I went back to having a CD collection and an MP3 player, and so should you

Before there was the internet and music streaming services, people use to have a physical music library of vinyls, tapes, or CDs. Being a millennial, I think I was a bit of an outlier, but in my late teens and into my twenties I started a CD collection. I stopped collecting them about five years ago, because of the draw and convenience of music streaming services, but I had built up a decent library of CDs. Now I am really glad that I did.

I have been using Spotify as my main source of music and podcasts for years now, and have always had a free account. There are, and always have been, workarounds to be able to use almost all of the features of a paid account, including avoiding the ads, for free, but only in certain use cases. So, when necessary, I have always just dealt with the ads and other restrictions. Recently, however, I got to the point where I was so sick of hearing the ads, that I decided that it was time to make a choice.

I could take the easy way out, and submit to paying the subscription fees for a premium account. I would then conveniently keep all of my playlists that I have built up over the years. I could look into alternative music streaming services, and get a paid account with one of them, and just rebuild my playlists there. Finally, I could also take the hard way out, and go back to building up my physical music library of CDs, managing playlists with a media player on my computer, and either putting my music on an SD card for my phone or getting a dedicated MP3 player for mobile use. I decided to take the hard way out.

Why I took the hard way out

Submitting to paying the subscription fees and continuing to use a music streaming subscription service as my main music source and manager would be easy and convenient. If I choose Spotify I could keep all of my current playlists, and have instant access to a ridiculously huge library of music and other things. But it is not only sunshine and rainbows with these music streaming subscription service companies. There are definitely some things to consider, such as:

• Streaming services lose the rights to songs and artists all the time, so some songs may suddenly be unavailable. I have experienced this more than once on Spotify, wanting to listen to an old playlist and having many of the songs no longer be available. Not cool.
• You never own a copy of the music. You only pay to be able to listen to it through the service provider. Even though you can sometimes download playlists to listen to them offline, the files are often encrypted and connected to your account, meaning they would be unusable if you ever decided to cancel your subscription.
• It is not really convenient to access and listen to your music, if you do not have an internet connection, or would like to disconnect for a while (ex: if you do not want your smartphone around you).
• I hate having more "fixed" monthly costs, and, in my experience, subscription prices tend to go up. Right now, in 2025, in Europe, the "Premium Individual" Spotify subscription costs €12.99/month. For that price, I could buy at least one CD per month, and actually own the copy of the music.
• Streaming service companies change their policies and business models all the time. If the music streaming services follow the models of the TV and movie streaming services, soon using the service for free will not be an option and there will be a payed subscription level which includes ads. I feel like this is inevitably coming to the music streaming sector and sooner rather than later.
• A final consideration that I had was, to pretend that I continued down the road of using a subscription music streaming service for the next ten years, and at some point I cancel my subscription, for whatever reason. Maybe I no longer agree with the company's terms of service or policies, or their library is starting to be lacking, or their prices are too high, or whatever. I could then lose access to all of my playlists that I would have built up over the years, and would have to fall back on my physical music library, which at that point would be quite outdated. Considering all of the above points, and using experience of how the TV and movie streaming service companies have been changing and handling their subscription services, I see the chances of this situation eventually happening to me being quite high.

Music plays a big role in my life, and is very important to me. It is something that I do not want to have be completely reliant on subscription music streaming service companies for. Having the security of having full access to my music library into my future, in my opinion, is worth the extra effort of going back to building up my physical music library of CDs, managing playlists with a media player on my computer, and using a dedicated MP3 player for music on the go.

I still think Spotify is awesome right now. While it is still good, I still plan on using my free Spotify account to discover new artists, preview albums before I buy them, and go through my old playlists to see which songs and artists I really want in my physical collection.

My experience going back to the hard way so far

Cons

It goes without saying, that it is definitely more work finding and ordering CDs, burning them onto my computer, and syncing an MP3 player with the music and podcasts. Once this is all setup, it is not really that bad though. It is just a little extra time that you have to dedicate to doing it all.

The initial setup requires a bit of a time investment. You have to figure out which music management program to use and learn how to use it, find an easily accessible and central place for your physical library, player of choice, and speakers, figure out how to sync your mobile device of choice with your library, and find where you can buy your music from.

Pros

Knowing that the security and management of my music library relies solely on myself, and not on a music streaming service company, is quite a nice feeling.

I, and often our guests, find it to be a really nice change to pick out a CD from the library to play, for some background music, rather than putting on a playlist. Having a music manager on the computer and an MP3 player, means that the option to put on a playlist is still there, but when we are at home, hanging out for the evening, cooking, or playing a board game together, choosing a CD and playing it has been a pretty nice change. It also kind of makes skipping songs harder, when you are listening to a whole album, so you just end up leaving it alone and being more present in whatever you are doing.

I personally chose to use an MP3 player for my mobile music needs, instead of having it on an SD card in my phone. So far, I have really enjoyed having an MP3 player again and I find that I am less distracted when using it because it is not on my phone and I cannot easily multitask with another app.

I have been enjoying the album artwork and booklets that come with the CDs. Artists put a lot of work into them and often do a great job. I find that it positively adds to the experience, and is something that gets neglected when listening to music though a streaming service.

Why you should do the same

As I mentioned above, it requires a time investment upfront and it is a little more work, but there are a lot of benefits to going back to building up a physical music library, managing playlists with a media player on your computer, and either putting your music on an SD card for your phone or getting a dedicated MP3 player for mobile use. Your access to your music into your future will only depend on you, not any big companies or even your internet connection, meaning that it will be pretty secure. Switching over may also separate you a little bit more from your smartphone, which is probably not a bad thing.

Right now is a great time to slowly transition over to physical media, since you can still access the massive libraries of music streaming services for free. Once this is no longer the case,taking the leap will not be as easy.

Keep physical media alive by voting for it with your money. If more and more people stream instead of buying physical media, soon it will not be worth producing the physical media anymore. If that happens, we will all be completely dependant on companies such as music streaming service companies for our music, which could go in a dark, controlled, restrictive direction pretty quick. I think it would benificial for us all, if physical media stayed around into the future.

Don't be afraid to look into the things for yourself, have your own thoughts, and establish your own stance and opinions. Be the curious sheep of the flock.