I buy CDs and then rip them to the quality I want. Lossless is good for archival and if you have a computer hooked up to some nice speakers or headphones, otherwise lossy MP3 (I still encourage using LAME for variable rate to save even more space) or Ogg work just fine, especially for portable media players.

Last time I checked, I think a monthly fee for Zune Music Pass let's you use their entire library and then select 10 or 15 DRM-free MP3 files to download every month.

Edit: I just checked Zune Music Pass again and I don't think they offer the keep 10 option anymore. It also probably isn't DRM-free because they mention being able to sync the files you want to keep an unlimited number of times only for a Windows Phone or a Zune player. Bleh. I've thought about trying it before. Not now.

I don't get this, why does buying mp3s make no sense if you prefer full albums? You can download complete albums in mp3 format, not just individual songs.

- i don't buy mp3s
- i don't buy CDs
- i don't download music

I'm listening internet radios .

For the Amazon users:

I'm not sure if this is well known or not, but currently you can get a free $5 mp3 credit for Amazon if you sign an email address up with the Scott Shared Values program. Click on the link for the offer.

https://www.scottbrand.com/offer/amazon

Once you finish signing up for the program, you will get an email with a code to put into amazon (took around 20 minutes to get the email).
Note: It says it is for US residents only.

CDs. Then I rip them. I'm terribly materialist, I need objects. And I started buying digital versions of games only because there was no convenient alrernatives (for original non-localised versions, and "old" games.., and by "old", I mean anything older than three months).

For me, music is more real if it's really on an official material support.

GOG.
Indie bundles.
Bandcamp for when the soundtrack is sold separately.
I torrent Soviet music, current rightsholders can go die in a fire.

CDs from a reputable used CD shop in town. Rip to MP3 for use on the phone, through a bluetooth headset. Lossy? Sure. Can I fit a few thousand tunes on the phone that way? You bet. Besides, there's normally so much industrial noise at my customer's factories that perfect audio is kinda pointless. That said, I do eventually want to rip again in a lossless format for 'someday' use in a whole-home setup.

I do the same mostly. My wife will happily listen to a completely random mix of songs from wildly different genres, but when I'm in the mood to listen to something, I want there to be some consistency at least. Generally, that means listening to a specific album.

I usually buy from iTunes. But i do still buy CDs from the bands i really love.

CD's from retail store

Amazon.com if they're on sale or you can rip them out of Youtube videos for free...

Generally I just use Zune Pass, Spotify, or whichever other streaming solution is pissing me off the least at the moment.

CDs, mostly. Then I rip them to WAV/CUE to preserve quality and albumyness. Flavour of the month singles (Gangnam Style and such) I just buy from iTunes.

EDIT: I also buy records when available.

I read an article where they did a decent guide where you could compare 320 kbps MP3 vs 1.5mbps FLAC. Suffice to say, you need high-end gear, atuned hearing and specific music type (e.g classic) to hear the difference.

However, MP3s with lower bitrate than 320 like 256 or 128 could probably easier to distinguish even with low-end hardware and normal hearing.

Here's the article for those who care: MP3 vs Lossless

CDs, if the right versions are available [original recordings mostly], if i don't know if the source is remastered or not, i won't buy it. If my record player wasn't dead, or i had the will to finally get it fixed, i'd still be on records.

[edit]
Oh, and Media Markt offers the biggest choice of music where i live. So, i usually buy there.

iTunes, they are like the GOG of the music industry, minus the frequent promos.

High quality format, re-downloadable songs, DRM-free. Very affordable pricing and their feature that allows you to complete the album is perfect (if you like a song and want to get it, you don't need to decide whether or not you want the album right away, you can decide later).

Their technical service is very professional too. I had some trouble creating my account and they gave me 2 songs for free as an apology.

I have nothing, but good things to say about their music distribution service (well, they should make their client run on Linux as well, but that's about it).

Their video service sucks though (DRM laden, but then, the movie industry is behind the times in that department).

Their iTunes client runs on Windows and their songs are DRM-free, meaning you can put them on any device you have.

I have some songs from iTunes on my Microsoft Zune...


How big of a collection do you have?

Between my music CDs which I have all backed up digitally and what I have on iTunes, I own somewhere between 1500 and 3000 songs and the size of my music collection is nowhere near the size of my gaming collection.

Getting the higher quality format is totally worth it.