Another former record store employee here. I disagree about music discovery being easier now. I find I got much better recommendations from other music nerds than I tend to get from algorithms. The depth and nuance of micro-nano-pico genres is something that hasn't really been well replaced by machine learning IMO.

I have a Google Play music subscription and its recommendations are pretty consistently bad. I don't get it. I have given it all my music and it monitors how often I listen to every song. Why can't it figure out what types of hooks I like? The human-curated playlists are almost always better; even if I don't like every choice, there's still some ineffable spark of a single human personality that gives unity to the selections.

Same, the steaming music service has heen frustraing for me, my music goes missing due to license changes etc.

I'm thinking about at least relying on keeping my own digital library again. Also, have to agree about the music stores, they were and are good fun. I say that as they seem to be making a comeback.