I went to the grocery store alone the other day. I have a
small child and get very very little time in the world on
my own. It was busy/crowded and I wished I had my old iPod
nano still. It was stolen from my car 6 or 7 years ago. When
I was younger I always had a cassette deck (walkman) or a
portable CD player. Music went where I went. That has been
absent from my life for a long time. I don't think I would
want it when out hiking or things like that. I like the
quiet and the sounds of the world in those situations. But
I get anxious in crowded places, stores in particular. So
some music can help me relax a little bit and have a bit of
a bubble for myself.
To that end I looked around online for an MP3 player. I do
not use Amazon for anything—ever—on principle. I still found
my way to a "big box store": Best Buy. They had something
called a "Clip Sport Go" by SanDisk (formerly SunDisk). I
odered it. I waited a few days and checked to see if it had
shipped. I had an order confirmation that stated I would be
notified when it shipped. No notification had come. So I
clicked the "order details" link in the e-mail and was taken
to a page with the order details, including a very very
small note at the top:
> We have cancelled your order and credited your payment
> method.
They did not send me an e-mail to tell me this, I just
happened to stumble upon it. They did not give me a reason
either. It was a bummer.
We had to drive down the mountain on other business that
weekend, and happened to be next door to a Best Buy (as
best as I can tell the only store that sells MP3 players
anymore). Despite the shipping kerfuffle we went in and
asked after the MP3 players. We were told, that they have
not sold MP3 players in years. I asked if the person was
sure. That I had seen them on their website. They said I
would maybe check on aisle XX. I did. On the bottom shelf
under a rack of cheap headphones I found them. I bought the
"Clip Sport Go" and my wife got the "Clip Sport Plus". She
got the later because it was bright blue and she has a habit
of losing/misplacing things and thought she'd be able to see
it better.
Mine had no problems loading stuff from my Debian laptop.
Hers, though, would not mount. I would see that it was there
but I could not mount it. I looked around online for an hour
or so and found a post in a forum from 2014 with a fix:
running `lsblk -l`. Running this _should not_ do anything
other than list devices. But once I ran it, the thing
automounted. What a weird bug.
I later went to the grocery store while listening to the
newish Big Thief album (it is probably a year or two old).
It was great. I don't use my phone for these types of things
and I do not use spotify, so this has been a nice return to
a way of doing things that I have had available to me since
the 80s, when I had my first portable cassette player. I
missed the comfort of it and having a thing designed for
a purpose. Best of all: it is _not_ touch screen in any
way. Actual hardware buttons and a well designed and very
intuitive system for dealing with settings, playlists, and
moving around in your collection. The thing is maybe 1" by
1.75". Really small. It has a clip on it and has screen
lock so I dont accidentally bump a button in my pocket. I
am quite happy to have music again in anxiety inducing
public spaces that I would rather not be in, but need to be
in to get things done.
To anyone that misses having a walkman or the like and
remembers having one as a constant companion in the mixtape
days: it isnt exactly the same, but it is close enough...
ditch the phone as a music player entirely and get a small
MP3 player. It is great. I should have gotten one used is
my only regret about the one I have. Now that I am familiar
with the model if I ever need another one, I'll try to track
down a used one.
