What does your music setup look like?

[Minibite]

Ive recently been looking into ditching spotify in favor of an mp3 player and raw files. Because of this, im curious as to what your guy's setup looks like, so i can get a taste as to what im getting into. What do you use to find new files? What players do you use? Any spotify-like programs you use to sort through your libraries? I want to know it all! Also if you have any music recs or general advice id love that as well.

[Onio]

It has been so long since I used to collect MP3s, I still have a little library of music that I collected over a decade ago. I unfortunately mostly use YouTube while driving, sometimes Bandcamp for music I've actually purchased, and I play it off my phone.

I would really like to get an MP3 player, I've been attracted to the idea of picking up and modding one of those iPod Videos or iPod Classics, they look so cool, but the price is insane! So right now I'm most interested in the Fiio Snowsky Echo Nano. Fiio seems like a fairly reputable business that has been in the game for decades now, I have one of their pocket sized mobile dacs/headphone amp combos from 2010, the Fiio E7, which still works great.

Another thing I'd be interested in getting into are cassettes, I'm very interested in owning some physical media, vinyl is the most interesting but it's also a bit too large for me, and CDs are kind of boring. It'd be fun to start a little cassette collection, ordering only new releases.

[cnroddball]

I never went to Spotify in the first place. Never liked the idea of not being able to access my music anytime, anywhere. I still have my CD collection from when I was a kid, but I also have 400 mp3 files on my phone. I had 700 on my iPod in high school, but I ditched all of the angsty stuff I listened to back then.

[Nhasasite]

I have an mp3 player from 2005,found it like 2 years ago, I used to also have one from the 2010's but i spilt chocolate milk on it last year so its dead now (╥﹏╥).

I usually use spotify but sometimes I download music and put it into the mp3 player, then I can pretend to be cooler then I actually am.

[Pleco]

I used to use Spotify for a few years, but I found I didn't use it that much, mainly because much of what I like listening to isn't on there. So I made the switch to an offline library and haven't looked back. I usually use my phone for listening on the go, but sometimes I'll break out an iPod for when I really want to disconnect.

I also check thrift stores for CDs from time to time, but I find they don't have a whole lot that grabs my interest.

[wilco]

I use an iPod, VLC on my phone for using bluetooth earbuds when I am working out, and CD's for the car. (tbh I would not recomend an iPod. very expensive these days)

For organizing music here are some tools:
iTunes: the new versions suck imo. I use an older imac exclusively for managing music and syncing my iPod. very inconvient but I've been doing this way too long to change.

Clementine/strawberry: great for linux! decent GUI. claims that it can sync ipods but I have never gotten it to work lol

beets: CLI tool for metadata. this is probably the best tool for managing metadata but it can be confusing to use! although if you buy your tracks on sites like bandcamp you probably won't need this.

foobar2000: I don't have much experience with this, but i've seen this recommended a lot on music forums. might be worth checking out if you are on mac or windows

[Karkalicious]

I’m like a lot of you guys where I just want an MP3 player but I don’t have one. I currently store MP3s on my phone… but it’s an iPhone so it has no playlist functionality there and it’s really not ideal to be using up my battery like this! That and no headphone jack..etc. Granted I am using AirPods because it’s easiest on my body, unc bones, but I miss on-ear headphones. Better quality, no worrying about battery, etc.

Also it’s true, new iTunes does suck. I’m really not partial to Apple anyway but I like Procreate (drawing app) that literally isn’t on anything else, so it is what it is.

[GlitchWolf47]

I would really like to get an MP3 player, I've been attracted to the idea of picking up and modding one of those iPod Videos or iPod Classics, they look so cool, but the price is insane!

Advice from someone who owns 5 ipods, go thrifting. or yardsaling. You can get all sorts of things for super cheap prices a lot of the time.

Also you dont have to mod it, and frankly id say you shouldn't. While you COULD i feel like it runs the risk of breaking it and the ipod already has a lot of cool native features as is. You can get almost any video or audio file on there if you really want to (and if you really want to, games)

Another thing I'd be interested in getting into are cassettes. I'm very interested in owning some physical media, vinyl is the most interesting but it's also a bit too large for me, and CDs are kind of boring. It'd be fun to start a little cassette collection, ordering only new releases.

I would agree with you on the cassettes! Cassettes actually happen to be one of my favorite forms of physical media which is why it makes me sad they aren't used alot anymore. cuz like, a CD in a walkman while your walking can scratch and be ruined, and you cant really walk around with a vinyl player but with a Cassette it works so seamlessly and you dont really have to worry a lot about it breaking. Also they are the smallest and easiest to carry around.

Its actually been quite a while since I updated my ipod music library I should do that. and maybe make some custom cassette tapes hehe

[pichi]

I use youtube music when I'm in the car, just because it's easy and my mom has me on a family plan. I prefer it over spotify due to the wider selection of music to choose from, but I'd like to eventually leave youtube alltogether.

I recently started purchasing CD's again! I use Ebay, charity shops/thrift stores, and music magpie for CD purchases. I had a look in HMV a couple days ago to see how much they were charging for CD's and I immediately left LOL. Every CD that I've bought has been used, but I've had no issues with any of them! As a result of purchasing CD's again, I've bought a little CD player that can be powered into a wall socket or battery operated for taking it outside during sunny days. I also have one of those little CD carry cases, of which I use mostly for custom made playlists I've personally burned! Oh, and also to keep all of those video game OST's I've bought somewhere safe and physical too...!

Which brings me to my next point, I also bought an external disk drive for both ripping and burning CD's. I'm slowly expanding my selection of music on my computer from ripping the CD's I've bought, and I'm also expanding my CD collection by burning youtube only/video game music that I enjoy and have downloaded! It's a tedious process at times, but I enjoy the intentionality behind it. I'd like to eventually get to the point where I no longer have to rely on other services for music, and I simply have what I want on my own systems and CD's.

[Minibite]

Figured id post an update here because my music setup has changed!

I wrote a short little blog post on it (link)

Basically, i bought an innioasis y1, and am loading it with mp3 files i purchase off bandcamp and steam sometimes. The coolest part is one of the songs by my favorite band has a completely different intro on bandcamp (as it is an excerpt from The Fox and The Hound). Song can be found here!

I still unfortunaltely use spotify for some music, but im weening myself off of it gradually.