New music for Olds - technology question

April 26, 2024 7:30 AM

Okay, explain this to me in tiny baby steps, like really "first plug in the cord"-level steps. I...need headphones for when I am doing chores.

The new music thread made me realize that, as I said there, my cat hates human music and gets upset when I play it and so I don't play it. This means that I really don't listen to music much. I haven't wanted to buy fancy headphones so that I can listen while doing the dishes, etc, but I think I may be ready now. That said, because I am a chronic technology hater I, uh, don't really know how to do this. The last time I had anything better than earbuds that connect to my laptop, I was plugging them into a discman.

I have a lot of CDs and presumably could just source an old discman for those, but for listening to music from online, literally what headphones would I buy and how would I make them...talk to the internet? I have a cheap android phone and a Mac laptop. I literally do not know how to play music from the internet except by going to Bandcamp on my laptop and hitting the play icon.

Really, seriously, explain this to me in a very step by step way. I was thinking about getting a bluetooth speaker for my laptop a few years ago but I didn't understand how to make it connect just kind of didn't.

Assume that I can download an app, but that I don't really know anything more than that. I do not have an Alexa, I do not do much with apps, I have never had spotify. I only understand wires. I can accept that I'd better learn now because I can totally see myself getting less and less and less capable with technology as I age - it's kind of an aesthetic thing, I resent facebook and data tracking and capitalism and platform services and just feel sort of ugh about all that, and now "all that" has eaten the world so I just have to deal or I'll never hear new music except through earbuds again.

posted by Frowner to Technology (18 answers total)

To start listening soon I would say download the spotify app and make an account. You can do this on your phone. A free account is fine if you are ok with ads, but if you have ten dollars a month it is better. It has both music but also podcasts, meditations, radio shows etc on it.

After that, buy almost any pair of Bluetooth earphones you find comfortable and affordable. There will be instructions in the box on how to "pair" them, that is make a secure connection between your device and the headphones. They will need to be charged semi-regularly. I suggest a 25 dollar pair of over-the-head ones to start with. It's a little fiddly to connect the first time, but the rest of the time once you turn on your headphones your phone will know to send the sound to them. Most headphones can remember more than one device which is handy if you get something to "Bluetooth enable" your cd player at a later point.
posted by Iteki at 7:39 AM on April 26 [5 favorites]

Your Android phone may have a standard audio jack (a 3.5 mm jack, which is what 99.999 percent of wired earbuds and headphones have). If so, you can choose to stick with wired headphones or earbuds. You won't have to worry about Bluetooth pairing (which today with your phone is likely much easier than when you tried it with your laptop years ago) or your headphones running out of battery, but you will have a cord from your head to your pocket.
posted by Mr.Know-it-some at 7:53 AM on April 26 [2 favorites]

How new is the laptop? It probably has Bluetooth built in and, depending on range, all you'll need is a pair of good Bluetooth headphones or earbuds. Then you can listen from your laptop anywhere in the house.

For range, hands down the best I've had is a pair of over the ear Poly Voyager headphones I got for work. With the optional USB dongle (in USB-c or USB-a) it has a 50 ft range, but could maybe go farther? Does not work great through brick or more than 2 walls.

As for the cat, you may find the cat has a taste for more industrial music. The internet is good for some things and what I have learned is that cats like metal and industrial. Like for real, it's a thing. I'll see if I can find the playlist someone made of their cat's favorite songs.
posted by fiercekitten at 7:53 AM on April 26 [1 favorite]

Option 1. Does your cheap android phone have either
a) headphone jack or
b) usb-c (the newer universal usb that apple and android phones are all using instead of unnecessarily different ones)?

Then you can get
1a) an old school wired ear buds/headphones like the ones you used to use or
1b) adapter dongle that connects old school wired headphones to a usb c port / a pair of wired headphones that uses the usb c connector already.

Option 2. Get bluetooth headphones/ear buds. Depending on your head size, ear hole shape, whether you wear glasses or not, different types of headphones will be more or less comfortable. I have been sourcing mine from Goodwill because the style I like (drapes over the back of my neck so I can let it dangle more securely than other types) is not the most common or au courant. Other folks will have good advice on using bluetooth but I'll also look for a straightforward explanation.
posted by spamandkimchi at 7:58 AM on April 26 [2 favorites]

My way is offline and involves either ripping your CDs or downloading un-DRMed music from the internet. Then you get a tiny weightless mp3 player like this, ideally with a clip so you can clip it onto your clothes if you don't have pockets. Then you connect any old wired headphones that have a regular headphone jack. (If you actually want bluetooth, there are also lots of tiny bluetooth-enabled mp3 players.) Then you can listen whenever you want and don't have to worry about staying in range or charging your headphones or being offline.

Getting digital copies of your music might be a pain if you're doing it all at once, but the nice thing is you won't be dependent on the whims of online services. You also might know someone who has already done this work and would be happy to let you copy theirs.

Alternatively, if you want to use your CDs without ripping them you could get a bluetooth-enabled CD player or boombox. Which brings you back to the headphone questions, which other people know more about than me.
posted by trig at 8:07 AM on April 26 [3 favorites]

Hi. This is confusing because there are lots of different ways to do this.

I feel like the answers here are largely helpful but aren't listening to your politics. For instance, I don't think you'd like Spotify, just politically, if you hate Facebook.

I think the best move for you is:

* Learn if your laptop has Bluetooth. It likely does.

* Find headphones that you like, either in-ear, over-ear, or whatever feels right to you, that have Bluetooth.

* Play Bandcamp on your laptop while connected to your Bluetooth headphones.

The end.

If your laptop does not have Bluetooth, there are Bluetooth transmitters that you can plug in to your laptop.

You can ALSO do this with your phone.
posted by RJ Reynolds at 8:07 AM on April 26 [6 favorites]

The pain point you are describing re the bluetooth speaker is called “pairing.” The process varies a bit by Bluetooth device. But the objective of pairing say a Bluetooth headphone with a computer is for both devices learn that they should be communicating with each other. Unless there is an issue, you only have to pair two devices together once. As a rough analogy, you might have to provide the WiFi password to access a new WiFi network (pairing) the first time. But moving forward the devices should remember each other, so you might have to only select the correct WiFi network.

Bluetooth can be a frustrating technology… so it’s not just you.

On the other hand, you could lean into your audiophile nature and insist that cords are the only way to go. As an analogy, there are legitimate reasons to prefer a wired internet connection in some situations over WiFi or to prefer a desktop over a laptop.

They do make wired headphones that connect via USB-C.
posted by oceano at 8:09 AM on April 26

Since you mentioned having gotten stuff through Bandcamp, one place to start is with their app. Most everything (all things?) you've bought through them can be streamed through it, so you just have to load the app and find your stuff. Once you've loaded it and logged in, the heart on the bottom icon bar (in the middle) takes you to your account, which should have the things you've purchased in it. There's also search and they have radio things and stuff too. I would probably do this in addition to, say, Spotify or some other music service.

Regarding earphones: depending on what phone you have you may want to look for some headphones that support quick pair tech. If you're on an iPhone, this means AirPods (either Pro or not), or Beats. On an Android/Samsung/Google/etc. device, there's a lot of options; the tech specifically is called Google Fast Pair and a lot of buds support it. Some good options are actually some Beats headphones, Pixel buds, or the Nothing Ear(a) (which are new and have reviewed pretty decent). The advantage with getting earbuds that support this is that you don't have to try real hard - turn on your phone, open the case the earbuds come in, and they (should) pop up on the screen and say "connect?". Hit yes and you're good. Easy peasy. That said, the downside is that earphones that support this will be on the pricier side. (The Nothings are $100 and the cheapest Beats earbuds that support Fast Pair are $150.) But there may be other cheaper options - tbh I'm on the Apple ecosystem so I just stuck with first-party stuff and haven't done a lot of looking on the more affordable part of the spectrum.

On preview: as mentioned above USB-C earphones are also a great idea, or you can just get a USB-C to 3.5mm adapter and use whatever wired ones you want too (if your phone/etc. doesn't have a headphone port).
posted by mrg at 8:13 AM on April 26 [1 favorite]

The pairing thing is possible, but I agree that it is a pain. I had nice bluetooth headphones but they eventually refused to pair and before that they would suddenly boink out and it was a PitA.

So now I just plug my headphones, which are very cheap big over-the-ears "cans" that I buy at the Ollies or the Big Lots, into my phone. I have a cheapcheap Android phone that I never set up as a phone. I use it to count steps and play stuff. It has a headphone jack on it. So I wear a camp shirt or something like that that has a pocket and I put the phone in that pocket. Or I wear an apron and throw the phone in there along with my house- or yardwork accoutrements. You could get some really good headphones instead of cheapy Big Lots crap, but I find I do not care enough. I would rather have millions of pairs so that when I leave four pairs at the office, I still have six or eight more floating around at home.

I never really cottoned to spotify. For one, I'm cheap. Also, I hate the idea of being online all the time wherever I go. So I download podcasts. The problem with THAT is, you fill up your phone storage really quick. So you have to add a... I think it's a card? Yes: I have an SD card that allows me to download jillions of podcasts. I know it's possible to download stuff from YouTube because my boyfriend scored my friend's cheeeeeeeap (huh... a theme seems to be emerging...) wedding from his phone and in order to prevent the ceremony from being interrupted by ads for erectile aids, he downloaded the music. Now there's YouTube premium. Too spendy for me, of course, but it is nice not to deal with ads, and it might be possible to permit the algorithm to look for music for you, but probably not if you're like me. I murdered the algorithm, so I'm basically living in Plato's cave, youtubewise. I have to run across things by accident. Sometimes I'll hear something in a movie and go look it up. My boyfriend showed me some Tik Toks of kids dancing to Oldtown Road and I became obsessed with Lil Nas X. Somebody at work wanted ideas for an eclipse playlist, and I found this woman: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CAZ17gbYA8E
posted by Don Pepino at 8:20 AM on April 26 [2 favorites]

I've had good luck with Anker Soundcore A40 bluetooth earbuds. I lose stuff and losing a $50 thing is better than losing a $150 thing. Once paired they seem like magic. Open the case to take them out and they connect to my phone (Google Pixel 6 Pro). Put the earbuds in and can hear things. Put them back in the case to charge. Plug the case in every so often to keep it charged. Initial pairing was just going to Settings -> Bluetooth, letting it search for devices and connecting and then it has remembered the connection ever since.

But the bluetooth world especially in Android is still variable phone to phone. There are some phones that are still a hot mess for bluetooth consistency and having this be inconsistent is maddening. Apple to Apple this is one of the strengths. You could do Apple Airpods to your Macbook for this if you wanted to and once paired it would feel natural and easy to use.

For music playing, learning how to use Spotify or Amazon Music or Youtube Music or Pandora is probably your best bet if you want access to the same-ish music you had CDs of. But these are all corporate monsters and you'd have to hold your nose. The uncorporate monster way I guess is ripping things and Plex/Plexamp, but that is a huge step up in complexity. Or using something like Soundcloud or Bandcamp.
posted by cmm at 8:33 AM on April 26

Agreed that Bandcamp is a great place to play music - no reason to change that. Having an account provides you more control and the app for your phone is perfectly adequate.

For me I want music to be low friction and for me that means it's not a bunch of steps and hassle. I have many, many headphones. Of all of them it's a Sony WH-1000XM that is sitting next me right now that primarily relies on bluetooth. I like my old model so much I got the newest model, which cost 230$ refurbished on eBay. It is so comfortable and just a joy to use. The old one has never ever failed me, and I still regularly use it, just in places I probably shouldn't.

Pairing only needs to happen once for each host device (ie phone, laptop), and I would start with just the phone, as lugging around the laptop to do chores sounds like more of a chore. I am assuming the phone was released in the last 5 years - bluetooth is a nearly universal and mature technology.

So once you have your hands on the box:

1. Step one is get the headphones out and charge up the headset. No reason to be patient here - give it a whole ten minutes.
2. step two is you go grab and login to your phone, swipe down to get to settings and open the Bluetooth, it's icon is usually blue and resembles the letter B.
3. Step three is to grab the headphones, find the button on the bottom of the left ear cup and hold the headset up by your head as you press and hold that power button for like 6 seconds. You are listening for pleasant voice to say "pairing".
4. Step four is back on your phone - in that bluetooth menu make certain bluetooth is on, and then click Pair new Device, which might require looking under "Available Devices" or under the "More>Refresh". Click on the name of the headphones. Play music and enjoy the modern wire free marvel of tech. Turning off the headset and all the phone's audio returns to its previous settings.

That's it for pairing. Next time you want to play some music you just turn on the headphones, give everything like a whole second and then just hit play on your phone and you are set to roam the house and enjoy your music.
posted by zenon at 8:41 AM on April 26

The part that is tricky for many about Bluetooth is the pairing. Others have mentioned this, but I'm going to talk in a little bit of detail about what's going to worry you if you go this route (assuming you don't buy some with the Quickpair feature described above).

You're ready to start. You open up your settings menu, you find Bluetooth, your headphones are on, you've told your phone/laptop in whatever way is appropriate to look for new Bluetooth devices (I'm sure it varies but it will be something very obvious like "Pair")...why aren't they appearing in your list of devices??? The issue here is that you have to somehow tell your headphones, which generally don't have a screen or keyboard or anything and may be connecting to a device that also has limited inputs, that they should be willing to accept a pairing request. How you do this varies from manufacturer to manufacturer and often by model, and it generally won't be indicated anywhere on the device itself, for obvious reasons (especially if you have earbuds). Now, it's actually usually something easy. I have one of those Sony WH-1000XMs, too, and it's just a matter of holding the power down for an extra 6(?) seconds after you turn it on til it says "pairing." But I think this is the single most baffling point if you're not prepared for it. You have to read the manual or quickstart guide or whatever to find out which button or series of buttons you need to press to put your headphones in pairing mode (and how they will tell you that they are in pairing mode), because otherwise you will not know.

Fortunately, you ideally only need to do this once. But it's computers/phones, they get reset, you may switch to another device temporarily or permanently, so occasionally you may have to do it again (after you've forgotten how to do it, so you'll have to look it up again). It's a UX conundrum, for sure, but as long as you realize that you do have to have this one piece of knowledge going in, you'll be fine.
posted by praemunire at 9:41 AM on April 26 [1 favorite]

This is a good question; access to music keeps changing.

Your android phone should have a plug for wired headphones/ headset, which can be big or just small wired earbuds. You can get some that have a microphone and use them to talk on the phone, too.

You can listen to radio on internet stations, .mp3s you copy to your phone, or music services. This is probably another question.

You can get earbuds, or a wireless headset, which use bluetooth to connect to your phone or laptop. Bluetooth is a specific radio signal, with short range. You play music using software on your device, the music goes to your ears. See above for pairing, which sounds fiddly, but is straightforward. If you get wireless earbuds, they'll need to be charged from time to time.

I wonder if your cat really minds your inattention when music is playing. Also, many animals will chew on things that have even trace earwax on them, so store any earbuds out of cat access. As a person who wears hearing aids, I have had this happen with 2 dogs.

This might be a good time to ask followup questions
posted by theora55 at 9:51 AM on April 26

Fwiw, Sony generally have NFC pairing. Just scan the headphones with the phone, and and Bluetooth pairing is done automatically.
posted by kschang at 10:57 AM on April 26

On sourcing an old Discman, there are new shock-resistant personal CD players on my Amazon around $20-30.
posted by k3ninho at 1:55 AM on April 27

My big life-changing tip is to use wired headphones with your phone in your pants pocket and the wire coming up inside the front of your shirt. Doing chores with a wire hanging from your head is almoat guaranteed to be extremely annoying, while threading it up through your shirt is only a teeny bit annoying.
posted by ropeladder at 4:38 AM on April 27 [4 favorites]

I'm gonna pop back in and mention something you may not know of. There's another option re headphones, and that is bone conduction headphones! I love them as I recently have irritated ear channels from wearing my headphones too much. Instead of sitting over your ears with cushions, or inside your ears bud-style, these sit in front of your ears on your cheekbones. They're a little more expensive and not going to give you amazing music experiences, but they leave your ears clear which can be good if you need to be able to hear what's going on around you. I love them for work as I am available, and your cat may also feel you are accessible to them. Great for outdoors safety-wise as wełl etc. They take a little while to get used to, I felt a little nauseous the first time I used them, same as with noise cancelling headphones, but quickly acclimatised.
posted by Iteki at 6:11 AM on April 27 [1 favorite]

Mod note: One comment removed for using Chat GPT in the answer. Please be aware that the community overall prefers that LLMs not be used in comments or questions.
posted by Brandon Blatcher (staff) at 7:13 AM on April 27