Qobuz used to allow downloading entire albums and then switched to only allowing track downloads unless you download some app they’re trying to push (which I never used).

7digital offers both album and track downloads, and looking at my account it seems that it’s the album download specifically that just doesn’t work. I can download tracks one at a time.

It’s always a gamble

One place will have “ultimate spicy ghost pepper death sauce, you will literally die” and it’s mild as fuck

And then you go to the local Thai place down the road, and the 3/5 star heat level will absolutely kick your ass

I sympathize so hard. I actually wrote a post about this a few months ago. I gave up and switched to Tidal, I was tired of hunting for flacs online.

However, if you’re more willing to stick with it than I was:

Bandcamp seems to be less used now than it used to be, but is still the king. Qobuz (as you described) have been adding in roadblocks to purchasing albums more and more presumably to push people to streaming. 7digital is is kind of dead, I bought one older album from them and the download didn’t work.

On to stuff you didn’t mention:

If you like electronic music, Juno Download and Beatport have a solid catalog, but be prepared to pay a lot more than Qobuz or 7digital.

HDtracks is also expensive and I’ve never used it, but it’s been around forever.

Artist websites will sometimes, very rarely, maybe offer lossless downloads (example)

You can also check if you have any local record stores near you, they’ll usually have CDs as well. Some will even carry new releases.

Good luck.

One of my clients at work has this IT guy with a furry profile picture on Zoom.

I assumed it was a mistake, people join with dumb pictures/names sometimes, but no. He never changed it in any of our meetings.

And then I looked at his account in our software, which allows users to upload their own photo, and he put a different furry picture there. A strictly work related account, that only his coworkers and us can see.

And you know what, I respect it.

The biggest problem to me was the official Proton reddit account making an official statement agreeing with Andy. Andy blamed this on a “miscommunication” and it has since been deleted, but probably only because of the backlash they were receiving.

Holy shit he’s still arguing with people about this today?