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Well, my computer doesn

It is the best way to see which CDs are worth buying.

I really only put it on as background noise, or listen at work on headphones.

Yes but not often. I have my sound card set-up in one of my tape monitor loops so if I only have it on the computer hard drive I will listen that way. Not through computer speakers.

At work it is sometimes conveninet to use the pc as a music platform. Particulary while on business trips. Hard to imagine that it will ever replace the home based system for serious listening.

As I type this I'm listening to Rachmaninov's second suite for 2 pianos. I'm listening over headphones, so it doesn't bother my wife (It's midnight). This is the way I usually listen to music; well maybe 3/4 of the time.

I seldom listen to music on my PC except for when I come home and have gotten a new title in the mail. I will often listen to it on my PC because it is my routine to check and answer all my emails as soon as I get home and I am also eager to hear the music on the disc. I do not do any "listening" with a PC however just a little intro to a new title. With my emailing out of the way I'll go into the living rom and fire up the new disc on my listening system and enjoy it the way it was meant to be heard, not through a pair of 2" full-range drivers in plastic boxes.

my cd rom doesn't start automaticaly so it is a real pain..............

I run the audio stream through a passive pre-amp, old solid state amplifier, and a pair of 2-way bookshelf speakers. It's not hi-fi, but it will do when I'm working or surfing.

OK, so the sound isn't as good as my megabuck SET system. But hey, I still need to work and having music while I work is great. All that is needed is a decent soundcard (Echo Gina24), a cheap DAC (MSB Link), a small tube amp and a nice pair of speakers leftover during an upgrade. A simpler way would be just a headphone amp with a pair of Sennheiser HD600s and the Dolby Headphone decoding. The software gives me flexibility and convenience that I don't get from my audiophile system and it's fun! I love it!

Why bother?? The quality is still very very poor.

Between the cpu fan and the hard drive, it's just too D@*& annoying! Not too mention it would cost far too much compared to spending that money on records or a better pre-amp.

just when i'm working

I usually play the Cd's on my comp and listen to them through my stereo.

Internet radio, which may soon disappear, is much better than corporate radio for music and non-music programming. I use the Internet to gain exposure to music I might be interested in owning. The sound quality is barely adequate for that purpose (especially Windows Media and other low resolution streams), but I usually listen to music while I am working, so I can live with it. When my "high end" computer speakers recently died, I bought a used A/V receiver to power them, and rewired the speakers to bypass internal amplification. My decent consumer sound card has a high S/N ratio, and the combination is acceptable, although not hi-fi. As all the current model computer speakers are oriented to gaming, my solution avoids that boominess and muddiness. I recommend a similar approach for any audiophile who doesn't want to spend hundreds of dollars on equipment that will practically be in your face and be competing with noisy spinning drives and fans. Get a used receiver and decent passive, magnetically-shielded speakers.

You needed one other option:Once in a great while. I really only listen when I am doing a quick burn for a copy to have out in the shop, where quality doesn't matter. OOPS!! what will I do when all music is copy-protected? Oh I know, I continue to burn copies of my current library that doesn't now, nor never will, contain a copy-protected CD.

I work nights in a PC/Network Support shop. I am listening to Bill Evans's' Sunday at the Village Vanguard on JVC XRCD right now.

The only way to listen to anything is still done by black boxes, and black boxes only. But if one had to use a computer just get x-cans and headphones and use only when working.

The noise of a PC is much too loud! I did not spent thousands of Dollars for my system, to hear now the the ventilator and the hard disk.

I had to choose "once in a while" because I have my PC hooked up to my stereo system. I do all listening through the stereo. I don't even own computer speakers. I routinely transfer LPs to CD-R.

I listen to music through iTunes (MP3s and CDs) a few times a week. It makes surfing the net much more enjoyable.

listen mainly at work -- but the sound is not great. currently looking at upgrading my headphones and *maybe* the soundcard

My PC doesn't have a phono section.

No my computer computes, And my Audio system plays Audio.

I can't cart vinyl into work with me every day, now can I?

Only in the office where better reproduction would be distracting and counterproductive.

Please, let's think about the reasons why Stereophile exists, and delete the idea of computers and sound cards.

With a good pair of cans, it can be an entirely satisfying experience. It's also easier on the other residents of my home.

MP3s sound way better than records. I listen to MP3 primarily. The computer sound quality is better than most audiophile systems that I've heard.

In my current environment I am forced to listen to my CD's through a Creative 52X on HK media speakers. I listen to music while I field calls all day long every day. First and formost I have to have music. When I have my own office I have for the last few years Run an old NAD7140 Rec, HK8400 5 disc changer and a pair of Wharfdale 7.1's but these just went into my son's room and I have replaced them with a Arcam DIVA A85, Rotel RCC955 and Wharfdale 8.2's on MIT 5's. Have the units connected with a half meter set of Kimber hero's and it sounds real sweet, was really thinking about a valve unit until I heard the DIVA! I have yet to find a PC that sounds as good as this system, period!