Music, both opera and classical music.  As an audiophile with a very well outfitted Roon system and duplicated on the Naim Uniti Core that I started on by ripping my CD collection and editing the metadata and with a CD Collection of over 4000 albums, I have a little experience. I started with LPs in the 50s, graduated to tape cassettes, then CDs, I go back a few years.  I struggle to believe that you can file and find your CDs any better than you can organize your metadata in Roon and other systems that curate metadata.  Classical music has inherent problems that make it virtually imposslble to have a perfect file system.

But my real point isn’t to argue about that but to say that streaming my CDs is the best thing I’ve done.  I made the mistake of refurbishing my Bang & Olufsen turntable so I could return to using my vinyl collection.  It’s in complete rebuilt condition, sounds as good as a Beogram 4004 can sound and I’ve played it four times in 12 months.  The reason is so obvious, it’s that streaming is so ridiculously convenient, I can’t be bothered to struggle with handling the physical copy.  It takes awhile to locate a physical copy and set it up to play.  It takes less than a minute to start the same music selection streaming.  And my physical CDs no longer take up space in my house.  I even bought an expensive Ayre DX-5 DSD for my SACDs.  I’ve had it a year and play it almost never.  For the same reason.  And not only is streaming ridiculously convenient it sounds equal to or better than my expensive Triode CD player with optional tube.

i don’t need Tidal or Qobuz because my CD collection has most of what I want.  If I want something new, I buy the CD.  And because I only have to rip it once, I don’t need to buy new.  When I buy a CD, it costs almost nothing.  
 

I admit I haven’t made the logical next step, which is to donate or sell my CD collection.  For unknown reasons, I like to own the hard copy too, though I’ve never once turned to a ripped CD to listen to it again.

My vinyl collection is impossibly large.  It is always a lengthy ritual to find and prep a vinyl recording to play.  I just hate doing it.  So I don’t.  Luckily much of my vinyl has been professionally dubbed and if I have something that has t been dubbed,  I’ll buy the CD.  I ought to sell my Beogram 4004 but I probably won’t.

It turns out that there isn’t a single software program that I’ve encountered-and I’ve tried many, including Roon-that can organize Classical Music. I can find CDs faster on my shelf than in the media libraries.

There was some method to the madness on how physical CDs were organized on the shelves. Set up a categorized folder tree (on NAS) that mimics your preference for sorting/viewing/browsing. Browse by folder only, i e., navigate through the folder tree you set up to locate your music. If your software restricts you from doing the latter (a simple browse by folder), throw it in the garbage.

Roon..or Schloon can’t cater a whole lot to your personal tastes when a collection becomes too big...only you can organize folder trees to your personal taste.

I remember back in the 1980's when CDs became popular and the belief was that turntables would no longer be necessary. Today turntables and vinyl are more popular than ever.  When streaming became the new norm the belief was that CD players had become outdated, yet there are still millions in use.  When people have a lot of money invested in their physical music media, they are not going to discard it simply because a newer technology happens to come along.  While I do find streaming to be very convenient I still prefer listening to quality CDs through my vintage Naim CDi.  😊

@echolane 

  Last week I tried to find Sviatislav Richter RCA recording of Bach Well Tempered Clavier Books I and II on my streamer.  My software is mconnect and Cambridge Audio Stream Magic.  I know that I had ripped it to the NAS.

  I have something like 17 tabs for the composer in both programs.  He is listed as Bach, JS; JD Bach; Bach with his birth date; Bach, J.S with his death date; and multiple other ways. The 100 or so Bach albums that I’ve ripped to the NAS are all dispersed amongst the various tabs.  Different discs from multi disc set are in different tabs.  If I want to play the 3 discs from St Matthew Passion I need to find it in 3 different tabs.  Guess what?  After checking all of these tabs, the Richter recording isn’t in any of them!  Nor does searching by Artist-enter Sviatislav, Richter, or all the possible combinations-bring it up.

  I go to my CD shelves, which I organized over the 30+ years of buying CDs.  I look under JS Bach, who is in the B section, find the CD set, pull it out and play it, and in 10 seconds I have music.  I had just fruitlessly waisted 15 minutes in the thickets of streamer software.

  The same problem exists with Mahler, Beethoven, Mozart, etc.  As for multi composer discs, don’t ask.

  So I again burn the Richter discs.  The Melco N 100 will usually give me a message if the disc already exists in the database; none occurs.  Again the discs don’t show up in any of the tabs except for “recently added”.

  So make a playlist, you say.  So I did.  I created a playlist and named it “Sviatislav Richter”.  I had to add each track individually.48 Preludes and Fugues.  96 tracks.  A couple of times my wife interrupted me, I lost concentration, made a few mistakes in the order.  then had to add/delete/reorder…. I could have gone to my shelf about 10,000 times and pulled the CD off and replaced it in the time it took to search these tabs and make the playlist.

  Buy Roon and your troubles are solved, you say.  I did a one week trial a few years back and it maybe made things maybe 10% better.  I thought the SQ took about a 10% dip.  Decided against the lifetime $500 fee. YMMV.

  Regarding the commercial services, I have had several discs, usually Nonesuch recordings, go in and out of the catalog in a few months time. Joshua Rifkin Scott Joplin recordings originally were on 3 LPs and were eventually, briefly reissued on 3 CDs.  After enjoying them on Qobuz for a month or so they disappeared.  Emails to Qobuz went unanswered.  One of the albums reappeared after a month and then disappeared a few weeks later.  Same with Karl Ristenpart Bach recordings.  I eventually purchased all of these as second hand CDs, downloads, or LPs, depending upon availability.

  My physical media are fairly well organized, and I can find them easily.  Classical Music just doesn’t fit music file systems, which were all designed to other genres.  I’ve tried several others besides the ones mentioned above.

I haven’t even gone into the issues that I had with with Bluesound Node, which became hung up for weeks doing and update, or the Bryston BDP3, which relies upon a software program that is unusable for any genre.

  So my experience is atypical but for me streaming has been a frustrating, cumbersome experience.  Nothing beats the plug and play of a CD player, and SQ is equal.

  I just want to enjoy listening to music without having to learn how to become an IT Consultant in the process 

.I’m amazed that analog works at all...dragging a tiny MC stylus through some plastic...amazing.

+1 @wolf_garcia It is amazing. I always equate it to riding roller coasters to make music. Plus it’s still a somewhat popular thing which is even more amazing.