please bring back springsteen, nirvana, but maybe not madonna....

March 18, 2015 2:15 PM

Explain the current state of music and podcast buying/storing/playing to me as though I am 5 years old and have never owned an iPod.

I'm not quite starting from scratch, but I might as well be. I had iTunes on an old macbook pro but 95% of what was on there was downloaded CDs I already owned (but not even many of those), and free podcasts. So not a whole lot of investment. Since the macbook died I have not used any kind of storage - I stream music, listen to internet radio, have sirius/xm at work, and have completely ignored podcasts.

Now I want it all, but I don't know what to buy/use. Recent related questions have returned a recommendation of foobar, but that looks more like sorting/storing/organization? Is that what I want? Why should I/should I not use iTunes for casual music/podcast use? Why should I/should I not use use an iPod vs. another brand? What is compatible/incompatible with what? What else do I need to consider/buy/download?

I have a million CDs and will still get most of my purchased music that way (from performers at live shows). I want to listen to ALL THE PODCASTS because I've taken up running again and it's hella boring without stories in my ears to mark the time.

I have a laptop running windows 7 or 8 (it's currently in a state of disrepair at home so not sure) and a google nexus 7 (can that run iTunes/android equivalent?) (what is the android equivalent?) and a samsung something or other android phone for verizon. See? I don't even speak the language needed to articulate the question...

I would also like to plug & play via my TV, which has better sound. That's how we used to play netflix movies so I assume that's not an issue....?

Buying something only to get it home and find I also need three other things to make it work, or learning after spending time and money that component A is incompatible with component B, brings out the grar. So talk to me like I'm a kid and help me get back to listening to music like I did when it was 19... 19... 1985.

posted by headnsouth to Technology (11 answers total)

I'm not getting a really clear sense of what exactly you want to do?

For podcasts I download and listen to them on my Android phone using Podcast Addict (an app). You find your podcast in the built in search, add as a subscription, and then it just checks periodically to see if there are new ones.

For music, if you are not using an Apple machine, don't bother with iTunes, the windows version has always been borderline malware. I would just start by trying Windows Media Player as it's a perfectly serviceable music catalog app and it's already on your computer. You can use it to transfer music to your phones/devices. Figure out how it works, and then if it's not exactly what you wanted you know have the knowledge to go find a better program. Foobar is nice but it's not for everyone.

When I buy music online I do so from Amazon and then can download separately to my PC and directly to my phone with the app, just easier that way.

Since you are just dipping your toe in, I would just experiment with this stuff until you have a more concrete idea of what your needs are.
posted by selfnoise at 2:29 PM on March 18, 2015 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: My needs are to subscribe/sort/play podcasts, and purchase/burn music. I only want to do it once. I don't want to purchase from Amazon if Amazon music won't play on X or Y player. I don't want to spend time burning CDs on one platform and then have to do it again. I don't want to decide on vendor 1 and then find I can only get the podcast I want from vendor 2.

Essentially, what is the best combination of device/software/music vendor/etc. that will let me play/organize music I own, music I buy, podcasts I subscribe to, etc. now and forever?
posted by headnsouth at 2:42 PM on March 18, 2015

I don't want to purchase from Amazon if Amazon music won't play on X or Y player

Amazon sells unencrypted mp3s. When you buy them they are added to your "cloud," which means you access them via the internet anywhere via an Amazon app, but you can also download the mp3s to your computer, and then do whatever you want from there.

This is my personal choice for buying music now. At first I just downloaded, but I actually find their app and cloud service to be excellent. You can even upload your own mp3s you got elsewhere into your cloud account, though you have to pay to upload more than 250.
posted by drjimmy11 at 2:46 PM on March 18, 2015 [2 favorites]

Amazon sells unencrypted mp3s. When you buy them they are added to your "cloud," which means you access them via the internet anywhere via an Amazon app, but you can also download the mp3s to your computer, and then do whatever you want from there.

Please note, however, that this is true only of items that you purchase from Amazon.

People who subscribe to Amazon Prime receive a music streaming service as part of the subscription but the music that is available to Prime subscribers is not yours to download and use as you wish -- you have access only through tools Amazon provides and only for as long as your subscription lasts. (This arrangement is fairly typical of subscription streaming services, but since Amazon offers music under two very different set of terms it's an important distinction in their case.)
posted by Nerd of the North at 3:16 PM on March 18, 2015 [1 favorite]

A comprehensive answer to your question involves several major areas of consideration. I'm going to list a few of them briefly and hope that other respondents have time to elaborate -- it also gives you a chance to ask for further detail in areas that you want to know more about since you may have some of this figured out..

1. Streaming vs. Download
1. Subscription vs. Purchase
2. The issue of off-line access
2. Formats and Compatibility.
   1. Digital Rights Management (DRM), proprietary formats, and implications for vendor dependency and content longevity.
   2. Advantages of DRM-free options and open formats.
3. Encoding quality. "Lossless" vs. "Lossy" encoding.
4. Organization and Management Software.
1. Importing your current content.
2. Tagging content.
3. Backups / Archiving.
4. Compatibility / Ease-of-Use with mobile devices.
5. Library size and scaling limitations
5. Playback Devices
1. Portable / Mobile.
2. Automobile.
3. Living Room / Media Center.

posted by Nerd of the North at 3:29 PM on March 18, 2015 [5 favorites]

That is an awesome chart and given that everyone has their own parameters I can only show you mine... hopefully that's helpful.

1. Purchase. I don't like subscriptions, I like to "own" things and not worry about having streaming access.
2. MP3. Simple and universal, doesn't take much space and I'm not an audiophile.
3. Lossy, see above. I encode at a pretty high bitrate, though, since storage is pretty cheap.
4. I just rip CDs through Windows Media Player and download them from Amazon to the same place, I have it organized by folders in case my metadata ever explodes. My metadata is not super clean and I don't really care. I use Windows Media Player because it comes with Windows and works fine. I back up to an external drive and to Google Play Music.
5. I play MP3s on my phone via memory card, on my computer, and on some other devices from my phone using Bluetooth.
posted by selfnoise at 4:04 PM on March 18, 2015

I realize that there are reasons why a person would prefer to purchase and burn music rather than stream it. But after having used Spotify for a few years, I have a great deal of trouble relating to any of them. Before you rule out streaming, why not at least try the free demo? Holy crap, Spotify is awesome.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 5:19 PM on March 18, 2015

If you're mostly listening at home or other places with reliable internet connections, a streaming service like Spotify will probably be easiest for you: no need to mess around with music management software or syncing one library across different devices. Try a demo and see if they have the music you already have in physical format, and if they do, voila, no need for pesky ripping to your own devices! A caveat though is that much like Netflix, all the music that's there now might not necessarily always be there, given that artists can choose to pull their music from Spotify. If you go this route, I'd recommend using Spotify for music and a podcast app like this one for managing and listening to your podcasts.

Personally, I still buy mp3s, mostly through Amazon and eMusic, both of which give you DRM-free mp3 files. Emusic is a subscription-based service where you get a certain amount of money to spend a month, and their catalog is mostly limited to independent record labels. Amazon will let you redownload purchased tracks at any time, but eMusic will not.
posted by yasaman at 5:46 PM on March 18, 2015

Yes, the world is moving toward streaming so your options for developing, managing and listening to an mp3 collection will only get more limited. Apple discontinued its 160 GB iPod classic recently for example. I personally still prefer mp3s to streaming, and here are my recommendations for you:

1. Get an iPod - They still make 'em, and they are still the gold standard of mp3 players. An iPod will be probably the simplest mp3 player for you to use.
2. Use iTunes to sync with your iPod - Agreed, iTunes is bloated and buggy (I use it on Windows 8.1), but it generally works well enough. The other options like MediaMonkey, are too technical and confusing for me, and probably you. iTunes and iPods work really well together.
3. Download and manage podcasts with iTunes - The podcast platform within iTunes has its flaws to be sure. I won't go into them now, but it will work well enough with your iPod.
4. Rip your CD collection with iTunes or another program - Just make sure you rip into an mp3 format (and not Apple's AAC format) if you ever want to leave the Apple ecosystem.
5. Buy mp3s through Amazon or eMusic - Don't buy mp3s through the iTunes store. I think I had problems when switching computers or maybe I had to get them in AAC. I forget why, but I know it's best just to avoid iTunes for mp3 purchases.
posted by Leontine at 8:41 PM on March 18, 2015 [2 favorites]

If you're used to iTunes and don't have any particular objections to it, that's a good place to start. it gets a bad rap, but it does the job and gives you some options:
You can keep maintaining your music library in iTunes on the PC. Buy CDs and rip 'em. Subscribe to Podcasts and have iTunes automatically download them and add them to your library. If you get an iPod or iPhone, you're done.
But having your music library in iTunes doesn't mean you're stuck with an iPod for listening anymore.

If you like your Android phone and tablet, then Google Play Music might be your friend. The free version lets you take an iTunes library of up to 50,000 songs and upload/match/sync it from your iTunes library up to Google Play Music 'in the cloud', then stream it back down to your Android devices (including a $35 Chromecast stick plugged into your TV). Or you can download it so it's local on the device - like if you run with your phone but don't get a reliable signal, or if you want to use a tablet as a road trip DJ device. All free, all your own music for keeps, managed by you, etc. If you start buying new music tracks through the Google Play store, those tracks don't count against your 50k song limit.

If you want to keep a library in iTunes, and sync that library with Android devices, but you want to keep the cloud out of the equation, look at DoubleTwist. There's no iTunes for Android, so what you do is keep your music library in iTunes then install DoubleTwist Sync on your PC and the DoubleTwist music player on your Android device.
Plug your Android device into your PC, fire up DoubleTwist Sync, and it translates & syncs your iTunes collection to the Android DoubleTwist music player app. It's just acting as a bridge/translator, but it's all local, still all managed by you, still all free. If you want to be able to wirelessly sync with your iTunes library instead of plugging in, or to play music from your Android to something like a game console or Apple TV or any speaker-like device that's AirPlay compatible, that would be the AirSync app or DoubleTwistPro, which are $5 or $10 purchases.
posted by bartleby at 12:38 PM on March 19, 2015

Oh, and a protip, if you have a million CDs that aren't in iTunes yet and you're starting to think about getting them in there: get a big external USB hard drive (or even a cheap 2-disk-bay NAS) and put your new & improved iTunes library on that. It'll make it much easier on future you, when it's time to change computers or whatever, to have your tons music storage in a separate box. Then you just swap connections instead of having to move the whole library from one computer to another, or to lose it all if the computer dies.
posted by bartleby at 12:55 PM on March 19, 2015