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I loved winamp. I miss winamp. The problem is, I don't have any mp3s. In college I found a giant CD book in a parking lot in the dorms. Realizing that it's owne

I loved winamp. I miss winamp. The problem is, I don't have any mp3s. In college I found a giant CD book in a parking lot in the dorms. Realizing that it's owner was no where to be found, I walked off with it and ripped all the CDs to my hard drive (500gb at the time I believe) and forgot about the CD book. A few months later I was at a party listening to a girl talk about how someone stole a giant CD book out of her car in the dorm parking lot. That someone was me. I gave her back most of her CDs. I think some of my friends had pilfered some from me. Today, I don't have a CD player to rip CDs from, I don't have napster or limewire (thank god). I don't really know where to get mp3s from. I supposed I could torrent a giant stack of them. But there was a time when I downloaded all the music I listen to. I don't think it is a good thing. I don't seem to listen to new music as frequently. Streaming algorithms all seem to be unable to recommend new things and only recommend me things I have already heard. So while this project is great, I don't know how I would use it.

bovermyer 3y ago
The new MP3s I get these days I get from Bandcamp. Getting MP3s of mainstream music, though? No clue. I stopped torrenting in the 00s and haven't paid attention to that arena since.
jannw 3y ago
You'd probably just rip them from spotify: e.g. https://spotify-downloader.com/ https://spotify-downloader.com/
- tyingq 3y ago
  Using the -x option to get just the audio via one of the YouTube downloaders is also popular.
rtpg 3y ago
I go onto bandcamp and click around randomly listening to songs. I try to not focus on overly synth-y/lofi stuff on there (which is a whole supra-genre that's overflowing these days).... and you find a lot of decent stuff there. Collecting up mp3s of stuff I like, sticking them on my NAS and walkman, and having it is a fun exercise, even if it's not my everyday listening collection. I do often open up a music player and listen to my MP3s pretty often, just to listen to an album I owned. I do like listening to internet radio a bit, tho honestly a lot of that is "greatest hits" stuff, so discoverability isn't what it used to be. Youtube used to be really good for discovering new music! But their algo is now "your recommendation feed is the same on every video" leading to getting Ben Eater recommendation vids after watching some video about biking down a mountain or something absurd like that. I miss real recommendation systems...
tokai 3y ago
Soulseek is the best imo. It's so nice being able to browse the collections of other users.
- soco 3y ago
  Is Soulseek still a thing??? After how many decades, two?
fps_doug 3y ago
If you don't have the time/patience to look for new music then I guess nothing will ever work for you. Otherwise, I'd join the bandcamp camp. :o)
- mnky9800n 3y ago
  I have plenty of time to look for new music. I just find it all in the live scene these days. Not on the internet.
- flas9sd 3y ago
  not much effort in listening to quality (web) radio stations. A playlist builts itself from shazaming or checking the playlist archive.
tombert 3y ago
I can't help you with the MP3 problem, but in regards to finding new music, I actually have found the SiriusXM service to be pretty decent. Between four or five different stations I do find myself regularly checking out music I wouldn't ordinarily listen to, and occasionally find stuff that makes it onto my normal playlist.
shrimp_emoji 3y ago
You will own nothing and you'll be happy :D
zupzupper 3y ago
I grabbed a USB BluRay player, which happens to work great as a CD player/ripper as well. Thrift shops, library shops, and even second hand "media" shops are everywhere and completely drowning in CDs. (DVDs too but that's another story) For a couple bucks, you can go grab an armload of CDs, rip them, play them whatever, and donate them back or resell them, get yourself some random seeds for music discovery.
- qbasic_forever 3y ago
  Yep I see the same thing, thrift stores are drowning in stacks of CDs and selling them for super cheap. It will not be like this forever and feels like a golden age right now to snag good CDs.
thomastjeffery 3y ago
The main thing Spotify is missing for me is gapless playback. Some albums really need it.
- phone8675309 3y ago
  One thing that I wish Spotify (or any offline player, really, but we'll start with Spotify) had was the ability to track when there's a side break in an album for albums released and designed for listening on vinyl. For an example of why this would be useful, listen to Abbey Road by the Beatles and notice the jarring transition from "I Want You (She's So Heavy)" and "Here Comes the Sun" on, say, Spotify. Then listen to it on vinyl - you'll notice you have to get up, flip the record, and then start it again between the two songs which gives a natural break without the instant tonal shift instead of a smash cut from one song to the other. This would play out the same on cassette tapes, flipping the side of the tape between the two. It's only with the advent of CDs and streaming music that this has become a problem. It's not the end of the world, but I'm kind of baffled that there's not a way to automatically do this using some sort of metadata tags and intelligence in the player.
- retSava 3y ago
  The main thing Spotify is missing for me is to respect me as a paying customer and not shove down ads for other artists down my throat. Full-screen popups, not just once.
cybwraith 3y ago
Last I checked (admittedly its been a while), buying an album from Amazon music usually gives you access to DRM-free MP3s
foxyv 3y ago
If you want all the "Name Brand" music, you can still buy a lot of it. I've heard iTunes/Apple Music is pretty good for such things. Personally I've been getting a lot of my favorite artist's music through BandCamp on FLAC. You can also buy singles on Amazon Music. The indie scene is so much more vibrant these days. Literally anyone can self publish, and there are hundreds of thousands of amazing artists putting out excellent stuff. Usually I'll wander into some rabbit hole on Spotify and then go buy some music on BandCamp for my lossless collection.
dmd 3y ago
> found a giant CD book > That someone was me. I'm confused. Did you break into her car, or not?

bovermyer 3y ago

The new MP3s I get these days I get from Bandcamp. Getting MP3s of mainstream music, though? No clue. I stopped torrenting in the 00s and haven't paid attention to that arena since.

jannw 3y ago

You'd probably just rip them from spotify: e.g. https://spotify-downloader.com/ https://spotify-downloader.com/

tyingq 3y ago
Using the -x option to get just the audio via one of the YouTube downloaders is also popular.

rtpg 3y ago

I go onto bandcamp and click around randomly listening to songs. I try to not focus on overly synth-y/lofi stuff on there (which is a whole supra-genre that's overflowing these days).... and you find a lot of decent stuff there. Collecting up mp3s of stuff I like, sticking them on my NAS and walkman, and having it is a fun exercise, even if it's not my everyday listening collection. I do often open up a music player and listen to my MP3s pretty often, just to listen to an album I owned. I do like listening to internet radio a bit, tho honestly a lot of that is "greatest hits" stuff, so discoverability isn't what it used to be. Youtube used to be really good for discovering new music! But their algo is now "your recommendation feed is the same on every video" leading to getting Ben Eater recommendation vids after watching some video about biking down a mountain or something absurd like that. I miss real recommendation systems...

tokai 3y ago

Soulseek is the best imo. It's so nice being able to browse the collections of other users.

soco 3y ago
Is Soulseek still a thing??? After how many decades, two?

fps_doug 3y ago

If you don't have the time/patience to look for new music then I guess nothing will ever work for you. Otherwise, I'd join the bandcamp camp. :o)

mnky9800n 3y ago
I have plenty of time to look for new music. I just find it all in the live scene these days. Not on the internet.
flas9sd 3y ago
not much effort in listening to quality (web) radio stations. A playlist builts itself from shazaming or checking the playlist archive.

tombert 3y ago

I can't help you with the MP3 problem, but in regards to finding new music, I actually have found the SiriusXM service to be pretty decent. Between four or five different stations I do find myself regularly checking out music I wouldn't ordinarily listen to, and occasionally find stuff that makes it onto my normal playlist.

shrimp_emoji 3y ago

You will own nothing and you'll be happy :D

zupzupper 3y ago

I grabbed a USB BluRay player, which happens to work great as a CD player/ripper as well. Thrift shops, library shops, and even second hand "media" shops are everywhere and completely drowning in CDs. (DVDs too but that's another story) For a couple bucks, you can go grab an armload of CDs, rip them, play them whatever, and donate them back or resell them, get yourself some random seeds for music discovery.

qbasic_forever 3y ago
Yep I see the same thing, thrift stores are drowning in stacks of CDs and selling them for super cheap. It will not be like this forever and feels like a golden age right now to snag good CDs.

thomastjeffery 3y ago

The main thing Spotify is missing for me is gapless playback. Some albums really need it.

phone8675309 3y ago
One thing that I wish Spotify (or any offline player, really, but we'll start with Spotify) had was the ability to track when there's a side break in an album for albums released and designed for listening on vinyl. For an example of why this would be useful, listen to Abbey Road by the Beatles and notice the jarring transition from "I Want You (She's So Heavy)" and "Here Comes the Sun" on, say, Spotify. Then listen to it on vinyl - you'll notice you have to get up, flip the record, and then start it again between the two songs which gives a natural break without the instant tonal shift instead of a smash cut from one song to the other. This would play out the same on cassette tapes, flipping the side of the tape between the two. It's only with the advent of CDs and streaming music that this has become a problem. It's not the end of the world, but I'm kind of baffled that there's not a way to automatically do this using some sort of metadata tags and intelligence in the player.
retSava 3y ago
The main thing Spotify is missing for me is to respect me as a paying customer and not shove down ads for other artists down my throat. Full-screen popups, not just once.

cybwraith 3y ago

Last I checked (admittedly its been a while), buying an album from Amazon music usually gives you access to DRM-free MP3s

foxyv 3y ago

If you want all the "Name Brand" music, you can still buy a lot of it. I've heard iTunes/Apple Music is pretty good for such things. Personally I've been getting a lot of my favorite artist's music through BandCamp on FLAC. You can also buy singles on Amazon Music. The indie scene is so much more vibrant these days. Literally anyone can self publish, and there are hundreds of thousands of amazing artists putting out excellent stuff. Usually I'll wander into some rabbit hole on Spotify and then go buy some music on BandCamp for my lossless collection.

dmd 3y ago

> found a giant CD book > That someone was me. I'm confused. Did you break into her car, or not?