> Not really and the ones that exist are expensive and have poor selection.
- Bandcamp
- Boomkat
- Qobuz
- 7Digital
- Bleep
- Juno Download
I buy everything I like (and it's a lot) in a lossless, digital format and the only time I can't find a legal lossless purchase option is when it's actually a physical-only release.
I just looked on those services for a few CD's I recently bought and Qobuz is the only one that had them. The price for a download from them is more than the price to get Amazon to deliver the physical discs to my door. For now, that doesn't make any sense to me especially since I actually want the physical media. It's what I listen to as I work. If I only wanted the files, then I would be on board.
Ok, I understand. For me it's different - if I have to get the CD (for example if it's a rare, old release - Japan has lots of rare stuff from the 80s on CDs) I only rip it and put it back on the shelf forever. I have no interest in the physical medium.
Admittedly, and somewhat ironically, it's only the most popular mainstream music that seems to be lacking digital lossless purchasing options. Even mainstream music like the stuff that gets featured on Pitchfork seems to be widely available these days.
However when you mention CD prices, you're talking about new/mint offers from Amazon, right? Comparing second-hand prices wouldn't be fair. Since I was surprised about your discovery I just took a recent rather popular, mainstream and widely available album like Cate Le Bon's "Reward" to compare prices. CD was the worst offer at € 16,40:
- Amazon (CD): EUR 16,40
- Qobuz: EUR 15,99
- Boomkat: GBP 7,99
- Bandcamp: USD 9,99
Also, never buy the premium quality at Qobuz. Their standard quality already is lossless 16 Bit / 44,1 KHz (CD quality).
- Bandcamp
- Boomkat
- Qobuz
- 7Digital
- Bleep
- Juno Download
I buy everything I like (and it's a lot) in a lossless, digital format and the only time I can't find a legal lossless purchase option is when it's actually a physical-only release.