The problem with streaming

I’m a record guy for sure and will probably never stop buying physical media. i like to own things, it brings me pleasure and most of the time it sounds better. But from a convenience perspective I cannot imagine (willingly) giving up streaming at this point. I play qobuz in the mornings when I’m working and can’t easily pick out (and get up to flip) records, I stream it in the car, I trawl bandcamp for new stuff when I’m bored, I send songs to friends via text and they send songs back to me...streaming is a joy. I recommend anyone who’s still skeptical to consider the discovery aspect first and foremost - if you’re happy living with the same Beatles records you’ve been spinning for 50 years, more power to you, but if you’re tired of what’s on your shelves you can be listening to something brand new 2 minutes from now. It is so, so easy these days

re: remastering engineers botching a job/using an inferior source, asking whether they "know" what they're handed is "the good one" seems kind of obtuse. some certainly do a great job, but with material outside of niche markets many engineers are probably just given something and they do their best with it. and their best might not be what an audiophile thinks is best. some go crazy with the compression and (an audiophile might say) wreck the dynamics because that's a sound that the artist or a label person wants/expects. others master for airpods, car systems, bluetooth speakers etc because that's what almost everyone on earth uses for playback these days. and a lot engineers are probably just regular people with a job to do, and some days may just phone it in