Yeah! Did that once, many years back. took a couple weeks. Used a ripper program that went out on the net and got all the metadata, saved to a HD (now on the third one). Put the CDs in Logic cases (no-wear), recycled the jewelboxes.

Over time, started to drop album folders into VLC, save the playlists, at ur fingertips.

FLAC is good, but not necessary for background listening. At 192k the average song is ~ 5Mb. 100k x 5 = 0.5 TB.

With a long, varied list of select internet radio stations, you can choose what genre (or special weekly show) you want to listen to at the moment. Picked by people, not algorithms. Keep a playlist of the stations you like best, startup your player (like VLC) with the list, and pick the one you’re in the mood for.

Or you could just collect mp3s locally for choosier days, dump a bunch of them into VLC, listen to them in album or random order. In either case, at no cost.

There’s a lot to like about Atril (native to MATE).

Whoa! Thanks for the pointer, I never saw one. (Don’t get to HD much these days.)

Good idea! Also works for shortwave stations that turn on at your wakeup time, especially if you’re annoyed by propaganda!

(I use an FM radio tuned to a spot where there are no signals. Doubles as an FM radio during the day.)

(Use the tone controls for more or less white or brown noise.)

YES! I a roll recently to get the cables behind my desk up and away from my feet. (Jerking cables out of their jacks sideways is bad for today’s crap hardware.) AND no more rats’ nesting.

(Too bad I never found a desk with a cable gutter along the back. Wud be great for a bunch of heavy audio/midi cables.)

Transistor FM radios are quite small.

Good point. Messages sent, images taken, and ‘things happen’ in cars.

And a LOT risky

Not complaint but suggestion: When I get to the bottom of a column of msgs and click the NEXT button … page should scroll to the top!