Music streaming or downloading? Survey reveals your surprising choice.

Streaming is the go-to option for the vast majority of music lovers out there, as it gives you access to millions of tracks on a variety of devices. However, an archive platform recently made headlines when it announced that it had made a 300TB copy of Spotify.

That got us wondering if people still download music files today. We posed this question inside our Spotify news story last month, and here’s how readers voted.

This was a mega-popular poll, as over 11,000 votes were counted. It turns out that ~57% of respondents still download music files. I’m sure the article topic attracted piracy enthusiasts and people who aren’t fans of subscriptions or streaming. Nevertheless, this suggests that many people still prefer downloads over streaming.

Meanwhile, ~43% of polled readers said they don’t download music files. In other words, these users are solely reliant on streaming to get their music fix. We can understand why users might prefer streaming over file downloads. Streaming services are available on most major platforms, and internet connectivity is pervasive in most parts of the world. Some platforms also offer free, ad-supported plans, giving you access to a ton of tracks without a subscription fee.

Then again, there are several key reasons why you’d want to download music files. For one, you can listen to these tracks without an internet connection. That’s ideal if you live in an area with poor internet connectivity or if you have a limited data cap. One major benefit of downloading music as local files compared to downloads via a streaming service is that you can play them on a wide variety of devices. This includes old phones that don’t support streaming services (e.g., Windows Phone, Symbian, BlackBerry), MP3 players, and CD players. You can also play local files in a different music app. I also occasionally buy music tracks to support artists I love.

There are disadvantages to downloading music via streaming services versus downloading local files. Downloading and listening to music via a streaming service requires a periodic online check-in (e.g., every 30 days for YouTube Music). Furthermore, you can’t play this music in a different app or transfer these tracks to a different device. Streaming services occasionally lose content, too, which means you’re left in the lurch if your favorite artist pulls their music. So downloading local music files is a surefire way to maintain access to this content.