Even an old reconstructed luddite such as myself recognises the benefits of streaming, the scope to try different music on an almost infinite basis and put together playlists.
But then suddenly a chosen favourite album or recording will disappear. Recent examples include the Cream reunion set at the RAH and When the Storm Broke by Lee Morgan but even more inexplicably an odd track an example here being the opening track on the Queen/Paul Rodgers Sheffield set. I’ve checked and these examples apply across Tidal, Qobuz and Spotify.
The lesson is if you really value something buy hard copy or a download.
My 5 Lee Morgan discs are on audiophile releases (two on AP and and three mastered by Alan Yoshida). All of mine originated on Blue Note. This set is on Playtime, a label I’ve never heard of. I guess they’re out of copyright. Also, I can only find the set in CD Quality. I’m not sure the blurb is correct. I’m going to pass even at that price.
But I agree with the original poster. If I want to be sure that I can always hear a specific recording, I buy it, However, most of my streaming is for background music.
When an album disappears from Tidal, Qobuz etc. it’s often because they have replaced it with another version. Sometimes this is a 24 bit version or it may differ in some other way. It’s always worth doing a new search to see if it’s still available as a new listing.
Other albums may simply disappear altogether. This is usually because of a dispute between the artist or rights holder and the streaming service. So yes, the safe bet is to but a disc or download. Personally I have had to do this only rarely, so I tend not to bother until after an album vanishes from Qobuz.
Exactly what I’ve always said, and one of the reasons why I maintain a collection of my own on in my local music store, and only stream online to check out music new to me. Of course, for some, maybe many, people music is rather ‘throwaway’, listened to maybe a few times then forgotten - The online streaming culture of some people reminds me of the old iPod days when some people used to boast about the number of tracks they had on it, though mostly not played beyond the first few days or weeks, sometimes not even that.
When or possible ‘Where The Storm Broke’ is maybe an unofficial re-issue title. The album Lee Morgan released with the same track listing is called ‘City Lights’.
I too have never heard of Playtine but I did have a few gaps in my early Lee Morgan catalogue.
I my guess is these are digital copies of the Blue Note releases and they sound amazing. £4.49 well spent for the eight albums I hacked out of the 84 tracks.
Not sure how much the Lee estate will see of my £4.49 but sometimes you have to play it as it lays.
Worst thing is that Music can simply disappear and maybe you don’t even notice. At some point you ask yourself…. I used to listen to that, what happened to it?
One of the reasons I canceled all music streaming services.