What do you play music on?

[Seanchailleach]

Feeling totally out of touch.
If I want some music I buy a CD. My nephew's look at CDs and CD players like they are from the ark. They don't know what to do with them. How do people give each other music and what do you play it on? My car doesn't have a CD player, how can I play my favourite music in the car? I got an MP3 player but it's so tiny, I can't read the track names. I tried ripping my CDs to the computer, but they are all unknown album, unknown artist, Track 1 etc. The sound isn't always great either. What should I be doing?

I use CDs or iPod. In the car, mainly CDs, because when I connect my iPod, it plays through the entire music collection in alphabetical order which obviously is how I want to listen to tracks!
Either set it to shuffle or make a load of playlists ( I think you can do a 100 tracks on a playlist) You can make your own playlist or ipod can make them for you. You pick a song and it generates a playlist with songs from that genre that way you are not getting Dolly Parton one song and Craddle of filth for the next one ( if you do put it in your own playlist!)
Listening alphabetically wouldn't be great listen for me whether it was songs albums or artists!

@Bluntness100

I refuse to use online streaming services because I don't agree with the subscription model. If I buy music, it belongs to me!

That makes no sense, if you buy music on any subscription service it belongs to you. If you stop your subscription they pull back only music you’ve not purchased and leave you with what you have. The music that doesn’t get pulled back is the ones you just listen to but don’t buy as part of the subscription. Which is how most people use it. The subscription is access to a massive library that you can listen to any track on, buying the music is possible but then you own it.

I think that's exactly the point, Spotify costs about £10 per month, £120 per year.

£120 gets you a lot of CDs or purchased downloads.

It's the equivalent of renting verses buying. If money becomes tight Spotify and other subscriptions will be luxuries that will be cancelled leaving people without music.

I'm the same. I dread the day my car doesn't have a CD player. I have no idea what bluetooth and all that stuff is about. I once bought an iPod and had to send it back because I couldn't work out what to do with it!

When I bought a new phone, the guy asked me what I usually downloaded on to my phone and I said "nothing". He looked at me like I was prehistoric.

It's the equivalent of renting verses buying. If money becomes tight Spotify and other subscriptions will be luxuries that will be cancelled leaving people without music

You can get Spotify for free, so no they’d not be without music

Has anyone found a cd player that works in the car ? My son has one for his pc but I cant get it to work on my usb port. I want to play my CDs

CD player in both cars and in my craft room.

when I dance with the kids we use YouTube on the TV.

I keep wanting to make a playlist (I love saying "mixed tape" to annoy my teeens🤣) but I'm not patient enough to set it up.
CDs it is

I have a CD player that came along with the car. I used to have a stupid one that was in the boot and was seemingly "the way forward". Thankfully they didn't catch on as it was a PITA.

@notacooldad

I use CDs or iPod. In the car, mainly CDs, because when I connect my iPod, it plays through the entire music collection in alphabetical order which obviously is how I want to listen to tracks! Either set it to shuffle or make a load of playlists ( I think you can do a 100 tracks on a playlist) You can make your own playlist or ipod can make them for you. You pick a song and it generates a playlist with songs from that genre that way you are not getting Dolly Parton one song and Craddle of filth for the next one ( if you do put it in your own playlist!) Listening alphabetically wouldn't be great listen for me whether it was songs albums or artists!

The problem with shuffle is that you then get one 'track' of The Magic Flute (i.e. one song or dialogue) followed by Sepultura... And I do have playlists, but my car doesn't like to let me play them!

@Bluntness100

I refuse to use online streaming services because I don't agree with the subscription model. If I buy music, it belongs to me!

That makes no sense, if you buy music on any subscription service it belongs to you. If you stop your subscription they pull back only music you’ve not purchased and leave you with what you have. The music that doesn’t get pulled back is the ones you just listen to but don’t buy as part of the subscription. Which is how most people use it. The subscription is access to a massive library that you can listen to any track on, buying the music is possible but then you own it.

This isn’t the point of the thread but I do wish you would do even the basic research before spouting off like this and adding little passive aggressive emojis to make yourself seem correct. You’re conflating ownership with access, google has lots of resources on digital music rights so educate yourself before passing off incorrect information.

The problem with shuffle is that you then get one 'track' of The Magic Flute (i.e. one song or dialogue) followed by Sepultura...
And I do have playlists, but my car doesn't like to let me play them!
I get what you mean about shuffle but I don't get why your car wont play playlists.
I select which playlist I fancy before I set off. I dont understand what you mean about your car though.

Spotify on my phone, in the house we use a sonos speaker.

The music you download in Spotify disappears if your subscription runs out. It's never yours for keeps. That does annoy me.

Also, I have a decent (i.e. expensive) Bose Bluetooth speaker. No way near the power and listening experience of a set of the old cupboard-size wired ones.

About the tracks appearing as unknown, the PC does recognise the track names, but the Mp3 player still considers some random albums as 'unknown' and are lost at the bottom alphabetically.

I'm also a fan of CDs as you can tell. I buy and rip them. I do buy some downloads when not practical or exorbitant.

Alexa at home.
Amazon music and Bluetooth through my speakers.
I actually lost my way with music but love how easy it is to listen to music now.

Amazon and Bluetooth when in the car.

Alexa and Amazon music and I have the Amazon music app on my phone

Spotify mostly. Gives you access to loads of music on your phone. You can then connect that to the car. We have Sonos speakers and also Alexa in the house.
I was still ripping cds and using iTunes 15 years ago. You can still do this and get it all onto a phone or other device but it's a big bore.

Alexa in the house.

An old DAB in the spare bedroom.

Radio in the car.

Spotify on my phone.

I pay £9.99 a month for access to millions and millions of tracks. I download what I like onto playlists and listen in the car via USB cable or Bluetooth.

I have about 3,000 songs currently downloaded and saved onto my phone.

Phone
DAB mini hifi
DAB clock radio
Midi hifi with record deck and 3 CD changer.
Portable mini MP3 player with FM radio
Portable mini DAB/FM radio

Depends where I am.

Just got a Spotify account as I want to follow some podcasters.

I should say I'm a geek and can figure out what to do with track names. But would welcome tips.
The ownership versus renting thing of streaming is a sideshow next to matters of privacy, musicians rights. I do have various big tech streams but also SoundCloud and Patreon.
The bit I'm less clear on is the sharing and giving music to others, it's helpful to know what's normal these days.

I tend to rip CDs through iTunes, so the track listings come through via internet ok- perhaps when you're ripping them the computer isn't connected to the internet? Yes, you can type them in, but it's a bloody faff, isn't it?

I think the ownership/renting thing is actually v pertinent to artists' rights- 'renting' music doesn't give artists the full remuneration they deserve, not in the way they would receive monies if tracks are sold. It should be easier than ever for artists to break out and make it big- anyone can record tracks at home now, and publish them via internet... but monetising that is made impossible when these huge subscription companies control ease of access to music, and 'reward' artists at lower rates.

@LostInTime

I tend to rip CDs through iTunes, so the track listings come through via internet ok- perhaps when you're ripping them the computer isn't connected to the internet? Yes, you can type them in, but it's a bloody faff, isn't it?

I think the ownership/renting thing is actually v pertinent to artists' rights- 'renting' music doesn't give artists the full remuneration they deserve, not in the way they would receive monies if tracks are sold. It should be easier than ever for artists to break out and make it big- anyone can record tracks at home now, and publish them via internet... but monetising that is made impossible when these huge subscription companies control ease of access to music, and 'reward' artists at lower rates.

@lostintime it's a Windows 10 thing. Windows Media Player isn't picking up the track listings, and if you type them in, Windows Explorer doesn't display them. I am figuring out some workarounds.

I am blind, and I used to have a Braille notetaker that would only consistently play music in MP3 format. Things have moved on largely from that and I have a more current device, but I still like all my music in the same place. Therefore, much of the MP3 music I listen to is a mixture of cds from home, and music I have purchased through Amazon or Bandcamp. My device allows me to create playlists and has a shuffle function, although typically I choose which ones I want for the playlist first. I love putting on a playlist when I am doing creative writing.