When streaming entered the music-playing limelight, at some point in my late teens, I was swept off my still growing feet. Any song I could possibly desire, available for a sum of money that I could, at that time, just about scrape together from my part-time job’s salary, seemed to me something akin to what fire must have felt to neanderthals.
But, as sometimes happens with such incendiary infatuations, our relationship eventually came under hard times – to the extent that I am now considering leaving music-streaming services altogether. I should clarify that this will be for personal uses only; streaming services such as Tidal play an integral part in how we test certain products here at What Hi-Fi?, be it an all-in-one hi-fi system or a humble Bluetooth speaker.
So what pushed me over the edge?
Having grown up with an inexhaustible supply of music at my fingertips, this is no small decision. But recently, as AI-generated music has flooded online streaming platforms, resulting in a flurry of hastily assembled AI-charters and fraud-prevention strategies, I think I’ve finally had it.
Don’t get me wrong: I’m relieved the platforms are taking action. A few months ago, Tidal implemented an ‘allow AI content’ switch, and Deezer has also recently granted users an option to exclude any music detected as AI-generated from their libraries. But, as this new technology infiltrates every corner of life, bringing with it equivalently mind-bending benefits and risks, I simply don’t want to question whether the music I am listening to has been made by a real person or not. As such, I am taking physical music as a place of refuge.
Not long has the drawbridge risen, however, before I realise the challenge I am facing.
Abandoning the streaming services results in a tediously inconvenient and sometimes costly process of recovery. Quite understandably, that is often enough to put people off. There’s a term for this sort of thing: ‘path dependence’. In the social sciences, it means that past events or decisions constrain or define later events or decisions.
In relation to technological developments, we have all become dependent on all sorts of ‘paths’. How we would now struggle if the internet suddenly fizzled out of action, or even if the lights went out for any prolonged period of time. In my specific case, I find myself wondering how much money I will have to spend to recover some semblance of my former music library.
Choose your fighter
So, as I look, for want of a better phrase, to get physical, the first step is to decide on my chosen format. Of course, there’s an appeal to taking the retro route and going fully vinyl. Here, I envision joining the ‘vinyl revival’ and being taken into the arms of a cheering horde of fashionable, cigarette smoking, wax-spinning hipsters. Fond as I am of that idea, however, records are simply too expensive.
With a starting price of anywhere between £25 and £40 per album, anyone looking to make regular updates to a vinyl collection is sure to find themselves facing a staggering bill in no time. It’s all too easy to overlook the fact that many people simply cannot afford to transition back to physical media, no matter how much they adore and care about the formats or musical artists in question.
Furthermore, shopping for second-hand vinyl has become a gamble. Recent exposures of large-scale counterfeit operations – including one that generated a staggering £2.7 million between 2017 and 2024 – mean it can be hard for collectors to be sure what they are buying.
But it’s not all doom and gloom
These days, the CD is an eminently affordable form of physical media, with constantly renewing bargains popping up in charity shops, record stores and at online retailers. At the charity shop near my house, I often see great CDs on sale for prices starting from £1.99. For just slightly less than Spotify’s monthly subscription fee, I could buy six CDs each month – I think that’s enough to keep me entertained.
What’s more, many people have old, neglected CD players hiding in their attics, which keep things even cheaper by mitigating the expense of picking up new equipment.
If you’re looking for a more up-to-date set-up, however, some manufacturers, such as Marantz, NAD, FiiO and Roberts are developing new and affordable CD-focused products, from portable, Discman-style options to fully fledged separates components.
Among the more affordable CD players we recommend for less than £500, the five-star, Award-winning Marantz CD70 (£499 / $750 / AU$1000) is a solid choice for anyone looking to integrate a CD player into a wider hi-fi system, with a modern design and a precise, powerful sound. The CD player’s older sibling, the six-time What Hi-Fi? Award-winning CD6007 (currently priced at around £349 / $650 / AU$900) is also still available for cheaper at the time of writing, although only while stocks last, of course.
There are cheaper, if somewhat less hi-fi options, too. FiiO, for example, recently announced a highly versatile CD player, the DP11 (priced around £200 / $170), which can act as a DAC and preamplifier, too. Back in December 2025, the company also released a portable CD player that supports hi-res Bluetooth and doubles as a DAC, called the DM15 R2R (priced at £249 / $269).
Fantastic though some of these products are, I understand people’s reservations.
This is a hard dream to sell
Although CDs strike a fantastic middle ground in terms of audio quality, they aren’t as high-resolution as the offerings of some premium streaming services. Neither is it a small sacrifice to forgo the millions of songs from a streaming service that were once at your fingertips. There are sure to be withdrawals and growing pains. Nevertheless, while online services grapple with getting AI music under control, I want to give it a try.
By choosing physical media and accepting the relatively tame sacrifices that come with that option, I feel a bolstered confidence that the ‘path’ I am on is one I won’t regret in ten or twenty years’ time.
Unbeholden to the whims of tech giants – at least when it comes to listening – I will still own my CDs further down the line, whether they have by then become relics or taken on a newfound relevance. Perhaps most crucially of all, however, for each one I purchase, I will know that a human being has been paid for their ever more necessary work of expression. And that, I hope, is a cause we can all get behind.
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