Do I use a website to download songs off of YouTube or Spotify?
Where should I store the music? I haven’t any clue about self-hosting. I’m running GrapheneOS, is it enough to save the songs in Files and play in an app like Auxio? Maybe sync with SyncThing?
What’s the best way to compress mp3 files but still retain the quality (even possible)?
Could really use some help as I’m very inexperienced. :)
My good faith response to your good faith question: because having a DRM-free copy on your own server or hard drive is the only way to be sure you will be able to play it tomorrow.
Streaming services are a complex collection of licensing deals that are by design temporary. You may not hear beforehand when your favorite artist’s label’s parent company’s conglomerate’s CEO decides to pull their content because they’re going to start their own streaming service, or another service gave them a lucrative exclusive deal.
And while you’re never going to have a hard time finding Taylor Swift, that one 70s esoteric album may become instantly impossible to find once it drops off a streamer.
In the end there are no promises with a streaming service. On the other hand, you put in a small amount of work to grab MP3s or FLACs, set up your own Plex server (or Emby, etc), and you’re good for pretty much forever.
Similarly, support artists by buying their direct merch, going to shows, and so on, but they are barely seeing any Spotify money. Between Spotify and the labels, they are cleaning the plate and artists are getting whatever crumbs fall off the table (unless you’re Taylor Swift or another global artist).
If the streaming service I use (Apple Music) doesn’t have something, I buy it and add it. Spotify goes out of their way to make that difficult, so I don’t use Spotify. I actually think Spotify is terrible in every way.
I’m not worried about owning all the music since streaming is not going to disappear in my lifetime. If it did, I’d drop the cash on bands that need my money and pirate the ones who don’t.