If I like something, it is in my library. There is not that much good music out there, maybe 3 or 4 albums each year these days. I don't see how a subscription could be cheaper than just buying those albums.
For you it isn't cheaper. For someone who listens to a lot of different kinds of music, and finds 12 albums (or even ~120 songs) a year that they like, it's about even either way.
It can also be rather convenient: you don't have to load up all your music on a device, and if you ever feel like listening to something new, it's really easy to find. But if you're only updating your music library three or four times a year, it's not a big deal.
You also probably didn't need to boot up a virtual machine every time you wanted to sync your phone... But that's a different problem.
Streaming services also typically have a radio feature, where you can specify a song and say "play more things like this". Which I've found is both nice on the "just give me something to listen to" level and useful for finding new music.
I appreciate the sentiment, and like to buy albums that really "click" with me. (not so much the one song at a time)
But I like internet radio to find those albums. Local FM radio plays a very limited selection, vs streaming where I can hear really cool albums from 5 or 10 years ago that I would have never heard otherwise.
That said, the author should probably consider streaming services as "advertisement", and try to sell recordings and concert tickets.
I guess it depends on where you buy the album and in what format. Last time I bought a CD it was still over $10, so anything that can give you variety at under $30/yr should be cheaper.
The other nice thing about a streaming service is that you may get exposed to something you didn't know you liked.
I was about to quote the annual Pandora One price as being less than the cost of 3 CDs, but evidently I missed where the annual option was nixed due to several increases in SoundExchange royalty rates.
Another factor is that the incremental cost of listening to something new is $0. When I'm looking for something new I just move the Mog radio slider all the way to "similar artists" and wait for something new/interesting to pop up and from there can explore their entire discography if I'm so inclined.
I can make you happy then, the last four albums I bought:
"So", by Peter Gabriel,
"Trouble Man", by Marvin Gaye,
"Impending Joy", by Algorhythmical,
"The Next Day", by David Bowie.
Given that 3/4 of these artists were active in the 1970s, and one has been dead for 30 years, I wonder if maybe you've considered that your musical opinions are not generally in line with those of the people who consume streaming music.
