3 ms·

I’ve been seriously considering going back to owning a big library of mp3s. I love Spotify for its suggestions - well, when it’s not just playing the same 8 son

I’ve been seriously considering going back to owning a big library of mp3s. I love Spotify for its suggestions - well, when it’s not just playing the same 8 songs on repeat. And I love having my music available on all my devices. But the experience of playing songs feels like it’s taken a big step backwards into some sort of weird corporate happy land. The fact I we still can’t remove podcasts from Spotify is ridiculous. I tried Apple Music but I bounced almost immediately because of the UI.

ryandrake 4y ago
> I’ve been seriously considering going back to owning a big library of mp3s. I never left! Every once in a while I go and try Streaming again to see if they have gotten their shit together, and they still haven't. My hand-curated collection of MP3s, hand-ripped by me using the quality settings I like, carefully stored in a directory structure I understand, with filenames that make sense to me, meticulously tagged with the right metadata, gives me everything I need for music listening, and it doesn't require the Internet or a subscription to play. With hard drive sizes today, the cost of storage for a library of every music I would ever want to listen to is a rounding error. I don't care about discovery and engagement and royalty costs and all those metrics streaming companies optimize for.
- freedomben 4y ago
  What platform (linux/mac/windows) are you on, and which apps do you use to manage/consume it? Do you use a streamer (like plex, jellyfin, etc) or do you load your whole collection on every device?
  - ryandrake 4y ago
    Debian Linux for networked storage. Kodi as client on home theater system. rsync or iTunes to sync to USB devices or to a 15 year old iPod classic.
hirvi74 4y ago
> I tried Apple Music but I bounced almost immediately because of the UI. I feel like everyone says this, but Apple Music's UI is why I left Spotify.
infinityio 4y ago
Have you tried plex/jelly-amp? Plexamp attempts recommendations and does a good job streaming / keeping media between devices (although for some reason you can't copy the entire library, only playlists/albums/artists?)

ryandrake 4y ago

> I’ve been seriously considering going back to owning a big library of mp3s. I never left! Every once in a while I go and try Streaming again to see if they have gotten their shit together, and they still haven't. My hand-curated collection of MP3s, hand-ripped by me using the quality settings I like, carefully stored in a directory structure I understand, with filenames that make sense to me, meticulously tagged with the right metadata, gives me everything I need for music listening, and it doesn't require the Internet or a subscription to play. With hard drive sizes today, the cost of storage for a library of every music I would ever want to listen to is a rounding error. I don't care about discovery and engagement and royalty costs and all those metrics streaming companies optimize for.

freedomben 4y ago
What platform (linux/mac/windows) are you on, and which apps do you use to manage/consume it? Do you use a streamer (like plex, jellyfin, etc) or do you load your whole collection on every device?
- ryandrake 4y ago
  Debian Linux for networked storage. Kodi as client on home theater system. rsync or iTunes to sync to USB devices or to a 15 year old iPod classic.

hirvi74 4y ago

> I tried Apple Music but I bounced almost immediately because of the UI. I feel like everyone says this, but Apple Music's UI is why I left Spotify.

infinityio 4y ago

Have you tried plex/jelly-amp? Plexamp attempts recommendations and does a good job streaming / keeping media between devices (although for some reason you can't copy the entire library, only playlists/albums/artists?)