And, because it's got the App Store, you can also opt for alternate services like Spotify, Amazon Music, YouTube and the like (so long as you can access a Wi-Fi hotspot), in addition to or instead of the Apple Music app. It works seamlessly with Bluetooth headphones and speakers, but you'll need a pesky Lightning adapter to use old-school headphones.

The latter will cost you about $429 all-in (for 64GB of storage), but you'll get a device that can run the latest version of iOS, and it can pull music from iTunes (on Windows) or Apple Music (on the Mac).

What to do instead? Get a used iPhone, or a new iPhone SE - and just use it on Wi-Fi. You can still find used models out there, but don't expect them to be supported for much longer. The iPod Touch was the last dedicated music player in Apple's lineup, but it was officially discontinued in May 2022. But if you've gotten this far, here's what I can recommend, more than two decades after the iPod was first released. They're not all great, and they generally come with some caveats. But if you want a dedicated device for your music - or, maybe, a parentally curated set of songs to give to a kid who's not ready for a phone - there are still MP3 device options out there. Android phones, too, can play whatever music files you can load them up with. Now, truth be told, if any of that applies to you, you still don't need an MP3 player - your iPhone can still sync music files from iTunes (on Windows) or the Apple Music app (on Mac), and it probably has more storage space than your old iPod ever did. Maybe you have rare, one-off live tracks that don't exist on mainstream services. Maybe you've got one too many subscriptions already, so why pay for one more when you already have a music library of thousands of MP3 files sitting on your hard drive? Or maybe you've meticulously crafted iTunes playlists, like mix tapes of old, that you don't want to recreate or transfer to another service. And the tracks are downloadable, too, so you can listen to your music even when you leave a Wi-Fi or cellular coverage area. You pay your $5 to $10 a month, and you get access to nearly every popular song ever recorded. Any iPhone or Android phone is an audio player that works with subscription music apps like Spotify, Apple Music, Tidal, Amazon Music or YouTube Music. Standalone MP3 players dominated pop culture for a long time, but in 2023 almost no one needs one.

Mp3 player with spotify reddit