That's why I listen to music on iPod in 2025

Simple iPod Shuffle repair

I found a broken iPod Shuffle on OLX for 20 PLN. It’s not a very valuable player, more of a retro toy from the days when we still listened to music offline. Currently, such small music players are no longer produced; they have been replaced by smartphones (except for very specific audiophile players). The iPod is not audiophile-grade, it has no screen, but it is well-made.

The iPod was broken due to an old battery; a replacement costs 40 PLN and completely solves this problem.

Music collection

Online or offline

I am not a fan of streaming apps like Spotify, and it’s not even about the financial aspect. Spotify and Apple Music have incomplete catalogs, missing a significant number of albums. I also don’t like the idea of an infinite catalog – contrary to appearances, I prefer to have a much smaller selection at hand but one that I have personally curated. Lastly, I prefer to discover music differently, and in this regard, I am probably archaic; I enjoy listening to radio music shows where I learn about new albums and then download and listen to them in a “classic” way, from start to finish.

Of course, I also have no choice if I want to listen to music on my iPod. But the iPod is just a sidekick; I also listen to music stored on my phone in file format.

How to store music and where to get It

We rip CDs to FLACs, of course. Even if we are not audiophiles, it’s worth keeping music on the hard drive in lossless quality (and keeping a compressed version on the player or phone). For compressing music (from FLAC to MP3 or AAC), it’s best to use the free program XLD, which can do this quickly and effectively.

Of course, just as important as compressing and ripping music is proper tagging. On Windows, the gold standard is the MP3tag program, while on Mac (which I lament) there is no equally good free alternative.

Good headphones

I am not an audiophile, but I can hear the difference between terrible headphones and average ones. Over the years, I have had various wired and wireless headphones; among the wireless ones, the closest to ideal are the expensive AirPods Pro 2, but even they sometimes have issues connecting to the phone. Unfortunately, cheap Chinese headphones usually last me about a year before either battery or charging problems arise.

Also I need wired headphones to connect them to the mentioned before iPod. My ideal open headphones are the Koss KSC75, which cost under 100 PLN and sound like headphones that are many times more expensive. This is, of course, a home solution since their design does not isolate from surrounding sounds. Riding the subway while using open headphones is asking for hearing trouble. In a noisy environment, it’s worth opting for in-ear headphones, but I won’t provide any recommendations here as I don’t yet have enough knowledge in this area.

Feelings with listening music

For many years, I have replaced streaming apps with listening to albums that I have copies of on my phone (and now also on my iPod). It’s really great; there are no distractions from social features, ads, or other add-ons. I recommend everyone using streaming services to take a detox and try it this way; you might find that you won’t miss it at all. And no one will remove a song from you because the corporation didn’t reach an agreement with the label.

You can still make playlists; I also create a list of albums “to acquire” and it doesn’t bother me that sometimes I have to wait.