A case for MP3 players
I was born in the early 1980s, so I'm young enough to think that having a hundred to a thousand albums on your person at all times is wonderful, yet old enough to think that having to pay a monthly fee or listen to adverts in order to access them is unacceptable.
I love specific music enough that I mostly want to listen to the same handful of albums all the way through again and again, and I love music generally enough that I want to be able to switch between albums exactly as my whims dictate, not listen to unchosen songs as an algorithm dictates. A lot of my favourite albums are too obscure to even be on streaming services in the first place, from Aphex Twin's Analogue Bubblebath 3, to Pete Namlook and Richie Hawtin's From Within.
I'm autistic enough that I probably find maintaining metadata soothing on some level, or at least not a noticeable hassle. I'm the kind of person who corrects minor mistakes on Wikipedia and adds the occasional album to MusicBrainz. I certainly seem to enjoy periodically whittling down my extensive album collection to a portable subset, relishing the opportunity to remind myself of the various forgotten albums I have and should listen to more.
I'm presumably ADHD-I enough that I don't want to be constantly inundated with notifications, or distracted by the Internet. I maintain my near-daily task lists on a tangible paper notebook. It takes me a great deal of effort to focus on something, and I need all the help I can get. Listening to lengthy instrumental music or field recordings while programming, writing these articles, or cooking helps me focus, blocking out the chaotic sounds around me.
I believe in MP3 players. They let me carry with me a vast array of music, so I can listen to exactly what I want, when I want, with the minimum of fuss. As far as I'm concerned, preferring albums over streaming services is the logical progression of preferring albums over radio stations. Preferring simple MP3 players over smartphones combines all the modern convenience of bringing your whole music collection everywhere with the focus of older formats.
MP3 players: A case for MP3 players | S1 MP3 player | iPod Mini
Organisation: A case for MP3 players
Ruminations: A case for MP3 players | Quantity Over Quality
