I cancelled my Spotify account some time ago due to a band I liked at the time (Thank You Scientist) having their catalogue dropped making me realize that I do, in fact, own nothing -- but I was not happy about it.
During a trip back to my parents a couple of years ago I found an old CD binder of mine that was packed full of old music that I thought I had lost, so I took that home with me and started the slow process of ripping music to my hard drive. Foregoing MP3 I decided to rip them as WAVs since I have a big disk and a pair of Sony M4s and it was like a new sonic universe had been opened to me.
I have about 200 CDs in my collection now, a lot of them old ones that I did end up losing but repurchasing. There's apparently a niche enough market for them that some arbitrage can happen. For instance, using Amazon as a spot market I found a CD for $5 used at a local book store that sells for $40 minimum at Bezosland (Dance Gavin Dance - Mothership for those curious). My mom has also come in clutch, finding Drive Like Jehu - Yank Crime at some flea market local to her and throwing it into my Christmas stocking last year.
I can't stress the quality of the music with a good set of headphones and a lossless rip. And best of all I own this music forever.
I used to have a collection about that big too. I used the shit out of Columbia House and BMG. I ripped them all and went digital because too many of them were getting scuffed up from sliding them in and out of travel cases.
I miss my iPod. Had the iPod be with the most GB and I could just download my CDs onto it as well as songs off YouTube. The iPod broke down and the Apple store said it was too old for them to repair. Streaming services lose music due to agreements. At least once i downloaded it off the cd I knew I had it. But going digital is good. Just nice to have CDs as a backup
I miss dedicated mp3 players too. Apple sucks though.
I have been meaning to look for a good mp3 player app for my phone. Google music used to be awesome until they forced it to merge with youtube music. Now they want you to use a paid account to disable ads on your own music. Fuck that.
The hassle with it has just made it so I don't even listen to music that often any more.
I just use VLC on my phone. No ads, can switch between local music or network music, plays FLAC.
Thanks. I will try it out.