BAASnotes.com – Bay Area Audiophile Society

Infographic: Online music streaming services

There’s no question that online streaming is hot. A growing segment of music listeners is just saying “no” to music ownership and local storage.

Oakland-based Pandora has been a leader, but the space is now quite crowded. How is a person to choose? This infographic, from Gerson Lerman Group, does a nice job in laying out the landscape.

But what does this all mean to audiophiles? My suspicion: not a lot, at least in the near term. Most enthusiasts have invested heavily in vinyl and/or optical media and players. We have seen that these trends are difficult to reverse.

I myself have been surprised by the reluctance of BAAS members in embracing music servers. But it is the “music server” that will ultimately power streaming services in audiophile reference systems. The fact that these devices are close cousins to general purpose computers, including the internet connection, will make it so.

Until then, these services will supplement existing media for audiophiles – and be used mainly when mobile.

What do you think? Please document your experiences and opinions in the comments.

Bob