Thoughts on reclaiming my digital (music) life
I think I'm over my phone. I'm ready for a change. My addiction and dependence had increased gradually over the past decade and I feel like I'm fully at the frog-boiling-in-the-pot stage of things.
There's really a lot I could say about this. Probably some will be in future posts. So where to start.
I'll start where I am, which is with music. I've never really liked music streaming services. I was a teenager in the 2000s, so my defining experiences with music were focused on mp3 players and CDs. I spent a lot of time acquiring albums and managing my mp3 library. It was a cozy activity, and it was an intentional way of engaging with and connecting to music.
By contrast, streaming services feel very passive. As with most media streaming services, you're engaging with what an algorithm serves up to you. You don't bring much intentionality to it. And, since you're usually engaging with the service on a general computing device (laptop, phone) rather than a dedicated music device, you're going to be distracted and multitasking while you listen. This results in a lack of connection to the music. You're bringing less attention to it, you notice fewer details, you don't think about it as much. It's a cheaper experience. It's unsatisfying, and not meaningful. From a technical perspective, the audio quality available to you with a phone is also lower, due to the bluetooth streaming compression and onboard DAC/music hardware being lower quality that what you would get with a dedicated device.
And, having basically every song in existence available to you also means that you don't have a journey of discovery. The albums you find and collect and connect with aren't special, because didn't have to do anything to get them. With so many options, any choice is going to be less satisfying because there are so many other choices you could have made.
So with all of this I've decided to rebuild my personal music library. There are still options out there that allow you to purchase DRM-free audio files like the old days.
You can do it through the iTunes store, although there are dark patterns that will make it confusing, so you have to know where to look. Apple would prefer you to subscribe to Apple Music, instead (blah).
I was never an iPod person, so I don't go the iTunes route. For indie music, https://bandcamp.com/ is the way to go, as this also gives a decent chunk of the purchase to the actual artist.
For mainstream artists, I'm using https://www.qobuz.com/. They have a very good selection and offer downloads in CD quality or Hi-Res. I'm of the opinion that Hi-Res isn't noticeably different, so I go with CD quality and save some money. Generally $10-15 per album. They have an annoying downloader app that you have to use if you don't want to download each track individually, and this app isn't available for Linux, which is a pain for me. But for most people it should be fine.
As a last resort, you can also buy files from Amazon Music, or just buy physical CDs and rip them. I'm lucky enough to live in a city that still has independent music stores, so I also have that as an option for acquiring CDs or other physical media. USB DVD drives are cheap on Amazon, and will allow you to plug into your computer and rip CDs as needed.
So with these methods I've been rebuilding my library slowly. I deleted all of my old music files (RIP) when streaming services became available 10-12 years ago. It took me a while to realize this was a mistake. But it's an opportunity to start fresh and reflect on which albums I actually enjoy listening to. It's pretty fun.
That brings us to the device to play this stuff. While it's a niche market, there are plenty of modern mp3 players available, usually referred to as a DAP (digital audio player) these days. Most of them are cheap Chinese products but I'm sure they do the job well enough if you're on a budget. Most of the big names are gone... Apple stopped production of the last iPod in 2022. SanDisk and Creative no longer make mp3 players. There IS still a Sony Walkman DAP, but it runs Android. Many modern DAPs run Android, which I personally want to avoid because it is too phone-like, and I want to get away from that experience toward something more focused and limited.
Still, there are some other new brands worth looking at. I personally am drawn towards HiBy https://store.hiby.com/collections/music-player. I just ordered their R1, which uses their custom OS, and has a few extra features like bluetooth, but is at its core a simple device for playing audio files.
There's this cool open-source iPod-style player as well! super cool, although pricier due to its indie development https://www.crowdsupply.com/cool-tech-zone/tangara. I want one!
Other popular brands are FiiO and Shanling, though they didn't appeal to me personally and tend to be more expensive.
Well, there you have it. This is the summation of my research and exploration for the past week or so :). Happy listening.