Meh, by most definitions of the term, this place is full of nothing but nerds. Besides, for all I know it's "hip" to be a nerd these days. So I guess we're OK, doing things our old-fashioned, nerdy ways. :P

Yeah, exactly. Nerd pride!

I think we're becoming a minority market these days though. Audiophilia has always been a very niche interest, and now certain artists don't even want to offer digital downloads of their new albums in lieu of streaming site exclusivity. The only way to own your own copies is to pirate the streams. Most people can't be bothered. They want us to worship The Cloud.

Oh, disposable culture... "I can just listen to it on YouTube." Streaming tends not to benefit artists too much, companies using creative accounting.
https://www.google.com/#tbm=nws&q=streaming+not+paying+artists

Heh, profitable for the streaming services anyway. I'd be surprised if small artists can even afford to buy toilet paper on a week's worth of streaming revenue.

Luckily the most important form of music distribution won't be failing any time soon: ticketed live concerts.

^ This.

I'd rather have a game on gog than the physical copy of it. Physical copies require space, which is a rather limited resource these days. Also physical things ties you down to a place and a lifestyle. But I guess it all comes down to personal preference, as it usually does.

^ same for me: the extra low space requirement and the easy portability are the beauty of digital goods.
Bandcamp is probably like Gog in spirit, but sadly quite limited in scope.

[sarcasm]Got it, only nerds care about audio fidelity and don't want to settle for compressed music that dumps 75-90% of the sonic information.[/sarcasm]

It's actually "for nerds and audiophiles". And yes, if you're going to do something with the music other than listen to it (like fourier), you're a nerd, and if you do hear the difference (I don't, and I took 8 years of piano classes), you're an audiophile.

Wasn't meant as a personal shot at you, just a gripe about the general attitude. Are you being facetious or are you honestly trying to say that you can't hear the side-by-side difference between an uncompressed 1411kps wave file (which is standard CD audio quality) and a 320kps mp3 (let alone a 128kps one)? I would find it very difficult for a trained pianist to honestly claim that with a straight face. I can very easily tell the difference between the two when listening side-by-side.

Why can't your entitled ass go down to the record store and actually purchase the album, so you can take it home, study the artwork, read the lyrics, and fall in love with the music?

I love Bandcamp.

It's taken a long time, but I'm breaking my attachment to physical media. There are still some CDs I'm unlikely to part with, but I'm moving away from them.

And truthfully, I can't tell the difference consciously between a well-encoded mp3 or AAC and a lossless audio file, but I appreciate the reassurance of the archival copy.

If, some day, something happens where mp3s cannot be listened to, I'll be happy to be able to make new lossy copies from something lossless rather than double-encoding.

Because I can buy it instantly, study the art work on my PC, read the lyrics on Google, and skip all of that if I want and still fall in love with the music regardless c:

Truth be told I did want to start a vinyl collection, but decided it would ultimately be a pointless endeavour. I'd appreciate the packaging for a day max then it would sit on my shelf. The end result I want is the music itself.

Yes, I honestly don't hear the difference between a 320 kbps mp3 and a FLAC when listening to music. Maybe it's the equipment -- I have Nokia Monster headphones (I bought them because the earpads felt adorably soft and hold no illusion as to their quality) and no dedicated sound card. Maybe I keep forgetting the difference in between listenings of a song but will hear the difference between samples specifically made to showcase it. But yes, I simply don't hear it when consuming music. I'm not being a hipster's hipster, I understand the value of FLACs for digital preservation, I download FLACs off bandcamp, I appreciate when FLAC soundtracks are available on GOG.

But if all music was on Bandcamp, wouldn't that make Bandcamp an unnecessary corporate monopoly? I thought all you socialist types were against monopolies. Except monopolies of convenience? A bit of inconsistency is afoot.