# What music format did you listen to in high school?



## CaboBayCaptain1297

One common characteristic that helps define those in a certain generation is the music format they would've listened to when they were in high school.
Generally speaking, Baby Boomers listened to music on vinyl records, Generation X listened to music on cassette tapes, Generation Y listened to music on CDs, and Generation Z listened to music on digital services (Spotify, Apple Music).

Now, don't worry, this is not another thread made to debate the boundaries of each generation, in fact I think the admin was onto something when he suggested (even though it was an April Fools joke) closing the generation subforum for promoting ageism.
So, regardless of what year you were born, regardless of what generation you consider yourself, I'd like to know your answer to the question. What music format did you listen to when you were in high school? 
Let me know in the poll and the comments.


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## Millenium_01

CaboBayCaptain1297 said:


> One common characteristic that helps define those in a certain generation is the music format they would've listened to when they were in high school.
> Generally speaking, Baby Boomers listened to music on vinyl records, Generation X listened to music on cassette tapes, Generation Y listened to music on CDs, and Generation Z listened to music on digital services (Spotify, Apple Music).
> 
> Now, don't worry, this is not another thread made to debate the boundaries of each generation, in fact I think the admin was onto something when he suggested (even though it was an April Fools joke) closing the generation subforum for promoting ageism.
> So, regardless of what year you were born, regardless of what generation you consider yourself, I'd like to know your answer to the question. What music format did you listen to when you were in high school?
> Let me know in the poll and the comments.


Well..I'm still in high school rn, lol.
Most people my age listen to music on their phones via Spotify or iTunes, as you mentioned. 
However when I was younger I did have a portable CD player and my family had a cassette player that was used from time to time.


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## Dustanddawnzone

YouTube


> Well..I'm still in high school rn, lol.


This is probably going to happen a lot with the generation z sample.


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## BenevolentBitterBleeding

These types of polls should be allowed multiple picks...


Just like IRL I don't really fit in any category. (​


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## Rainbowz

Spotify and YouTube obviously. I'm a Sophomore in high school.


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## Jaune

I still listen to CDs, and along with digitally downloaded music, those were my two most used formats in early high school.

In late high school, I mostly used Spotify, which I still use now. All throughout high school and even now, I rely on YouTube as well.


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## jcal

Boomer here... I never had them, but the poll is missing a format that at least 50% of my peers used (and universally hated)... the 8-track cartridge:









It's amazing these evil devices ever got to be as ubiquitously popular as they were... roadsides were always littered with cartridges with their magnetic entrails hanging out of them, their owners having thrown them out of the car window in utter frustration after their under-dash player decided to disembowel the cartridge.

I was a dedicated vinyl listener in high school ('70-'74), and that was my primary home medium until the late 80s (still have about 500 LPs), when my CD collection started to catch up to my vinyl collection. CDs have remained my preferred medium to purchase standard res music (something is still appealing about owning physical media), although all 700 or so CDs that I own have been ripped to the iTunes library on PC/NAS. I also have a decent collection of hi-res music on SACD, DVD-Audio, Blu-ray Audio and/or purchased FLAC files. 

Sadly, I'm much too busy these days to find much time to listen to music at home. I do, however, listen constantly when I'm driving. These days, it's all from either iPod's or USB drives, but I went through a progression from cassettes (all dubbed in real time from my vinyl collection... prerecorded cassettes sounded like shit), CDs and MP3 CD-Rs before I got my first iPod in 2005.

I do listen to Spotify, mostly to check out new stuff before I buy it. For the most part, the sound quality of most streaming music is just awful, so I avoid it primarily for that reason. Spotify premium and it's higher than most bit-rate is usually (but not always) at least tolerable. YouTube is mostly awful quality as well, not to mention the miserable speaker quality of most portable devices and the horrible quality of ANY Bluetooth streaming. I tried an XM radio subscription once... after a month of fingernails-on-the-chalkboard low bit-rate sound quality, I transferred the rest of the year's subscription to my daughter's car.


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## Angelo

amazon music. i don't have the money to buy a DAP and all my music. maybe i'll eventually get a DAC/AMP combo for my phone, but i dont think ill ever switch to a DAP


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## Aelthwyn

In High school I think I had about 3 CDs, a few tapes, and my mom's collection of reccords. I listened to classical music and old musicals or disney. I didn't have music playing constantly in my room or anything, and I don't think I got any headphones till college. I collected a lot more CDs in college and listened to music from itunes on my computer. I can't remember when I got my first ipod, probably my third year of college? I'm still fond of buying physical CDs over just digital albums even if I like to listen from playlists in itunes.


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## Ocean Helm

There is this really legal way of getting music free digitally that helped me explore a whole bunch of stuff in high school and thereafter. I've made it through about 2000 albums and counting...


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## Soul Kitchen

Albums stored on my computer, with songs in mp3 format. I also used YouTube a lot.


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## ai.tran.75

In high school cds/radio

Generation y 

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk


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## 481450

Spotify


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## Preciselyd

I'm Generation Y, born in 1987 and I listened to Cassette Tapes and CDs. My parents car had Cassette player and my radio at home had a Cassette player. 

First Vinyl record I got: Rick Astley Never gonna give you

My Cassette Tapes my parents did for me: Contained different music 80s, early 90s

First CD I owned: New Kids on the Block








I had two cassette walkman that looked like this:


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## California Kid

CDs and MP3s



CaboBayCaptain1297 said:


> One common characteristic that helps define those in a specific generation is the music format they would've listened to when they were in high school.
> Generally speaking, Baby Boomers listened to music on vinyl records, Generation X listened to music on cassette tapes, *Generation Y listened to music on CDs*, and Generation Z listened to music on digital services (Spotify, Apple Music).
> 
> Now, don't worry, this is not another thread made to debate the boundaries of each generation, in fact, I think the admin was onto something when he suggested (even though it was an April Fools joke) closing the generation subforum for promoting ageism.
> So, regardless of what year you were born, regardless of what generation you consider yourself, I'd like to know your answer to the question. What music format did you listen to when you were in high school?
> Let me know in the poll and the comments.


They also listened to music on MP3s and iPods. I knew tons of people who used both formats as well as CD players.


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## jaNES

CDs. Most of which were free through the BMG and Columbia House mail clubs. But I also purchased albums from the local record store, mostly when I didn't want to wait for a new album to come out in the mail order clubs lol. 

Occasionally I'd listen to old music cassette tapes I had gotten in the earlier 90s, but I never got a new tape after about 1994. However, I still used blank tapes to record from the radio during the mid 90s.

Then came the era of MP3s in the late 90s. At first, downloading songs was not easy because the internet charged by the minute and it took about 40 minutes to download one song on a dial-up connection (even though the internet was free because we used those free AOL discs, it would still eat up a lot of minutes). At this point (1997-1998?) music files were mostly found on websites through special search engines or on fan pages, not through file sharing programs like Napster. Once we got NetZero (around 1999?) which had unlimited minutes, downloading songs became much easier. And by that point, the file sharing programs were popular which made MP3s more accessible. 

The car I drove in high school had a CD player. In my bedroom, I had a combination CD/tape stereo. Even though we used MP3s, I don't remember anyone having a portable MP3 player. They were always burned onto CDs. The family computer was in the living room, so I couldn't sit on the computer and listen to the MP3s. I had to burn them onto CDs so I could listen in my room or the car.

And of course I also listened to music on MTV, or our local college radio station.


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## California Kid

jaNES said:


> And of course I also listened to music on MTV, or our local college radio station.


Oh sh!t! I forgot I listened to music on there too as well as VH1 and 106 & Park. Who could forget those times where channels played songs throughout the day?


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## strawberryLola

I voted CD, but I still owned cassettes- lots of them! Recordings from the radio.. And VHS tapes. I still remember the self-windup rewind machines for those who were broke and couldn't afford a VHS-rewinder:









Your description fits fairly well.

How about for other generations past CD? That can be broken down from ipods to smart phones. 5G.


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## Aridela

CDs mostly. 

Cassettes in elementary/middle school.


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## 74893H

Late Gen Y'er, it was a mix of CDs and digital audio for me. I really liked having CDs but I was good at procuring digital music free of charge y'know, and I had loads of music loaded onto my MP3 player that I listened to as I walked home from school.

In the second half of primary school and early secondary school though I watched music channels on TV a lot, just sat around all day hoping a song I liked would come on.


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## Mark R

Where's 8-track tapes as an option?


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## Turelie

1983 here. Early childhood was vinyl and cassettes, teen years were cassettes and cds. Now it is mostly spotify, unless I can't find it on there--then I buy a cd or mp3.


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## jetser

MP3


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## Zster

Born in ‘64… AM radio when in primary school, FM after that through the 90s. My music master collection was on vinyl, but only played enough to record to tape, which was more portable and replaceable. As a young adult, replaced my best albums w CDs. Middle adulthood, switched to mp3s (iTunes). Now, I don’t buy so much, but listen through XM Sirius (in the car), Pandora, or Spotify. Over all these years, I’ve listened to music multiple hours of every day. TV is largely crap, but music still rocks.


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## Crowbo

Primarily CDs & Youtube


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## Mark R

I'm the last of the Boomers (born in '64). I went to high school from 1978 to 1982. You know you are old when polls don't list your format (8-track tapes).


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## Sily

8-track tapes in my car. At home, LPs.


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