How do you listen to music?

[bingus_baby]

I'm curious! I really want to use a dedicated music player, but storage keeps holding me back. My fav iPod has a small capacity, but I like too much music!! It won't all fit!!

On a related note, I just quit premium streaming services, and I've been building a CD/iTunes library. I've also been going to libraries to rip their CDs!!! It's going really well actually!! It [listening to only my downloaded music] was rough at first, but after a few library trips it's more manageable. I was hoping this would be cheaper than premium streaming, and... it's not ;; But I'd rather support my fav artists and buy their CDs than pay evil evil nasty nasty Spotify to raise the price on my subscription. They canceled my student membership (4 year limit, even if you're still enrolled) and I'll never forgive them for it. I am NOT paying $13 a month, or whatever it is now.

And so I want to see how everyone likes to listen! I've settled on the standard iPhone Music app. I've tried a couple others, but that's the best so far. It's unwieldy oftentimes, but it's easy to sync and organize files with. I also use Spotify desktop to stream songs that I don't own, but god. The mobile app without premium is actual garbage ;; I suppose I shall never go back... Onto greener pastures I go!!

[cynderthekitsune]

i have two MP3 players - a digital Walkman, and an iPod Nano 6th gen. i don't use the iPod because it's a nightmare to get working with Linux, but my Walkman is just slow, and running out of storage!! aah

though i primarily listen to music in MP3 files on my PC usually through Audacious. Music Brainz Picard is helpful to add cover art/get their proper albums especially as a chunk of them are just the audio and nothing else.

i wish to get an iPod Classic 6th gen though!
however i don't use my phone as it doesn't have a headphone jack, and all my headphones are wired... kinda annoying lmao
still, best for all the songs i want :3

[_ghost_]

When listening on my phone, I use musi (which is free and basically just pulls videos from youtube but allows you to keep the audio playing with your device locked), although these days I've unfortunately migrated almost entirely to spotify, which is just more convenient on my laptop and actually functions for music there, unlike on my phone (free account). Using it in a browser lets you play albums and playlists in order instead of only on shuffle, doesn't add random suggestions to your playlists while you're listening, and allows me to use an incredibly basic adblocker. It does everything I need it to.

For a while I was listening to albums on bandcamp, but then I learned that bandcamp doesn't actually pay artists for streaming, so I primarily just keep it in mind for when I finally have money to invest in buying albums rather than streaming. I collect vinyls, but anything I can't get on vinyl, I intend to buy on bandcamp.

Although I don't listen to a lot of music these days, anyway. I usually end up listening to podcasts, and I use spotify for those, again for convenience. I can listen to podcasts on my phone and not have any of the same annoyances as I do with music through spotify, so I tend to just do a podcast while doing household chores.

I would like to have a dedicated music player, but it's very low on the list of things I want to invest time or money in acquiring right now.

[mittens]

i download songs i like from youtube and play them with wacup! that way i don't have to worry about my dubious wifi kicking it every few minutes or deal with my laptop and the browser and any other things i have open feuding over ram usage

on the go i use a 2nd gen ipod shuffle (and floola to put songs on it since i couldn't figure out itunes ). it's only got 1gb of storage but since i do a lot of listening to the same few songs on repeat it works fine for me. i've tried apple music and spotify in the past but 1) they tend to be missing a lot of songs i like 2) stop giving me ads and recommendations!!! i don't care!!! 3) sometimes i don't want to be carrying my phone around, especially since i use walking sticks and tend to only have 1 free hand maximum

[patchworkghoul]

I got a whole server for my music so I can stream from home without taking up space on my phone or computer. now I feel like I don't have enough music because I still have 4 TB of space to fill! I got sick of streaming services and now I just use Plex and a home media library and call it a day. it's got its own pluses and minuses, like not getting recommendations for music that isn't on my library... so I have to be more active about going out and finding music. but other than that no cons yet!

I did this because I was fed up with streaming services and everything that's available right now. but I also have too much music to sit on my computer, so it was just a hassle anytime I wanted to listen to music. I still have all my physical media but I have plans to rip my CDs so I can put them on my server.

every once in awhile I listen to vinyl, I have a lot of records that I don't have digital formats for and I like the mood it sets and the difference in tones. I also like that it traps you in one room so it's more like a dedicated activity "listening to music," rather than just having it on while I do other stuff.

[Slix]

I've been importing CDs and buying music on iTunes (and more recently also Bandcamp) for like 20 years now. I used iTunes forever, until I got my newer MacBook and it's changed to Music which definitely has its quirks for how I use it, but it's similar enough that I don't mind too much. I got my 1st gen iPod shuffle in 2005 and I got a few iPods over the next few years growing up - a 1st gen nano, a 2nd gen and 4th gen iPod touch, a 6th gen nano as a replacement for my 1st gen when Apple had that replacement battery program, and since then I've gotten dozens more iPods as part of my collection. I try to mix up which iPods I used, but I definitely have my favorites. I don't like the Music app on iPhone since iOS 7 started to change so much of it. The older iPod touches definitely have a better UI for music and it's easier to find what you're looking for on them.

Primarily, I use my iPods as follows:
- 4th gen Classic (Photo) - I put a 64GB SD card in it in 2016, mainly used in the car for the great tactile buttons while driving and large storage.
- 6th gen nano 8GB - I haven't used this one as much in recent years, but for many years it was my go-to iPod for walking around at school, after school, in college. This one holds my "greatest hits" playlist I've been tweaking for many years once I ran out of storage to hold all of my music. I love the clip and the fact it can use the headphone remote controls!
- 4th gen iPod shuffle - I use this one with a Smart Playlist that has the last 400 songs sorted by recently added to my library. It's great for hearing what I got recently and for learning new tracks without opting to just listen to what I'm familiar with, since it's a shuffle!
- The rest of the iPods are kind of used whenever I feel like it - I have an iPod Hi-Fi speaker that I sometimes just put an iPod on and hit play, and sometimes I take a random nano out on a walk with me. I've upgraded a few more of them with SD cards in the last couple years - a 5th gen Classic and a 1st gen mini (in gold!) as well.

Now, syncing music to some of the iPods on modern versions of macOS is... not great. I recommend using an older machine with iTunes if you can, otherwise you'll find annoyances with restoring, syncing, and hoping they show up in the Finder quickly.

@bingus_baby I recommend checking out Smart Playlists so you can filter your music that you sync based on some criteria to fit stuff on your smaller iPod! I have a few playlists that automatically remove songs from them that have been played or skipped recently, for example. Maybe you want to try something like that so when you sync it it grabs new songs and then when you sync it again it'll update with songs you haven't heard recently.

[bingus_baby]

sometimes I take a random nano out on a walk with me.

I love how you worded this. It sounds like you're treating the iPods as pets who need to get their exercise in!! You're walking with the nano.

And I'll for sure give the smart playlists a look!! My issue is the same as yours, 8GB 6th gen Nano. I was wishing to use it more since I love how it shows the album artwork! I never thought about syncing only playlists, but that's super smart!! I'll have to do that!!

[Slix]

I love how you worded this. It sounds like you're treating the iPods as pets who need to get their exercise in!! You're walking with the nano.

And I'll for sure give the smart playlists a look!! My issue is the same as yours, 8GB 6th gen Nano. I was wishing to use it more since I love how it shows the album artwork! I never thought about syncing only playlists, but that's super smart!! I'll have to do that!!

That's exactly how I feel about my iPods (and old computers!)! They all need their share of my love. :P

I love the way the album art shows on that nano, for sure!

Playlists in general, and Smart Playlists too are definitely a good starting point. If you want a little more space and are willing to try sacrificing the sound quality (only really noticeable to me if I'm using a really nice sound system so it's worth the tradeoff for me), you can also sync it by reducing the bit-rate to 128kbps or one of the other higher options. I'm able to get almost 2x the songs doing this onto my smaller iPods, since most of my tracks are 256kbps. :)

[TheFrugalGamer]

I actually had to choose "All the above" for mine! I have a kid who loves their music, so I'm subscribed to Soundcloud Premium for them--I do think it's important for kids to be able to decide what music they like, but they usually don't have money, accounts, or space to collect their own, so I actually think streaming works really well for them. It gives them the freedom to pick what they want without draining my bank account 

But at the same time I'm old enough to still have physical media. I like making mixtapes and CDs and have many of those, and I usually buy backups of my digital media on CD if I can. I've also got a lot of media thrifting, and I have both CD players and tape decks to play them (along with vinyl). I have several ipods and other mp3 players, but space is always an issue with those. I really like the idea of using Smart playlists to chose what goes on them, since my playlists always seem more cohesive than choosing a bunch of tracks at random!

I've also been collecting MP3s since they first showed up, and still have a few weird ones that I got back in the KazaaLite/Napster days. These days I usually either buy on Bandcamp or rip from discs in order to add to my digital collection, which I have stored on an SD card on my phone (I'm not trading my phone in ever! It's got a headphone jack! And an SD card slot! It's perfect!!!!)

[bby]

i pay for spotify premium, i think since maybe 2016ish?. i have been considering trying out something like plex so i can listed to my unreleased music and stuff that has been taken down from spotify, but i want to do more research into it. i do like spotify for recommendations and keeping up with new releases. i also like discovering and making playlists. so i would miss those features if i switch but i can always just keep spotify free i guess.

my cd collection from my childhood still gets quite a lot of use, although i don't listen to it unless i'm in the car with my brother. he has a big physical media collection: cds, casettes, vinyl, blu-ray, dvd. we like to listen to our collection whenever we're in the car together. i still buy cds occasionally, but it's usually a signed one or a taylor swift variant. or if the thrift stores around me have anything good.

there's also youtube for music videos and soundcloud once in a while that i'll listen to, but i'm pretty much mostly spotify for my day to day listening.

[Paprika]

I'm a weirdo that only enjoys Synthwave and its derivative music. I also hate to pay for a streaming service so I actually buy my music on Bandcamp that I download in .ogg and .mp3 on an USB key and on a hard drive to have backup. I'm currently using a Thomson Lyra from 2005 but the space is a problem with ~ 500 Mo or so. I also happen to own a Sony Walkman NWZ-B152F from ~2010 that has more or less 1.5 Go available space but it's clearly an issue.

I'm currently looking for a big storage MP3 device that is affordable and sturdy. If it can read .ogg files it would be awesome.