Streaming almost everything.... iPod RIP

[RCHeliGuy]

When my wife's iPod speaker dock died, I looked around and realized it was time to move on. The iPod is all but gone now. All the iPod docks are discontinued. Most people use their phones to stream music.

So I got my wife a Riva Turbo BT speaker system. It's not HiFi, but it works for her needs. Then I subscribed to Spotify family set up accounts for my wife and I and installed the Spotify app on our computers and our Galaxy S8's.

My wife and I spent some time creating play lists and picking radio stations to stream on our computers and paired our phones to various BT devices.

I still have an iPod permanently connected to my car which I will use until I get my next vehicle, but I have a waterproof floor standing BT box in my shop area that can run a full day on a charge and for the most part I'll stream music except when I use my music server to drive my ML's. But I can also run Spotify from that music server.

My play lists are now stored in the cloud and I can listen from any device with the Spotify App.

 

[JonFo]

Interesting transition story, thanks for sharing.

Can you export your playlist from the cloud in a standardized format?

That would be a major concern for me, as migrating to another provider, or bringing it back down to a local server, Like JRiver MC, would be options I'd want.

One reason I can't get my wife to give up her iPod is she spent many, many hours over many years refining the playlist on that thing, and now the playlist is the most valuable aspect of it.

 

[RCHeliGuy]

Interesting transition story, thanks for sharing.

Can you export your playlist from the cloud in a standardized format?

That would be a major concern for me, as migrating to another provider, or bringing it back down to a local server, Like JRiver MC, would be options I'd want.

One reason I can't get my wife to give up her iPod is she spent many, many hours over many years refining the playlist on that thing, and now the playlist is the most valuable aspect of it.

Here is a link on how to copy ITunes Playlists to Spotify.
https://www.dummies.com/social-media/spotify/how-to-manage-spotify-and-itunes-playlists/

You can import and export playlists. In Spotify your wife could share her playlist with you or make it public. She can also keep it secret.

The cool thing is that whenever she gets a new smart phone she just downloads the Spotify app logs in and all her playlists are there.
The same goes for any tablet or computer.

The following link shows how to play Spotify, Tidal and other streamers through JRiver.
https://www.whathifi.com/forum/hi-fi/playing-spotify-tidal-and-other-streamers-through-jriver

 

[JonFo]

Mark, thanks very much for that. Will get cracking on that this weekend.

 

[RCHeliGuy]

Mark, thanks very much for that. Will get cracking on that this weekend.

I hope it all goes smoothly

Inevitably with something new it will take a little adjustment.

That said, my wife was complaining about how iTunes seemed to be getting harder to use with time.

 

[amey01]

That said, my wife was complaining about how iTunes seemed to be getting harder to use with time.

ITunes has got to be the most ridiculous, hard-to-use, unfit-for-purpose, bloated software in common use today. A juxtaposition from a company supposed to be the pinnacle of ease-of use and good design.

 

[RCHeliGuy]

ITunes has got to be the most ridiculous, hard-to-use, unfit-for-purpose, bloated software in common use today. A juxtaposition from a company supposed to be the pinnacle of ease-of use and good design.

Agreed!

It's one reason my wife gave it up so easily.

So far I'm enjoying Spotify. It seems to have a lot of ways to find music you like related to other music you like.

BTW after a decade my computer's Total Bithead USB DAC/Amp called it a day. I ended up with a nice little box with a smooth and large volume knob on top. It was only about $40 and sounds pretty good through my self amplified monitor speakers.

 

[amey01]

Speaking of Spotify, does anyone know how Spotify Connect works? Does it stream from your phone to the playing device, or does it allow the playing device to make a direct connection to Spotify - making the phone/tablet act as a remote only?

 

[RCHeliGuy]

Speaking of Spotify, does anyone know how Spotify Connect works? Does it stream from your phone to the playing device, or does it allow the playing device to make a direct connection to Spotify - making the phone/tablet act as a remote only?

Control goes back to Spotify. My desktop has no BT or WiFi capabilities. It has a direct line to my router and cable modem.

If I turn off my phone's WiFi and it is running on the 4G mobile network it still works as a remote to my computer.

It will tell you that you are already streaming on another device and allow you to listen to the same stream on your phone too or just use it as a remote control device.

 

[RCHeliGuy]

I'm actually listening to music while I work for the first time and I credit Spotify with that.

The user interface is easy and I'm frequently finding new things or just things I really like and forgot about related to other things I like.

It just plain works well as an encyclopedic music source and music player software.

My office is not where my ML's live, but I'm now listening to more music which is a good thing by itself.