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Hottest of takes : A shitty music app on my phone like Spotify is 1000x more convenient than a dedicated music device will ever be. As a society we already pro

Hottest of takes : A shitty music app on my phone like Spotify is 1000x more convenient than a dedicated music device will ever be. As a society we already processed and answered this question in the late 00's. PMP's (heh, remember that term?) suck. All-in-one devices are better Hot-take over.

gyulai 4y ago
> As a society we already processed and answered It's difficult to disentangle this from the switch to streaming and regarding the latter it is very much unclear whether this was a consumer preference or just something that one-sidedly benefitted an oligopolistic music industry and consumers just had to live with it. Even if a preference for streaming apps reflects an uncoerced choice that a majority of consumers made back then or would make today, it's still a hallmark of a well-functioning market and a free society if the needs/preferences of the minority don't go entirely unserved by the market.
- waiseristy 4y ago
  You know what was an oligopoly? The original music services we used in the early aughts. The *vast majority* of music being bought and downloaded in the wild west days of PMP's was from iTunes. And I think you would be surprised to see that Amazon and iTunes account for a significant amount of music sales still to this day It's plain to see that the needs and preferences of minority users are being served too. This NW-A55 device obviously has a following. Sony pumps out a PMP every so often. Music nerds are probably the #1 target for weird enthusiast gear outside of gaming/pop-culture knickknacks.
  - gyulai 4y ago
    We seem to be in perfect agreement then. It's a good thing that these devices are still getting made. Your initial comment made it sound like you took a different view, but maybe I misunderstood.
    - waiseristy 4y ago
      Oh yeah, just because I don't like certain tech doesn't mean other people do! ... but I still think all-in-one devices are better[1] :) [1]if you consume music just like me, and don't really enjoy the deeper aspects of collecting and curating your own music library
INTPenis 4y ago
Yes it is convenient, I agree with you. But it's also frustrating when one track in the middle of an album disappears, or when a few tracks from an old playlist are suddenly greyed out for some licensing reason. For these reasons I started buying actual records of my favorite albums a few years ago. I realized I had spent X amount on 10 years of Google Music (now youtube music) and had nothing to show for it. In fact, during that time tracks had disappeared from my playlists. So I felt more like a conservator than a music lover buying up old 90s albums.
mellavora 4y ago
> As a society we already processed and answered this question in the late 00's. Perhaps, and perhaps society is re-processing this question and maybe drifting towards a different answer? Society does change its mind sometimes > A shitty music app on my phone like Spotify is 1000x more convenient than a dedicated music device will ever be. Perhaps for you, and you do you. For me, Pick up phone, Unlock screen. Shit, doesn't recognize my fingerprint. Again. Unlock screen with PIN Navigate to Spotify. Start spotify, wait for the UX to load. Try to find that song/albumn I wanted to listen to. Connect to my headphones/stero. Hit play Get a phone call, now ringing over my speakers and the music has stopped Oh, and it helpfully turns down the volume for me after a while I'm not quite seeing the convenience here.
xdennis 4y ago
> As a society we already processed and answered this question in the late 00's Yes, but I think this is being revisited. Vinyl continues to grow for example. Some of us are going away from single devices which can do everything, but can also control and spy on you for everything. With single devices it feels like you're the curator of a collection just for you. With Spotify it feels like you're just an ear that's being leased. Even if you don't like physical media, it's nice to have a collection that you can depend on. You never know when Spotify will take stuff away from you, or just won't add more obscure stuff. (Although, given how left wing Spotify is, I was quite surprised that you can find Werwolf by Absurd. I'm not sure how long that will last.)

gyulai 4y ago

> As a society we already processed and answered It's difficult to disentangle this from the switch to streaming and regarding the latter it is very much unclear whether this was a consumer preference or just something that one-sidedly benefitted an oligopolistic music industry and consumers just had to live with it. Even if a preference for streaming apps reflects an uncoerced choice that a majority of consumers made back then or would make today, it's still a hallmark of a well-functioning market and a free society if the needs/preferences of the minority don't go entirely unserved by the market.

waiseristy 4y ago
You know what was an oligopoly? The original music services we used in the early aughts. The *vast majority* of music being bought and downloaded in the wild west days of PMP's was from iTunes. And I think you would be surprised to see that Amazon and iTunes account for a significant amount of music sales still to this day It's plain to see that the needs and preferences of minority users are being served too. This NW-A55 device obviously has a following. Sony pumps out a PMP every so often. Music nerds are probably the #1 target for weird enthusiast gear outside of gaming/pop-culture knickknacks.
- gyulai 4y ago
  We seem to be in perfect agreement then. It's a good thing that these devices are still getting made. Your initial comment made it sound like you took a different view, but maybe I misunderstood.
  - waiseristy 4y ago
    Oh yeah, just because I don't like certain tech doesn't mean other people do! ... but I still think all-in-one devices are better[1] :) [1]if you consume music just like me, and don't really enjoy the deeper aspects of collecting and curating your own music library

INTPenis 4y ago

Yes it is convenient, I agree with you. But it's also frustrating when one track in the middle of an album disappears, or when a few tracks from an old playlist are suddenly greyed out for some licensing reason. For these reasons I started buying actual records of my favorite albums a few years ago. I realized I had spent X amount on 10 years of Google Music (now youtube music) and had nothing to show for it. In fact, during that time tracks had disappeared from my playlists. So I felt more like a conservator than a music lover buying up old 90s albums.

mellavora 4y ago

> As a society we already processed and answered this question in the late 00's. Perhaps, and perhaps society is re-processing this question and maybe drifting towards a different answer? Society does change its mind sometimes > A shitty music app on my phone like Spotify is 1000x more convenient than a dedicated music device will ever be. Perhaps for you, and you do you. For me, Pick up phone, Unlock screen. Shit, doesn't recognize my fingerprint. Again. Unlock screen with PIN Navigate to Spotify. Start spotify, wait for the UX to load. Try to find that song/albumn I wanted to listen to. Connect to my headphones/stero. Hit play Get a phone call, now ringing over my speakers and the music has stopped Oh, and it helpfully turns down the volume for me after a while I'm not quite seeing the convenience here.

xdennis 4y ago

> As a society we already processed and answered this question in the late 00's Yes, but I think this is being revisited. Vinyl continues to grow for example. Some of us are going away from single devices which can do everything, but can also control and spy on you for everything. With single devices it feels like you're the curator of a collection just for you. With Spotify it feels like you're just an ear that's being leased. Even if you don't like physical media, it's nice to have a collection that you can depend on. You never know when Spotify will take stuff away from you, or just won't add more obscure stuff. (Although, given how left wing Spotify is, I was quite surprised that you can find Werwolf by Absurd. I'm not sure how long that will last.)