Where do you get music?

[Gilberto de Piento]

Where do you get music? For a long time I had pirated mp3s on my computer. As I wanted variety I would clean out my cheap mp3 player and add new songs from the computer.

Then I used free streaming services like Pandora, Google play music, YouTube, and Spotify. The free versions of these services have either gotten unusable due to excessive ads and inability to specify what songs to play or they've gone out of business.

I don't want to pirate music, including ripping CDs from the library. Local radio sucks. I don't want any monthly fees. I'm hesitant to pay to download songs since it seems like it will get expensive.

I want to be able to play music from my phone without using cell data, in my car, and at home.

My current idea is to buy used CDs and rip them to my computer. Then put the CDs in a box in my basement and transfer songs from my computer to my phone as needed for listening in the car or on walks. I can get used CDs for about $5 each individually or a lot less if I buy a whole collection. Some downsides would be storing a lot of CDs, owning a whole cd just to listen to a couple of songs, having to rip and store and move around audio files.

Are there any good free streaming services still out there? Any other ideas for how to solve this problem? Any other thoughts?

[loutfard]

A few alternatives that I know some friends and acquaintances use:
- https://invidious.io is a trustworthy free and open source web based wrapper around youtube. Hundreds of instances available. Some of these allow downloads, and some others not.
- On Android devices, you could use Newpipe from the f-droid free and open source software repository.
- If technically inclined, consider yt-dlp in combination with mpv.

[mathiverse]

How many unique songs do you need to listen to in a year in order to have sufficient variety?

Can you play with your notion of needing variety? If you get 20 CDs with 5 songs each, that's 100 songs. Maybe you can rotate between those for the rest of your life to maintain variety instead of finding entirely new music each time. Two playlists with 50 songs that you rotate through, or three with 30, etc.

In my area, you can get 20+ CDs for free or less than $20 if you are patient and proactive with looking around on the free sites like freecycle and going to low cost sources like buying in bulk on yard sales or thrift stores or maybe eBay (never looked there). Even if you paid the $1/song needed to get your digital mp3s legitimately, 100 songs are only $100. Even if you had to buy 100 songs a year, $100/year is a low entertainment budget. If you cycle less frequently, then the cost is even lower.

[IlliniDave]

Lately I've just been buying albums in mp3 format, usually on amazon. It's more expensive that way, but I feel like the artists deserve their royalties if I am enjoying their music as part of my personal collection. Unfortunately much of what I buy is old enough the artists likely long since sold off their rights, but presumably not all of them.

[theanimal]

Have you tried seeing what your library offers? They may provide access to a streaming service or allow you to check out digital files through a service like Hoopla. My library offers the latter and I can check out albums for a week at a time. It doesn't have everything, but there is a decent variety.

[Seppia]

Apple Music is probably the best $100 I spend per year.
I can afford it, I love music and I think that, in general, one should pay for the goods and services he consumes.

Note: I have pirated plenty of music when I was poor as a “trial service”: I would download, listen to it and then buy if I liked. So I am not exactly a bastion of virtue on this front, even if I believe my “trials” have made me spend MORE money on music that I would otherwise had - not a coincidence that artists are happy to give listens for free today.

[thef0x]

We have the family spotify plan for 5 of us total ($17+tax for 6 slots I think). We enjoy music enough that it's really worth it.

I use newpipe as @loudfart suggested and it's great for music, although I prefer it for podcasts / interviews / lectures at 1.6x speed. It also lets me download in whatever format (video / audio / specified quality) so when I'm out of reception or on the go trying to save data, I can save what I'm going to listen to for later.

@loudfart, if you want to be a cli-only nerd, you could also check out 'ytfzf' to skip the YT interface completely

[loutfard]

@loudfart, if you want to be a cli-only nerd, you could also check out 'ytfzf' to skip the YT interface completely

...as the combination of mpv and yt-dlp will do for you. The main difference? Properly maintained part of most Linux distros. And contrary to what the name might suggest, yt-dlp also interacts with quite a few other services.

[Scott 2]

@Gilberto de Piento - What's the objection to piracy? Hassle? Morality? Legality? Wanting to support the artist?

I think each of those has a different answer.

I have some mp3's I ripped from CD's I since gave away. Some percentage of pirated music, going back to the original napster. And I get digital albums from my library, via Hoopla. Sometimes, I pay the $5 for a month of Pandora or pick up a free trial from some streaming service.

Organizing mp3's is tedious. If you enjoy new music, the streaming services are a steal, IMO.

I agree the ad supported services are intolerable. The apps to "skip" their ads work, but it means entering a game vs. some tech company. They know what you are doing. I'm not interested in that fight, long term. I'd rather do without, or pay the nominal fee.

[Western Red Cedar]

Any other ideas for how to solve this problem? Any other thoughts?

One other idea not yet discussed to avoid paying for streaming is to connect with high quality public radio stations over the internet. I like KEXP which is based out of Seattle, and they have an app to access their music and services. I'm guessing other major public radio stations in Boston, NYC and elsewhere may have something similar. You'll often be exposed to new musicians from fellow music lovers who often have a much deeper well of knowledge, and you can tune in for certain genres/hours like underground hip hop, bluegrass, blues, jazz, or whatever strikes your fancy. KEXP and NPR Tiny Desk also have a great YouTube presence, and as far as I can remember they do 20-30 minute shows without any advertisements.

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I'm in a similar boat to the OP, and carry about 100+ gigs of music on my phone. This is basically my whole CD library, and some extra digital downloads that I've purchased or came with vinyl. I got a 256 GB phone last time I upgraded specifically to make sure I have ample room for my music library and photos. I'm a bit of a dinosaur on this front

At home, I have 500+ albums on vinyl. I like the fact that it forces me to listen to a full album (or at least half of it), and I appreciate the music in a different fashion as a result. I also have all kinds of cool old stuff that I couldn't easily find digitally. I'll listen to YouTube videos and live performances as well, particularly while cooking. Unfortunately records are more expensive these days so I usually only buy them at concerts.

Friends of the Library book sales are a great spot to find cheap, used CDs for $1 or less. I used to go there on breaks from work. Lots of people have gotten rid of their CD collections now that streaming is so easy, so you can find some quality albums if you aren't in a rush.

I usually get a free 3-month apple music subscription at least once a year. I don't worry about paying for a month or two extra, but because I carry so much music on my phone I don't go much beyond that. There are certainly benefits to streaming, but I personally don't appreciate the music in the same manner.

I'd also point out that most artists make very little money from streaming or album sales. Go support them by seeing live music and enjoying a unique experience with other people. Buying music, for me, is more about supporting a local record store or a band I'm enjoying live.

[SouthernAlchemy]

I second @WRC's suggestions on internet radio and live music.

Given that I like a wide variety of music, have no real desire to hear things over and over and don't want to buy/own anything (or deal with ripping, uploading etc) I have been listening to internet radio pretty exclusively for a few years.

Some ones to try-

That Station - my go to because it is local to me and has a very diverse playlist and minimal ads
https://thatstation.net/remote-listen/

Bondi FM - Australia - endless grooves
https://bondiradio.com.au/live-player/

KPOA - Maui -aural aloha
https://kpoa.com

I know OP doesn't want to use cell data, but there's so much good stuff out there. It would suck to be locked in to what fits on your phone! I am always looking around for stations and there are so many to choose from. Another tip: When I am getting ready to travel I like to find and listen to some local stations to get a little bit of the vibe and scene before I get there.

[Bonde]

Thanks for the newpipe ref. I have been wanting a vanced alternative but not bothered to look it up. I also used too much time on youtube with vanced on my phone. But newpipe luckily seems more simple and without doomscrolling features.
I don't use the youtube app because all the adds annoys me. Newpipe will make it easier to play kids music for DS and there is also some education stuff I have been wanting to listen to while I'm driving.
It seems to work with only a few glitches and I like the VLC workaround to allow chromecasting. Though somehow 360p it the highest res that works without the sound being lost in transmission. Almost not noticeable on our old flatscreen. It is easy to turn external player on in the video and sound settings. But I have to choose VLC everytime I open a new vid but definitely quicker and less annoying than wathing an add.

[guitarplayer]

@GdP, slightly tongue-in-cheek suggestion, but I in fact did and do think along those lines sometimes, would be to learn make music

I know you are probably not interested in it at this point, just that it hinges on this consumer-producer dichotomy that you sometimes see on the forum.

[Western Red Cedar]

@gp - that is a great point. Making your own music or, even better, making it with others is WL 7+ on the musical Wheaton Scale.

It is something that transcends language and culture. It has the potential to open a lot of doors. Last night I met a Vietnamese guitar player with a classical, nylon string guitar in a restaurant. He was genuinely excited when I asked if I could play. I played him House of the Rising Sun, and he played me Fools Rush In. He played some excellent, flamenco-style songs with some amazing whistling skills, and I came back with some Bob Marley and American folk songs. One of the highlights of my time in Vietnam. He and the restaurant owner appeared to have as much fun as DW and I.

[guitarplayer]

Hah @WRC, there is actually a quite popular adaptation of 'House of the Rising Sun' in Polish that I used to play at bonfires with friends as a teenager all the time.

Just now, I played it for the first time in a long long time, this time the original English version. Recorded and now listen with some slight cringe, though I think it is passable.

I'm working on getting desensitised to listening to my voice from outside of my body so try recording something and listening to it everyday.

Sorry @GdP, not meaning to derail the thread so will leave it at that!

[Hristo Botev]

We have the family spotify plan for 5 of us total ($17+tax for 6 slots I think). We enjoy music enough that it's really worth it.

Same, though we have the 2-user account that we share among 4 people (the kids’ phones can’t download Spotify). We used to all share a single user account but I eventually got annoyed of what my daughter’s Olivia Rodrigo and Talyor Swift obsession was doing to the algorithm when I was listening. Also, it was often the case that 2 people would want to listen to Spotify at the same time.

For a long time we just did free accounts on the steaming platforms supplemented by a lot of on demand listening on YouTube. But with a teenager and a soon to be teenager that became less manageable.

We also all buy vinyl for albums we really like; and thankfully we have a record store in town that is always a fun family outing.

[2Birds1Stone]

DW and I pay for two annual subscriptions between the two of us, one of which is Spotify Premium. Worth every penny as I listen to a lot of music and it's been great for discovery of new artists based on stuff I like.

[conwy]

You can use youtube-dl to download any YouTube video. With -x switch it will download audio-only which is fairly fast. This works regardless of whether you have a membership. They can be synced to your mobile device for offline usage.

[Gilberto de Piento]

Thanks everyone for all the great responses! Sorry it took me a while to reply. I have little free time these days. I will reply to a few of the comments where I have something to say.

The solution I'm pursuing right now is:
1. Streaming online radio when I have wifi
2. Investigating buying CDs and ripping them to my computer
3. Putting the ripped songs on my phone or on an old phone for music only use so I can listen away from home.

How many unique songs do you need to listen to in a year in order to have sufficient variety?

I don't think it is a lot of songs but I don't think I can put a number on it without exploring the problem more. There is a relatively small number of songs I would like to be able to listen to over and over. The rest of my variety could come from radio/streaming type sources.

Have you tried seeing what your library offers?

I checked out the library website and unfortunately I didnt find anything like you described.

@Gilberto de Piento - What's the objection to piracy? Hassle? Morality? Legality? Wanting to support the artist?

Hassle, morality, wanting to support the artist. I don't like the game with the tech companies as you described. I don't think it's right for me to enjoy the music without paying given that I have sufficient money to pay. I want to support artists when I can (though not necessarily super rich artists, recording companies, or investors if it was possible to parse them out).

One other idea not yet discussed to avoid paying for streaming is to connect with high quality public radio stations over the internet. I like KEXP which is based out of Seattle, and they have an app to access their music and services.

I tried KEXP and enjoyed a couple hours of listening. Will definitely be back. I was surprised how much it adds to have a good DJ. A little bit of conversation between songs really adds to the experience done right.

I second @WRC's suggestions on internet radio and live music.

I liked The Station a lot. Will try the others too. Thanks for the recommendations!

@GdP, slightly tongue-in-cheek suggestion, but I in fact did and do think along those lines sometimes, would be to learn make music

I like playing music. I really miss playing with friends. It's been a few years but I'd like to ease back into it someday. Unfortunately I'm quite bad at it!

[Jean]

I use youtube with addblock which is great on my side, but no one gets paid.
Only music i paid in the last years was either live or on steam.
Is there an equivalent to steam for music?
I don't like the spotify algorythm, and i'de like the curation and the selling done in the same place.