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Can anyone really name a reason why you would need a standalone MP3 player in 2023? With services like Tidal or even just Spotify it seems like there are so man
by eiiot 4y ago
Can anyone really name a reason why you would need a standalone MP3 player in 2023? With services like Tidal or even just Spotify it seems like there are so many downsides, with little to no benefits. (Other than maybe owning your own physical music as opposed to relying on a streaming service?)
- gppk 4y agoMy wife has decades of music downloaded from CDs etc. It's just the music she likes, no ads/distractions/faffing about with networks etc. For her commute it works great to have just an MP3 player. She doesn't want to listen to other music, she likes what she knows, so the benefit of recommendations etc aren't of interest either. Just one data point for your question :)
- MikusR 4y agoThere are these things, smartphones or something like that, that apparently almost everyone has, that can do that.
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- DocTomoe 4y agoSome people prefer a device that has real, physical buttons and is not permanently at risk of shattering after being dropped (the use case being to listen to music while on the go...)
- antihero 4y agoFor personal music collection I’ve found using navidrome (and subsonic before that) to be a much nicer solution than having a separate player.
- KerrAvon 4y agoSome people want to avoid futzing with tech for some things to whatever extent they can avoid it. Even some people otherwise immersed in tech.
- Xelbair 4y agoYou already answered your own question, but it's mostly related to higher audio quality and owning your own music, while not being bothered by availability of internet.
- deniscepko2 4y agoA lot of comments about the internet availability. Living in Northern Europe - never a problem. And as for lets say a flight, you can download spotify music. Audio quality i do agree that spotify kinda sucks
- MikusR 4y agoYou don't need special standalone devices for that. Any Android phone has that. Is it impossible to listen to your own audio without internet on iPhones?
- michalstanko 4y agoFeatures like auto-playing next song that Spotify/YouTube/whoever "thinks" I "might" like after a playlist finished playing is driving me mad. (Yes, I know it can be turned off, but it's on by default. Which reminds me, despite being a subscriber, I don't really like Spotify's UI on mobile, nor on the desktop.)
- chongli 4y agoWorking out. Who wants to exercise while carrying a giant phone around with them? A tiny mp3 player is so much better for this!
- DanTheManPR 4y agoI hang on to my old iPod shuffles and nanos with clips on them, and have paid to get them refurbed. It's just so easy to clip them onto my shirt and go. The alternative is... what, to put my gigantic phablet phone in the small pocket of my running shorts? I shouldn't complain too much, since there actually are a fair number of modern small dedicated mp3 players that can clip on to your shirt (although none of them that I know of are quite as unobtrusive and lightweight as a 2nd gen iPod shuffle).
- SomeoneOnTheWeb 4y agoThe very main reason is to have a higher quality audio output. Instead of having a shitty jack a device like this will have a very good DAC & amp, sometimes even a bi-DAC and bi-amp, and also a lot more power to handle bigger headphones. Globally if you just have a basic pair of headphones / earphones you're better off having a USB-C <=> Jack adapter or a simple bluetooth receiver, but for cases where you want to have a really higher quality source then these will do incredibly well.
- Joeri 4y agoFor really high quality audio you pretty much need high impedance headphones, and I don’t think these walkmen support those. I’m not convinced the new walkman sounds better than an iphone, but I’d be interested in a blind comparison test.
- antihero 4y agoPray tell why high impedance makes sound better quality? From what I gather studio headphones have higher impedance due to sharing a signal between lots of people, not for quality reasons.
- numpad0 4y agoI don't know how to read specs for these, but this NW-ZX707 model supports up to 50mW/ch for 3.5mm stereo and 230mW/ch @ 16 ohms for balanced output - yes it has both 3.5mm unbalanced and 4.4mm balanced TRRS on the device.
- fillest 4y agoNah, check Fostex TH-900 (25 ohm), for example
- rtpg 4y agoA standalone MP3 player will tend to have a better interface that is much more responsive. Will be much easier to queue up certain kinds of things with a San Disk Clip Sport than an iPhone. Even just unlocking the phone is a whole thing! The general thing of futzing around with a home screen, switching apps, having notifications?? When sometimes you just want an mp3 player. This is my main frustration with these Sony walkmans, is that I'll still have to pay the UI friction cost from it running Android. Would love a device that really sticks to playing music... but I get that that is very hard since you lose streaming optionality.
- kleiba 4y agoI don't use smart phones because I don't like my every step to be tracked and recorded for an extended period of time by some company.
- dagw 4y agoyou would need a standalone MP3 player in 2023? Children. I wanted my daughter to be able to listen to music and audio books, I didn't want to buy her a smart phone. Plus you can buy a good enough one for $30-40, so it's not as big a deal if they lose or break it. I've also considered getting a cheap one with bluetooth for kayaking, so that I can listen to music without having to worry about my phone getting water damaged.
- Johnny555 4y agoIt might be nice for the office. I don’t want to run personal streaming software or load my personal mp3s on my work laptop, and I don’t want to forget my phone on my desk (again) because I was using it as a media player. But $400 is more than I’d want to pay for it.
- urbandw311er 4y agoControl. Spotify uses dark UX patterns to prevent me curating and exploring a library of Music that I love, instead trying to push artists on me that line their own pockets.
- antihero 4y agoSelf-hosted streaming (with downloads) is the way forward.
- hexfish 4y agowhich is unfortunately becoming harder and harder with artists only releasing their media through DRM-locked platforms like Spotify/not on physical media that can be ripped/bandcamp.
- antihero 4y agoAt some point it’s PCM.
- urbandw311er 4y agoIndeed - and at some point it is also forced to pass through a literal air gap, vibrating molecules as it does so at various frequencies — another “attack vector”.
- jbay808 4y ago- Listening to music without needing a web connection - Very light and easy to keep in a pocket or backpack so I have it with me when I'm out, or to listen to while I cook / do hardware repairs - No distractions - Physical buttons means I can replay or skip tracks without looking at it - Doesn't drain the battery of my smartphone; doesn't need recharging each week - Has a real working FM radio in it - Music on my SD card doesn't disappear - Doesn't need security updates - Bought it in 2013 and it still works
- cube00 4y agoConsidering this new one has Android on it, your point about not needing security updates doesn't hold. If Sony is as aggressive as Google is, three years you'll have a malware magnet in addition to your smart phone.
- Tams80 4y agoMalware from where? If you're legally buying music, not there. All the apps for mauic playback, streaming, etc. come from the Google Play Store, and there are very few that someone who buys one of these would need anyway. I'd venture many of these will spend most of their existence with wi-fi turned off, as it's a battery hog.
- TurboHaskal 4y agoMostly power. Phones just don't offer enough to drive demanding headphones or earphones. There are dongles to address this issue, but they can drain the battery pretty fast. I don't want to drain my phone battery just because I'm listening to music. If you have an iOS device, having offline music has plenty of limitations. It takes a ton of space that I'd rather save for pictures, videos and apps. And you have to sync your phone with a MacBook which is a hassle if you have more than one.
- antihero 4y agoIf you’re serious about quality you’ll use a portable headphone amp anyway…
- 112233 4y agoI need a standalone music player so that an old person with severe arthritis and poor vision can listen to music and audiobooks. These devices are not it.
- nathias 4y agonot everyone uses those services
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- bebna 4y agoThe way you can't understand that, is the same way I can't understand why people would listen to Spotify.
- LAC-Tech 4y agoSure. - I can control it completely without looking at a screen. - It's easier to put my mp3s on there than it is to do that on a phone. - The battery lasts a lot longer than a phone - It has a headphone jack - No crappy software needed, it's just a USB drive as far as my computer is concerned.
- MikusR 4y ago> It's easier to put my mp3s on there than it is to do that on a phone. > No crappy software needed, it's just a USB drive as far as my computer is concerned. I understand that apple device users live in their special world. But every android phone does this.
- LAC-Tech 4y agoDoes it? I have an android phone, but it's obviously been so long since I tried to put music on it I can't remember.
- didntreadarticl 4y agoI have an Oakcastle MP200, it cost £20, is tiny and weights nothing. I can use the controls without looking at the screen. Battery lasts seemingly forever. I can take it to the gym, clip it onto my clothes and listen to music without being interrupted by phone notifications and without having to take my phone with me. Makes me nostalgic for the pre-smartphone era
- Tams80 4y agoI don't want to be connected to the Internet all the time, yet still listen to music? Is that not a good enough reason? And contrary to what many seem to think, cellular data is not always available and data caps are still a thing. If I sound pissed off, that's because I am. I've seen an ever increasing number of comments like yours that just dismiss things because they don't see the value to them. They then phrase their dismissal as an innocent question (which, honestly, comes across as very condescending).
- michaeltimo 4y agoI understand your point, but a question will be why not just loading your smartphone with mp3 files. In this case, you don't need internet connection (if this is the only the reason) and you don't need a separate device.
- autoexec 4y agoI got one specifically because I love the offline nature of the device. I don't use streaming, and I don't want ads or my device going out to the internet and giving 3rd parties a list of what I listen to and when either. I also like the idea of a device that does one thing but does it well, unlike a cell phone that tries to be everything for everyone. With a dedicated music player there's no distraction. No notifications, no texts, no calls, no games, no internet. A good music player does everything you need but stays out of your way. A cell phone is designed to demand your attention as often as possible and hold onto it for as long as possible.
- jccalhoun 4y agoI'm cheap and don't pay for an unlimited data plan/
- xd1936 4y agoWhy have an outdoor grill when you have a stove? Sometimes some things are better at specialized tasks than other things are.
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- ThinkingGuy 4y agoI don't own a smartphone, but I'd like to be able to put on headphones and listen to music (from the vast collection on my computer) when I'm traveling, driving, or doing chores.