Poll of the week: How do you listen to music?
Earlier this week, we read a report about Spotify coming up with a lossless streaming service later this year. The music lovers in our editorial team we naturally stoked about this development. One thing led to another and we ended up having a long discussion on what this means for music lovers in general. Someone then suggested why not pose a question about this to our own readers?
The end result is this weekly poll article. Basically, we want to know from you, our readers an answer to this basic question: How do you listen to music in the 21st century?
While we'll be taking a closer look at Spotify's premium streaming when it launches, the purpose of this poll is to know the NextPit community better. As you probably know, the NextPit sphere includes many international communities and it's exciting to find out what differences there are in the listening habits of the readers.
The results of the poll will be out on Monday (March 1st)!
Poll 1: Which medium do you use to listen to music?
Let's go from the rough to the smooth: Which medium do you prefer to listen to music on? Personally, I have unfortunately become a slave to music streaming services. Although I've been listening to music myself for many years and I claim to have a good ear for it, the convenience of listening to music on my phone is more important to me than the clarity offered by, say, CDs or vinyl.
Feel free to discuss your preferences when it comes to music in the comments as well. For a certain nostalgia factor, I've even noticed in Berlin that younger people are buying Walkmans again. What do you think about that?
Poll 2: Which music streaming service do you subscribe to?
I remember the first time I logged on to Spotify. I couldn't believe how much music there was to discover and it felt like there was nothing that could hold a candle to the Swedish service back then. Before that, I used the Grooveshark platform, but it was very difficult to reach from Germany. Hence the question: which music streaming services do you subscribe to?
Surely you have reasons why you use the respective service. As David described a few months ago, you should also think about the artists and Spotify is known for giving its artists really little of the streaming pie. Is that a reason for you not to use the service?
Poll 3: Which device do you prefer to listen to music on?
Again, an open admission: I'm addicted to my headphones. Even though I live alone and my GDR building in Berlin-Friedrichshain has thick walls, I just prefer to take the music with me as I walk around the apartment. Pals of mine are totally into smart speakers though - who do you agree with?
Again, there are many dimensions to think about. For example, connecting your vinyl player to a pair of Bluetooth headphones is not that easy. So feel free to share your experiences with me in the comments as well.
Survey 4: Is the audio quality of music streaming services good enough for you?
As mentioned before, I got the idea for this poll because Spotify announced a premium service. I myself have been able to try out many services in my tech-journo career, and have also had experience with Amazon Music HD and Tidal. However, for me, the extra cost just wasn't audible enough. What's it like for you guys?
We'll go into more detail on this topic next week and explain in detail what's behind the "premium" qualities of Tidal and co. Do you have any questions in advance that we should definitely address?
Survey 5: The tiresome topic: Money!
Last but not least, I want to touch on the topic of money. Although Spotify has not yet named a price for its HiFi variant, with prices of up to 20 euros, premium streaming services are not exactly cheap. Especially since it's not even entirely clear whether purchasing songs in master quality actually leads to more costs for the provider.
On the money question, your motivation, that is, whether you want to pay more money for more quality or more money for artists' margins.
When are the results coming in?
Of course, we don't want to just leave the results from our polls here. On Monday, March 1st, I will present the results in more detail in this article, including the opinions of the international NextPit communities. So stay tuned and keep an eye on the NextPit home page.
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