The resurgence of the iPod/MP3 player

[Trainerbrow]

Given today's reliance on streaming services like Spotify etc, does anyone prefer to keep their own music in a library/still use mp3 players? We know streaming services can randomly remove stuff, or put it behind a paywall.

I have a huge 240 disc CD folder at home with loads of old CDs on and a stack of MP3s backed up on hard drives/USBs etc. I tended to still use CDs in the car (and still do in my BM), but the Xtrons unit in my focus is purely bluetooth or USB. I don't subscribe to any streaming for music at all.

I ended up down a youtube rabbit hole last night about modded iPods and these look great





USB-C charging a data transfer, SSD storage, better batteries/screens etc. I had an iPod classic many years back and it was infuriating having to upload stuff to quicktime to then transfer it over, and one of the reasons I'm an android fanboy. Drag and drop is how music transfer should be.

Doubt I will make one, because I can just lob a UBS into the car and listen from there, but they also have bluetooth capability, so that could means a massive library of music to move around on the fly.

 

[botfch]

I always think they look quite cool but the thought of downloading music again seems like a hassle.

 

[Oggy997]

Some form of sonarr/radarr/plex type thing would be good.
Would be great to rid the world of Spotify

 

[CrippsCorner]

I had almost 1,000 albums on my NAS which I would stream to my phone, but it got full up, had connection issues so I stopped using it a while back. I will fire it up again one day... but, meanwhile I don't subscribe to any music streaming platforms. I just listen to the radio or Tube PiP (can play YouTube music whilst the phone is locked, for free)

 

[Adamm.]

I just use my phone and download music to it. Don't really use Spotify etc just use Deezer bot with telegram to download everything and sort my own playlists out on my phone. Don't have to worry about adverts or anything like that at least and I can keep track of everything easier I find.

 

[massiveCoRbyn]

Like @Adamm., I just have a load of music saved onto my phone, a lot of which is from old CDs, some of which is downloaded. Don't use Spotify or anything like that. Obviously means I don't have more recent stuff though, judging by what I hear when I have the radio on, I don't feel like I'm missing out.

That said, I don't spend a lot of time listening aside from when I'm in the car, and I don't do many miles currently. Once I've listened to Smith and Sniff's two podcasts, my week is pretty much covered

 

[Starlet_gt]

Not sure I could be bothered with an MP3 player again. Connecting, downloading music onto it etc would be a pain.

I don't listen to the radio. Spotify is on a lot and I've found loads of new music that I wouldn't have listened to otherwise. If I didn't use Spotify, I'm pretty sure I'd just be listening to the same stuff all the time.

 

[Digsey]

My 16 year old has recently come asking if i had any old ipods etc as for some reason they have become "cool" again, she's been walking round with it permanently on for the last few weeks. Having to explain to her that the music on it, is all she's got (as she doesn't even know what an mp3 is as everything is streamed) was fun.
I've got my old winamp collection on my phone and also on an SD card in the car, however i do occasionally stream from YouTube music when doing DIY around the house as it comes with YouTube premium, however the songs are generally the same as what's on my phone anyway just in nice premade playlists.
The one thing i did like was the "Genius" playlist feature in iTunes, that would make playlists based on one song, I've quite a few cd's which are burnt with one of those playlists, would be good to have an app do that on the phone with my current collection.

 

[KitsonRis]

Used to spend hours rotating my music collection on my mp3 player as a kid - the 3hrs on the bus to and from school every day was better with different music. I did have a bit of a CD collection and we all used to borrow friends and share around. I really cba with doing that now and having everything to hand is a game changer - I don’t think I could go back to sorting it all out again. Closest I get to is buying cassettes for my 5 series as that still has a tape deck. But they are so expensive for what they are! Last one I bought was LED Zeppelin Stairway to Heaven for like £10.

An old house mate from about 10 years ago only had physical music - vinyl, cassette and mini discs and it was all old school hip hop and funk.

 

[Darren S]

Used to spend hours rotating my music collection on my mp3 player as a kid - the 3hrs on the bus to and from school every day was better with different music. I did have a bit of a CD collection and we all used to borrow friends and share around. I really cba with doing that now and having everything to hand is a game changer - I don’t think I could go back to sorting it all out again. Closest I get to is buying cassettes for my 5 series as that still has a tape deck. But they are so expensive for what they are! Last one I bought was LED Zeppelin Stairway to Heaven for like £10.

An old house mate from about 10 years ago only had physical music - vinyl, cassette and mini discs and it was all old school hip hop and funk.

The last tape I ever bought for my car was back in 1997. I remember it clearly as it was the day that Princess Diana was killed and was heading back up north from Oxford in the heavy rain and traffic. All of the radio stations were on a small loop as a mark of respect and I pulled in at some services and bought a double tape of current music to play on the way home.

The following year '98, I did a road-trip with a friend in Canada and we had a couple of tapes between us. I think that was the last time I ever listened to a tape in a car.

 

[Marc.]

I actually found my old iPod a couple of weeks ago, but couldn't get it to turn on - I suspect the battery is fucked. Shame, as my old iTunes was utterly rammed full of music (I like to listen to live music, so being able to download soundboard recordings was amazing). Stuck with Spotify these days, which is fine, but it's £20+ per Month and my kids share my account as it's linked to our Alexas - so my Spotify Wrapped is full of some proper random shite

 

[Flat Eric]

I used to love my iPod Nano when I had my paper round.
The iPod was revolutionary really but smart phones and streaming services killed them off.

 

[McGherkin]

I used to love my iPod Nano when I had my paper round.
The iPod was revolutionary really but smart phones and streaming services killed them off.

My first one was a Nano. 1st generation.

I had Rockbox running on it, it ran Doom and played videos. Impressive really considering how old it was and how tiny it was. I think I still have it somewhere.

 

[Oggy997]

3rd gen for me, which makes me feel mega old.

 

[KitsonRis]

The last tape I ever bought for my car was back in 1997. I remember it clearly as it was the day that Princess Diana was killed and was heading back up north from Oxford in the heavy rain and traffic. All of the radio stations were on a small loop as a mark of respect and I pulled in at some services and bought a double tape of current music to play on the way home.

The following year '98, I did a road-trip with a friend in Canada and we had a couple of tapes between us. I think that was the last time I ever listened to a tape in a car.

I fitted a period correct tape deck in it so needed some period correct tapes for it! The centre console only holds 6 tapes so it’s a very limited collection I have!

 

[Flat Eric]

My first one was a Nano. 1st generation.

I had Rockbox running on it, it ran Doom and played videos. Impressive really considering how old it was and how tiny it was. I think I still have it somewhere.

My 1st one was the first iPod with the click wheel. Blue screen, 20gb it was and you'd feel the HDD inside when it was running 🤣

Big chunky things they was.

My 1st Gen Nano died though, and when taking it into an apple store it was confirmed it couldn't be fixed (or not worth fixing) and only option was to trade in against a newer one, which I never bothered with.

I don't think I had one after that really.

 

[Tighten My Nuts]

If anyone wants one I've got a few gathering dust that haven't been turned on in years!

180gb 7th gen Classic, 7th gen Nano, 6th gen Nano, and I think both a 3rd and 4th gen shuffle.

 

[MLB]

Still have a bright pink 2nd gen ipod mini. 4gb of awesomeness and except for the screen it works perfectly fine. The main problem is I don't know if I have a charger for it anymore and I most definitely don't have wired headphones anymore.

I'm quite a big fan of Spotify, but I miss making my own playlists, still have about 20k songs in a folder on my old hard disk..

I still have it sometimes now that when a song ends I start to hum the 'next song' because of the fixed playlists order I used to have.

 

[Brigsy]

I have an ipod nano connected to my alpine head unit in the extra van, still works after all these years. Itunes was dogshit though, never liked it

 

[SC03OTT]

I wouldn’t go back to a non streaming device. I enjoy paying Apple £24.99 a month to listen to the same four songs over and over and over, far to much.

 

[Darren S]

I wouldn’t go back to a non streaming device. I enjoy paying Apple £24.99 a month to listen to the same four songs over and over and over, far to much.

I've got Apple Music and it is nice to come across some random new stuff. I'll continue to pay for it for the convenience alone - but it simply doesn't match the whole vibe you get with vinyl and even CDs. Spatial audio kicks the crap out of both of those media of course - but there's something great about physical means of playing music.

Streaming to me in a lot of ways just pushes the current envelope of disposable music. Here one minute, totally forgotten about next week. The churn at times, is tedious.

 

[Matt e]

i still use a ipod touch in my car, i download the odd song now and again but most of the music on it is quite old

it does need a new battery fitted as it doesn't last long