I have a personality where I tend to get fixated on something for days or weeks at a time. Based on my last post that’s probably evident. Lately, my focus has been on changing up my music listening routine. I currently stream all my music from Spotify on my phone but have been thinking about a dedicated music player with all the hardware to really drive the sound and not become distracted from all the other notifications a smart phone introduces. This thought came from a random Reddit post about a modded iPod.
Nostalgia is a son of a bitch because all the memories of my own iPod Color came flooding back. I seriously loved that thing. I spent hours ripping albums, meticulously editing metadata, and creating the perfect playlists. It was time consuming but I enjoyed it. My gold personality of having everything order really loved this process.
I spent the next few days researching the iPod modding scene. Flash harddrive replacements, 3000 mah batteries, colored shells, new software that removes iTunes from the process. All the things that would really upgrade the device. It’s all there. You can order them premodded (with a markup of course) or buy all the parts and DIY the whole thing. All this sounds great but there are still some drawbacks. And unfortunately, the drawback are pretty much deal killers.
I use Last.fm to automatically collect all my listening. This service connects with all the major streaming services and keeps a history of all the music I listen to. That’s right, every single song I have listened to since Summer of 2005 has been captured. That’s 187,192 listens if you care. With an iPod the only way to capture these listens is by physically plugging the iPod into your computer and uploading your listens. Last.fm has some restrictions though as it can only add listens within a two week period which means I would need to be mindful of consistently uploading. I don’t have enough faith in me doing that right now.
The other hurdle is getting high quality downloads of all the music again and then continually adding more when new music is discovered or released. This was a pain 18 years ago and I am confident it still is today. Plus, with using Spotify, where almost all the music already exists I can easily find new songs by using their algorithm and custom tailored playlists. I have discovered dozens and dozens of bands this way and would hate to miss out.
I then thought “are there standalone music players that also have the ability to use Spotify or other streaming services?” Spoiler: there are but they are pricey.
Ultimately, I think I was just really unhappy with my wireless earbuds. The batteries didn’t last long. They didn’t fit correctly and hurt my ears and I couldn’t wear them for very long. Was it possible I could find something that would fix those issues and not break the bank? Luckily I came across the JBL Tune 230NC TWS Bluetooth earbuds on sale and while I am only a week into having them they are doing great.
I still have nostalgia for the iPod and have made the random ebay search to see if I could snag a deal but the price and remembrance of the inconveniences bring me back to Spotify and my phone every time.