I suppose internet streaming might become the usual way of streaming in towns and cities - but out here in the remote countryside, with 1MB internet this just is not possible. If I try to stream Qobuz even at 16/44.1 it often has breaks in it. The only way I can play hi res is to let it buffer a track, then play that. But it won’t buffer the next track, so I have to pause that one until it is buffered and play that. And so on. Not really conducive to getting into the music. I know that there are not enough people with poor broadband to matter, but none the less, it means I for one need to use local storage.
Plus I much prefer to have a local copy of the music I want - the internet is not always available.
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Well kind of, but in the UK there is the drive for near universal broadband access either by direct connection or by alternatives such as 4G and later 5G, radio or satellite. As the 4G network is driven as part of the UK Gov Emergency Services Network it’s coverage is at 90% indoor and a lot higher for outdoor currently with external broadband antenna … with specific activity now focusing on remaining no coverage areas, forests, mountains, very tall buildings and tunnels within the British Isles… so 4G Broadband Access is becoming increasingly a fall back for those off the physical network… yes it’s typically metered so you wouldn’t want to stream 24/7.
But network access and reach in 2019 isn’t simply just about consumer/small business internet broadband.
Ironically because of government subsidy if you are in increasingly many remote locations outside of hamlets or villages you are quite likely to have either now or shortly FTTP services. These give often a better service than those with FTTC services… Villages, hamlets, farmsteads and other remote locations are being connected through the government BDUK programme. (Though there will always be a few extreme locations with no current broadband service is possible at all )
if you have a 1Mbps Broadband service, your property won’t be so remote from the network (ie within 5 to 7 km), so it’s worth enquiring with your Parish Council or County Council what the plans are for your postcode under the BDUK programme.
My problem with cloud storage is that I work away from home a lot, and there is no way the internet access I have is reliable enough to stream from. So although my Tidal use has increased, I cannot make do without local storage. At home, my internet service (note that I do not use the term ‘broadband’ as by 21st century standards, it isn’t) is still adequate for 16/44 streaming.
The more I use Tidal, the more I seem to notice material that is not listed, or is greyed out, which is another reason I don’t want to be too dependent on it.
Hopefully this will all have improve soon, no doubt driven more by TV and gaming demands that music. To keep things in perspective, music has never been more accessible that it is today.
The trend towards online streaming is part of a larger social shift and one that I find incomprehensible. While online streaming is catching on to people of all age groups, it would be very inaccurate to suggest that the user demographic is anything like flat. It is still overwhelmingly bell shaped over a younger segment. And it varies greatly depending on country too.
In Japan, the CD is still king for many users. Partly due to truly difficult laws but also for other reasons.
But going back to this larger social trend, younger people have largely shunned the mantra of ownership that was a huge part of the Baby Boomer and Generation X mindset. They are increasingly about subscription services rather than buying music. Renting cars rather than buying them. Communal spaces rather than gardens. Communal living rather than domicile unit (even when funds permit). When things are owned they are increasingly shared ownerships within a community.
How people listen to music is just following the larger trend. I’m not particularly old but speaking to young grads entering the workplace it is clear there is a gulf of space between mentalities. They don’t understand wanting to own anything or even collect anything, they see it is sort of hoarding. Whereas I have to fully admit I don’t understand their perspective either. Shared ownership, renting, subscribing to services makes you dependent on others and entangled with society more than I am comfortable with.
Local streaming and owning a collection is part of a “a man’s home is his castle” mindset that I was raised on. And I always harbour the unrealistic fantasy that one day I will unplug from the rat race with my music and some 900 movies I’ve collected over the years in cabin in the woods. And I think that is a fantasy a lot of blokes share. But the modern societal shift would make that impossible for younger people. If they unplugged, they would arrive at the said cabin with nothing to do, unused to their own company, nothing listen to, read or watch.
It’s a bit of a rant, but the demise of CD and local streaming is more than just the natural evolution of a format. Any company that makes anything is getting to grips with the fact that society and how it consumes things and what the newest earners value is changing more rapidly than almost any time in the post war period if not longer. Naim are going to be fighting to be seen as relevant and possibly pondering whether it is even feasible to take their older established customer base with them as they change.
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I am not sure why you query Naim’s relevance, Naim has always been and I suggest still is about providing quality, enjoyable replay of recorded music. The media format sources come and as we see go… but the need of quality control and power amplification will always be there for those that appreciate quality replay. The format of the media will increasingly become irrelevant. It’s how it sounds, the enjoyment and appreciation upon playback that matters… and to me Naim is as strong if not stronger here today than all those years ago when it first started.
I guess at the age of 67, that makes me a bell end (not the first time I’ve been labelled that!).
Actually I’ve found in recent years that I have been downsizing my material “stuff” and spending more of my time and money on experiences - holidays, short breaks, eating out etc. My years of accumulating were between the ages of about 35 and 55 - at the latter age I had 8 Naim boxes and 11 motorcycles plus several hundred CDs. Now I have 1 Naim box, 6 motorcycles and the CDs are under the bed in spare room with Roon and Radio Paradise supplying the music. The main impetus has definitely not been financial necessity - the proceeds have been welcome but nowhere near life changing, but rather losing patience with having to look after so much stuff. I no longer have the inclination (even though I have more time) to bugger about fiddling with bikes and hifi - I am much more into listening to music and riding the bikes.
I guess age affects us all in different ways…
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Six motorcycles is a lot to be fiddling about with still …
ln my late sixties here too and I have been cutting down on the stuff laying around, all vinyl end has gone, and that was a lot, but number of bicycles has gone up from none to three, but justified, I ride everyday. I listen to music everyday, too, and it is via a mix of streaming, local and remote, and CD. I would say it is an equal split, streaming and spinning disc, I’m happy to have both. Although number of boxes has gone down with vinyl going, it has gone up as I plunge deeper into the digital, ND 555, Chord HMS … . No complaints, though, music is sounding better than ever.
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I am 3.5 miles from my nearest exchange - my next neighbour is about a mile away from me. A fairly sparse population. I will enquire, but I really doubt that there are any plans to do anything about it. We’re not really what I would call remote - half way between Exeter and Barnstaple. As for 4G (or any G) - I can get no signal at all in the house without the Sure Connect that I have, which gives out its own mobile phone signal - but of course uses the broadband to do the actual communication, which means everyone has to stop using broadband while you are making a phone call. There was a scheme to give £500.00 vouchers to people with poor broadband, for which we qualified and, amazingly, our broadband provider was a member of the scheme. When I approached them they said they had never heard of it, and really weren’t interested.
I agree with much of what you say, but hesitate with “for those that appreciate quality replay” - there seems to be a decreasing interest in that. For a generation brought up with ear buds and the like, playing MP3, the concept of anything much better than a fairly cheap amp and speakers is alien.
At the last place I worked it was obvious that they thought my interest in quality audio kit was rather strange - what they had was plenty good enough. I have extended an open invitation for them to come and hear what a hifi can sound like, but so far they haven’t taken me up on it.
17 year old cds2 here. Gets plenty of play time, like 2 hours + every day of the week. When it dies cd555 yes please. I just can’t put my faith or privacy into some streaming company with a monthly bill.
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Yes you sound like typical FTTP territory for BDUK… you don’t sound too remote as you say… you might need to wait for a couple of yours… but yes do enquire, you might be pleasantly surprised.
Where I am in Suffolk some remote properties/farms are reached by fibre, and the fibre is suspended between the same wooden posts that the twisted pair telephone wire is provided on.
Interesting - thanks Simon I will indeed find out.
Quick check on the site - lots of red crosses - otherwise exclamation marks in black triangles (for ADSL etc.) and in each case it says less than 2Mbps. No indication that this will ever change. It points me to another site - connecting Devon and Somerset, which says there are no plans to connect me.
Yes, web sites are not always reliable for such things… at least if Suffolk is anything to go by. Contact your Parish, District or County councillor for BDUK status. Your county council will have roll out plans for BDUK and more importantly the phasing dates for postcodes, but my experience these are not generally publicised or published and what is published is often very unreliable. Of course you might be unlucky I am afraid… but I got involved in local government several years back to ensure my village and it’s environs got connected and lobbied for gov funding via the county council (and I got great insight of the protracted inner process with EU and UK gov with regard to subsidised rural broadband) … As of this year I am pleased to say we mostly are connected with a mixture of FTTP and FTTC… albeit still a few teething problems for some properties.
One of the problems we have is that there are plenty of poles carrying electricity cables, but the electricity board (or whatever they’re called these days) are refusing to allow fibre to be attached to them. This is despite the fact that many are in exactly the right place, and have carried the phone lines for many years.
That’s a shame as we have shared electricity and twisted pair/fibre poles here and it works a treat… in fact on the pole are small yellow warning labels for power and fibre optic … some run past my property… the only consideration is that there is a minimum distance between the power cables and fibre, and the poles need to be sound. Several of our poles were replaced. I believe the infrastructure here is owned by U.K. Power Networks.
Sounds like a negotiating tactic to raise the price charged for pole use.
So CD is in sharp decline, local streaming in slight decline and subscription streaming seems to be a basket case to me. I say basket case because it is far from clear that the subscription streaming business model can ever produce enough revenue for the streaming companies to thrive long term and if this model can ever pay enough to the artists to encourage new talent. The big stars will always be fine but what about up and coming talent? (These are all suggestions, not statements of fact BTW).
So what is the ‘music material’ source of the future? To answer that question we need to look at the trends and the music listening/consumption habits/preferences of the younger generation, indeed the level of interest the young have in listening to music in the home and on the move. Yes, fellow forumites, the future of how music will be reproduced and consumed does not lie with the habits of us old gits. Oh the shock, oh the horror!
Feeling Zen mentions the need (for designers, developers and manufacturers) to get a handle on societal changes in order to develop and produce relevant products into the future. I do believe there is still an interest in high quality music reproduction but that interest in my generation was only really developed and was ‘invested in’ (by the listener) later in life when disposable incomes materialised and more time became available to enjoy our hobbies and pastimes. This early interest, followed by a later pattern of increased expenditure I suggest could still exist, although I accept the younger generation have far more interests competing for their attention and money.
I would also suggest that the occasions and location of when and where music is consumed has already changed. For example, music on the move is far more relevant today than when I was a yoof, not least because smart phones have facilitated this. (Note to Naim - you have a massive gap in your product portfolio here). And this might be where the attitude of ‘MP3s on my phone and buds is all I need’ attitude develops from. Music is cheap (and often ‘free’), available anytime, anywhere, so might seen more as a commodity these days.
All the above is pure speculation on my part and the scenarios I paint are huge generalisations, and life is rarely as simple, or as one-dimensional as that. Assuming some of what I suggest has a whiff of truth about it, what does this all mean for how the music-lover will get his or her fix in the future?
Well if I knew that I might live long enough to become a wealthy individual!
I will leave those who are interested to ponder.
Nighty, night.
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I think you’ve missed the point. I never said Naim weren’t relevent. But the will struggle to remain relevent. Any company that makes expensive consumer items will.
While they can provide products that satisfy the current and near future music consumption models, the real problem is selling expensive boxes. HiFi has always been a niche market. But previously it was a market that competed for disposable income among consumers that wanted to buy and own things (cars, bikes etc.). Now they are competing in a market that is increasingly shunning ownership of not just music collections but anything more expensive than a new iPhone. Selling hifi to people that wanted to by “things” was one thing. Trying to sell to a generation that is (for lack of a better phrase) highly consumerist but post materialism, is entirely another.
Naim are clearly aiming at a younger (‘on-line’ enabled) generation as seen with the introduction of Muso and the ‘Reimagined’ Uniti product range. But I think they will need to continue to be imaginative and bold to align their new products with the changing trends in music consumption that I and others have suggested.
I have already mentioned that Naim in no way cater for music on the move, a key element of music consumption of the younger generation. And a posh hifi in an even posher Bentley or Princess Super-Yacht is not what I mean. If the younger generation could actually hear what good reproduction of their favourite bands sounds like on their way to work or in the gym, then maybe, just maybe it could spark a deeper interest.
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