i’ve been dreaming of a modern audio player. i honestly think these would be amazing in 2023 for people who like to actually own digital media and audio files. iPods and Zunes died because of streaming, and when streaming dies - who would replace it?
i’ve already posted about the iPhod - my best budget take on it - reusing an iPhone 6S for music playing purposes. and it just works! it’s the best of both worlds, but since it’s still a Phone, it could be better to have a specific device.
so here’s my checklist on what i personally want to see in a modern-day music player:
- 3.5mm headphone jack (required)
- USB-C (required, we evolved past proprietary connectors)
- bluetooth support (some people like bluetooth, i guess)
- physical button controls. no touchscreen. or atleast both options at once would be nice.
- 64GB+ storage. it’s not too expensive to insert a 128 gig storage device in a portable device nowadays.
- no wi-fi. stay off the grid, please.
- PC syncing. yes, unfortunately it’s gonna have to be another App, but i feel like it won’t be as horrible as iTunes. it was built to do too much at once, and that’s how it turned out like it is. the app should be a basic “firmware upgrade and file transfer” thing, plus the next point.
- last.fm scrobbling. the only way i see this being achieved is through the companion App for the PC, in a way that the iOS music app does scrobbling by scanning the play history.
- repairability. sure, might hurt in some places, but it is of utmost importance.
- an all-day (multi-day if we can) battery. it’s not that hard now! we can fit so much power in our pockets!
- no “revolutionary” features, please. it’s supposed to be a device that Just Works. all it has to do is to simply Play Music.
- and it should ideally fit into a nice form-factor that makes it easy to pocket-carry!
- edit: also a microSD card slot! these are pretty neat for storing music too!
overall, i don’t see why this couldn’t be possible in 2023. the only reason we don’t have it yet - it’s not profitable to.
