As per title, if you had to switch away from Spotify ASAP, what streaming service would you go with? Ideally something around the same price range, meaning the change won’t incur in extra expenses. Also good if the service does its job well: playing music and paying artists. Any feature parity with Spotify is a bonus, except podcasts, which don’t require a paid streaming service. Or audiobooks. Focus on music. No piracy either (it’s illegal). The more money going to artists, the better.
Edit: extra bonus points if it is not 'Murican! Also, piracy is very illegal!!!
I’ve heard of Qobuz, and have been very intrigued. Downside is I’ve seen no Linux option :(. They do allow for buying music as well, innit? I reckon that’d pay the artist better?
I’ve heard of Bandcamp, I think, doing a day where all money goes to artists. Seems neat. Not sure I can be trusted with handling my own stuff, though. I mean, I lost music I bought for 0 monies off Play Store / Music back when it was a thing. I like to think they got rid of it, but maybe I deleted it after download. I eventually lost the files (many a system issues that lead to some reinstallations, and crappy last minute backup onto my phone).
Qobuz sounds nice, though. I do have some vinyls, but I’ve been lead to believe they require cleaning often, which is work. Just the other day, wanted to hear an album (haven’t used vinyl in ages). Can’t find cleaning kit, but vinyl seems clean. Nope, skip every other beat.
Sorry, I missed your reply! Apparently you can make it work with clementine but I haven’t bothered delving into it much yet, just use the web player or my phone. I was on openSUSE and it wasn’t working but I’ve switched to fedora so might give it a go again. I don’t really listen to music when I’m working as I find it distracting, mostly when I’m driving so it hasn’t been an issue for me.
Check to see if Qobuz has a web player. That could be a possible way to use it on Linux.
The issue with the record player sounds like it could be an issue with the arm adjustment. I specifically suspect too little weight on the needle. But be careful with adjustments as too much weight on the needle could damage both needle and record.
Didn’t know adjustments were a thing. I ended up using its Bluetooth, cause mine is fancy, modern. Some old tunes for a vibe, and Dust & Scratches on MyNoise for added vibes. I think it might just have been the cleaning. Haven’t used vinyls in a minute, wasn’t clean, probably. I just looked at it from afar, not a good inspection. Need to find the cleaning kit. Not sure if I need to clean it that often. Reddit is the place I went to for information a few years ago (early 2020). They make vinyls seem so fragile, and complicated. Store vertical, don’t touch the vinyl, clean it up, etc. I’ve seen DJs just grab that shit however, and scratch it around (i.e. djing). So something feels odd.
It shouldn’t be necessary to clean much as long as the records are stored in their sleeves, don’t touch the record sides, and so forth.
I wouldn’t say that vinyl is fragile, but it definitely pays to take care of the records.
Tone arm adjustment is possible on a lot of record players and will make a big difference. Different pickups has different requirements for the weight on the needle. On my record player this is adjusted by a counterweight on the tone arm. Is there a local hifi-/record-shop where you can talk to someone about this?
I don’t know of any fancy local shops. My vinyls come either from the internet, or “local” stores (i.e. they’re here, but also can be found all over the country. Not a small, local store. Just a locally-available bigger store)
Ok. Then I’d try to take it step by step with information online. As you get more familiar with the topic you might get a better sense of what is important and what isn’t. And have small conversations with collectors, hi-fi stores, record stores if you get the chance.
The first thing I’d do is search the internet for “{record player brand and model} tone arm adjustment” (example Marantz 6150 tone arm adjustment) and see if you find good information.