How do I play music?
September 28, 2022 10:54 AM   Subscribe

My cat hates music. I am not kidding - she comes right in and shuts that down if I start playing music. So I haven't listened to music except with headphones on my laptop in a long time and....

...as a result, I have a lot of old CDs that I don't listen to anymore, some of them kind of obscure.

I am planning to brave my cat's wrath, so I would like an affordable way to listen to CDs. (and maybe cassettes? I have a lot of those too?) And maybe music from the internet?

What are my options here? I have a Macbook air. If I got something that had wireless I would need clear set-up directions since I am deeply illiterate about making computers play sounds.

Do you recommend a particular device? Can it be a cheaper one? I am not a sound-quality nerd and am not planning to spend $700 on a CD player.
posted by Frowner to Shopping (11 answers total)
 
Affordable: If you have a DVD player in the house already, try starting there.
posted by Iris Gambol at 11:09 AM on September 28, 2022


I just started buying CDs again earlier this year, mostly because there's a record store near my office, and while I've got similar constraints to you (wife and kids instead of a cat) that have only let me do half of this plan, I've bought a cheap portable CD player from Target (it's seriously like $15), and at some point I will replace the headphones with some old computer speakers. I figure, I don't need a radio or a cassette deck or anything else that would come on an old-school boombox CD player, I just need the CD reader and speakers. The Discman (it's like Kleenex at this point, let's be real) even has a DC jack so I can plug a power adapter in, although I don't have one and I'm just using AA batteries at the moment. So yeah, that's a whole setup for under $30, and it's portable!
posted by kevinbelt at 11:12 AM on September 28, 2022 [2 favorites]


Option 1: get an external USB DVD drive and rip music into the Music app on your computer. Optionally, then use iTunes Match (or just load it onto your phone via syncing) to listen to them anywhere via your phone. iTunes Match matches your actual physical collection with the Apple Music library (and uploads the tracks that don't exist in Apple Music) so you can listen to stuff without having your actual music files around. (The Apple article I linked explains it better.)

Option 2: maybe just get a Discman? I've bought a couple that were < $30 on eBay and were real, live Sony Discman units, with antiskip and the whole deal. The one I use the most is a D-242CK that I got super cheap (because most Sonys have a feature called AVLS which basically cuts the max volume in half if it's turned on, and the seller thought it was broken because it was turned on). YouTuber This Does Not Compute has a pretty good guide to sourcing an old Discman. Similar things exist for Walkmen but be advised that cassette players can require more attention - an old Discman (late 90s to mid 00s) won't have belts, for example, but basically all tape players do, and they go bad.

Personally.. I do both of these; the Discman liveson my desk and I have 2 others for portable listening/spares, but most of my weird music collection can be gotten to via my iPhone through iTunes Match (and my Apple Music sub, which you don't have to have for Match).
posted by mrg at 11:13 AM on September 28, 2022 [5 favorites]


External DVD drives are way cheap and I've ripped a lot of my CDs to my computer that way.
posted by praemunire at 11:41 AM on September 28, 2022


Depending on where you work/how casual they are about office equipment you might be able to borrow a DVD drive from a supply closet for a weekend and rip all your CDs for free.
posted by mskyle at 12:31 PM on September 28, 2022


Myself, I ripped the music from the CDs little by little (using an external CD drive when I didn't have one built in) and then I listen to it with a little Sansa Clip-type mp3 player. Alternatively once you have the music on your computer you could also set up a fancy wireless server system thing, but I've never done that and can't make any specific recommendations. There are also cheap mp3 players that supposedly do bluetooth, so that could be another way to go wireless if you wanted.

For cassettes you can get a tape digitizer (around $30?) or in theory if you have a tape player with an audio out port you could connect that to your audio in port on your computer and record it that way iirc.

(Depending on your feelings about piracy you might find it easier to just download the music that you already have in physical formats, but I guess that comes with its own set of challenges. And depending on your feelings about streaming services, you can easily download music you listen to on Youtube and some other sources (for example by using yt-dlp) and then play those files from anywhere you like.)
posted by trig at 12:43 PM on September 28, 2022 [1 favorite]


It’s not clear to me if you’re looking for just the media player parts of the setup or the full thing. Are you looking for advice on speakers and anything else needed to play music not-in-headphones?
posted by wemayfreeze at 3:42 PM on September 28, 2022


If you do want speakers etc and don't mind spending around $130, look for key term 'shelf system' (eg here) and you'll see stuff that has a lot of functionality: nice(ish) speakers, cd/mp3, usb, Bluetooth, aux in, etc. This would let you play music to fill a room without sounding tinny from cds or 'the internet' various ways. You can often get older/better/cheaper ones at pawn shops too, or even thrift stores with some time and luck.
posted by SaltySalticid at 4:17 PM on September 28, 2022 [1 favorite]


The most affordable option is to go to a thrift store and look for an old CD/cassette player. You’ll almost always find a few, in my experience. Maybe test before buying.
posted by Comet Bug at 4:21 PM on September 28, 2022 [1 favorite]


Seconding CD/cassette player - just need to test especially for secondhand.

If you would like to set up a Bluetooth head/earphone from your laptop instead (that you plug an external optical drive to), it's relatively painless but if your apple service guys or local PC shop are accommodating, it's a small thing you can ask them to help. In fact maybe go to the public library, now that i think about it.
posted by cendawanita at 8:23 PM on September 28, 2022


(I would also get the treats your cat loves best, and when she comes over to shut you down feed her a treat. Hopefully she starts associating music with treats.)
posted by oneirodynia at 9:18 PM on September 28, 2022 [3 favorites]


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