Has iTunes, etc. impacted your listening habits?

It's most definitely affected my listening habits. I listen to a greater variety of music, more often. Having over 700 CD's at my fingertips is a no-brainer. I've also got into the habit of using the "PartyShuffle" feature of iTunes--mostly for casual listening. I've found that feature often will remind me of forgotten music that I very much enjoy. As Kublakhan states; if you've ripped to a lossless format and have a decent way to feed your big rig with the info, there is absolutely no reason to listen any other way that I can imagine, unless you prefer the sound of vinyl. I cannot hear the difference between the silver discs and hard-drive based music, on my rig. At least not a difference that would cause me to consistently choose one over the other based on sonics. I'm going through a Waveterminal U24 to a Muse 2+ DAC. Comparing that to a Modwright Sony 9000ES playing my discs. Have also fed the same DAC from the player and compared that to a hard-drive feed. No profound differences, and at times I'd swear the hard-drive was a bit better at PRAT. I don't do downloaded music. I do keep my software, except for the stuff I would not miss if it were gone for good. Besides being required by copyright laws, it also is an added piece of mind in the unlikely event of double failure of main and backup files.

Marco

Schipo, i agree with jax2. I used this setup with devore gibbon super 8
speakers and the sound was amazing. I don't think there's any difference in
sound quality between a hard drive system and an expensive cd transport.
Gordon Rankin of wavelength audio (who sells amps that cost tens of
thousands of dollars) has stated a properly set up computer system rivals
$10k cd transports. i'm not saying his word is the final say, but he's an
expert who has a reputation to worry about and he's a believer. It's the DAC
that becomes an issue once you set up your computer.

don't pay any attention to people who haven't heard both setups. it's a knee
jerk reaction to say a computer-as-transport sounds like crap.

...but frankly, even if the sound were a bit worse on a computer based
system, there's no way (even as an audiophile) i would ever go back to
spinning cds.

That said, i still haven't heard a digital system that beat an excellent vinyl rig
for true sonic bliss...although SACD rigs come very close. That's the only real
downfall to computer based systems...you can't rip sacd's...yet.

Has anyone else had their listening habits impacted by the MP3/iTunes revolution?

No impact here at all.

Huge impact.

I quit seriously listening to music in the 70s. Since getting into iTunes, I have tripled my CD collection over the past three years - now I pick and choose from 1,500 CDs. Obviously ease of access is unbelievable. But there are other perhaps lerss tangible benefits too: for instance I no longer have to dedicate entire walls of my room to storing the CDs, I now have one library that supports multiple rooms instead of having CDs scattered all over the house, and I can also support my iPod which means my entire library is available on my trips, my boat etc

I believe (and perception is everything) that I am having an equivalent or perhaps superior audiophile experience for less money with greater convenience. What's not to like???

Think about it - what was the alternative? A CD changer or a CD jukebox? Totally inferior in every regard and a technological dead end.

This is a train that has already left the station and is rolling down the tracks at full speed. I am mindful and respectful of the fact that many readers and posters are not terribly computer literate, and that it is difficult for them to deal with this new technology. I also understand that a very small percentage - those with Wadia and better gear are legitimately concerned about maintaing the quality they have spent so much to achieve.

But what everyone else is hanging on to is frankly a mystery to me. It's not the second coming - it's just an easier way to get a superior result.

I have listened to music on a decent-to-good rig for as long as I can remember, save about 10 years when my kids were young, money was short and I had very little time. So, iTunes / computer-based servers hasn't changed the fact that I listen a lot, but it definitely has changed the way I listen.

I love the spontaneity of a song just "coming on", and putting a music server on random play does just that. It is easy to filter the possible songs down to the mood of the moment. It's also easy to find a specific album or artist. I haven't taken it this far, yet, but all the talk of liner notes on albums always makes me think about all the information that can be linked to the music - cover art, reviews, descriptions, song listings - basically anything you could want to know. Put it up on a TV, a computer monitor, a handheld remote.

I believe it is pretty easy to set up, and I think there are few, if any, sonic penalties to such a setup, assuming an excellent DAC. As others have said, you get rid of walls of CD racks, which you may or may not find desirable.

I still have racks of CDs, but don't keep anywhere near my whole collection "on display". I have CD binders of CDs I would likely never listen to standalone. As somebody else said, HD space is cheap, so when I buy one 500Gb HD, I buy two, and always keep a backup.

It is cheaper, more functional and more flexible. If I'm giving up a smidgeon of absolute sound quality, and I'm not convinced I am, it is easily worth it.