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Rockbox is pretty good! I use it every day. Glad to see others are still using it.

Also my problem is spotify is the lack of artists. I know, I know, theres a metric TON of artists on Spotify, but ive found quite a few that just...dont have all their songs on it, or are not on it at all. And Spotify will steer you towards those that have a similar sound. Its not the same. Plus you can get albums for cheaper than spotify subscriptions half the time (or free if you go to the library).

Having your own collection also means you can have more to talk about with friends and family as well as share. Because music to me should be shared rather than kept locked behind an account.

Who still has mp3 players in 2025 (or 2026 in a couple of days)?

streaming services satisfy a demand that local libraries don't: the ability to interact with your library across all of your devices, wherever you are. i think having a media server is better than a local library for people who want to own their music anywhere.

i use slskd, beets, and navidrome on my homeserver. it's the best setup i've ever had. soulseek + navidrome offers a seemless method to listen to artists who aren't on streaming platforms, while retaining the convenience which keeps people stuck in streaming subscriptions (though this wasn't convenient to set up, lol. certainly worth it, however, and near-maintenance-less).

i even made my friend an account on the server and downloaded everything she wanted.

i know this guy has some separate use cases from me, but he seems to have separate use cases from most people. especially those who don't want to buy, mod, and carry an extra device around, and succumb to all the caviats that the device has.