every year around spotify wrapped season people start posting about alternative streaming services you could use, but i never see anyone talking about how you dont need to use streaming services at all? plus i really dont think deezer and tidal etc are paying that much more to artists that spotify is. like it simply isnt a sustainable business method
at the start of this year i started looking for a way to listen to music off spotify and i actually went through a lot of methods, here is a non exhaustive list
methods for listening
just store music locally on your phone
i have a completely terrible old android phone i got used, and it has 256 gigabytes of space, plus a micro sd card holder which i put a 256 gb card in. thats so much fucking space. i think i have around 10.000 songs on my phone and it’s not even a third full. i use foobar2000 for playing music but whatever native music player you have will definitely work. or vlc media player my best friend vlc
ibroadcast
i think one of my mutuals recommended ibroadcast but i dont remember who, sorry! what ibroadcast does basically, is that it has a webplayer you can upload music to from your laptop, and an associated app you can use to listen to that same music on your phone. i would still recommend storing your music locally on your laptop or something but it’s good for syncing your devices and stuff. the free version only lets you stream at 128kpbs which hasnt been an issue for me
digital audio player
is what youre supposed to call mp3 players now, since they can play a lot more types of formats than just mp3. i got a snowsky echo mini for my birthday in may, and it is cheap and cute but it has absolutely fuck all going for it otherwise. honestly there are way better ones on the market but im kind of fond of how bad it is. if the file has any metadata it doesnt recognize (like a composer listed for example) it chucks the thing in the unknown folder, so whenever i download any music i have to spend an hour editing the tags
this is the option for the nerds who like to fiddle with things, i would recommend going on r/DAP to look at people’s reviews and maybe get a better one than mine
cracked version of youtube music
sure, you could do this. metrolist is a pretty good client i would recommend but it is the boring option for the coward
where to get music from
bandcamp
a lot of people’s issue with leaving spotify is that they havent developed a sense for discovering new music. bandcamp is great for this. it has an album of the day, the discover feed has genres youve never heard of, and you can stalk the profiles of people who bought music you like. plus youre supporting artists directly, and you can play your music in the bandcamp app and download it to then play it using any of the above options
soulseek
is a peer 2 peer filesharing platforms where people will come into your dms and call you a cunt for downloading their publicly available files that they chose to share on purpose. aside from this its great. use nicotine+ if youre on linux. “but i dont know how piracy works” its ridiculously easy. i really do believe in your ability to figure it out
download from youtube
cobalt might still be having issues downloading from youtube but if it isnt, its a great tool for doing that.
i personally use yt-dlp but i understand that command line tools are scary for most people. it does have a number of GUIs people made for it (for example this i got off reddit by googling yt-dlp gui)
i dont actually like downloading off youtube because im in the habit of chucking a playlist in yt-dlp and leaving it to run in the background, only to discover that whoever put the playlist together only included the music video versions of the songs not the album versions and i have to start again. shit sucks
How to find new music to listen to
I worried about this when i first deleted spotify, but the thing is, people are constantly talking about music around you. I got in the habit of googling any songs or artists people mentioned around me that i havent listened to, or im not as familiar with as id like to be. i found a lot of terrible music like this, and also a lot of music ive come to really love.
the other great avenue for finding new music is the various mixes people put on youtube. this is one i just found that seems fun
you can listen to podcasts fucking anywhere. come on. i cant hold your hand forever
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I haven’t completely been able to escape online music streaming, obviously i rely on youtube for looking up songs and stuff like that, but to be honest since i deleted spotify i haven’t even noticed it was gone. all spotify really does is make you pay like 8 dollars per month for the privilege of getting an ai generated daily playlist thats called something like “cunty beehive sodapop vibes”
dont forget, tomorrow (dec 5th) it is bandcamp friday, which means that for any purchase made on bandcamp that day, the artist will get almost the full amount of your money because the platform’s revenue share is waived. if youre gonna make a direct purchase, do it on bandcamp friday. dont fall for FOMO, if you cant do it tomorrow, wait till the next bandcamp friday on february 6th
What to do when you’re having a poor executive function day/been sitting in front of your computer for a few hours wondering why you can’t do your work:
1. Take a deep breath - Let out all that anxiety over the project you’re doing so you can think clearly
2. Pull up a clean sheet of paper and something to write with - You can use a fresh word doc, new page in your journal or planner or whatever else works for you, the idea is that after this you will have a physical list to look at to help keep you on task.
3. Identify your obstacles (i.e. What is keeping you from doing this task?) - For example: Is it scary? If so, why? Does it feel too hard? Is there something else that you feel needs to be done first? Write these down!
4. Plan how to overcome your obstacles - This can take some creativity and some thinking to best figure out how to overcome the obstacle. I’ve included examples below for potential plans.
Example 1:
Obstacle: I don’t know the best way to approach this task.
Plan: Brainstorm on paper ways that you might be able to approach this task. Google ways to accomplish this task. Review lecture notes or example homework problems on how to accomplish this task. Ask a friend/coworker/classmate how they might start the task. Write down everything you feel might be relevant until you feel like you know where to start and where to go.
Example 2:
Obstacle: This feels too big and overwhelming so I don’t want to do it.
Plan: Break down the tasks into smaller, tiny tasks. Make them as small as you need to make them feel manageable. Write down all these tasks check them off as you go.
Example 3:
Obstacle: I’m waiting for someone to get back to me with comments on this project but they’re taking too long.
Plan: Follow up with this person and identify what you can do without their comments. For example, if you’re waiting for someone to sent you a section of a project or paper, write your section to the best of your ability. Can you have someone else review this project and still get good feedback. Or tell yourself you’ll revise/edit your project and integrate their comments later when you get to them. Often when I identify what feels out of order, I can move past it or put it farther down my list so I’m no longer just stuck waiting.
5. Encourage yourself and commend yourself for filling in the gaps actively that your brain couldn’t do on it’s own today. - You’re doing a great job!
@ brainsoupp_ on twitter// @stmichaelthearchangel// @ cybermrcury on twitter// @throughmy-eyez // @ shellerina on twitter// @caesarsaladinn// @ nelsoncj4 on twitter // @ heimberg_a on twitter// make your own kind of music by cass elliot// @ soledadfrancis on twitter// ? // @ sourcenectar on twitter// @superorganism
Ok but like. What the fuck is there to do on the internet anymore?
Idk when I was younger, you could just go and go and find exciting new websites full of whatever cool things you wanted to explore. An overabundance of ways to occupy your time online.
Now, it’s just… Social media. That’s it. Social media and news sites. And I’m tired of social media and I’m tired of the news.
Am I just like completely inept at finding new things or has the internet just fallen apart that much with the problems of SEO and web 3.0 turning everything into a same-site prison?
ok… imagine a moon knight and daredevil crossover where dd has no issues fighting the invisible jackals because the dude cant see shit anyway. moon knight is like “you can see them??” and matt, not wanting to reveal his blindness but having no idea theyre invisible, is just like “yeah i can see of course i can see”
moon knight then assumes dd is an avatar of an egyptian god. bc what else? so, naturally, moon knight asks “what god do you serve?”
A swift shadow passed overhead, followed by a whisper of wings, and Nesta didn’t need to look to know who sailed high above, making sure all was safe. That she was safe.
Busybody. […]
Her mate. Her love. Her friend. The light within her chest brightened to a radiant sun. – A Court of Silver Flames, Chapter 80
For today I wanted an illustration of Nesta and Cassian enjoying the tranquility of the House. This was, in fact, the first illustration that I commissioned with Pablo and when I saw how it turned out, I was unable to correctly order the words because of how impacted I was by the beauty of the illustration.
Hello hello I have joined forces with some other artists to help out a family in Gaza! Please share this and if you can, donate and/or commision us! :)
