(UPDATED 4/19/2013: I'm now a dedicated user of Spotify, paying for two separate accounts for my partner and I. I still purchase CDs of my favorite artists -- especially deluxe limited editions -- but typically I go and listen to those albums in Spotify anyway afterwards. I'd buy certain things in iTunes if it wasn't a headache to sync them with Spotify. Soon that will probably be better.)
The article I've quoted below from hypebot has me thinking about music storage in the cloud...
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Google Has Begun Testing Google Music, But Labels Still Have Not Agreed To Additional Use - hypebot
Google has begun testing its cloud music services internally, according to a report by CNet's Greg Sandoval. It's the same music system that we reported hackers had stumbled across a couple of weeks ago. But Google's tests don't mean that launch is imminent. According to our sources, though labels and publishers hope Google will enter the market and compete with iTunes, so far they've been unwilling to offer reasonable terms to license the new service. (via hypebot)
I'm curious to know what the majority of people worldwide really want in terms music services... wondering if we are collectively leaning towards cloud music services or if we still prefer to store our files locally. I know at least some of the people reading this right now are still happy with their physical collection of CDs and vinyl.
Personally I'm all over the map with that, with a decent collection of physical discs plus lots of mp3s that I am backing up in the cloud but not currently playing from the cloud. I want to though. I kind of hate being forced to use iTunes to put music on my iPhone, only because the iTunes interface feels clunky and heavy to me. Pandora has served me pretty well for most musical cravings but now that my 2g phone is more or less unsupported by Apple, I doubt I could even download the latest version. Most of the time I find myself ripping my physical CDs to the computer and listening to them while I work.
None of this is even half as satisfying as it used to be back in the day when I'd just pop a cassette in my walkman or in the car stereo.
I think that cloud music services hold the promise of that ironically old fashioned simplicity. All your music easily accessible from anywhere and everywhere. Imagine being able to hear every single song you have ever purchased on your laptop, on your TV, on your stereo, in your car, on your phone... whenever you want to hear your music, it's there.
I don't care which service makes it happen, but whoever does it the best and takes our music to the most places, while supporting both major label and indie artists at the same time and giving everybody a fair deal, will have my support and my subscription.
How do you feel about it? When I release my album or EP (or when your favorite artist or band releases their next one), are you going to buy the physical CD or vinyl (yes there will be vinyl!), buy the digital album or individual mp3s from iTunes or Amazon, or opt for whatever cloud storage service is winning the music wars at that time? Let me know in the comments below, on twitter, or on facebook.