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!!!
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.