Something is missing with music streaming...

No. I don't miss the physical experience at all. The ability to access my whole collection has made enjoying my system even better. 

James

No, not me. Streaming allows me to obtain long out-of-print and bargain (cheaper) music via downloads and sometimes "better-than-cd resolution" versions of existing music. Not dropping or damaging discs now, or dusting or removing fingerprints or dog slobber! I can listen to something in seconds instead of squinting and deliberating for ages, if I make a rare mistake, I can change it. I can use Rovi or Discogs to explore and find out how many cover arts there were for a release rather than just staring at the 'only' one I was aware of (the one I held) for instance.

 This business of "handling" discs is entirely personal - but I have no wish to go back to searching thru rows of horrible plastic cases twisting & turning your head & squinting or turning up the lighting to read the title is not & never was a pleasure.   Browsing on a "pad" thru a nicely laid out list of easy to read albums,  the ability to change the list, to see or not to see the album cover art, that for me is a pleasure.  I now find & play more of those albums that did not get selected in the CD searches,  I also like the ability to set up a play list or a string of albums on random play.      

When out buying or ordering online new cd,s to rip I still like to go through the whole package and determine the quality and effort that has gone into the design of some.  The excitement of having a 'new stack" against the old stacks has been lost a little by new rips being put in alphabetical order.

although the benefits of having everything on the little serve' far outweigh any negatives.

Searched high and low for a particular cd the other day to spin for old times sake...

Gave up and went back to the iPad and my whole collection (and some).

So, that's a no from me .

I would agree, and add that since  subscribing to Tidal I rarely play 'my' music.

H

There was a market a good few years ago of tweaks to get better sound from the discs, pens to outline the edge ,a lath device to score an angle on the edge, static mats , anti static sprays and other snake oil derived sprays. I always like to use one product before making a rip to clean of any manufacture wash.

Sound quality, musical communication, whatever you prefer to call it, was paramount in our decision to go from CD playback to streaming. Everything else was secondary. I would have put up with more inconvenience for the sonic improvement on offer. I don’t miss fiddling about with, storing and accidentally damaging CDs at all. Although if CD playback sounded better to me I’d be running the best CDP I could afford. In my case it’s all about the music and nothing is missing. In fact there's more in there than I ever imagined.

i think this is the reason why vinyl is re-vitalized....but i really don't miss CD's (sold my CDP for years)

I don't miss handling CDs in the slightest. The only time they see the light of day is when they arrive through the post, after which they are immediatley ripped and put into interim storage prior to lugging another boxful of 150 or so up into the attic. I thought that I might miss the album art as I did with my enforced move from vinyl to cassettes and then CD but no, the album art looks even better on the iPad or Macbook Pro. Most importantly for me though is that I am listening to far more music than ever. There is no clutter with shelves and racks of CDs on walls, finding music is so much easier and setting up playlists a joy. The only downside is that my wallet seems to have sprung a permanent leak in buying an awful lot of CDs and downloads

I miss . . . 

Cds rather than art in my living room. 

The clutter when CDs haven't been put away. 

Having to meticulously file the CDs so I can find what I want to listen to. 

Not being able to read the cd spines in dim light even if meticulously filed. 

Those terrible cheap plastic cd cases. 

The center hubs in those cases where I'm sure I'm going to break the cd getting it out. 

Hmm what else. . . 

My favourite is accidentally fraying the top of the spine of a Digipak, when the CDs are jammed in a bit tight.

Maybe with CDs but I can't get on with reading on an E device, real books are the only answer for me.

there are a bunch of albums I would like to buy, and miss the vast collection of CD's.

There is no way I want to buy albums on MP3 format via download. 

For instance I was listening to an old Alexander ONeal album (hearsay) and loved the last 2 tracks on the album. Where I live now there is no way to buy the other albums.

And I only want to buy them on FLAC or ALAC via download. 

The end of CD is not good for music loving folk.

Sure I will stream it once I buy it, but need to be able to buy what you like in the first place !

And the streaming services are ok, kind of a musical fast food, but those of us who bought Naim aren't into low audio quality music

I guess I can empathize, but I developed no nostalgia for CD's at all , and have been RIPed and stored all of my CD's for quite some time. I do understand because I really do like the experience of spinning a record on my LP-12. I think part of that experience is listening to a album front to back and needing to pay attention in a way you don't with streaming or even a CD. I doubt I will ever own another CD Player.

Have we reached the end for CDs?

Sure, CD replay is a thing of the past for some of us - back to enhanced musical enjoyment again. But an awful lot of music is still deployed and stored on CD - most of my collection is, even if I never play a CD. And I continue to buy them. I also buy downloads at and above CD quality (most above nowadays, never below) and I have found this to be sometimes more advantageous, because I could by a track at a time. Sometimes I only want one or two pieces from a much bigger collection that I will never listen to.

Not for me. I still have my cds and don't miss using them at all. The sound quality and convenience is far better,  for me, from streaming.  I only buy new albums via download but I picked up Souls Core by Shawn Mullins,  to replace my broken copy,  and Natalie Imbruglia, Left of Centre for 1 pence each, and Rainbow's Long Live Rock and Roll for 3 quid all from Amazon with a pound postage each. They are all now ripped and stored safely away. 

I miss Cd's about as much as I miss the darkroom - not at all (I'm a photographer). Of course with streaming if something goes wrong with your system, the sound of silence can be deafening. 

In the beginning I missed this physical aspect and needed to get used to it. I even needed to avoid to constantly skip to the next song from another album. Now I am fully used and only experience the benefit. As I am intending to also go mobile on high res - I also will have now a medium accross all platforms.

I never missed CDs after first using the HDX. It is a fantastic fun machine. 

Looking to go to streaming just because I want a Chord Dac and can't afford a decent new CD transport to go with it.  Will I miss CDs?  Yes.  I do like the feel - I know when and where I bought each one.  They'll outlast any computer memory device.  And I know if I have an original run album or a lousy remaster.  And I'll be entering the brave new world of file management - bad enough to worry about family photos, now I have to manage the music files too.  iPads - can't stand 'em, won't touch them.  Click this software setting and change the sound quality?  WTF?  Maybe I'll splash for that nice cyrus transport after all.  Or maybe Naim will make a new xs level cd player that catches things up to save me from this bother. 

I still enjoy rare moments when I have time to hold CDs in my hands, clean them, check them out for scratches, then gently put them in the CD player, press Play button, then enjoy listening to them.  It happens 1% of time, other 99% are spent on streaming experience.  But for me the whole process of handling and listening to a CD is more like a boutique experience, something with soul and real presence.

We are loosing our souls in this digital age, we are becoming digital species ourselves.  Emotions have gone, so have compassion and other virtues.  We are becoming programmed to depend on what is served to us. Smart iGadgets made us dumb.  And we are not realising it.

As I hold my Swiss mechanical timepiece in one hand and my uber potent device in another, this little metal thing makes me smile, the shiny screen does not move me.

For me it is more about the whole experience.  It is the ambient, the plate and the presentation that matter to me, not the food itself ...

Bobby

Hah!  I had to rebuild my PC the other day (moved to SSD), and I was very happy to be able to spin vinyl all the while I was unable to play my ripped music.