Is it better to download music or to stream it?

[Xdqwerty]

I personally prefer streaming it.

 

[linuxares]

Streaming = Can disappear anyday
Downloaded = Kept until removed/crashed hardware/corrupted

 

[froggestspirit]

As someone who's listened to downloaded music for years, I decided to make a playlist on spotify of my local playlist, and only around half the songs were on there. Streaming might be good to find new songs, but I'd never rely on others to keep stuff I want to hear available (Plus storage is pretty cheap)

 

[tech3475]

I use both.

Apple Music allows me to keep a local library of 'to own' music whilst also allowing me to stream to Alexa.

One thing I do hate though is that Apple doesn't sell it's higher quality versions, requiring Apple Music.

That said, I still prefer to have a local/'to own' library where possible for music I want to listen to long term, using AM's ability to match/upload any tracks.

As someone who's listened to downloaded music for years, I decided to make a playlist on spotify of my local playlist, and only around half the songs were on there. Streaming might be good to find new songs, but I'd never rely on others to keep stuff I want to hear available (Plus storage is pretty cheap)

This is one reason why I switched to Apple Music, Spotify's only real strength is that it's better for controlling via Alexa.

 

[Tomato123]

I mostly use streaming out of convenience, but pay for Tidal so I at least get decent quality streams. For albums and artists that I listen to often, there are ways to *cough* *cough* acquire the high quality files from services like Qobuz (which often has the highest possible quality you can find). Storage is cheap enough when you already have a NAS and can just add another HDD.

 

[slaphappygamer]

Depends on your connection. WiFi is stable. Cell signal can be unreliable, or it can be really good. I prefer to download, because I can put my phone in airplane mode and not be bothered by texts or calls.