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There are two wolves inside of me. One believes that music should be de-commodified and that musicians’ labor and art should be paid for, the other believes that music should be freely accessible to all as a cultural commons. We all contain contradictions. I still use MP3s and a locally downloaded library to listen to music, and some music just isn’t available to purchase or stream. This site is my go-to for ripping audio right now. It's so much better than those sketchy sites with weird ads and fake download buttons, and it’s designed really well too! Go rip Shlohmo’s For Tha Summer mixtapes if you need a summer soundtrack.
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You should try Soulseek!!! There's a lot of high quality (Youtube audio quality isnt great) and curated music on there.
No mixtapes though as far as I'm aware, it's mostly based on official releases
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There are two wolves inside of me. One believes that music should be de-commodified and that musicians’ labor and art should be paid for, the other believes that music should be freely accessible to all as a cultural commons. We all contain contradictions. I still use MP3s and a locally downloaded library to listen to music, and some music just isn’t available to purchase or stream. This site is my go-to for ripping audio right now. It's so much better than those sketchy sites with weird ads and fake download buttons, and it’s designed really well too! Go rip Shlohmo’s For Tha Summer mixtapes if you need a summer soundtrack.
3d ago
Rec
🎶I've never paid for Spotify. I started with Grooveshark (as dubious as LimeWire) and moved onto Rdio before it was slaughtered by Spotify when it launched in the united states. I'll never forgive that.
Pandora - Yes, it still exists. Yes, it's radio stations are still far better than any other streaming services. I pay for ad-free stations and use these for music discovery. I listen to stations or full albums. I don't give a fuck about playlists.
Bandcamp - This is where I buy digital albums when I can (iTunes/Apple Music when I can't). Bandcamp allows you to stream songs a few times for free before asking you to pay so I preview albums with this service a lot. You can download music you buy to the Bandcamp app on your phone, but you'll need to download on a PC and transfer to your phone if you want the files in the stock music app (I believe that's only an iPhone limitation)
iTunes is still a thing but called the Apple Music App now. It supports all its old functions but kinda worse all around because it pushes an Apple Music subscription at every turn. Like seiji points out, you can "turn off" Apple Music (streaming) and use the iOS and MacOS Apple Music app as just an MP3 player. It's almost old school iTunes with all the playlist creating tools you could want.
Yes, you can still rip CDs! As long as you have a CD reader...
Longplay - MP3 player app for iOS that only allows you to listen to albums in full. No picking and choosing tracks! I almost exclusively use this for listening to music downloaded to my phone.
Vox - Minimal music player for Mac and iOS that also plays lossless audio codecs. Feels like iTunes with all the bloat stripped out. It's completely free. They have a premium subscription that will sync your collection to the cloud (but they don't shove it down your throat). Also supports Last.fm scrobbling.
Pandora - Yes, it still exists. Yes, it's radio stations are still far better than any other streaming services. I pay for ad-free stations and use these for music discovery. I listen to stations or full albums. I don't give a fuck about playlists.
Bandcamp - This is where I buy digital albums when I can (iTunes/Apple Music when I can't). Bandcamp allows you to stream songs a few times for free before asking you to pay so I preview albums with this service a lot. You can download music you buy to the Bandcamp app on your phone, but you'll need to download on a PC and transfer to your phone if you want the files in the stock music app (I believe that's only an iPhone limitation)
iTunes is still a thing but called the Apple Music App now. It supports all its old functions but kinda worse all around because it pushes an Apple Music subscription at every turn. Like seiji points out, you can "turn off" Apple Music (streaming) and use the iOS and MacOS Apple Music app as just an MP3 player. It's almost old school iTunes with all the playlist creating tools you could want.
Yes, you can still rip CDs! As long as you have a CD reader...
Longplay - MP3 player app for iOS that only allows you to listen to albums in full. No picking and choosing tracks! I almost exclusively use this for listening to music downloaded to my phone.
Vox - Minimal music player for Mac and iOS that also plays lossless audio codecs. Feels like iTunes with all the bloat stripped out. It's completely free. They have a premium subscription that will sync your collection to the cloud (but they don't shove it down your throat). Also supports Last.fm scrobbling.
Jul 29, 2024
Rec
🎶gonna echo some other folks by saying local file storage is the best. you can go the soulseek or bandcamp route, but I'm also an advocate for ripping from soundcloud and other sites when necessary. having files to work with gives you so much more control over your library in terms of where you source music from (streaming platform exclusivity is the worst), how you sort it (METADATA RULES LET ME CHANGE THEM ID3S BAYBEE), and how you consume it.
my system is a master itunes library that i've maintained for like 15 years now that I prune every so often as my tastes change and I offload things I don't listen to anymore. I also don't have access to all of it all the time since I only sync certain playlists to my phone, which forces me to self curate and decide what to add to my library, what to sync and take with me for daily listening, and what to delete. I love moments where I can sit down, cash out on a bandcamp cart, arrange them in my library by genre and decade and such, and then serve it up for shuffling in the car later. music consumption was at its peak when libraries were like spreadsheets, the only trappings i want with my music is itunes visualizer (RIP 😢)
my system is a master itunes library that i've maintained for like 15 years now that I prune every so often as my tastes change and I offload things I don't listen to anymore. I also don't have access to all of it all the time since I only sync certain playlists to my phone, which forces me to self curate and decide what to add to my library, what to sync and take with me for daily listening, and what to delete. I love moments where I can sit down, cash out on a bandcamp cart, arrange them in my library by genre and decade and such, and then serve it up for shuffling in the car later. music consumption was at its peak when libraries were like spreadsheets, the only trappings i want with my music is itunes visualizer (RIP 😢)
Jul 30, 2024
Top Recs from @royallmonarch
Jun 2, 2025
Rec
📴I consume a lot of music regularly, and a huge part of keeping a fresh diet of new listens going is having enough sources of recommendations that aren’t an algorithm that either 1) reinforces your existing listening patterns, keeping you stagnant in your tastes, or 2) platforms whoever paid enough to push their product to the top, serving you something that may not inherently be of inferior quality, but may not align with your tastes, may not be exciting beyond just being a new release, and realigns your current listening habits to be more in line with what the average user on the platform is also listening to — which socially might have benefits but which creates a homogeneity of consumption that can become bland since you’re listening to something really just because it’s the next product on the assembly line to have its public moment and not because anything about the music actually captured your attention. the current landscape of streaming is designed to keep you at an all you can eat buffet where you take what’s served to you, and as a result a lot of us have forgotten how to look at a menu and order.
so what does taking a more active role in your own music curation look like? for me, it’s meant not using streaming as a primary listening platform. I mostly use my local Apple Music library on my phone that I curate with the vestigial iTunes Library framework that’s still a part of Apple Music on my laptop. probably going to find an alternative soon since apple seems to be cutting integration progressively. I like this method because it forces me to choose what to sync to the limited storage space I have, forcing me to take inventory of what I actually listen to and what I can offload. the files I get are mostly from Bandcamp or Soulseek depending on whether it’s available for purchase or entirely unavailable online (as is the case for a lot of electronic music that was on vinyl only, which is where soulseek comes in clutch). I also have freedom here to change the ID3 tags to better sort and organize, rate, change track info, and track my own listening data.
Bandcamp and other music purchasing platforms are great because 1) it reshapes my relationship to music away from consumerism and back towards curation. I have to pay actual money for this thing now if I want to use it, so i’m forced to consider its value (usually i’ll stream a release first to gauge my interest). 2) having to spend money helps me to course out my meals so to speak, as i’ll buy a few releases i’ve accumulated in my cart over the month and cash out on Bandcamp Friday when 100% of my money is actually getting to the artist (TOMORROW IS BANDCAMP FRIDAY BTW!!!), and between purchases I can actually chew and savor and digest my last orders, they don’t get swept up in the deluge of new releases. my plate is full until i’m done and then I order more. also for the times of the year like now when new music isn’t coming out as regularly I take time to find older music that I would normally overlook while keeping up with new drops. currently very into early 80s/late 70s music with early digital production, kinda stuff that would evolve into synthpop and dance music.
so how do you know what to order? for me, I’m getting recs through trusted curation platforms. whether it’s bandcamp daily, y’all lovely folks here on PI.FYI, friends, or most importantly musicians who I follow on socials that share their tastes through posts, stories, playlists on steaming, interviews, etc. I like this last one especially because it’s kind of like a musical game of telephone. if I like an artist and they share their interests and influences it’s like every layer in this process is stretching my palate further from the sound that I was originally interested in and into a new territory that has some shared DNA but would never have been recommended to me by an algo because there’s no shared category or label between them, only the musical influence and interpretation of it made by the artist. as an example, I was a huge Skrillex stan, he signed KOAN Sound to his label, they collab with Asa who collabs with Sorrow, Sorrow takes huge influence from Burial, Burial makes some ambient adjacent stuff and takes huge influence from 90s rave music and drum and bass and 2000s rnb, now i’m listening to Brandy - All in Me, William Basinski, Aphex Twin, none on whom would get recommended by Spotify to me from Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites.
LAST thing i’ll say — because in yappin about this i’m realizing how actually passionate about this subject I am: MAKE LISTS! playlists are cool, but they can flatten your music into vague categories of “vibes” and “aesthetics” and encourage picking one-off songs from artists that you never form an active audience relationship with. I make a practice of making my own year end lists of top 25 albums (plus some honorable recs and top individual songs) and keeping them in a notes doc that I regularly update and rearrange over the course of the year. this forces me to consider the actual relationship i’m forming with what i’ve ordered for myself. did I like it in the moment but it didn’t have staying power? is it slowly growing on me? it also encourages taking albums as a whole. maybe I liked one or two tracks a lot but the rest wasn't resonating. that’s ok! maybe I rank it lower but now i’ve actually taken time to consider it, it’s in my library, and maybe (quite a few cases for me) something I ranked like bottom 5 albums becomes a retroactive favorite from that year as my tastes evolve. also 25 albums to take with me from each year is really more than you'd think, i struggle sometimes to even find 25 that I formed a true connection with. I think the biggest thing the itunes era ruined that led into now is the single-ification of music, the ability to separate the hits from the deep cuts. albums are meant to be taken as a whole, and then once you've really sat with the whole you can find what actually stuck. even then I like to keep the whole around because soooo often i’ll write off a track that yeeeears later I come to love. trust the artist, they made it like they did for a reason.
aaannyyyywayy TLDR: get recs organically, be more active in deciding your listening patterns, fr*cken pay artists yall, trust the artist embrace the album, really consider what you consume
so what does taking a more active role in your own music curation look like? for me, it’s meant not using streaming as a primary listening platform. I mostly use my local Apple Music library on my phone that I curate with the vestigial iTunes Library framework that’s still a part of Apple Music on my laptop. probably going to find an alternative soon since apple seems to be cutting integration progressively. I like this method because it forces me to choose what to sync to the limited storage space I have, forcing me to take inventory of what I actually listen to and what I can offload. the files I get are mostly from Bandcamp or Soulseek depending on whether it’s available for purchase or entirely unavailable online (as is the case for a lot of electronic music that was on vinyl only, which is where soulseek comes in clutch). I also have freedom here to change the ID3 tags to better sort and organize, rate, change track info, and track my own listening data.
Bandcamp and other music purchasing platforms are great because 1) it reshapes my relationship to music away from consumerism and back towards curation. I have to pay actual money for this thing now if I want to use it, so i’m forced to consider its value (usually i’ll stream a release first to gauge my interest). 2) having to spend money helps me to course out my meals so to speak, as i’ll buy a few releases i’ve accumulated in my cart over the month and cash out on Bandcamp Friday when 100% of my money is actually getting to the artist (TOMORROW IS BANDCAMP FRIDAY BTW!!!), and between purchases I can actually chew and savor and digest my last orders, they don’t get swept up in the deluge of new releases. my plate is full until i’m done and then I order more. also for the times of the year like now when new music isn’t coming out as regularly I take time to find older music that I would normally overlook while keeping up with new drops. currently very into early 80s/late 70s music with early digital production, kinda stuff that would evolve into synthpop and dance music.
so how do you know what to order? for me, I’m getting recs through trusted curation platforms. whether it’s bandcamp daily, y’all lovely folks here on PI.FYI, friends, or most importantly musicians who I follow on socials that share their tastes through posts, stories, playlists on steaming, interviews, etc. I like this last one especially because it’s kind of like a musical game of telephone. if I like an artist and they share their interests and influences it’s like every layer in this process is stretching my palate further from the sound that I was originally interested in and into a new territory that has some shared DNA but would never have been recommended to me by an algo because there’s no shared category or label between them, only the musical influence and interpretation of it made by the artist. as an example, I was a huge Skrillex stan, he signed KOAN Sound to his label, they collab with Asa who collabs with Sorrow, Sorrow takes huge influence from Burial, Burial makes some ambient adjacent stuff and takes huge influence from 90s rave music and drum and bass and 2000s rnb, now i’m listening to Brandy - All in Me, William Basinski, Aphex Twin, none on whom would get recommended by Spotify to me from Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites.
LAST thing i’ll say — because in yappin about this i’m realizing how actually passionate about this subject I am: MAKE LISTS! playlists are cool, but they can flatten your music into vague categories of “vibes” and “aesthetics” and encourage picking one-off songs from artists that you never form an active audience relationship with. I make a practice of making my own year end lists of top 25 albums (plus some honorable recs and top individual songs) and keeping them in a notes doc that I regularly update and rearrange over the course of the year. this forces me to consider the actual relationship i’m forming with what i’ve ordered for myself. did I like it in the moment but it didn’t have staying power? is it slowly growing on me? it also encourages taking albums as a whole. maybe I liked one or two tracks a lot but the rest wasn't resonating. that’s ok! maybe I rank it lower but now i’ve actually taken time to consider it, it’s in my library, and maybe (quite a few cases for me) something I ranked like bottom 5 albums becomes a retroactive favorite from that year as my tastes evolve. also 25 albums to take with me from each year is really more than you'd think, i struggle sometimes to even find 25 that I formed a true connection with. I think the biggest thing the itunes era ruined that led into now is the single-ification of music, the ability to separate the hits from the deep cuts. albums are meant to be taken as a whole, and then once you've really sat with the whole you can find what actually stuck. even then I like to keep the whole around because soooo often i’ll write off a track that yeeeears later I come to love. trust the artist, they made it like they did for a reason.
aaannyyyywayy TLDR: get recs organically, be more active in deciding your listening patterns, fr*cken pay artists yall, trust the artist embrace the album, really consider what you consume
Feb 29, 2024
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