Olivia Hanlon | Tech and Science Editor
From the swinging sixties, to the electronic eighties, to the digital download era of the tens, the way we listen to music is constantly changing to keep up with our lifestyle.
Despite listening to music now more convenient than ever with the arrival of new technology, the sound quality of streaming music is much the same as the quality of the 1990’s MP3 player.
This in turn raises the question, do we prefer the convenience of streaming music or the quality of the music we listen to?
The invention of the CD, 35 years ago to this month, aimed to take away the low quality of the vinyl. However, it was the easiness of listening that drew customers to this product, as there was no longer the need to turn it over to hear the end of an album, rather than the quality of sound that the CD produced.
In addition, the listener could pick what order they listened to the songs on each album, in turn, leading to the invention of the MP3.
The creators of Apple jumped on the notion by introducing the iPod. This revelation made listening to music easy as it was portable and allowed listeners to download any songs of their choice, without needing to purchase the full album.
With the constant progress of technology, comes the constant need to keep listeners happy. Inevitably this lead to the idea of streaming music.
This revelation has taken over the way music is listened to now as the charts consider the most streamed song instead of the most bought single. This has also taken over the idea of downloading as by using apps such as Spotify, it is cheap and easy to listen to music, with an unlimited amount of songs and albums to listen to on the go – without having to use precious data to download anything.
It is this quantity of music that appeals to the consumer, rather than the quality of the music as there is almost no difference to that of a traditional MP3 player.
The ability to listen to any song at the click of your fingers without fail, overrules the unnoticeable lower quality of streaming.
So, to answer the question, yes, we prefer the quantity of songs that we have unlimited access to over the quality of the music on a device such as a CD that has the inconvenience of skipping after being used too much, or taking up space and having to listen to through a non-portable player.
In this fast-moving world, what we look for on-the-go products and devices that can keep us company while moving from one part of our day to the other.
We no longer see music as a way to bring us together, but as company through our busy schedule.
