I think that a lot of the nostalgia for the good old days of record collecting conflates love of music with the love of the hunt for collectables. With today's streaming, there is not so much fun or effort put into the hunt, and the finding doesn't really result in possessing and owning your new found treasure to the exclusion of most others. There are no bragging rights.
I've never been much of a collector. I've always been quite willing to pare down what I have once I find something better. Yes, I collected vintage speakers for awhile, but after a few years or less moved those along to other owners as well; the same is true for other speakers. While I've had love affairs with many speakers, once I move on to new speakers, I also move the old ones on to new owners. I'd toss most of my CD collection were it not for the security of the ultimate back up against a data loss disaster they provide, the murky USA legalities of keeping copies of copyrighted music where you don't own the original disc, and the fact that the CDs in my Stor-a-Disc racks provide useful diffusion for my listening room.
Since I'm not much of a collector, streaming to me is the proverbial sliced bread development. If you are looking for new stuff there are many more efficient ways of finding it than physically driving around to stores. You can look at online reviews on various sellers' websites like Amazon, chat with folks on online forums of like minded individuals, etc. You can draw on a worldwide community of music listeners in other words, not just those few you might happen to meet in a record store. You can use Roon's fantastic GUI to explore new music and the interconnectedness of music recordings in all manner of ways not heretofore practical.
Less personal? Sure, but the quality of the information you get is at least as good if not better. And the quantity of different albums you can browse far exceeds the total number of different records you've ever seen on the shelves of all the record stores you've ever been to in your life.
I've never been much of a collector. I've always been quite willing to pare down what I have once I find something better. Yes, I collected vintage speakers for awhile, but after a few years or less moved those along to other owners as well; the same is true for other speakers. While I've had love affairs with many speakers, once I move on to new speakers, I also move the old ones on to new owners. I'd toss most of my CD collection were it not for the security of the ultimate back up against a data loss disaster they provide, the murky USA legalities of keeping copies of copyrighted music where you don't own the original disc, and the fact that the CDs in my Stor-a-Disc racks provide useful diffusion for my listening room.
Since I'm not much of a collector, streaming to me is the proverbial sliced bread development. If you are looking for new stuff there are many more efficient ways of finding it than physically driving around to stores. You can look at online reviews on various sellers' websites like Amazon, chat with folks on online forums of like minded individuals, etc. You can draw on a worldwide community of music listeners in other words, not just those few you might happen to meet in a record store. You can use Roon's fantastic GUI to explore new music and the interconnectedness of music recordings in all manner of ways not heretofore practical.
Less personal? Sure, but the quality of the information you get is at least as good if not better. And the quantity of different albums you can browse far exceeds the total number of different records you've ever seen on the shelves of all the record stores you've ever been to in your life.