The accelerating tempo of technological progress is nothing new, nevertheless it does appear to have taken an particularly darkish flip of late – a flip from which not even our listening habits are exempt.
Between inconsistent streaming platforms and the shadow of an ever-bulging AI homunculus, “cease the world, I need to get off” is an more and more prescient inner mantra for these of us who simply need to hearken to good music.
After which, there it’s. A cool hand, resting atop your weary shoulder, to nonetheless your breath and quell your hummingbird coronary heart. You’d look again, however you don’t have to; you’d recognise that air of end-of-history tech-optimism anyplace. It’s the anthropomorphised spectre of legacy moveable media gamers. One other hand enters your periphery, holding a flip telephone. It rings. You hesitate. The spectre speaks: “The 12 months 2005 is looking – and it needs you again.”
The MP3 participant strikes again
There’s no getting over the comfort afforded by streaming platforms similar to Spotify, Apple Music and Tidal, which collectively put an astonishing bulk of recorded music historical past instantly at your fingertips. And but, the tide of public opinion appears to be turning.
Although streaming providers stay outwardly fashionable and worthwhile, MusicAlly report they may very well be dropping ahead momentum. In the meantime, within the final 12 months, we’ve seen curiosity in moveable media gamers develop meaningfully, with Cognitive Market Analysis discovering the US’ MP3 participant business (accounting for a 3rd of world MP3 participant income) is displaying a Compound Annual Progress Price (CAGR) of 11.63%.
It’s a small bump, nevertheless it’s additionally only one indicator of a a lot wider cultural shift within the making. We’ve seen this earlier than, in fact, with the still-thriving vinyl revival of the late noughties. The MP3 participant’s nascent re-popularity doesn’t fairly hit all the identical notes because the vinyl revival, however there’s a acquainted ‘retro’ component to this shift.
The vibes of the early noughties aren’t the only cause for this shift, in fact. There are three key causes to think about right here, all of which fall underneath the identical broad banner of management.
1. Management
To begin with, streaming providers have entry to extremely broad catalogues of music, however to not the identical extent. Exclusivity agreements, file label renegotiations, artists promoting or repurchasing their catalogues; all name the permanence of a given album’s existence on a given platform into query.
This was capably demonstrated in September 2025, when My Bloody Valentine’s basic 1991 album Loveless was faraway from North American streaming libraries, as a operate of ongoing copyright points.
The place streaming providers can’t really give you the whole lot on a regular basis, your personal private library of bought music can. Merely supply the music you need to hearken to, and there it’s. Yours to personal, perpetually, and in precisely the constancy you selected to purchase it in.
2. Sound high quality
This leads us neatly to the problem of high quality. Broadly talking, most streaming providers ship music in a functionally ‘lossless’ bundle; some platforms merely don’t measure up, although, and never simply on the constancy entrance. There are different elements that impression the perceived high quality of a streamed track, significantly normalisation algorithms that demonstrably mess with a track’s dynamics. In shopping for digital recordsdata as an alternative of streaming them, you’re dodging the audio-fidelity lottery and getting exactly what you got. And in utilizing a superb MP3 participant to hearken to them, you’re getting the absolute best listening expertise.
3. Value
Getting what you paid for is an easy need, and constitutes what would be the closing straw for anybody already on the fence about cancelling their streaming subscription: the sheer affordability of MP3 participant tech in the present day.
In 2005, Apple launched the 4GB iPod Nano at a retail value of $249/£179 – in in the present day’s cash, $413/£320. Apple could have discontinued the iPod model in 2022, however that very same cash might purchase you a smartphone-age media participant from fellow digital-media pioneer Sony, who’s newly re-investing in its Walkman model.
A fraction of this cash, in the meantime, might purchase you a similarly-powerful moveable media participant from an upstart hi-fi model like FiiO. For a few months’ streaming subscription prices, you could possibly have a bare-bones MP3 participant with extra energy in its pinky than the iPod Nano, releasing up the remainder of your month-to-month subscription prices to purchase extra music!
Talking of subscription prices, £/$11.99-ish is already an higher restrict for a lot of budgets, and at fixed danger of rising, too. This is likely to be a superb value for entry an incalculably massive music library, however that cash isn’t essentially making it to the musicians they hearken to, with experiences that a few of the money is enriching cynical AI music start-ups, or AI navy defence firms.
Between odd business alignments and poor artist remuneration, it’s clear to some that the streaming mannequin isn’t sustainable for musicians. For the conscientious music fan, that £/$150 a 12 months is healthier spent on placing cash instantly in artists’ pockets, whereas cultivating a everlasting digital music assortment within the course of.
How do I begin my MP3 participant journey?
In case you’re wanting to begin your MP3-playing journey, it goes with out saying you’ll want digital recordsdata to hearken to. These can be held in your laptop, and manually synced to your gadget. I like to make use of MP3 gamers with SD-card slots, which makes updating as straightforward as drag-and-drop. Earlier than spending a penny in direction of your digital assortment, although, check out your present bodily media. CDs might be ripped, and vinyl data usually include digital obtain codes.
For the tracks you don’t already personal a technique or one other, digital recordsdata might be bought with ease from all kinds of digital platforms, however the perfect place to begin might properly be Bandcamp. Shopping for digital recordsdata right here provides you extra management over the constancy of the library you’re constructing, and sees rather more cash going straight again to the artists themselves.
Together with digital recordsdata, many artists additionally supply their music in bodily codecs on Bandcamp, together with vinyl, CDs and cassettes.
In case you’re desirous about shopping for a brand new MP3 participant, remember that Black Friday will probably be with us on November 28. We’ll be protecting all the most important and greatest Black Friday MP3 participant offers proper right here on Louder.
