I've spent the last year or so slowly replacing the everything-machine in my pocket with devices that do one thing and do it well. A BOOX e-reader for books. Retro handheld consoles for games. An automatic watch that tells time and nothing else. So when I started looking for a
While I appreciate the sentiment, I’m always a bit skeptical of these dumb devices purported to replace phones. 5 years from now, I bet most people will have returned to their smartphones, either due to necessity or habit
I have the same ipod for the last 10 years. My ebook reader is from 12+ years ago. I see young people buying vynals for some reason.
When everything is an app to be streamed, physical goods seem to have an appeal.
I still have an iPad 2 I bought in 2011, and amazingly, the battery still lasts 5+ hours.
It’s got 128GB storage, and that’s used to store a movie or two, 30 hours of music, and a bunch of books and PDFs.
Of course, I’m not going to carry it with me everywhere; that’s what my phone is for. Which also has those things stored on it.
Oh sorry, I didn’t mean to give the impression that I was giving up my phone, or that these devices are designed to replace phones at all. I’m certainly not refusing to use my phone, in the slightest. But I have been taking slight steps to make sure I use it less. I think something like this has been great fun, I own my music, I curate it (which is fun), collect it, transfer it to a device like this one the Snowsky Echo I just had delivered, and I don’t support a streaming company like Spotify!
I guess we could make the argument that these dumb devices (like the original Sony Walkman) have existed longer than phones have been the daily carry item, too!
I don’t think digital audio players will disappear in 5 years’ time. It might not be the popular choice, but it is still a choice to use them. This article I wrote is just kinda part why-I-have-decided-to-look-at-music-players, and part review.
I use my phone as a media platform; I rarely stream any content on it unless it’s off my Jellyfin server.
I also have a Sony Walkman I got in 1986, but as I don’t have any audiocassettes anymore, it mostly operates as an AM/FM radio (tell me again why our phones don’t have AM/FM when Japan and S Korea do?).
One thing I HAVE been considering is a LoRA Meshtastic setup; plug in a router with an extender board at home, and carry a handheld unit or two with me. That would mean that I’d have a non-cellular connection to my home network within a 25km radius of my home, and mesh networking connection to the Internet in most densely populated areas outside that range, AND the two devices could link any phones or work as walkie talkies in areas where there’s no available WiFi or cellular signal.
To me, that’s a step forward, where a dedicated digital audio player doesn’t really solve any legacy or current problem.
But if you’ve already got one, why not use it? The batteries last a whole lot longer than a smartphone.