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There is a part of me that wants to abandon streaming services and just buy a couple of albums per month based on what I think might be cool. I find myself enjo

There is a part of me that wants to abandon streaming services and just buy a couple of albums per month based on what I think might be cool. I find myself enjoying music significantly less now I have unlimited access to everything I could ever want. It’s become disposable; just background noise rather than something I’m actively experiencing. There is also a part of me that wants to take those albums and keep them on an old click-wheel iPod. I always thought the early iPod nanos were among the best consumer hardware devices ever made. Just the right mix of boxy and round; small enough to be novel (at least at the time), but large enough to still be perfectly usable. Unfortunately, finding one that both holds a charge and isn’t battered to all hell is quite difficult these days, and even so, it’s much harder to justify a single use device for music when I literally always have my phone with me. As someone who was a teen when the iPod really started taking off, it was a constant presence during the time music was starting to become an important part of my life. Sad to see it go, even though really it’s been gone since the iPhone launched.

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Abishek_Muthian 4y ago
> Sad to see it go, even though really it’s been gone since the iPhone launched. I've seen it being carried as a daily driver instead of a phone by few privacy and security conscious folks. Considering that use case, iPod Touch was a great value for money. Guess they'll carry iPad mini now i.e. if they really want to stick with Apple (app) ecosystem.
cutler 4y ago
I'm dumbfounded by this move by Apple as the iPod was one of the innovations which kicked Apple into the big league. There is also a large population of users who, for over a decade, have been using an iPod without a Mac or an iPhone and who rely on iTunes for Windows to manage their music. Not everyone can afford nearly £1000 for an iPhone, especially if the main reason is to provide continuity for their now deceased iPod experience. Then again Apple never gave a damn about obsolescence. When Big Sur was released I learned that my early 2013 MacBook Pro wasn't compatible yet only this week I was able to download a simple fix from OpenCore which enabled to me load Monterey and have it working perfectly. If one guy could pull this off why couldn't Apple with their resources? Truth is they wanted to make my MacBook Pro incompatible - by mere designation - just like they resisted the right to repair until forced to play ball. If Apple respected their loyal base of iPod users they could at least continue to produce replacement iPod batteries. That would be a minimal good-will gesture.
dkonofalski 4y ago
This is me as well and is the primary reason I still buy albums on vinyl. I'm not an audiophile snob or anything, I just think that listening to music on vinyl is deliberate enough to overcome the "disposable" issue that you're describing. If I want to listen to an album, I have to go to the room in my house with the turntable, open the album, put it on, set the tone arm, etc. It's very deliberate and it helps me appreciate and dedicate time to music.
- dxscorp 4y ago
  I've also turned to vinyl for this, and while I love it, I will say I yearn for something that doesn't involve the dreaded 'flip' especially on modern double albums. 3 songs per side goes by so fast. Maybe this is why people still use cassettes?
  - Multicomp 4y ago
    Not cassettes but a dedicated CD player is what I use for this stuff. I have certain custom mixtape style mood music CDs depending on how the scene in my novel is supposed to feel tonally, for example. Yes I could make those into YouTube playlists, but the ritual of putting in the right CD has something to say for it, and also my CDs never have advertisements that manage to sneak past all of my layers of adblock, nor do they suddenly decide to be unavailable on one particular day or another.
    - runarberg 4y ago
      I remember when I added a CD player to my audio setup a couple of years ago—which previously just had a radio tuner, vinyl turntable and a cassette deck. I kept my old CDs and my partner has even more. I had gotten used to the OK sound quality of vinyl, cassette and FM radio (or youtube on my computer speakers). So when I put the CD in and played it I was amazed how good it sounds, I simply had forgotten how good CD can sound with a good audio setup. I still play records though, simply because it is more fun, but if I want quality I play CDs.
  - ckosidows 4y ago
greedo 4y ago
I do the same thing with Netflix. I used to get DVDs (then Blu-rays) but their quality was consistently bad (damaged discs) and their collection has turned to crap. So now I just stream Netflix (cuz the family would lynch me otherwise), but I buy a Blu-ray every month with the money I'm saving.
- deergomoo 4y ago
  I buy Blu-Rays for films and shows I really like. Streaming services may be 4K, but the bitrate of a 4K stream is typically just a fraction of even a 1080p BD, and it really shows.
  - greedo 4y ago
    Yup. I tried to show my wife the difference, but she watches normal DVDs and thinks "they're fine..." while my eyes are bleeding.
Bayart 4y ago
Modding old iPods to have them run flash memory and decent batteries is pretty common, you could look into that. I'm still using my 17 years old iPod 5G like this. Flashed with Rockbox it reads every file format (mostly FLAC) I could ever want.
Bluecobra 4y ago
> There is a part of me that wants to abandon streaming services and just buy a couple of albums per month based on what I think might be cool. I used to do this before the streaming services existed. I used to buy a handful of MP3's from Amazon (don't laugh) per month. I would also buy used CDs and rip it to MP3. Apple Music is included with monthly cell phone bill so I now "rent" some of my music now, it's just easier. I'm careful not to just download whole albums outright though, I have a curated collection of songs I like and I still use the old star ratings in iTunes. I also pay for $25/year for iTunes Match to maintain my legacy collection.
dont__panic 4y ago
There's a middle ground, too -- you can host music streaming for your own library through [Jellyfin](https://jellyfin.org/ https://jellyfin.org/) (or Plex, or a few other alternatives) for the backend and something like [FinAmp](https://github.com/UnicornsOnLSD/finamp https://github.com/UnicornsOnLSD/finamp) on the frontend. Easy to curate your own library, and you can avoid the "sync problem" when you download a new album. There are some bugs to iron out in the setup, but my raspberry pi home server has been running this great for 5 months now, and offline media served me very well through a cross-country move. It's a great opportunity to take back some agency from Spotify, start contributing to artists on bandcamp or similar, and cut another annoying monthly subscription from your life. When someone hands me their phone to play music on Spotify at this point, I find the front page absolutely overwhelming. It's sort of like going back to cable after streaming for years, and seeing your first ad. You wonder how you ever put up with it.
- ksec 4y ago
  This is interesting. Considering most of our Home internet connection have upload bandwidth far greater than music streaming. A consumer, simple and easy to use devices for this. Steve Jobs was against the whole Streaming Music services idea. At the time I would have thought the next move for iTunes would be to have free Streaming of songs you have purchased. Which is somewhat similar to this idea.
- geoffeg 4y ago
  I've been frustrated with Spotify's UI for so long now. It just seems so full of dark... or at least dim(?) user patterns. I started buying albums from bands I like off Bandcamp and loading them into Plexamp. (I really hope Epic doesn't destroy Bandcamp, it's one of the few remaining sources of high-quality (FLAC) downloadable music.)
  - MuzakMyke 4y ago
    I do the same thing, and recommend this setup to any music fan comfortable setting up a Plex server. I share your concern that Epic will ruin Bandcamp, but part of me wonders if that wouldn't be a good thing in the long run. I don't think Bandcamp tried to monopolize digital file sales for independent music, but they kind of have, and that's bad. I'd love to see a good open source music store pop up that labels and bands could easily self-host. You could probably build all the core Bandcamp features into a WordPress plugin in a weekend.
fullshark 4y ago
Yeah i loved the Ipod, and I loved the ability to listen to "my music" whenever i wanted. It was a major game changer, and now I can do the same but "my music" no longer feels special so it hardly seems to matter. Media has become a commodity good with the maturation of the internet, substitute goods have never been easier to find.
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zerocrates 4y ago
I've never moved to streaming; I still just load songs onto my phone. I don't feel like I'm really missing out on anything. I buy things on CD (often used) or vinyl-with-download-code or Bandcamp mostly.
- cyral 4y ago
  The biggest benefit for me is finding new music, Spotify's discover feature is how I find most new music these days and it's decently accurate at finding things I like.
- Daneel_ 4y ago
  Same camp here, with the exception of soundcloud - it has such a variety of user-generated content, as well as longer sets (multi-hour mixes, DJ sets, other long-form content) that you just can't find on other platforms.
dotnet00 4y ago
I've been doing this, would definitely recommend it. I have also considered getting an old school music player, but I'd rather not carry around yet another device when a big reason I bought the phone I bought was having a headphone jack.
- brewdad 4y ago
  If your phone has a slot for an SD card, load it up (opus sounds good enough for on the go) with your collection and you can have the benefits of an old school player behind an app interface on the phone you already carry everywhere.
  - dotnet00 4y ago
    Phones these days have so much internal storage that I haven't had to use an sd card, although my phone does have a slot for one. I prefer to use plex and plexamp for my music so I have the conveniences of streaming services with the ownership and classic music player feel of old school devices. Having tried Youtube Music, Tidal and Amazon Music, I feel that the UIs of most streaming apps and even most music apps in general are not that great.
tomjen3 4y ago
You can buy the songs on iTunes or whatever it is called and then you can later sync it to an iPod - and there are repairs on youtube where they put in fresh new batteries.
paulmd 4y ago
> There is a part of me that wants to abandon streaming services and just buy a couple of albums per month based on what I think might be cool. I find myself enjoying music significantly less now I have unlimited access to everything I could ever want. It’s become disposable; just background noise rather than something I’m actively experiencing. I strongly prefer the "sit down and listen to a whole album" experience anyway, at least from artists who make a deliberate attempt to put together a cohesive album and not just one or two bangers and a bunch of filler. Sitting down and listening to a Bowie album or something is a time capsule, and I'm not a boomer so it's not childhood nostalgia either. It's nice to sit down and listen to an hour of music that was specifically curated to produce a certain experience. > Unfortunately, finding one that both holds a charge and isn’t battered to all hell is quite difficult these days, and even so, it’s much harder to justify a single use device for music when I literally always have my phone with me. FYI you can replace the battery in an iPod... someone pointed me towards Cameron Sino as being an extremely reputable supplier of replacements (I've known of them for a long time but I had no idea they sold direct to consumer!). Also, if you are not enamored with needing to use iTunes, the "Rockbox" open-source firmware targets Apple hardware and that should allow it to act like a plain old USB Mass Storage device. I used to use it like 15+ years ago on my iRiver H320 music player. (the name "iRiver" actually predates the ipod! They were a korean company who became known for making very capable flash and HDD mp3 players for their day, with OGG Vorbis support and line-in recording and many other neat features.) https://www.rockbox.org/ https://www.rockbox.org/ Also also, if you are interested in improvements, or your HDD died, you can get an IDE-to-CF adapter or perhaps SD/MicroSD or mSATA or M.2 (not sure what's available nowadays) and use a normal flash drive. At the time they were popular this often implied a reduction in capacity, but flash is big now and you can probably get like a 1TB drive and with Rockbox it should recognize it. Not all cards work, but I think the dividing line is often "cards that speak IDE" vs cards that don't - many of the high-spec CompactFlash cards actually have a "native IDE" mode so they speak the same protocol as the original drive did. It also substantially improves battery life, because you're going from a spinning drive pulling a couple watts to a flash card pulling ~nothing. No affiliation with this site and haven't used them but this is basically what you'll be looking for: https://www.iflash.xyz/ipod-and-sdhc-sdxc-cards/ https://www.iflash.xyz/ipod-and-sdhc-sdxc-cards/ If your device is physically battered to hell then yeah, not much you can do besides try to find a replacement. But if your ipod is still in decent shape with a fresh battery and a flash adapter it'll be better than new. Do try to minimize the number of assembly/disassembly cycles though, there's lots of little plastic clips in most devices and they won't last forever. Also, Fiio made some devices with very similar ergonomics to the ipod (eg the scroll wheel) like the X5 and X5ii, although like most others they've gone to android nowadays. I have an X5ii that will take a pair of 128GB microSD cards and it has a solid hifi headphone amp built in. https://www.head-fi.org/showcase/fiio-x5-2nd-gen-premium-hi-res-dap.20727/reviews https://www.head-fi.org/showcase/fiio-x5-2nd-gen-premium-hi-...
geoelectric 4y ago
I think this is actually a pretty real concern. I've noticed my appreciation for specific instances of all sorts of media has tanked with wide availability. I actually used to buy a lot of media so I hit this problem before streaming. As soon as I had a backlog big enough with each type of media that it wasn't straightforward to burn through it, it became a cloud of equally possible stuff with the result I wasn't particularly invested in any of it. Most people were smarter than me re: dumping money into bits on a disc, but now that streaming and/or free-feed libraries have hit most media types, I think the experience is becoming more common. I think it's a different version of Paradox of Choice: all individualization between the various choices is lost when there's too many. With PoC, the problem is that then you have nothing left by which you can prioritize. In this case, the issue is the loss of all joy you'd have found in the differences. What's helped a little for me is going on "kicks," like finding all the bands I liked that did EDM-metal hybrid, or all the found footage movies I liked, etc. Constraining the pool you're selecting from first makes it easier, and having a mission of some kind makes it easier still.
- neves 4y ago
  Remember that we have unlimited access to super-hero and algorithmically scripted movies. I had more options in my VHS rental stores than in current streaming offerings. It is very hard to find classic movies of non anglo-american directors. I had access to these movies in my third world big city rental store.
  - neves 4y ago
    I also have a wall of independent CDs that never got to the streaming services.
- sharkweek 4y ago
  Child of the 90s here and my parents wouldn’t get cable TV. This meant my access to movies was basically whatever was on broadcast TV that night or if I was really lucky whatever was available at our local video rental store. I remember not always loving whatever movie we chose (or whatever was on TV) but I watched it because it’s what I had. Now, like many others, I stare at the home screen of a few different services each night, start and stop a few different things, then give up.
globular-toast 4y ago
One of my favourite teachers at school noted this phenomenon long before streaming was a thing. He said that once he got a favourite film on DVD he actually watched it less. Whereas before he would watch it whenever it was on TV, he can now watch it whenever he wants, so why watch it ever? I've noticed a related phenomenon: too much choice induces anxiety. If there are like 5 films showing in the cinema it's usually obvious which one to pick. Maybe I'll watch another later in the week. But now I can watch any film ever made and I often find it hard to choose because there is a fear of missing out on all the other films I could have chosen.
zahma 4y ago
Part of what you described is due to streaming, but it’s also the production side making music available for this type of consumption. That’s been a long time in the making as labels consolidate and big artists become sex symbols, actors, and basically lifestyle influencers while singing generically machine-crafted music that has no lasting potential. Moreover, TikTok is becoming a recruiting ground for record labels. My guess is singles are going to get shorter and even more ephemeral, just like all the “culture” streaming into our phone screens. So what you’re describing to me is an extension of fatigue with a trend that doesn’t try to make things to last. Having physical media or something that is individual to the music makes me respect my collection and helps bring it to life. I can’t stream from a big service because it ruins the feeling. I don’t really listen to much music on my phone either unless I’m in the car. I like it that way. It feels defiant that I’m not just randomly bombarding my ears with whatever cool new trash is being forced into my ears.
- joe5150 4y ago
  the tendency of artists “becoming sex symbols, actors, and basically lifestyle influencers while singing generically machine-crafted music” if not basically being the case for the entire history of recorded music, at least predates streaming by many decades. it’s also not exclusive to music and has a long history in basically every artistic industry.
  - chha 4y ago
    Absolutely. But now more than ever it's about the brand, and not the individual. But I think this primarily applies to mainstream music where the artist is likely to have a few hits over a couple years, only to fade out (unless they can build the brand). Go outside mainstream music, and chances are that you'll see something completely different.
    - joe5150 4y ago
      yeah I agree that it's a phenomenon, I just don't think it arose recently because of streaming. if anything, streaming makes it easier to access artists' back catalogs. not sure the degree to which this increases the longevity of mainstream pop artists, but I don't see any obvious way that it contributes to the "problem".
Groxx 4y ago
To be a counter-anecdote: I love streaming music, I listen to far more and far wider variety than I did more. I can definitely see why that'd be a downside for some, but I love it. My only real complaint is that nothing wants to work together, so migrating services / backing up playlists / etc is a real nightmare. But I never actually maintained that in any real fashion to begin with, so I do the ones I care about by hand and ignore the rest and I've become fine with that.
javajosh 4y ago
>There is a part of me that wants to abandon streaming services and just buy a couple of albums per month based on what I think might be cool. This is what I do! And for similar reasons. It's actually really great because a) you can pick up used CDs and vinyl for cheap, b) you get to listen to the whole album, c) there are no screens involved. I didn't realize how oppressive screen-based music selection has become until I ditched it. I love my setup (and you can pick up great used audio equipment for cheap now, too.) Just do it - and if you don't like it you can get rid of it all on ebay.
halfmatthalfcat 4y ago
I have discovered so many (good) bands via Spotify over the past 5 years it's honestly insane. If I had stuck to "guessing" at what I might like, I would not have had such a rich collection of new music from relatively unknown or foreign artists. It's also allowed me to sample so many varieties of genres without any direct monetary involvement. I wouldn't trade it for the world honestly. I also support the artists I listen to by buying merch/going to concerts to supplement the pittance they get from streaming royalties.
dhosek 4y ago
That’s exactly what I do. Having all the music is essentially the same as having none of the music. I buy an album a month, usually (plus more on my birthday and at Christmas), and have my iPhone set up so that the music is the 32M of least-played music, plus anything rated 3 stars that I’ve not heard in two years, 4 stars that I’ve not heard in a year and 5 stars that I’ve not heard in six months. It gives me a nice mix of fresh tracks and favorites.
doublepg23 4y ago
Chiming in with the vinyl recommendation as well. Pulling up lyrics and going through my favorite records is quite a nice evening.
Forgeties79 4y ago
Couldn’t have put it better myself. This is 100% how I feel.
mastazi 4y ago
I think that I solved this problem, I did it through self-discipline, categorically avoiding any recommendation system on any platform I use. I only ever listen to music that was either on one of my playlists, or on a playlist that a friend shared with me, etc. Music that is part of my own playlists is there because I discovered it organically (was in a movie I watched, heard on the radio etc.) which is the same as you would discover it pre-streaming. Songs and playlists that friends share with me is the equivalent of old cassettes that friends would make for you. I do the same thing outside of music streaming too, there are browser extensions like Undistracted that can help avoiding recommendation systems (but unfortunately Undistracted doesn't work on Spotify).
IgorPartola 4y ago
I have always loved music and still do. I think what you describe has in part been due to scarcity. But in part it has to do with growing up. As a teenager you are often bored out of your whole mind and so have time to focus on music. You also listen to the lyrics and the ideas presented are brand new and meaningful. Later in life you are less likely to find truly novel albums, or even songs; maybe a phrase here and there but a record is less likely to capture your imagination. Here is my solution to enjoying music: treat it as a soundtrack to your life. Create themed playlists. Spotify has collaborative playlists built in and I have a couple of friends who are or were professional DJs. I will start a playlist and then have them add things to it based on the theme and feeling. This process has gotten better and better. I now enjoy high quality music that I love while also discovering new artists and records.
- dexterdog 4y ago
  I'm in my 50s and I still listen to new music that moves me to both excitement and tears. I don't use streaming services and just maintain my own library and always have. Many of the bands I listen to have members older than I am, but they are still actively making new music.
  - jjtheblunt 4y ago
    I'm also in my 50s and was doing just what you do, then tediously went through hundreds of CDs and then tons of legit iTunes purchases to track what music i liked, and then converted to using Spotify, which has been excellent, though with a UI somewhat clunky, though nowhere as annoying as Apple Music the times i've tried using it.
vlunkr 4y ago
As a counterpoint, I enjoy music more now. Music discovery is light years ahead of where it was in the iPod era. There's no additional cost to exploring as many artists and genres as you want. Also, streaming services are doing nothing to prevent you from listening to music the old way. Yeah, Spotify has a huge library, but it's not like the whole thing is on shuffle. If you find you're not spending the time to enjoy specific things, that's ultimately your problem. I do get where you're coming from, I'm very nostalgic for my old click-wheel iPod. Probably the biggest downside in moving away from physical media in my mind is the loss of the rest of the album art.
- eyelidlessness 4y ago
  > There's no additional cost to exploring as many artists and genres as you want. Not that I want music discovery to cost more, but I do think a consequence can be that it’s also easier to not discover music you might otherwise have. If I buy an album, and it doesn’t immediately capture me, I have N-1 other tracks waiting to change my mind. And I’m invested in that possibility. Endless discovery possibilities gives me an incentive to move on to another artist. Sure, I might like that other artist too. But pretty much all of my now-favorite artists were a pass before they grew on me. I’m not saying that’s the attitude everyone should have, or that others wouldn’t or even ought to explore this way. Just sharing my own perspective for whatever it’s worth.
  - vlunkr 4y ago
    On the other hand, you don't waste time trying to like an album because you paid money for it.
    - esjeon 4y ago
      Welp, devotion plays the largest role when it comes to enjoying something, and paying for an album already means the person is already devoted into it. Devotion allows juicing out more fun from the same item.
    - eyelidlessness 4y ago
conductr 4y ago
Streaming is just a medium. How you curate and listen is the message. I might be a bit older than average here but I converted to iPod on first generation and I’m on the streaming bandwagon now but I never got into the habit of shuffling. I listen to albums, track by track in order. Always have regardless of the tech I was using and don’t feel like I’ve missed much. Actually I’ve gained a bit because I can branch out pretty wide from my core stuff and I can put on a playlist for ease when I just want background noise. Also, I remember the feeling of buying an album out of pure curiosity and thinking it was trash. That doesn’t happen any more. So really all to say, it might be worth trying some habit hacks before flipping the whole thing over. The part I don’t always like is the app experience. Not that it’s hard to use but browsing a shelf /rack is so much better. Just like finding a movie at blockbuster was easier than on Netflix. Grocery store > instacart.
eyelidlessness 4y ago
> There is a part of me that wants to abandon streaming services and just buy a couple of albums per month based on what I think might be cool. I highly encourage giving it a try if you’re inclined. I personally never took to streaming services, largely for the reasons you express. For me it’s mostly because I dislike shuffle, and prefer listing to full albums. Not a hipster snobby thing, it just fits my attention span better and has led to several artists becoming favorites when I’d felt pretty meh about their singles.
mihaaly 4y ago
I want to abandon streaming too, but because the service is sh*t, unreliable, non-friendly. The self curated playlist idea on a nice dedicated device is also very attractive, not least because I still do that on streaming, pity that its support is an Nth tier for the providers behind 'intelligent' and 'AI' and 'just for you' bullsh*t pushed into my face, dealing with own lists is very often a struggle or even an uphill battle. Yes, I should pick up the old habits too and pay attention more to 'own mix albums', elevating the experience.
paulcole 4y ago
I mean do it. It’s one thing to say you want to do something. It’s another to actually do it.
alx__ 4y ago
There's nothing wrong with doing both! I support my favorite artists directly on Bandcamp by buying their digital albums. I put them in my personal Plex server to listen when/wherever. And you usually get download options for lossless formats. Will sometimes buy the vinyl version as they usually come with a digital download. It's even nicer to lay on the couch and blast the full album without any iPod clicking to deal with ;)
vinceguidry 4y ago
Sony still makes digital Walkmans. Pretty much an updated Nano, some of them even have clickwheel-like interfaces. I have one, it served me well until I just broke down and bought lightning headphones to listen to Spotify with on my phone. Once I replace my phone with either a Librem 5 or a LineageOS device, I can go back to using my music library.
Pxtl 4y ago
That's what I've been doing. Since going remote I've been buying about one post rock instrumental album per month from Bandcamp to listen to while I work. Then I download to my NAS and re-upload to my (free tier) YouTube Music account. I just wish Amazon digital albums were available in Canada, I don't want to have to buy CDs.
winternett 4y ago
I've kept all my old records, hard drives full of mp3s, and even cassette tapes knowing that this era was coming. Twitter trends and YouTube as well is full of music on rails, polished pop stars that are working to spin their unremarkable music into an acting career, and it generates underwhelming results for music. It's the very reason why device makers are getting rid of headphone jacks, and why storage is kept low, even on new on phones, and other devices. Soon we'll only have streaming as a choice, we won't be able to maintain a music collection any more for various reasons like HD/SSD failure, and mysteriously, making deeper choices will be more expensive, even though the artists don't get paid until they give in to the commercial song playlist machine. There is literally volumes of the absolute best music being made on YouTube, but it never sees the light of day... I have to regularly go through hurdles to find it in places where artists themselves share it, and it's depressing to see them with only 50 views in many cases, completely ignored by algos. I say this as someone who has run an underground music label for years now, the job of being a successfully creative and different artist is becoming impossible fast, and as a result, the process of finding music based on real talent is fading with it. Hang onto your vinyl and hope your legacy devices don't get worn out, or enjoy non stop billboard top 10 on an infinite loop (Or Metallica's unforgiven again... on the radio... on infinite loop... after those 10 liberty mutual commercials). :/
- black_knight 4y ago
  > There is literally volumes of the absolute best music being made on YouTube, but it never sees the light of day... I have to regularly go through hurdles to find it in places where artists themselves share it, and it's depressing to see them with only 50 views in many cases, completely ignored by algos. This is my experience too. And I think "algos" are doing music-lovers a disservice… Technology has the potential to democratise music making. You can produce music on any computer. If you make electronic music you need nothing else. If you play physical instruments you need a bit, but not much more, gear to get the sound into the computer to produce tracks which you can publish online. So, if you want to make music, you can – no one can stop you! And you can put it online and anyone can access it, in theory, but making it discoverable by an audience is a completely different matter. The streaming services do not need new and innovative music made with passion by god and everybody. They need the old hits, which people look for, and small amount of "new hits" to push on people to make everything feel fresh. I want to say that there could be a different streaming service, which better serves the audience and makers, but I am not sure exactly what that means.
ryukoposting 4y ago
My first iPod was the original Shuffle. The one that was basically a thumb drive with a headphone jack and some buttons. It's still sitting around somewhere, I think. It was a brilliant little device for its time, just an objectively good product. It was easy to use. It didn't try to sell you stuff, it didn't try to box you into buying more Apple products. It just was, and it was good. As for buying albums- Do it. Something about listening to a whole album puts my head at ease. My car's glovebox is stuffed with CDs I got in places ranging from the local bookstore to a dive bar in Memphis. It's great music, but it's also a fond memory.
awild 4y ago
I very much feel you. I have a pretty large mp3 collection that is a mix of pirated, bought or ripped from (library) CDs. I started using Spotify only a few years ago when maintaining a phone library started to get cumbersome. Geniunely hated their reccomendation algorithm. I've discovered nts.live somewhere in 2021 and have been listening a lot to their shows. The selection of music is diverse and very obviuosly curated. Where else would I find a podcast of lofi outsider pop that ventures from brittle shoegaze/ambient track into one of the greatest disoc/pop songs ever sung by a 10 year old girl: https://www.nts.live/shows/okonkole-y-trompa/episodes/okonkole-y-trompa-19th-june-2019 https://www.nts.live/shows/okonkole-y-trompa/episodes/okonko... (Around 1h40min)
mguerville 4y ago
I’ve abandoned streaming because you never own the music and they remove artists and albums or don’t carry some versions that I like. Youtube music and hype machine serve me well when i just want to hear something new, but otherwise I’ve been back to building my own music file library and using a media server to access it anywhere It’s not quite the tangible feel of the ipod you describe but I find a great joy in my library being mine and not having any social or promotional features (« hot albums this week » etc.), i know what is in there and what comes in and goes out. The UI is utilitarian and not trying to drive engagement or generate revenue from me, I love it.
ZeroGravitas 4y ago
I'm looking into a slightly less retro take on this, with the files stored on my phone and played via bluetooth. Is anyone aware of any geeky workflows for this, e.g. having a giant collection on a server and regularly updating the local selection. A simple player app etc. A service independent way to store favourite tracks and playlists etc. Or have streaming services stolen all tha air from this sector? The aggressivness of Apple Music hints that those services will start getting annoying.

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Abishek_Muthian 4y ago

> Sad to see it go, even though really it’s been gone since the iPhone launched. I've seen it being carried as a daily driver instead of a phone by few privacy and security conscious folks. Considering that use case, iPod Touch was a great value for money. Guess they'll carry iPad mini now i.e. if they really want to stick with Apple (app) ecosystem.

cutler 4y ago

I'm dumbfounded by this move by Apple as the iPod was one of the innovations which kicked Apple into the big league. There is also a large population of users who, for over a decade, have been using an iPod without a Mac or an iPhone and who rely on iTunes for Windows to manage their music. Not everyone can afford nearly £1000 for an iPhone, especially if the main reason is to provide continuity for their now deceased iPod experience. Then again Apple never gave a damn about obsolescence. When Big Sur was released I learned that my early 2013 MacBook Pro wasn't compatible yet only this week I was able to download a simple fix from OpenCore which enabled to me load Monterey and have it working perfectly. If one guy could pull this off why couldn't Apple with their resources? Truth is they wanted to make my MacBook Pro incompatible - by mere designation - just like they resisted the right to repair until forced to play ball. If Apple respected their loyal base of iPod users they could at least continue to produce replacement iPod batteries. That would be a minimal good-will gesture.

dkonofalski 4y ago

This is me as well and is the primary reason I still buy albums on vinyl. I'm not an audiophile snob or anything, I just think that listening to music on vinyl is deliberate enough to overcome the "disposable" issue that you're describing. If I want to listen to an album, I have to go to the room in my house with the turntable, open the album, put it on, set the tone arm, etc. It's very deliberate and it helps me appreciate and dedicate time to music.

dxscorp 4y ago
I've also turned to vinyl for this, and while I love it, I will say I yearn for something that doesn't involve the dreaded 'flip' especially on modern double albums. 3 songs per side goes by so fast. Maybe this is why people still use cassettes?
- Multicomp 4y ago
  Not cassettes but a dedicated CD player is what I use for this stuff. I have certain custom mixtape style mood music CDs depending on how the scene in my novel is supposed to feel tonally, for example. Yes I could make those into YouTube playlists, but the ritual of putting in the right CD has something to say for it, and also my CDs never have advertisements that manage to sneak past all of my layers of adblock, nor do they suddenly decide to be unavailable on one particular day or another.
  - runarberg 4y ago
    I remember when I added a CD player to my audio setup a couple of years ago—which previously just had a radio tuner, vinyl turntable and a cassette deck. I kept my old CDs and my partner has even more. I had gotten used to the OK sound quality of vinyl, cassette and FM radio (or youtube on my computer speakers). So when I put the CD in and played it I was amazed how good it sounds, I simply had forgotten how good CD can sound with a good audio setup. I still play records though, simply because it is more fun, but if I want quality I play CDs.
- ckosidows 4y ago

greedo 4y ago

I do the same thing with Netflix. I used to get DVDs (then Blu-rays) but their quality was consistently bad (damaged discs) and their collection has turned to crap. So now I just stream Netflix (cuz the family would lynch me otherwise), but I buy a Blu-ray every month with the money I'm saving.

deergomoo 4y ago
I buy Blu-Rays for films and shows I really like. Streaming services may be 4K, but the bitrate of a 4K stream is typically just a fraction of even a 1080p BD, and it really shows.
- greedo 4y ago
  Yup. I tried to show my wife the difference, but she watches normal DVDs and thinks "they're fine..." while my eyes are bleeding.

Bayart 4y ago

Modding old iPods to have them run flash memory and decent batteries is pretty common, you could look into that. I'm still using my 17 years old iPod 5G like this. Flashed with Rockbox it reads every file format (mostly FLAC) I could ever want.

Bluecobra 4y ago

> There is a part of me that wants to abandon streaming services and just buy a couple of albums per month based on what I think might be cool. I used to do this before the streaming services existed. I used to buy a handful of MP3's from Amazon (don't laugh) per month. I would also buy used CDs and rip it to MP3. Apple Music is included with monthly cell phone bill so I now "rent" some of my music now, it's just easier. I'm careful not to just download whole albums outright though, I have a curated collection of songs I like and I still use the old star ratings in iTunes. I also pay for $25/year for iTunes Match to maintain my legacy collection.

dont__panic 4y ago

There's a middle ground, too -- you can host music streaming for your own library through [Jellyfin](https://jellyfin.org/ https://jellyfin.org/) (or Plex, or a few other alternatives) for the backend and something like [FinAmp](https://github.com/UnicornsOnLSD/finamp https://github.com/UnicornsOnLSD/finamp) on the frontend. Easy to curate your own library, and you can avoid the "sync problem" when you download a new album. There are some bugs to iron out in the setup, but my raspberry pi home server has been running this great for 5 months now, and offline media served me very well through a cross-country move. It's a great opportunity to take back some agency from Spotify, start contributing to artists on bandcamp or similar, and cut another annoying monthly subscription from your life. When someone hands me their phone to play music on Spotify at this point, I find the front page absolutely overwhelming. It's sort of like going back to cable after streaming for years, and seeing your first ad. You wonder how you ever put up with it.

ksec 4y ago
This is interesting. Considering most of our Home internet connection have upload bandwidth far greater than music streaming. A consumer, simple and easy to use devices for this. Steve Jobs was against the whole Streaming Music services idea. At the time I would have thought the next move for iTunes would be to have free Streaming of songs you have purchased. Which is somewhat similar to this idea.
geoffeg 4y ago
I've been frustrated with Spotify's UI for so long now. It just seems so full of dark... or at least dim(?) user patterns. I started buying albums from bands I like off Bandcamp and loading them into Plexamp. (I really hope Epic doesn't destroy Bandcamp, it's one of the few remaining sources of high-quality (FLAC) downloadable music.)
- MuzakMyke 4y ago
  I do the same thing, and recommend this setup to any music fan comfortable setting up a Plex server. I share your concern that Epic will ruin Bandcamp, but part of me wonders if that wouldn't be a good thing in the long run. I don't think Bandcamp tried to monopolize digital file sales for independent music, but they kind of have, and that's bad. I'd love to see a good open source music store pop up that labels and bands could easily self-host. You could probably build all the core Bandcamp features into a WordPress plugin in a weekend.

fullshark 4y ago

Yeah i loved the Ipod, and I loved the ability to listen to "my music" whenever i wanted. It was a major game changer, and now I can do the same but "my music" no longer feels special so it hardly seems to matter. Media has become a commodity good with the maturation of the internet, substitute goods have never been easier to find.

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zerocrates 4y ago

I've never moved to streaming; I still just load songs onto my phone. I don't feel like I'm really missing out on anything. I buy things on CD (often used) or vinyl-with-download-code or Bandcamp mostly.

cyral 4y ago
The biggest benefit for me is finding new music, Spotify's discover feature is how I find most new music these days and it's decently accurate at finding things I like.
Daneel_ 4y ago
Same camp here, with the exception of soundcloud - it has such a variety of user-generated content, as well as longer sets (multi-hour mixes, DJ sets, other long-form content) that you just can't find on other platforms.

dotnet00 4y ago

I've been doing this, would definitely recommend it. I have also considered getting an old school music player, but I'd rather not carry around yet another device when a big reason I bought the phone I bought was having a headphone jack.

brewdad 4y ago
If your phone has a slot for an SD card, load it up (opus sounds good enough for on the go) with your collection and you can have the benefits of an old school player behind an app interface on the phone you already carry everywhere.
- dotnet00 4y ago
  Phones these days have so much internal storage that I haven't had to use an sd card, although my phone does have a slot for one. I prefer to use plex and plexamp for my music so I have the conveniences of streaming services with the ownership and classic music player feel of old school devices. Having tried Youtube Music, Tidal and Amazon Music, I feel that the UIs of most streaming apps and even most music apps in general are not that great.

tomjen3 4y ago

You can buy the songs on iTunes or whatever it is called and then you can later sync it to an iPod - and there are repairs on youtube where they put in fresh new batteries.

paulmd 4y ago

> There is a part of me that wants to abandon streaming services and just buy a couple of albums per month based on what I think might be cool. I find myself enjoying music significantly less now I have unlimited access to everything I could ever want. It’s become disposable; just background noise rather than something I’m actively experiencing. I strongly prefer the "sit down and listen to a whole album" experience anyway, at least from artists who make a deliberate attempt to put together a cohesive album and not just one or two bangers and a bunch of filler. Sitting down and listening to a Bowie album or something is a time capsule, and I'm not a boomer so it's not childhood nostalgia either. It's nice to sit down and listen to an hour of music that was specifically curated to produce a certain experience. > Unfortunately, finding one that both holds a charge and isn’t battered to all hell is quite difficult these days, and even so, it’s much harder to justify a single use device for music when I literally always have my phone with me. FYI you can replace the battery in an iPod... someone pointed me towards Cameron Sino as being an extremely reputable supplier of replacements (I've known of them for a long time but I had no idea they sold direct to consumer!). Also, if you are not enamored with needing to use iTunes, the "Rockbox" open-source firmware targets Apple hardware and that should allow it to act like a plain old USB Mass Storage device. I used to use it like 15+ years ago on my iRiver H320 music player. (the name "iRiver" actually predates the ipod! They were a korean company who became known for making very capable flash and HDD mp3 players for their day, with OGG Vorbis support and line-in recording and many other neat features.) https://www.rockbox.org/ https://www.rockbox.org/ Also also, if you are interested in improvements, or your HDD died, you can get an IDE-to-CF adapter or perhaps SD/MicroSD or mSATA or M.2 (not sure what's available nowadays) and use a normal flash drive. At the time they were popular this often implied a reduction in capacity, but flash is big now and you can probably get like a 1TB drive and with Rockbox it should recognize it. Not all cards work, but I think the dividing line is often "cards that speak IDE" vs cards that don't - many of the high-spec CompactFlash cards actually have a "native IDE" mode so they speak the same protocol as the original drive did. It also substantially improves battery life, because you're going from a spinning drive pulling a couple watts to a flash card pulling ~nothing. No affiliation with this site and haven't used them but this is basically what you'll be looking for: https://www.iflash.xyz/ipod-and-sdhc-sdxc-cards/ https://www.iflash.xyz/ipod-and-sdhc-sdxc-cards/ If your device is physically battered to hell then yeah, not much you can do besides try to find a replacement. But if your ipod is still in decent shape with a fresh battery and a flash adapter it'll be better than new. Do try to minimize the number of assembly/disassembly cycles though, there's lots of little plastic clips in most devices and they won't last forever. Also, Fiio made some devices with very similar ergonomics to the ipod (eg the scroll wheel) like the X5 and X5ii, although like most others they've gone to android nowadays. I have an X5ii that will take a pair of 128GB microSD cards and it has a solid hifi headphone amp built in. https://www.head-fi.org/showcase/fiio-x5-2nd-gen-premium-hi-res-dap.20727/reviews https://www.head-fi.org/showcase/fiio-x5-2nd-gen-premium-hi-...

geoelectric 4y ago

I think this is actually a pretty real concern. I've noticed my appreciation for specific instances of all sorts of media has tanked with wide availability. I actually used to buy a lot of media so I hit this problem before streaming. As soon as I had a backlog big enough with each type of media that it wasn't straightforward to burn through it, it became a cloud of equally possible stuff with the result I wasn't particularly invested in any of it. Most people were smarter than me re: dumping money into bits on a disc, but now that streaming and/or free-feed libraries have hit most media types, I think the experience is becoming more common. I think it's a different version of Paradox of Choice: all individualization between the various choices is lost when there's too many. With PoC, the problem is that then you have nothing left by which you can prioritize. In this case, the issue is the loss of all joy you'd have found in the differences. What's helped a little for me is going on "kicks," like finding all the bands I liked that did EDM-metal hybrid, or all the found footage movies I liked, etc. Constraining the pool you're selecting from first makes it easier, and having a mission of some kind makes it easier still.

neves 4y ago
Remember that we have unlimited access to super-hero and algorithmically scripted movies. I had more options in my VHS rental stores than in current streaming offerings. It is very hard to find classic movies of non anglo-american directors. I had access to these movies in my third world big city rental store.
- neves 4y ago
  I also have a wall of independent CDs that never got to the streaming services.
sharkweek 4y ago
Child of the 90s here and my parents wouldn’t get cable TV. This meant my access to movies was basically whatever was on broadcast TV that night or if I was really lucky whatever was available at our local video rental store. I remember not always loving whatever movie we chose (or whatever was on TV) but I watched it because it’s what I had. Now, like many others, I stare at the home screen of a few different services each night, start and stop a few different things, then give up.

globular-toast 4y ago

One of my favourite teachers at school noted this phenomenon long before streaming was a thing. He said that once he got a favourite film on DVD he actually watched it less. Whereas before he would watch it whenever it was on TV, he can now watch it whenever he wants, so why watch it ever? I've noticed a related phenomenon: too much choice induces anxiety. If there are like 5 films showing in the cinema it's usually obvious which one to pick. Maybe I'll watch another later in the week. But now I can watch any film ever made and I often find it hard to choose because there is a fear of missing out on all the other films I could have chosen.

zahma 4y ago

Part of what you described is due to streaming, but it’s also the production side making music available for this type of consumption. That’s been a long time in the making as labels consolidate and big artists become sex symbols, actors, and basically lifestyle influencers while singing generically machine-crafted music that has no lasting potential. Moreover, TikTok is becoming a recruiting ground for record labels. My guess is singles are going to get shorter and even more ephemeral, just like all the “culture” streaming into our phone screens. So what you’re describing to me is an extension of fatigue with a trend that doesn’t try to make things to last. Having physical media or something that is individual to the music makes me respect my collection and helps bring it to life. I can’t stream from a big service because it ruins the feeling. I don’t really listen to much music on my phone either unless I’m in the car. I like it that way. It feels defiant that I’m not just randomly bombarding my ears with whatever cool new trash is being forced into my ears.

joe5150 4y ago
the tendency of artists “becoming sex symbols, actors, and basically lifestyle influencers while singing generically machine-crafted music” if not basically being the case for the entire history of recorded music, at least predates streaming by many decades. it’s also not exclusive to music and has a long history in basically every artistic industry.
- chha 4y ago
  Absolutely. But now more than ever it's about the brand, and not the individual. But I think this primarily applies to mainstream music where the artist is likely to have a few hits over a couple years, only to fade out (unless they can build the brand). Go outside mainstream music, and chances are that you'll see something completely different.
  - joe5150 4y ago
    yeah I agree that it's a phenomenon, I just don't think it arose recently because of streaming. if anything, streaming makes it easier to access artists' back catalogs. not sure the degree to which this increases the longevity of mainstream pop artists, but I don't see any obvious way that it contributes to the "problem".

Groxx 4y ago

To be a counter-anecdote: I love streaming music, I listen to far more and far wider variety than I did more. I can definitely see why that'd be a downside for some, but I love it. My only real complaint is that nothing wants to work together, so migrating services / backing up playlists / etc is a real nightmare. But I never actually maintained that in any real fashion to begin with, so I do the ones I care about by hand and ignore the rest and I've become fine with that.

javajosh 4y ago

>There is a part of me that wants to abandon streaming services and just buy a couple of albums per month based on what I think might be cool. This is what I do! And for similar reasons. It's actually really great because a) you can pick up used CDs and vinyl for cheap, b) you get to listen to the whole album, c) there are no screens involved. I didn't realize how oppressive screen-based music selection has become until I ditched it. I love my setup (and you can pick up great used audio equipment for cheap now, too.) Just do it - and if you don't like it you can get rid of it all on ebay.

halfmatthalfcat 4y ago

I have discovered so many (good) bands via Spotify over the past 5 years it's honestly insane. If I had stuck to "guessing" at what I might like, I would not have had such a rich collection of new music from relatively unknown or foreign artists. It's also allowed me to sample so many varieties of genres without any direct monetary involvement. I wouldn't trade it for the world honestly. I also support the artists I listen to by buying merch/going to concerts to supplement the pittance they get from streaming royalties.

dhosek 4y ago

That’s exactly what I do. Having all the music is essentially the same as having none of the music. I buy an album a month, usually (plus more on my birthday and at Christmas), and have my iPhone set up so that the music is the 32M of least-played music, plus anything rated 3 stars that I’ve not heard in two years, 4 stars that I’ve not heard in a year and 5 stars that I’ve not heard in six months. It gives me a nice mix of fresh tracks and favorites.

doublepg23 4y ago

Chiming in with the vinyl recommendation as well. Pulling up lyrics and going through my favorite records is quite a nice evening.

Forgeties79 4y ago

Couldn’t have put it better myself. This is 100% how I feel.

mastazi 4y ago

I think that I solved this problem, I did it through self-discipline, categorically avoiding any recommendation system on any platform I use. I only ever listen to music that was either on one of my playlists, or on a playlist that a friend shared with me, etc. Music that is part of my own playlists is there because I discovered it organically (was in a movie I watched, heard on the radio etc.) which is the same as you would discover it pre-streaming. Songs and playlists that friends share with me is the equivalent of old cassettes that friends would make for you. I do the same thing outside of music streaming too, there are browser extensions like Undistracted that can help avoiding recommendation systems (but unfortunately Undistracted doesn't work on Spotify).

IgorPartola 4y ago

I have always loved music and still do. I think what you describe has in part been due to scarcity. But in part it has to do with growing up. As a teenager you are often bored out of your whole mind and so have time to focus on music. You also listen to the lyrics and the ideas presented are brand new and meaningful. Later in life you are less likely to find truly novel albums, or even songs; maybe a phrase here and there but a record is less likely to capture your imagination. Here is my solution to enjoying music: treat it as a soundtrack to your life. Create themed playlists. Spotify has collaborative playlists built in and I have a couple of friends who are or were professional DJs. I will start a playlist and then have them add things to it based on the theme and feeling. This process has gotten better and better. I now enjoy high quality music that I love while also discovering new artists and records.

dexterdog 4y ago
I'm in my 50s and I still listen to new music that moves me to both excitement and tears. I don't use streaming services and just maintain my own library and always have. Many of the bands I listen to have members older than I am, but they are still actively making new music.
- jjtheblunt 4y ago
  I'm also in my 50s and was doing just what you do, then tediously went through hundreds of CDs and then tons of legit iTunes purchases to track what music i liked, and then converted to using Spotify, which has been excellent, though with a UI somewhat clunky, though nowhere as annoying as Apple Music the times i've tried using it.

vlunkr 4y ago

As a counterpoint, I enjoy music more now. Music discovery is light years ahead of where it was in the iPod era. There's no additional cost to exploring as many artists and genres as you want. Also, streaming services are doing nothing to prevent you from listening to music the old way. Yeah, Spotify has a huge library, but it's not like the whole thing is on shuffle. If you find you're not spending the time to enjoy specific things, that's ultimately your problem. I do get where you're coming from, I'm very nostalgic for my old click-wheel iPod. Probably the biggest downside in moving away from physical media in my mind is the loss of the rest of the album art.

eyelidlessness 4y ago
> There's no additional cost to exploring as many artists and genres as you want. Not that I want music discovery to cost more, but I do think a consequence can be that it’s also easier to not discover music you might otherwise have. If I buy an album, and it doesn’t immediately capture me, I have N-1 other tracks waiting to change my mind. And I’m invested in that possibility. Endless discovery possibilities gives me an incentive to move on to another artist. Sure, I might like that other artist too. But pretty much all of my now-favorite artists were a pass before they grew on me. I’m not saying that’s the attitude everyone should have, or that others wouldn’t or even ought to explore this way. Just sharing my own perspective for whatever it’s worth.
- vlunkr 4y ago
  On the other hand, you don't waste time trying to like an album because you paid money for it.
  - esjeon 4y ago
    Welp, devotion plays the largest role when it comes to enjoying something, and paying for an album already means the person is already devoted into it. Devotion allows juicing out more fun from the same item.
  - eyelidlessness 4y ago

conductr 4y ago

Streaming is just a medium. How you curate and listen is the message. I might be a bit older than average here but I converted to iPod on first generation and I’m on the streaming bandwagon now but I never got into the habit of shuffling. I listen to albums, track by track in order. Always have regardless of the tech I was using and don’t feel like I’ve missed much. Actually I’ve gained a bit because I can branch out pretty wide from my core stuff and I can put on a playlist for ease when I just want background noise. Also, I remember the feeling of buying an album out of pure curiosity and thinking it was trash. That doesn’t happen any more. So really all to say, it might be worth trying some habit hacks before flipping the whole thing over. The part I don’t always like is the app experience. Not that it’s hard to use but browsing a shelf /rack is so much better. Just like finding a movie at blockbuster was easier than on Netflix. Grocery store > instacart.

eyelidlessness 4y ago

> There is a part of me that wants to abandon streaming services and just buy a couple of albums per month based on what I think might be cool. I highly encourage giving it a try if you’re inclined. I personally never took to streaming services, largely for the reasons you express. For me it’s mostly because I dislike shuffle, and prefer listing to full albums. Not a hipster snobby thing, it just fits my attention span better and has led to several artists becoming favorites when I’d felt pretty meh about their singles.

mihaaly 4y ago

I want to abandon streaming too, but because the service is sh*t, unreliable, non-friendly. The self curated playlist idea on a nice dedicated device is also very attractive, not least because I still do that on streaming, pity that its support is an Nth tier for the providers behind 'intelligent' and 'AI' and 'just for you' bullsh*t pushed into my face, dealing with own lists is very often a struggle or even an uphill battle. Yes, I should pick up the old habits too and pay attention more to 'own mix albums', elevating the experience.

paulcole 4y ago

I mean do it. It’s one thing to say you want to do something. It’s another to actually do it.

alx__ 4y ago

There's nothing wrong with doing both! I support my favorite artists directly on Bandcamp by buying their digital albums. I put them in my personal Plex server to listen when/wherever. And you usually get download options for lossless formats. Will sometimes buy the vinyl version as they usually come with a digital download. It's even nicer to lay on the couch and blast the full album without any iPod clicking to deal with ;)

vinceguidry 4y ago

Sony still makes digital Walkmans. Pretty much an updated Nano, some of them even have clickwheel-like interfaces. I have one, it served me well until I just broke down and bought lightning headphones to listen to Spotify with on my phone. Once I replace my phone with either a Librem 5 or a LineageOS device, I can go back to using my music library.

Pxtl 4y ago

That's what I've been doing. Since going remote I've been buying about one post rock instrumental album per month from Bandcamp to listen to while I work. Then I download to my NAS and re-upload to my (free tier) YouTube Music account. I just wish Amazon digital albums were available in Canada, I don't want to have to buy CDs.

winternett 4y ago

I've kept all my old records, hard drives full of mp3s, and even cassette tapes knowing that this era was coming. Twitter trends and YouTube as well is full of music on rails, polished pop stars that are working to spin their unremarkable music into an acting career, and it generates underwhelming results for music. It's the very reason why device makers are getting rid of headphone jacks, and why storage is kept low, even on new on phones, and other devices. Soon we'll only have streaming as a choice, we won't be able to maintain a music collection any more for various reasons like HD/SSD failure, and mysteriously, making deeper choices will be more expensive, even though the artists don't get paid until they give in to the commercial song playlist machine. There is literally volumes of the absolute best music being made on YouTube, but it never sees the light of day... I have to regularly go through hurdles to find it in places where artists themselves share it, and it's depressing to see them with only 50 views in many cases, completely ignored by algos. I say this as someone who has run an underground music label for years now, the job of being a successfully creative and different artist is becoming impossible fast, and as a result, the process of finding music based on real talent is fading with it. Hang onto your vinyl and hope your legacy devices don't get worn out, or enjoy non stop billboard top 10 on an infinite loop (Or Metallica's unforgiven again... on the radio... on infinite loop... after those 10 liberty mutual commercials). :/

black_knight 4y ago
> There is literally volumes of the absolute best music being made on YouTube, but it never sees the light of day... I have to regularly go through hurdles to find it in places where artists themselves share it, and it's depressing to see them with only 50 views in many cases, completely ignored by algos. This is my experience too. And I think "algos" are doing music-lovers a disservice… Technology has the potential to democratise music making. You can produce music on any computer. If you make electronic music you need nothing else. If you play physical instruments you need a bit, but not much more, gear to get the sound into the computer to produce tracks which you can publish online. So, if you want to make music, you can – no one can stop you! And you can put it online and anyone can access it, in theory, but making it discoverable by an audience is a completely different matter. The streaming services do not need new and innovative music made with passion by god and everybody. They need the old hits, which people look for, and small amount of "new hits" to push on people to make everything feel fresh. I want to say that there could be a different streaming service, which better serves the audience and makers, but I am not sure exactly what that means.

ryukoposting 4y ago

My first iPod was the original Shuffle. The one that was basically a thumb drive with a headphone jack and some buttons. It's still sitting around somewhere, I think. It was a brilliant little device for its time, just an objectively good product. It was easy to use. It didn't try to sell you stuff, it didn't try to box you into buying more Apple products. It just was, and it was good. As for buying albums- Do it. Something about listening to a whole album puts my head at ease. My car's glovebox is stuffed with CDs I got in places ranging from the local bookstore to a dive bar in Memphis. It's great music, but it's also a fond memory.

awild 4y ago

I very much feel you. I have a pretty large mp3 collection that is a mix of pirated, bought or ripped from (library) CDs. I started using Spotify only a few years ago when maintaining a phone library started to get cumbersome. Geniunely hated their reccomendation algorithm. I've discovered nts.live somewhere in 2021 and have been listening a lot to their shows. The selection of music is diverse and very obviuosly curated. Where else would I find a podcast of lofi outsider pop that ventures from brittle shoegaze/ambient track into one of the greatest disoc/pop songs ever sung by a 10 year old girl: https://www.nts.live/shows/okonkole-y-trompa/episodes/okonkole-y-trompa-19th-june-2019 https://www.nts.live/shows/okonkole-y-trompa/episodes/okonko... (Around 1h40min)

mguerville 4y ago

I’ve abandoned streaming because you never own the music and they remove artists and albums or don’t carry some versions that I like. Youtube music and hype machine serve me well when i just want to hear something new, but otherwise I’ve been back to building my own music file library and using a media server to access it anywhere It’s not quite the tangible feel of the ipod you describe but I find a great joy in my library being mine and not having any social or promotional features (« hot albums this week » etc.), i know what is in there and what comes in and goes out. The UI is utilitarian and not trying to drive engagement or generate revenue from me, I love it.

ZeroGravitas 4y ago

I'm looking into a slightly less retro take on this, with the files stored on my phone and played via bluetooth. Is anyone aware of any geeky workflows for this, e.g. having a giant collection on a server and regularly updating the local selection. A simple player app etc. A service independent way to store favourite tracks and playlists etc. Or have streaming services stolen all tha air from this sector? The aggressivness of Apple Music hints that those services will start getting annoying.