discovering new music & ipod update (to mod or not to mod)

Even though I abandoned Spotify about two weeks ago, I still find it as convenient and fun as ever to listen to music I love and discover new artists, if not more so! I'm going to talk a little about what I've been listening to and give an iPod update.

A snippet of a few songs I've added to my iPod playlist "heart attack !!" recently.

I discover most of my new music through social media, like YouTube and TikTok. TikTok connects me with young and alternative artists who are making music in a style I love. YouTube keeps me in touch with artists I already follow, and also keeps me updated on new releases from kpop artists I enjoy. I learn about most new releases, like Hayley Williams' new singles, through TikTok. I try to keep my TikTok screentime to a minimum, but my algorithm is usually pretty good at serving me new music or a movie recommendation that gets me off of the app to learn more about it anyway.

I was concerned about discovering new kpop groups when first quitting Spotify, but I haven't noticed any difference in my ability to find new music since I still use plenty of other forms of social media whose algorithms know I consume content about the genre. A lot of my hesitation to quit Spotify came from some notion I held about it being helpful with finding new artists but... eh. Let's just say I haven't been mourning the loss!

I found out about new kpop groups idntt and Cortis this week with their mega-catchy debut singles "BOYtude" and "GO!". Both groups have a super fresh concept and energy that I really vibe with. The production on these singles is great, and I'm proud to say that I didn't need Spotify to find or stream their music. This week was the first case of me loading music I thought I might like onto my iPod before even listening to it. I got to listen to everything for the first time while cleaning today, and it was a wonderful experience!

Songs from my kpop playlist "luv4eva <3". I love combining older generation music with the new 5th generation stuff, it makes everything more fun!

If you're in the kpop world, you might be aware of the constant boycotts going on surrounding most major labels. The boycotts usually apply to streamers like Apple Music and Spotify, so fans will usually rip the music from YouTube and listen to it through Google Drives and other (totally legal) methods. I try to adhere to the boycotts as best as I can by not streaming certain artists, but being a Spotify user made it feel like my boycotting was useless. It's ridiculous trying to take a moral stance against a huge music label while at once streaming on a platform that refuses to pay its artists and funds AI military start-ups. Ditching the platform altogether not only lets me listen to the artists I love while adhering to the boycotts, but removes that constant feeling of being watched I got from Spotify.

Being hyper-aware of my Spotify Wrapped, ongoing boycotts, and other factors made my music listening experience feel like a performance. I was always thinking about which songs might be in my top 5 that year on Wrapped, or which artists would appear in my lineup. It could be argued that many people use Spotify just fine without feeling surveilled all the time, but that's just my experience. Not having to worry about those things has been a huge weight off my shoulders. I've finally reclaimed my music listening experience!

Modded iPod on YouTube by sinem.

When I first got back into using my iPod, I entertained the idea of using Rockbox to mod it for cute themes and expanded options when it came to hosting different file types. I modded my 3DS at the beginning of the summer and had such a blast that I modded one for my girlfriend to play on too, so I figured it would be a similarly easy process considering the huge size of the iPod modding community. However, once I realized that using Rockbox to mod essentially turns your device into a flashdrive, I wasn't convinced it was something I would enjoy using for a few reasons. For starters, I have over 8,000 songs (around 60GB) on this iPod, some of which were uploaded as early as 2009. This means that I no longer have access to edit those songs in the file explorer or in the Music application on my Mac. The files are essentially blocked off, which I don't mind because this iPod was my dad's and I enjoy listening to his playlists in their undisturbed state. If I tried modding, I'd be worried about something happening to those files, seeing as I don't have any backups. If you've modded with a huge song library before and it went smoothly, let me know if I'm being paranoid.

Using Rockbox CFW would also mean the Music application (and stock OS in general) would be unusable. I really enjoy the simplicity of Music on my Mac laptop for loading songs onto the iPod, and am pleased with the iPod features still on Music even after Apple stopped making iPods. If I was left with the file explorer (Finder) to add music onto my device, I'm not sure I would enjoy it as much. I'm also not a huge audiophile, so mp3 quality doesn't get on my nerves enough to want to mod just to get access to AAC. Seeing as I'm one of those people who refuses to remove my SD from my 3DS and put games directly on the root of my disc, and instead spends hours downloading them from the store, means I would most definitely crash out if Finder was my only option for adding music to my device. I know there are other library organizers out there, but since I have no intention of converting my entire Spotify library to mp3 anytime soon (the playlists just aren't that precious to me despite me using Spotify for a decade), I don't see a reason for me to stop using the stock OS right now.

This might be the laziness talking, but I love the feel of the original iPod "theme". Rockbox has themes that are nostalgic similar to it, but the fun of using Music and my stock system hasn't worn off yet. I would consider modding an empty iPod if I end up buying another on eBay to experiment, but this particular system is just too precious to me to risk messing it up and corrupting that archive.

One of the reasons I was basically forced to mod my 3DS (though cute themes are ALWAYS a good enough reason) was because Shitendo shut down the e-Shop and other basic functions necessary to use the device. If I wanted to play Nintendogs in peace, I had to mod it! Because, for some reason, Apple Music still supports iPod and even some playlist CD burning functions (though I haven't tried that yet), so I'll continue to use this device with stock until that is no longer an option.

The queen of cute themes for modded 3DS and iPod, HamsterButtocks. Please check out her channel if you're interested in modding!

Last but not least, I'll talk about some of the features of the iPod's design that make it perfect for listening to music. I will never understand why we as a society strayed from the scroll wheel. Volume buttons suck. I hate them. The wheel is precise, fast, and amazing. I can scroll from the bottom of a playlist with 400 songs on it in the blink of an eye. Spotify scrolling is slow and it sucks. Even on the computer. One time, I tried organizing a huge playlist on Spotify on my computer, which required me to scroll through the playlist a few times, and I nearly threw up. Spotify scrolling genuinely sickens me. Why does a small playlist with only 100 songs on it take MULTIPLE, LONG scrolls to get to the bottom of? Is there some sort of incentive to Spotify if I make multiple small playlists as opposed to a few big ones? Are they being paid by the playlist? I don't understand.

I've really enjoyed listening to the iPod while I do things like go on a walk, write, or clean. It sits nicely in my pocket, doesn't demand my attention by beeping at me every two seconds, and waits to be picked up like a good little music player. I love it so much! And I want to find one on eBay just to see what modding them is like.

If you've used Rockbox and enjoyed it, or if you have an iPod and aren't modding it, send me an email! Thanks for indulging my hateful rant.

Author's Note - I forgot to talk about this, so hi it's me from the future, but if you're reading this and wondering if you should get an iPod as a Spotify user, I would actually advise against it! Just do some research and get a good modern mp3 player with good battery life. Or get the iPod if you want. I don't care. I just use the iPod because I found it sitting in a drawer in my parent's house. Just be aware that if you get one, you may run into battery issues. Hope this helps. Ok bye!