Spotify fans threaten to return to piracy as music streamer introduces new face-scanning age checks in the UK
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I keep getting advice of Flac > MP3 320 kbs.
I can't tell the difference to tell you the truth. Is it really worth it for audiophiles considering how much more space Flac files takes up?
It could be the quality of your headphones.
I'm not an audiophile, but back-in-the-day I bought some analog "sennheiser studio monitors" as opposed to "just headphones".
I actually returned the first one and exchanged them, because when I listened to a live recorded CD, I kept hearing loud "pops" that I didn't hear with my "regular headphones". I assumed they were defective.
The exchanged sennheiser had the same "pop" in this CD. It turns out, most "regular headphones" didn't have the same depth in sound frequency as studio monitors and the "pops" were accidental artifacts that were mixed into the CD.
For other CD's, I'd hear telephones ringing and sirens in the background.
Eventually, I got use to it. Then after a few years, I replaced my CD collection with mp3's... and I could tell a different in songs/albums I was really familiar with. The base wasn't as deep, the high sounds weren't as high, I didn't hear telephones ringing in the background.
I had the same sennheiser, it was just that the nature of mp3's "flattened" the music.
Now, with Bluetooth and the disappearance of 3.5 mm jacks, there are too many layers of digital conversion happening. I've given up... and now just have some cheap ear buds I listen to.
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My favorite part is when the AI DJ plays some dumb song it's previously served up repeatedly, and then tells me how much I like it because I listen to it so often. I'd never choose to listen to it on my own, and the only reason I hear it is because Spotify keeps cramming it down my throat.
Why would you use the Ai dj to feed you songs, when the normal daily mixes, daylist, etc are giving you the same songs without the fake personality injected between them? I literally do not understand. I'm open to your thoughts - it's just that it seems like an alien perspective.
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Back to Piracy!
️Really though? It isn't necessary. Use Bandcamp, you probably have half your artists covered. The rest - one of those Spotify alternatives: Tidal? Qobuz?
Personally I do selfhost btw. Jellyfin, though I heard of a better alternative specifically for music recently - and forgot the name again
Something lowercase, like a verb... "normalize" or some such.Navidrome! Thanks @[email protected]I switched to Deezer!
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Why is it the people that are ok listening to music out of a phone speaker are also the people ok polluting public spaces with music from phone speakers?
Because they are dumb assholes? I grew up around folks who jury rigged speakers into the back of their trucks for camping and the worst they got was blaring freebird on the highway, it used to take work to be that guy now someone can just play some obnoxious trash in the restaurant with no work whatsoever.
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..........genuinely trying to figure out how this relates to the topic at hand.
That a porn ban does not work and people will find a way around it.
When I was a kid there weren't all this free porn sites and most of them were paid.
So you would go to some shady site where people shared passwords. This might make a comeback
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A VPN is a must if you wanna go down this route
Soulseek (and I recommend the Nicotine+ client over the official one) is a fantastic source for all music in all formats, and particularly obscure off-label shit you won't get anywhere else. You'll even have some success finding audiobooks there, although this is very hit-and-miss. I wish audiobook pirates would use it more heavily. It's P2P, like Napster used to be. You'll have to share something or you'll get auto-ignored by most users.
RuTracker is a great non-private/non-ratio-monitoring torrent site for music (does require a free account though). I've never had a single torrent from there that wasn't seemingly seeded by a Godzilla's dick. Obviously it's in Russian, but there's really no difficulty navigating around. The only thing you might struggle with is signing up for an account, but just have your favourite translation tool open in another tab
If you don't mind slow download speeds (from the likes of RapidGator), I enjoy Exystence. It's a blog that shares link to the latest albums and offers both lossy and lossless versions. Nice RSS subscription to have.
If you do find yourself using RapidGator a lot, don't waste money buying a sub directly from them, it's insanely pricey. Instead, get a reseller like Real Debrid, which costs like 10% as much and also covers you for about two-dozen other file hosters. I highly recommend putting as much distance between your credit card and the company as possible, just for safety reasons. Using PaySafeCard is fine, as Real Debrid will never see your details in that case. I don't have any specific reason to be weary of them, I just don't trust random/small/hitherto unheard of companies as a rule.
I've been using RuTracker for years and it usually has all the music I need. And it has more than music, great site.
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Back to Piracy!
️Really though? It isn't necessary. Use Bandcamp, you probably have half your artists covered. The rest - one of those Spotify alternatives: Tidal? Qobuz?
Personally I do selfhost btw. Jellyfin, though I heard of a better alternative specifically for music recently - and forgot the name again
Something lowercase, like a verb... "normalize" or some such.Navidrome! Thanks @[email protected]I have Jellyfin for movies/tv, and gonic for music!
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I’m confused. Is every app in the UK requiring face scanning? I thought it was just adult content.
Bluesky app also seems to require this for some features.
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Back to Piracy!
️Really though? It isn't necessary. Use Bandcamp, you probably have half your artists covered. The rest - one of those Spotify alternatives: Tidal? Qobuz?
Personally I do selfhost btw. Jellyfin, though I heard of a better alternative specifically for music recently - and forgot the name again
Something lowercase, like a verb... "normalize" or some such.Navidrome! Thanks @[email protected]Thanks for recommending Navidrome. It looks really interesting.
I was using Spotify, but switched to Spotube. After Spotube was crippled, I was kind of aimless. I really liked having my music available on my cellphone and desktop. It looks like Navidrome will fill the gap perfectly.
You'd mentioned ripping CDs. Would you have some software, you'd recommend (Windows or Linux)? Preferably in FLAC.
I haven't looked at ripping software in a few years, but it was kind of tedious to set up and very manual to get the proper metadata, genres, and cover art. I've got a hundred CDs and that'll take awhile....
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I know so many people who are so ride-or-die for never having to manage the file space for their own music library and they don't seem particularly less stressed.
I think they just cannot live without an algorithm to recommend new music to them
they just cannot live without an algorithm to recommend new music to them
They might want to try LMS and its https://github.com/epoupon/lms?tab=readme-ov-file#music-discovery
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Most people can't tell the difference between 128 kbit MP3 and high quality recordings.
Can't confirm, I can't tell.
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A VPN is a must if you wanna go down this route
Soulseek (and I recommend the Nicotine+ client over the official one) is a fantastic source for all music in all formats, and particularly obscure off-label shit you won't get anywhere else. You'll even have some success finding audiobooks there, although this is very hit-and-miss. I wish audiobook pirates would use it more heavily. It's P2P, like Napster used to be. You'll have to share something or you'll get auto-ignored by most users.
RuTracker is a great non-private/non-ratio-monitoring torrent site for music (does require a free account though). I've never had a single torrent from there that wasn't seemingly seeded by a Godzilla's dick. Obviously it's in Russian, but there's really no difficulty navigating around. The only thing you might struggle with is signing up for an account, but just have your favourite translation tool open in another tab
If you don't mind slow download speeds (from the likes of RapidGator), I enjoy Exystence. It's a blog that shares link to the latest albums and offers both lossy and lossless versions. Nice RSS subscription to have.
If you do find yourself using RapidGator a lot, don't waste money buying a sub directly from them, it's insanely pricey. Instead, get a reseller like Real Debrid, which costs like 10% as much and also covers you for about two-dozen other file hosters. I highly recommend putting as much distance between your credit card and the company as possible, just for safety reasons. Using PaySafeCard is fine, as Real Debrid will never see your details in that case. I don't have any specific reason to be weary of them, I just don't trust random/small/hitherto unheard of companies as a rule.
It’s P2P, like Napster used to be. You’ll have to share something or you’ll get auto-ignored by most users.
Oh, reminds me, you should also sort your share. I once got march-horny, added some German marches to my download queue (no judging pls), and then got a PM from the guy sharing them that I should keep my collection in order. And yes, the jerk ignored me.
Also not really p2p, there is a central server. The downloads are p2p.
RuTracker is a great non-private/non-ratio-monitoring torrent site for music
It was ratio-monitoring, that's how it became great. Just after being banned in Russia they decided that those who try hard enough to even reach there can be trusted to behave.
It's not only for music, it's for everything.
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I don't mind giving my date of birth to all the services I already pay for with credit card but face scanning? That's just creepy. Fuck off.
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I know so many people who are so ride-or-die for never having to manage the file space for their own music library and they don't seem particularly less stressed.
I think they just cannot live without an algorithm to recommend new music to them
An algorithm for them:
set rand [clock microseconds] set len [mpc_pl_len] set to [expr {$rand%$len}] mpc_pl_jmp $to -
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I showed it something else with cheeks and now I'm on 15 watchlists.
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I know so many people who are so ride-or-die for never having to manage the file space for their own music library and they don't seem particularly less stressed.
I think they just cannot live without an algorithm to recommend new music to them
I think they just cannot live without an algorithm to recommend new music to them
Oh, piss off. I just want to financially support artists for making something beautiful I enjoy. Streaming is the easiest because of space constraints. I still buy the CDs of my most favourite albums, but I cannot stress enough how great it is to NOT have to rip the MP3s every time, make sure the tags are good, etc.
It's convenient.
If you don't like Spotify's new ID check, kill your Spotify account and use an alternative - Tidal and Qobuz are both excellent.
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Most people can't tell the difference between 128 kbit MP3 and high quality recordings.
How about 48 kbit MP3? And more than that, for plenty of recordings that's sufficient.
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I have a non-uk account but at the first sight of age verification I will delete my account.
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Idk man. Show someone some cymbals on a 128kbps track and it sounds like someone crumpling a plastic bag via a tin can connected to a string. In contrast flac is going to sound much more natural.
I'd agree with you regarding 320 and flac - most people are gonna have a hard time differentiating.
most people are gonna have a hard time differentiating.
With the usual psychoacoustic model of MP3 if you can hear the difference between 320 MP3 and FLAC you are either lying or there's something wrong with your speakers. It's certain with long odds.
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I keep getting advice of Flac > MP3 320 kbs.
I can't tell the difference to tell you the truth. Is it really worth it for audiophiles considering how much more space Flac files takes up?
Go to Opus 128 kbps. About the same as MP3 320 or better.
