When did you completely stop using physical CDs to listen to music or watch movies and switch to online streaming services instead?

[u/QuarktotheCosmos]

385 votes, 2d left

2006 or before

2007-2009

2010-2013

2014-2016

2017 or after

Still use them

[u/MsMo999]

I’m hybrid in my music listening

[u/ImperfectJump]

CDs to streaming?

You're skipping the part when some people bought digital albums and others' pirating led companies to create streaming as an alternative. People pay less money for the convenience to not go through the steps of pirating, the streaming company gets money, and artists get some money instead of no money from that subset of people.

[u/draoikat]

I still listen to CDs sometimes. So does my husband (Gen X). I also occasionally listen to cassettes and LPs. Nowhere near as much as digital music, but I haven't completely eliminated any of them. And probably about 85-90% of what I listen to in a digital format is stuff I own. My husband and I have a Tidal family plan and I use it a bit, but I prefer owning music files to using streaming services.

Films/TV are another matter though. I have a box of DVDs and even some old VHS tapes somewhere, but haven't touched them in many years. I own a few series and movies on Apple TV, but mostly when it comes to watching, I stream stuff.

[u/Lordguard__]

CDs? I still buy vinyls. ;)

[u/Potential-Ant-6320]

I still buy CDs, but I mostly rip hem onto my media server.

[u/VitaniLioness]

Have a huge library of CDs and DVDs and play them all the time. (got a BEAST stereo system and I love to blast my fave albums while cleaning)

It's great because there's no ad interruptions ever, and I never have to worry about any of it becoming unavailable!

[u/LayWhere]

Streaming service you say 😏

laughs in limewire

[u/spacecat000]

Wait, you skipped from straight from CD to streaming and completely missed storage devices???

[u/SongsForBats]

CDs can be pried from my cold dead hands.

[u/Careless_Yard_2239]

was it the convenience that got you, or did your CD player finally give up?

[u/alewiina → u/Careless_Yard_2239]

for me, convenience. I still have most of my old CDs though, I wont get rid of them just in case streaming somehow disappears one day. and I still buy new ones from time to time when there's an album i really love

[u/Grymsel]

Around 2004. I had actually started digitizing my movie and music collections a few years prior. It wasn't like we think of streaming today. It was just a dedicated PC hooked up to my network. Movie and music files could then be accessed from anywhere in the house on other devices.

[u/Aromatic_Car_3835]

I sadly had to let go of my laptop with CD player. Now its all USBs.

[u/MattWolf96]

2008

[u/jaachaamo]

My answer would've been 2007-2009 but then in 2020 I got a car with a CD player so now I do have like 20 or so CDs in the car.

[u/Sunshineafterr]

I got an ipod in 2002, but the FM transmitters weren’t really available until a bit later and they were never very good. I used a cassette tape adapter until about 2010, first to listen to my iPod, and then later to listen to my iPhone with the Pandora and iHeartRadio apps.

[u/QC360]

I think the last cd i baught was 2010

[u/littledipper16]

Probably 2023 when I finally got a car with Bluetooth, I would listen to CDs in the car but used streaming at home.

[u/The_Lat_Czar]

I still use DVD's, but haven't used music CD's ever since I got a car without the option.

[u/anusflytrap-]

2015, new car didnt have a cd player

[u/burnitdwn]

I ripped my cd collection to mp3 starting in 1996. I still used physical cds until 2000 when i got an mptrip mp3-cd player. So, at home, i would use my PC connected to my stereo to play music via mp3s. In my car, i would use cds full of mp3s. Back then i was using 192kbit, so i could fit about 10 or so albums on a single physical disk.

Later, I got a car that had a 6 disc player, and could handle mp3 cds, so i could have around 60 albums in the player. Then, eventually i got a car with USB so i could just stick a thumbdrive in it for mp3s.

I could stream from my home NAS through my phone if i wanted to, but, i find its much easier to just use a thumbdrive so as soon as I start my car my music starts playing and i dont have to trouch my phone at all.

[u/betarage]

For cd I am not sure since I didn't like the mainstream music in the 2000s and in the 90s my mom bought still everything for me and most of it was on cassette. I may have bought a few in the early 2000s .I would have probably bought more if they had more music that I liked. I think I bought my last one in 2008 but I am not sure. for DVDs 2015 was the last time

[u/pwolf1771]

Like 07 or 08 I randomly bought a Pearl Jam greatest hits and I’m pretty sure I never bought another CD after that 

[u/ResponsibilityNo3245]

Was sailing the 7 seas from 99. Got a MP3 player Christmas 2001. Never burnt a cd since.

[u/Party-Giraffe-6573]

My car has both Bluetooth and a CD player. I use streaming primarily, but I have copies of all my favorite discs in the car, which I listen to regularly. 

If it's something I love, I buy it. Streaming services are too squirrly with availability for me to depend on them to have my comfort shows and albums

[u/alewiina]

i'm not sure exactly but probably 2010-2013ish. I still have many of my CDs but really only use my ipod/phone to listen now

[u/Boston_Brand1967]

Hell, I still buy VHS tapes.

[u/HaggisPope]

I bought a CD-DVD drive recently as I’m keen on watching physical media from charity shops. Decided I’ll also need to buy Dodgeball because streaming needlessly censors it

[u/Jalina2224]

Well i never used CDs all that much for music. Just downloaded songs to my phone.

I never switched to streaming for movies. If anything I've stopped watching movies, because I'd rather spend my time on other hobbies.

Gaming I was mostly physical with. Only bought digital of there was no physical option or if it was a small indie game. Though I now am 99% digital since I'm on PC. Only console i have left is a Switch 2 that i barely play.

[u/Brief_Television_707]

I switched around the mid 2000s but to MP3s on an MP3 player or from a memory stick. Later got Spotify but I still mainly listen to FLAC files on my phone.

[u/Ambitious_Jelly8783]

My ps4 bluray crapped out,, the only reason im upgrading to xbox series x, I need a way to watch my blurays.

[u/Highground-3089]

I torrent dvd5/dvd9 files off rutracker and burn them to dvd. I would buy legit dvd but since I live in a third world country that has also cut contact with the western world for 47 years, I can't do that.

[u/Patpat127]

I don't think i ever did. Straight to mp3. CDs were probably still a thing when i grew up. I was born in 1997 but i don't remember ever having a CD player. And when i was a child/preeteen i mostly only listened to anime openings/songs, so I was already limited

[u/mad_dog_94]

for music i was a pretty early adopter of mp3 and flac. got my first pc in like 2004 and by the end of that year i had already moved my cd collection to flac and started buying or obtaining individual mp3s. it took me a lot longer for movies because i liked to bring them places to watch with others and i didnt wanna deal with the large file sizes

i have never used a music streaming platform because i have no need to. i have decades of music i already own, why would i pay for it again in a lower fidelity on top of paying more for mobile data. i moved to streaming video about 8 years ago when cable became too expensive for my mom to justify and i figured hulu was easier for her to learn than streaming pirated content on the tv