Music streaming service

[chazmo]

[ . . . ]

3). My Plex server running on my home PC. This is accessible with and plays back through the decent Samsung TV/soundbar combo in my family room. It allows She Who Must Be Obeyed easy access to all of her music that I've ripped over the years. The Plex server is accessible to other "network aware" devices like our Roku box, Chromecast, etc. Plex servers are also accessible from the "outside" (i.e., outside my home network), but I have not configured it. If I do that, then I have my music available anywhere I have an internet connection.

[ . . . ]

I recently set up Plex so I could rip my DVD video collection and serve it out from my home system (iMac) to my streaming TVs in the house so I don't have to have DVD players around anymore! It's very cool that it pulled my music collection out as well (already ripped to Apple Music) and presents it so that I can listen to music on my TVs... Of course there were many other ways to do that, but Plex is cool since it gives you video menus and downloads lots of metadata about the music (and the videos).

What's disappointing, and this is a big veer of course, is that the resolution/quality of my DVD movies doesn't measure up to today's HD streaming internet services. I've gotten so spoiled with my gargantuan 70" TV, that I don't end up using the DVD copies as much. It's so funny how DVD used to be relatively nice video quality... Just doesn't measure up to today's devices!

 

[gjmalcyon]

I recently set up Plex so I could rip my DVD video collection and serve it out from my home system (iMac) to my streaming TVs in the house so I don't have to have DVD players around anymore! It's very cool that it pulled my music collection out as well (already ripped to Apple Music) and presents it so that I can listen to music on my TVs... Of course there were many other ways to do that, but Plex is cool since it gives you video menus and downloads lots of metadata about the music (and the videos).

That's the main reason I set it up - She Who Must Be Obeyed was complaining about how difficult my main stereo rig was to use for listening to her CD's. With Plex accessible on the TV, all she has to do is find and select the Plex icon and browse the library with the TV remote. And the sound quality from the soundbar ain't bad.

 

[FNG]

Spotify, arguably the most popular music streaming service, compensates artists $0.00348 per hit, or $3,480 for 1 million plays. Singers will have to get at least 362 thousand clicks to see $1,260 hit their bank accounts. To get $3,714, artists should aim for around 1.07 million plays per month. (October 13, 2020)

This is how much top 7 music streaming services really pay artists - Atlas VPN

Atlas VPN reports that in 2019, music streaming accounts accumulated $7.1 billion, or 63.6% of all recorded music revenue, which reached $11.1 billion.

atlasvpn.com

Who Gets Paid for a Stream?

Billboard explains how streaming royalties are split between labels, publishers, artists and songwriters.

www.billboard.com

Here's a better article.

 

[GAD]

I recently set up Plex so I could rip my DVD video collection and serve it out from my home system (iMac) to my streaming TVs in the house so I don't have to have DVD players around anymore! It's very cool that it pulled my music collection out as well (already ripped to Apple Music) and presents it so that I can listen to music on my TVs... Of course there were many other ways to do that, but Plex is cool since it gives you video menus and downloads lots of metadata about the music (and the videos).

What's disappointing, and this is a big veer of course, is that the resolution/quality of my DVD movies doesn't measure up to today's HD streaming internet services. I've gotten so spoiled with my gargantuan 70" TV, that I don't end up using the DVD copies as much. It's so funny how DVD used to be relatively nice video quality... Just doesn't measure up to today's devices!

DVDs are only 480p. If you want 1080p or 4k on physical media you gotta go BluRay. Ripping those gets expensive, too.

I have a 72TB NAS feeding my Plex server.

 

[chazmo]

^ Right. And the low resolution is really noticeable on modern TVs. My collection is almost entirely DVD, GAD. So, I guess I'm just saying that ripping the DVDs to have the movies in my collection is not all that satisfying.

However, if folks have home movies they want to keep for posterity, this is a good way to go. I have a lot of old videotape that I digitized a while ago, and "ripping" them to MP4 files or something for streaming is very cool.

 

[DrumBob]

Let me clarify. I do have Sirius/XM in the car. I guess I classify them a series of radio stations, not a streaming service. I do jump around quite a bit between Deep Tracks, Blues, Garage, Outlaw Country. 40's Junction, The car came with Pandora also, and that I like more, because it's really geared toward the listener's tastes and you create the stations.

So, to be clear, I don't use Spotify, Apple, or anything else like it.

 

[FNG]

Let me clarify. I do have Sirius/XM in the car. I guess I classify them a series of radio stations, not a streaming service. I do jump around quite a bit between Deep Tracks, Blues, Garage, Outlaw Country. 40's Junction, The car came with Pandora also, and that I like more, because it's really geared toward the listener's tastes and you create the stations.

So, to be clear, I don't use Spotify, Apple, or anything else like it.

How is Pandora not like Apple or Spotify?

Pandora pays less in creator royalties than Spotify or Apple.

 

[FNG]

I signed up for a free months trial of Apple. Gotta figure how to access my iTunes library now.

Edit: looks like Apple allows access to my library of tunes purchased on iTunes automatically. One of those cloud deals I guess.

 

[DrumBob]

How is Pandora not like Apple or Spotify?

Pandora pays less in creator royalties than Spotify or Apple.

I guess I don't know. Sorry.

 

[gjmalcyon]

And you can always stream WXPN - they kick off their "Throwback Thursdays" programming for the summer today with the music of 1972. That was a GREAT year for music - just ask any geezer like me.

https://xpn.org/2022/06/01/2022-tbtxpn-kicks-off-with-the-music-of-1972/

 

[Nuuska]

That's the main reason I set it up - She Who Must Be Obeyed was complaining about how difficult my main stereo rig was to use for listening to her CD's. With Plex accessible on the TV, all she has to do is find and select the Plex icon and browse the library with the TV remote. And the sound quality from the soundbar ain't bad.

Howdy - I have one of these - a bit different w cassette player, too - plus the ReVox CD-player on top under the vinyl-player.

SWMO might like it . . . CD comfortably at eye-level . . .

 

[chazmo]

Dang, reel to reel huh Nuuska! Awesome. Do they still make new (quality) magnetic tape to use on those?

 

[chazmo]

The "ugly" kind of streaming...:

 

[gjmalcyon]

Howdy - I have one of these - a bit different w cassette player, too - plus the ReVox CD-player on top under the vinyl-player.

SWMO might like it . . . CD comfortably at eye-level . . .

That would be "nope".

Way too many buttons and knobs. She can run our Plex server with the TV remote and she's really, really, REALLY good with that.

 

[Nuuska]

The "ugly" kind of streaming...:

Careful - watcht it now . . .

The best ever employer of my entire life was Mr Willi Studer - I was working there @ 1973 & @1974 - there has never been any better tape recorders than what was made then - and I'm proud to be one - very very tiny bit - of that history.

And partly because of that - I am the very first guy to build a 24-track recording studio in Finland. Naturally w Studer A80-24-track.



BTW - there are two mistakes in that pic
- no way the tape salad could end up that way . . .
- how can both reels be full of tape ? ? ?

 

[Teleguy61]

She is now. It was her refusing to be on Spotify that helped to get better rates for artists on Spotify. They’re still not great, but they’re better than they were.

I know way too much about Taylor Swift.

I feel your pain.
I worked security at Swift's first and second stadium tours, and you cannot imagine the noise level of 55,000 shrieking
thirteen year old girls.
In some ways worse than ACDC, who were unbelievably loud.

 

[Coop47]

And you can always stream WXPN - they kick off their "Throwback Thursdays" programming for the summer today with the music of 1972. That was a GREAT year for music - just ask any geezer like me.

https://xpn.org/2022/06/01/2022-tbtxpn-kicks-off-with-the-music-of-1972/

Also a great year for movies, cars and the Bruins.

How is Pandora not like Apple or Spotify?

Pandora pays less in creator royalties than Spotify or Apple.

I'm not sure how much it's evolved, but when I used Pandora it was a matter of giving them examples of artists, albums and songs you like; based on some formula, it automagically picks songs for you to listen too. And like DrumBob said, you could create various stations based on those preferences.

Apple and Spotify allow you to directly pick what songs you want to listen to as well as create your own playlists. It does create weekly playlists on its own based on your likes, searches and listens that are pretty good too. If there's a current Pandora user who wants to correct me, please do.

 

[fronobulax]

I'm not sure how much it's evolved, but when I used Pandora it was a matter of giving them examples of artists, albums and songs you like; based on some formula, it automagically picks songs for you to listen too. And like DrumBob said, you could create various stations based on those preferences.

I liked Pandora for discovering "new to me" music. I gave up on it when it stopped finding new things or "misunderstood" why I liked a song. I do blame Pandora for my renewed interest in 70's funk and disco since. out of desperation, it kept suggesting anything that was recorded in the 70's in hopes I'd like something

I tend not to stream. That requires some kind of reliable connection to somewhere else. I choose to carry a portion of my library with me rather than pay for bandwidth that may or may not be available when I want it. I note the irony of this since I am a prime consumer of the iPod business model, a product that is now being phased out. I once lived in a major metropolitan area where cellular coverage was total for multiple carriers and there actually were choices for internet service providers. I am now in a more rural area and "rural internet access" is a talking point in political campaigns. Several stretches of local highways are known for having no cellular access to speak of and you can tell the locals because they give directions that start out with "your GPS won't work so you need to....". I also note a generational bias - my computing/IT career dates back to the days when networking computers was an R&D project and if something was "mission critical" I didn't require networking. Kids these days are amused when I run a decade old version of Microsoft Office from a computer with no network access instead of waiting until the cloud connection is restored to finish editing.

 

[Westerly Wood]

Turntables and albums still rock the Casbah.

 

[Opsimath]

I liked Pandora for discovering "new to me" music. I gave up on it when it stopped finding new things or "misunderstood" why I liked a song. I do blame Pandora for my renewed interest in 70's funk and disco since. out of desperation, it kept suggesting anything that was recorded in the 70's in hopes I'd like something

I tend not to stream. That requires some kind of reliable connection to somewhere else. I choose to carry a portion of my library with me rather than pay for bandwidth that may or may not be available when I want it. I note the irony of this since I am a prime consumer of the iPod business model, a product that is now being phased out. I once lived in a major metropolitan area where cellular coverage was total for multiple carriers and there actually were choices for internet service providers. I am now in a more rural area and "rural internet access" is a talking point in political campaigns. Several stretches of local highways are known for having no cellular access to speak of and you can tell the locals because they give directions that start out with "your GPS won't work so you need to....". I also note a generational bias - my computing/IT career dates back to the days when networking computers was an R&D project and if something was "mission critical" I didn't require networking. Kids these days are amused when I run a decade old version of Microsoft Office from a computer with no network access instead of waiting until the cloud connection is restored to finish editing.

I'm still in Office 2003, but unfortunately I am no longer one of the "kids these days".