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General => General Music Discussion => Topic started by: Samsara on September 07, 2022, 02:14:46 PM
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hey all. So like I am sure many of you, particularly those in the older age ranges, I have a gigantic music collection.
When Apple stopped making the iPod classic many years ago, I had a customized one that stored 256 gb, and then later, when that died, I moved on to a 128 gb iPod Touch. Now that's going away. And looking around, none of the portable music players seem to be very in fashion these days.
So what do people do here to listen to your own music on the go? Does everyone just stream? I mean, I have a huge vinyl and CD collection and I've digitized the entirety of my CD collection (thousands of albums). But I'm unsure what to do now to take that music with me. My old iPod touch simply doesn't have the capacity, and I'm doing some research and some of these standalone, non Apple MP3 devices aren't as compatible with cars.
I know many stream on their phones -- but I don't want to take up my phone memory with my huge music collection. My 128 gb phone would be overwhelmed, particularly with the photos and videos I have on there.
I need a device that I can bring into the office, hook up to play on speakers, and then put back in the car. Does anyone even still do that, and if so, what are you using? Because while I know I'm a dinosaur, I didn't think I was as old as TAC. :lol But maybe I am.
Thoughts, suggestions? All my albums are at 256 kbps MP3 and that's what's currently on my iPod touch. But it's only about 1/3 of my entire collection.
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Puppies was talking about his Plex Server here:
Is that just another Spotify?
I mean, I need an account? I load my music files to it? I got tired just looking at it.
It's mainly for people that already have a large digital music collection. So instead of you streaming music from a music service, you store your own files and stream them from your own server. And you can stream everything in CD quality or even higher if the files you have are higher quality.
Can't I just play them from my computer or load them on my phone?
Sure.
I mean, that's what I do now, but I'll check out that link later out of interest.
It's convenient for me because I have over 9000 CDs that I have ripped to my Plex server and I can listen to them anywhere on my phone without having to store the music on my phone. Or on any other device, as long as I have an internet connection.
He could talk more about it. I think I saw in my search that Faizoff also uses it. I clicked the link Puppies sent me, but I was immediately lost, you know, being an actual dinosaur and all. ;D
Hopefully he sees this thread.
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Thanks fellow Jurassic era friend. :lol
Plex looks interesting. But man, it's like you have to buy a microcomputer, another hard drive, keep all of that running at home, just to literally enjoy your own music collection. Seems like a lot of effort. Plus I don't see how I can play it in the car, unless I go through my phone, and that has the problem of it being lower in quality (I assume) since it is streaming.
This is so ridiculous. Why did the world decide those of us with music collections are dinosaurs? :lol
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I actually use Spotify quite a bit.
In the car, I just use CDs but being that my ride to work isn't very long, I usually just put on sports radio. Obviously I drive a vehicle with no audio input jack. :lol
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The other issue with streaming that I don't like is that I sometimes want to listen to music in places where I don't have cell service.
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I'm fully in the Mac/iPhone/iPad ecosystem, so I was able to sync my collection through Apple Music and now I can access it on any iOS device I have. I also have a 256 GB iPod touch, but it has issues working with my car. The only hard part for me is choosing what I want to listen to.
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The only thing I found that could house my entire library of music was the Fiio X5. It has dual MicroSD card slots, and if you have two 256GB cards it can store a lot of songs.
https://fiio.com/x5iii
I found it to be alright for what I wanted it for. The only issue I had with it is the interface, and the newer "Mp3" I got now doesn't have much of a difference with regards to issues, it pretty much has that same issue. But for me, those were the only two I could find that could hold that much memory of music.
The thing is though, they are tough to find now and are pretty pricey. But for me, it was worth it.
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All my music is uploaded to iCloud via Apple Music(which used to be iTunes) on my laptop, and I can access and stream it all with the Music app on my iPhone. The music doesn’t take up space on your phone unless you choose to download it to your phone. I’ve used this method for the last four years.
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The other issue with streaming that I don't like is that I sometimes want to listen to music in places where I don't have cell service.
Right. If we're travelling, I have my iPods with me, but at work and at home, I use Spotify quite a bit.
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The other issue with streaming that I don't like is that I sometimes want to listen to music in places where I don't have cell service.
This.
Metro, Ben, rom - all those are good options for sure. I did check out filo, but pricey.
I guess I'm just concerned that access to my music is dependent on connectivity. And I just don't like that. It seems that folks have been doing it for quite a bit (Metro), but I'm so leery of that.
Tim - Spotify...eh. Again, have to stream.
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I don't enjoy mixing phone and music usage, I like separate devices. I mainly just listen to podcasts on the phone. I still have a few old iPods, but the right side audio output has gone out in one, the battery is almost toast in another, plus one that the hard drive died in. I also just have way too much music for any one device to hold it all. I still play CDs in the car. I use streaming at home (plus my vinyl and digital collection), but wireless reception is spotty in parts of the house, plus other places, and in general I despise dropouts, so streaming on the go is a no go for me. I've had a long list of various players from Creative Labs, Cowon, Fiio and others, but my current one has been giving me some issues lately, so I'm probably going to be in the market again for another player soon.
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Spotify gives you the option to save songs to your phone. You download them through the Sporify app and you can listen to them wherever.
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Elite,
Appreciate that. But if I have thousands of albums on cd already converted to mp3, I really don't want to use Spotify to download their versions of tracks to my phone.
In all honesty, I just want a simple to use separate device that can hold all my songs and be compatible with my vehicle and at the office with a set of speakers. What I am gathering is that what I want, while once available, has been all but eliminated from the marketplace. Really disheartening. I'm getting a new car next summer, and the last new one we bought, for my wife, was the last model year of hers that had a CD player. lol.
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About a year ago I picked up a Sony Walkman that takes a microSD card.
It can hold about 2000 songs in FLAC format. So once every few weeks, I load up an eclectic mix of albums and take them on the go with me. Then when I need a refresher, I’ll just trade things out from my hard drive to make a fresh mix.
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Last night for some reason I couldn't get my phone to stream Amazon Music while I was out walking, which stinks (connection issue). Used to have everything on an old iPhone that I used just for listening to music, but I stopped using iTunes a few years ago and my collection is way to big to fit on it anyway.
So yeah, I'd like a device that can hold all of my collection on it that is not a phone and that has an easy to use interface that lets me quickly update it with new music, etc. (iTunes was really awful for this). I don't think anyone has the motivation to make a good device for this because of the prevalence of streaming though.
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Elite,
Appreciate that. But if I have thousands of albums on cd already converted to mp3, I really don't want to use Spotify to download their versions of tracks to my phone.
In all honesty, I just want a simple to use separate device that can hold all my songs and be compatible with my vehicle and at the office with a set of speakers. What I am gathering is that what I want, while once available, has been all but eliminated from the marketplace. Really disheartening. I'm getting a new car next summer, and the last new one we bought, for my wife, was the last model year of hers that had a CD player. lol.
That's still me. But, one thing though, my current FiiO gave me problems now with not being able to read my MicroSD cards so I can't upload new music onto them through the player. I don't have my older on me to switch and try it. But it still reads the cards to play music, thankfully.
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I grew up in the time of CD's so I have 1000 of them saved in Itunes which I take with me on a 128gb Iphone.
Every few years, I trim the fat of my collection to free up space. Stuff that I never listen to.
Lately I've been using spotify to stream new music which works well.
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I have over 500 gb of music on CD. I have a 256GB I-Pod. I've moved to streaming with buying the bands I love. I hate my 256gb I-pod. Is plays albums in random. I checked all the settings. It's something with my truck and the I-Pod. It pisses my off.
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I have over 61 GB of music on my phone now. 6,778 songs of the 13,603 songs in my iTunes, all of which are mp3s in the highest quality possible. If I am online at home, I listen to iTunes on my computer speakers (or YT if checking something out), otherwise it is always on my phone, whether it be in the car, on the big stereo at home or on the buds at work 99.999% of the time (the .0001% is when I bust out something on the surround sound). It is hard to get to everything, as I have so much now, and I feel like I never have time to listen to everything I want to, but it's a good problem to have.
I do not use Spotify or any of that nonsense.
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I don't stream, at all. CD's and USB sticks for the car and everything is just ripped to my computer. Youtube I use a lot for sampling these days.
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I'm fully in the Mac/iPhone/iPad ecosystem, so I was able to sync my collection through Apple Music and now I can access it on any iOS device I have. I also have a 256 GB iPod touch, but it has issues working with my car. The only hard part for me is choosing what I want to listen to.
I do this as well and highly recommend it if you have an iPhone. Apple Music really screws up your library because it tries to merge all of your stuff with theirs. But iTunes Match, which is what we're talking about here, is just uploading your library to the cloud and it syncs across your iOS devices. You can download whatever you want to your phone for offline listening, or just stream without downloading. The only real downside to this is that you have to download iTunes if you don't already use it, and remember to always upload to it anything new you buy. It's $24.99 a year, last time I checked.
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I use USB Flashdrives for my car
I use Spotify, YouTube, Bandcamp or occasionally a download.
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I don't stream, at all...Youtube I use a lot for sampling these days.
Youtube is just another form of streaming. Their own service Youtube Music draws its content from the label-created/supplied topic channels that usually have the musical note to the right of the artist name.
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I never snapped about using USB drives. I might try that one day and see how it goes.
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I am often amazed at how much music some people have. That isn't a knock on anyone at all. I tend to think I have more music than I know what to do with, and then I see it is just a fraction of the size of others here. Sometimes I wish I didn't purge so many of my CDs over the years, but I usually used that money to buy other CDs. And honestly, I cannot imagine listening to much of what I did 20 years ago, even for the nostalgia.
For at work/on the road (I drive a lot for work) listening, I have a cheapy cell phone with a 64Gb card, solely for music. If people ask why I am always going around with two cell phones, I just tell them the second one is for my girlfriends to contact me.
I stream music at home but am usually not able to during the work day, when I do much of my listening.
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I don't have nearly the size of libraries that many people here have, but I'm also an almost-no-streaming person (I only really use it to listen to music that others share with me, such as in roulette). I'm an Apple person, and I'd say the expanding storage capacity of iPhones over the years has generally kept pace with me pretty well. My current library is 83GB, and the lion's share of it is on my 128GB iPhone. That was the second-tier storage capacity at the time I got this phone, and now the 256 is the second-tier, so I'll likely get that when I upgrade phones in a year or two and have room to spare.
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I have a cheap tablet and an SD card.
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When out and about I use a 256 GB modded iPod. My car also has a 6 disc in-dash changer that I use to break in new purchases.
At home, I have Plex setup on my main PC with a dedicated hard drive for content. I did not open it up to the outside world. It is just for home use via my Roku's and then into my receiver.
I do know that many people will take old Android phones that have SD slots and load up a huge SD card and just use it as a makeshift iPod.
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Thanks fellow Jurassic era friend. :lol
Plex looks interesting. But man, it's like you have to buy a microcomputer, another hard drive, keep all of that running at home, just to literally enjoy your own music collection. Seems like a lot of effort. Plus I don't see how I can play it in the car, unless I go through my phone, and that has the problem of it being lower in quality (I assume) since it is streaming.
This is so ridiculous. Why did the world decide those of us with music collections are dinosaurs? :lol
So like TAC said, I use Plex exclusively for my music collection. I have over 9000 albums all stored on my server in CD or higher quality and it's the only way I have found that I can have my entire collection with me wherever I am. The Plex server can stream at whatever quality your music is stored in, but this would obviously be limited by the upload speed of your home internet connection and the download speed of your phone wherever you are. Most home internet connections are fast enough to stream at CD quality these days though. Another thing I can do is use the Plexamp app on my phone and download from my server the music I want to listen to for the week (again in however high a quality I want). So if I know I'm going to be somewhere I don't have good cell service or Wi-Fi connection I can still listen to music. My phone has 256 gigs of space so I can fit quite a bit of music on it (and really that's all I use it for, other than work related stuff). For the most part though the area I live in has pretty decent cell coverage and 5g speeds that it streams CD quality stuff no problem.
As far as playing it in the car, the stereo decks in all my vehicles have Android Auto which can play back high quality music files just fine (I don't use iPhones, but anything with Android Auto these days also has Apple Carplay, however I have no idea what their capabilities are of streaming higher quality files). You do have to make sure that the stereo deck states it can playback Hi-Res music files though. Also most new Bluetooth stereo decks (if you don't want to pay more for Android Auto or Apple Carplay) will support the AptX Lossless bluetooth codec which can stream audio at 16 bit/24 khz, which is basic CD quality, but you have to make sure your phone supports the AptX Lossless bluetooth codec as well (as far as I know, none of the Apple phones support this yet, they have their own bluetooth codec which is apparently stuck at a maximum of 256 kbps mp3 quality).
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I don't stream, at all...Youtube I use a lot for sampling these days.
Youtube is just another form of streaming. Their own service Youtube Music draws its content from the label-created/supplied topic channels that usually have the musical note to the right of the artist name.
Fair enough. I guess I just meant cause it's free and I don't pay for anything like Spotify. But you're right, technically, it's streaming.
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I just don't think there are affordable devices anymore for doing that. If you don't want to stream (which I don't either), I think you are stuck getting a phone with as much memory as possible (or SD cards) and using that. It's a pain, but it is what it is.
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Guys! Seriously! I love my Sony Walkman!
I know…I guess that’s just a separate device that I suppose does the same thing as your phone…but it plays FLAC! And has an SD card! And it doesn’t drain my phone battery!
IDK. Maybe it’s just my situation, but I guess I’m surprised that not everyone owns one of these!
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Guys! Seriously! I love my Sony Walkman!
I know…I guess that’s just a separate device that I suppose does the same thing as your phone…but it plays FLAC! And has an SD card! And it doesn’t drain my phone battery!
IDK. Maybe it’s just my situation, but I guess I’m surprised that not everyone owns one of these!
It’s actually a portable CD player with an SD card, or is this a digital only device?
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I'm fully in the Mac/iPhone/iPad ecosystem, so I was able to sync my collection through Apple Music and now I can access it on any iOS device I have. I also have a 256 GB iPod touch, but it has issues working with my car. The only hard part for me is choosing what I want to listen to.
So....... have half an hour to shoot the shit on the phone, old friend? :) :) :) :) :)
I'm moving into the "Plex" zone as soon as I can get my collection ripped (I'm at "The Who" now). Other than I modded my iPod to 1TB (though the database restrictions are more stringent; I'm at about 35,000 songs, 500GB, and the system is unpredictable and fails/freezes often) I'm right with Samsara. I don't want to stream. I have the music I want, and I've customized a lot of it (removing spaces between live songs, removing the fade in/out between CDs of live sets to make it seem more like a live show, consolidating like material across CDs, putting things in chronological order, that kind of thing) meaning I want to hear it the way I want to hear it, not the way Spotify says I should. I also have multiple versions of some albums; I have four versions of Rainbow Rising, three of Whitesnake's Slide It In, etc. and I want to pick the one I want to hear.
In all honesty, I just want a simple to use separate device that can hold all my songs and be compatible with my vehicle and at the office with a set of speakers. What I am gathering is that what I want, while once available, has been all but eliminated from the marketplace. Really disheartening. I'm getting a new car next summer, and the last new one we bought, for my wife, was the last model year of hers that had a CD player. lol.
This is me. I drive a lot, and I don't think it's too much to ask for in 2022 that I have all my music on a device I can bring with me, whether it's in my car or in a rental car.
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Guys! Seriously! I love my Sony Walkman!
I know…I guess that’s just a separate device that I suppose does the same thing as your phone…but it plays FLAC! And has an SD card! And it doesn’t drain my phone battery!
IDK. Maybe it’s just my situation, but I guess I’m surprised that not everyone owns one of these!
JD - can you provide a link to which one you have? I assume it supports a 256 gb SD card? How do you hook it to the car? An Aux plug? Does that mean everything is controlled on the Walkman as opposed to the in-dash receiver? Because I want dash controls for the car.
Stads - the Plex zone sounds really interesting (Puppies, thanks for explaining) but I just don't want to stream, nor download into my phone. I mean, if I am forced to download to the phone, that defeats the purpose for me.
Overall, I just want the flexibility of having most of my collection at my fingertips, which was not a problem with a 256 gb (modded higher) classic iPod with the songs ripped to 256kbps (which is good enough for me). I'm just annoyed that a consumer like me is literally being shunned in the marketplace.
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Overall, I just want the flexibility of having most of my collection at my fingertips, which was not a problem with a 256 gb (modded higher) classic iPod with the songs ripped to 256kbps (which is good enough for me). I'm just annoyed that a consumer like me is literally being shunned in the marketplace.
See my edit above. I stand in solidarity with you, brother! :) :) :) :) :)
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I had the 160gb classic snd I loved it. Got the touch 256gb snd hate it for this reason. In my truck, it plays albums out of sequence. It's not set up that way on the iPad to shuffle. It bugs the crap out of me that I have to play albums from my I pod when I'm driving.
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I use my phone and stopped buying CD's 5 years ago. I bought a 256gb micro SD card and keep my entire music collection on it. The SD card is in my phone and I have every single album I own at my fingertips. I don't stream at all - I don't want to have a massive mobile data plan, so when I'm commuting/traveling and away from Wi-Fi, then I'll just listen to my music collection.
Bluetooth capability gives me options - I can connect to a portable speaker, soundbar, earbuds, or the car.
I believe newer phones may have the ability to have a larger SD card - my phone is 2 years old and this was the maximum for expandable storage at the time.
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Overall, I just want the flexibility of having most of my collection at my fingertips, which was not a problem with a 256 gb (modded higher) classic iPod with the songs ripped to 256kbps (which is good enough for me). I'm just annoyed that a consumer like me is literally being shunned in the marketplace.
I'm with you. But can't you just keep using a modified classic iPod and continue replacing the battery as needed?
I have an unmodified classic iPod and am thinking about getting someone to replace the battery and increase the size. I don't mind not being able to fit my entire collection on it - I'm fine adding/removing stuff as needed. But since I need a new battery, may as well give myself more space as well.
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Honestly if I was 18 right now instead of 35, I would exclusively just stream with spotify, including doing the premium.
I just have such an in depth (paid for) collection that I can't justify spending a full subscription fee to spotify, but I do still use the free version when i need to (like at work)
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It used to be much easier with just a discman and cds lol. I've always liked having my music separate from my phone, the ipod Classic was great but that fizzled out. I have the latest ipod Touch but I know the Touch and all iPods have been discontinued. So I guess when this touch is done, I'll probably just put music on my phone.
I listened to cd's in the car for years and years, but good luck finding a newer car with a cd player. When I bought a new car a few years ago I spend a couple of days walking around a bunch of dealerships specifically looking inside to see if there was a cd player...almost zero. When I did decide on a car, I asked the salesman if a cd player could be included. He looked at me with a puzzled look and and said "c'mon". So in the car I basically just listen to SiriusXM, which I really enjoy.
At home, I still listen to cd's on my Bose cd player (great cd player). But I know the Bose cd player has also been discontinued. I remember buying that at a Best Buy years ago and it was pretty expensive. The clerk also gave me a puzzled look that I was paying this much for a cd player. Even though I don't buy cd's anymore, will always enjoy listening to them. But listen mostly to SiriusXM now on the app.
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When I'm at home I mostly listen to my digital collection on my computer through itunes. When I'm at work I use Spotify - which I'm not a huge fan of, but in terms of having music when working it is easier than the hassle of transferring files to the phone and going through all of that. If I'm in the car I usually play CDs but eventually I'm sure I'll get a car without a CD player and then I will adapt to whatever I can.
I still collect vinyl and CD but for me it's more about the collecting itself I guess. Playing a vinyl is just more effort than listening to the album digitally.
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Overall, I just want the flexibility of having most of my collection at my fingertips, which was not a problem with a 256 gb (modded higher) classic iPod with the songs ripped to 256kbps (which is good enough for me). I'm just annoyed that a consumer like me is literally being shunned in the marketplace.
I'm with you. But can't you just keep using a modified classic iPod and continue replacing the battery as needed?
I have an unmodified classic iPod and am thinking about getting someone to replace the battery and increase the size. I don't mind not being able to fit my entire collection on it - I'm fine adding/removing stuff as needed. But since I need a new battery, may as well give myself more space as well.
Short answer is, "no". Not all iPods are infinitely expandable without jailbreaking the OS; most can only go to I think 128GB. Those few - I think there are two models - that can go beyond are then limited by the constraints of the iTunes database. As I said, I'm at 35,000 songs on my iPod - I still need about 5,000 more to go for my complete collection - and I'm already frequently experiencing issues because of the size (that's what she said). I've only used about half of the expanded capacity in terms of the hard drive.
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I'm with you. But can't you just keep using a modified classic iPod and continue replacing the battery as needed?
I have an unmodified classic iPod and am thinking about getting someone to replace the battery and increase the size. I don't mind not being able to fit my entire collection on it - I'm fine adding/removing stuff as needed. But since I need a new battery, may as well give myself more space as well.
My modded 256 died years ago, which led to my current 128 gb iPod touch. And that is fine, except it is nowhere near the capacity I need.
This whole thing stemmed from me being pissed that a speaker dock for this thing was hard to find. LOL. And now I'm just pissed that the industry doesn't care about dinosaurs with big music collections. It's bullshit. :lol
Just like vinyl made a comeback, I'm telling you, CDs will, and a bunch of us on this board will be gazillionaires. LOL
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Guys! Seriously! I love my Sony Walkman!
I know…I guess that’s just a separate device that I suppose does the same thing as your phone…but it plays FLAC! And has an SD card! And it doesn’t drain my phone battery!
IDK. Maybe it’s just my situation, but I guess I’m surprised that not everyone owns one of these!
It’s actually a portable CD player with an SD card, or is this a digital only device?
It is digital only.
As for controls in the car…My car is archaic, so I can’t get the Bluetooth to match up right. So for my personal vehicle, I’m forced to use an aux cable. But in my newer work vehicle, I just set it up for Bluetooth and then my cars controls can do everything from there.
My Walkman is about two years old and I think it can only go up to 128 gigs. But I think the newer ones can go much higher. And can play almost any type of format. FLAC, MP3, WAV…etc etc…
EDIT - I should also point out that the 2000 songs I mentioned earlier in FLAC format is with just a 64 gig card. I’ve been meaning to upgrade to 128, I just haven’t done it yet.
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At home I listen to CDs and vinyls on the stereo, I never listen to music on my computer. When on the move, I use Spotify, but for the last years I've actually used it more to listen to podcasts than music.
I'm in the middle of digitizing my CD collection which is, like, 700 CDs or so in total. Right now, I got maybe 2/3 left and it's taking me forever. I started the process like 2 years ago... I'm ripping them to FLAC (some albums are highest quality mp3s). I'm thinking of buying a MicroSD card so that I get all the CDs there. After ripping roughly 270 CDs I see that they take about 75gb of space so a 250gb MicroSD card should do it for the whole thing, I guess.
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I'm with you. But can't you just keep using a modified classic iPod and continue replacing the battery as needed?
I have an unmodified classic iPod and am thinking about getting someone to replace the battery and increase the size. I don't mind not being able to fit my entire collection on it - I'm fine adding/removing stuff as needed. But since I need a new battery, may as well give myself more space as well.
My modded 256 died years ago, which led to my current 128 gb iPod touch. And that is fine, except it is nowhere near the capacity I need.
This whole thing stemmed from me being pissed that a speaker dock for this thing was hard to find. LOL. And now I'm just pissed that the industry doesn't care about dinosaurs with big music collections. It's bullshit. :lol
Just like vinyl made a comeback, I'm telling you, CDs will, and a bunch of us on this board will be gazillionaires. LOL
Actually CDs are making a bit of a comeback. I’ve read a few articles about this recently.
https://www.ajournalofmusicalthings.com/something-weird-is-happening-with-compact-discs-theyre-selling-like-crazy-again/
My 21-year old nephew, who is a vinyl collector, bought his first CDs last week. He just got his driver's license and realized that CDs are portable while vinyl is not.
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Overall, I just want the flexibility of having most of my collection at my fingertips, which was not a problem with a 256 gb (modded higher) classic iPod with the songs ripped to 256kbps (which is good enough for me). I'm just annoyed that a consumer like me is literally being shunned in the marketplace.
I'm with you. But can't you just keep using a modified classic iPod and continue replacing the battery as needed?
I have an unmodified classic iPod and am thinking about getting someone to replace the battery and increase the size. I don't mind not being able to fit my entire collection on it - I'm fine adding/removing stuff as needed. But since I need a new battery, may as well give myself more space as well.
Short answer is, "no". Not all iPods are infinitely expandable without jailbreaking the OS; most can only go to I think 128GB. Those few - I think there are two models - that can go beyond are then limited by the constraints of the iTunes database. As I said, I'm at 35,000 songs on my iPod - I still need about 5,000 more to go for my complete collection - and I'm already frequently experiencing issues because of the size (that's what she said). I've only used about half of the expanded capacity in terms of the hard drive.
What do you mean by limited by the itunes database?
I didn't realize (or probably didn't read closely enough) that Samsara's ipod died. For me, I'd probably be fine with 128GB. It would be nice to have every single album with me at all times, but I don't really need that. 128 is more than enough for a vacation, road trip, etc.
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I have a lot of my music stored on my hard drive and use Jellyfin software to stream it to my phone. I also have a cabinet of CDs still in the garage.
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Actually CDs are making a bit of a comeback. I’ve read a few articles about this recently.
https://www.ajournalofmusicalthings.com/something-weird-is-happening-with-compact-discs-theyre-selling-like-crazy-again/
My 21-year old nephew, who is a vinyl collector, bought his first CDs last week. He just got his driver's license and realized that CDs are portable while vinyl is not.
I read a few of those articles as well. I'm glad to see it. I honestly believe CD is the perfect balanced format for music. I have about 100 albums on vinyl, but mainly that's being a collector. I rarely get the chance to listen regularly. My CD collection though, that's a different story. I can take them to the various systems in the house and play them. And while the artwork is smaller than vinyl, it's big enough to appreciate.
I totally understand the portability of digital music. But CDs should never have gone anywhere. I sort of feel the same way about websites, and how bands really just use them as portals to social media, instead of populating them with historic, in-depth information (which is why I keep AnybodyListening.net active to document the original lineup of Queensryche). Anyway, that's a rant for a different day. But YES on CDs. :)
JD - I'll take a look at the Walkman. If it hooks into your newer car, and you can control everything there, that works. But you said Bluetooth, right? So again, quality loss from Walkman to Bluetooth, to stereo, to speakers. There's no direct (wired) connection while in the car, right? Do you notice a drop in quality? I ask because I have Sirius/XM in my car, and my car's system is really good, and the quality of the music just isn't. I much prefer my iPod Touch (which is wired, although has Bluetooth) because it sounds great. I just don't trust the wireless to be high quality. But if you say it is, I absolutely will check out the Walkman.
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Yes. There’s always going to be somewhat of a drop in quality. But I feel like with an FLAC source file, especially in my car where I am hardwired, I do not get a significant drop in quality.
When I get a chance to use the Bluetooth at work I really enjoy the convenience of it. The Walkman does have Bluetooth capability, but whether or not you get an interface with the menu in the car is going to depend on the system in your car. As I said, my 2012 car for personal use doesn’t have that capability but the newer cars at work do.
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Thanks for the details!
I'll have to think about it and do a bit more research on the Walkman.
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There's been an evolution over time that's for sure.
Amazon Prime music and Spotify have rendered my collection pointless in most cases. Putting a physical music product on my stereo is rare...which in a way is sad. In my car I'm using my phone with Bluetooth. At home, since my wife doesn't really like my music, I use my phone with Bluetooth headphones. If I'm outside working or whatever it's my phone with my Sony Bluetooth speaker. It's just..easier. on the positive side, my appreciation for many albums has increased due to the amazing quality of my headphones. Buying music has almost ceased for me because everything is available on Prime or Spotify.
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There's been an evolution over time that's for sure.
Amazon Prime music and Spotify have rendered my collection pointless in most cases. Putting a physical music product on my stereo is rare...which in a way is sad. In my car I'm using my phone with Bluetooth. At home, since my wife doesn't really like my music, I use my phone with Bluetooth headphones. If I'm outside working or whatever it's my phone with my Sony Bluetooth speaker. It's just..easier. on the positive side, my appreciation for many albums has increased due to the amazing quality of my headphones. Buying music has almost ceased for me because everything is available on Prime or Spotify.
One thing about both Amazon Music and Spotify if the interfaces are absolutely awful and have only gotten worse over time. Amazon especially the only way to pull up an album quickly is by typing out a search and the results can be all over the place. Saving artists and albums doesn’t work because they are always adding or removing versions (can’t tell you how many times an album I saved becomes “unavailable,” but then I search for it and it’s like it got re-uploaded and you have to add it again). When you pull up an artists page, it will show you some of the albums, but you have to click on something else to get to all of them, and then they are intermixed with all kinds of releases other than studio releases. Things aren’t necessarily in any order. It takes lots of clicking once you play a song to get back to the track list. Lots of stuff like that makes streaming a chore off Amazon Music (I don’t use Spotify on my phone, but the web version is really clunky).
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For those still beating the streaming drum (whether Spotify or some other source), here's the major issue I have (which I mentioned above, but apparently some still don't understand, so I'll elaborate): There are plenty of times when I just can't stream even if I want to because there is no service. Dead zones on long road trips. Drives to the mountains. Camping, skiiing, whitewater, and other outdoor activities I like to engage in where there is no service. The "streaming only" movement ignores that many of us can't stream in many of the times we would most like to listen to music.
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For those still beating the streaming drum (whether Spotify or some other source), here's the major issue I have (which I mentioned above, but apparently some still don't understand, so I'll elaborate): There are plenty of times when I just can't stream even if I want to because there is no service. Dead zones on long road trips. Drives to the mountains. Camping, skiiing, whitewater, and other outdoor activities I like to engage in where there is no service. The "streaming only" movement ignores that many of us can't stream in many of the times we would most like to listen to music.
And it just generally stinks being at the mercy of the streaming providers existing, having the content you want, and yeah, being able to access it when you are not near a good internet connection is a big downside.
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My 21-year old nephew, who is a vinyl collector, bought his first CDs last week. He just got his driver's license and realized that CDs are portable while vinyl is not.
Yeah, but as a few other people have noted, it's getting harder and harder to find a car with a CD player in it. I'm a bit worried when I'm in the market for another myself.
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My van has a CD player in it. In fact, I also own a vehicle with a cassette deck in it.
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Bought a car last year and specifically opted for a 2016 model because it still had the CD player. Fully expecting it to be my last car with one.
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My van has a CD player in it. In fact, I also own a vehicle with a cassette deck in it.
You would shocked at how absolutely unshocked I was by this revelation. ;D
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I bet he has a shag carpet as well.
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(https://c.tenor.com/uAbh4V_AeAIAAAAC/shag-austin-powers.gif)
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Haven't read through all the replies in the thread. I've been listening to music on the go on my 64 GB Note 8 for ages now. It comes with a microSD slot, I've always had a 200 GB card on it. But recently scored a 512 GB on Prime for like $50~. I get that getting another device and adding a card adds more steps but short of streaming I would think that's the next best solution. Before I got the Note, I had an iphone and would carry a cheap android phone that would take an SD card and put all my music on there.
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I don't stream, at all...Youtube I use a lot for sampling these days.
Youtube is just another form of streaming. Their own service Youtube Music draws its content from the label-created/supplied topic channels that usually have the musical note to the right of the artist name.
Fair enough. I guess I just meant cause it's free and I don't pay for anything like Spotify. But you're right, technically, it's streaming.
Well, several of the streaming providers have free tiers, you just have to listen to a segment or two of ads every few songs, but otherwise they have most of the normal functionality.
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With my ears. :neverusethis:
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My 21-year old nephew, who is a vinyl collector, bought his first CDs last week. He just got his driver's license and realized that CDs are portable while vinyl is not.
Yeah, but as a few other people have noted, it's getting harder and harder to find a car with a CD player in it. I'm a bit worried when I'm in the market for another myself.
When I was shopping for a car in 2014 I found that even back then quite a few new models didn’t have a CD player. I told the salesman at one dealership that a car without a CD player was a deal breaker. He thought I was nuts :lol
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My 21-year old nephew, who is a vinyl collector, bought his first CDs last week. He just got his driver's license and realized that CDs are portable while vinyl is not.
Yeah, but as a few other people have noted, it's getting harder and harder to find a car with a CD player in it. I'm a bit worried when I'm in the market for another myself.
HAHA, I'm a Hertz Gold member, and I travel a fair amount, and I have on more than one occasion run from car to car peaking in the windows looking for the "CD slot". More often than not, no luck.
We have four cars; my wife's has no CD or and media interface other than a phone. My car has the phone interface (built in) and an iPod plug in, but also has a CD player. My Jeep that I'm fixing up has a CD player that I put in, and I can plug my phone or iPod in with a cable (there's no bluetooth). My plow truck had a CD and Cassette tape, but I replaced it with a CD player that also has no bluetooth but I can plug in my phone or iPod.
I still have most of my old cassettes, I just don't always have a way of playing them.
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I've been giving Spotify a try this week. It's okay (way better than YouTube), but my overall point stands - I want my own control over my music. I buy physical CDs whenever available. And I choose to rip them to a device. I want that to continue.
And no one here should be surprised that Tim drives a van with shag carpet. He's got an 8-track in the dash too. :lol
Love ya, TAC. ha ha ha.