MP3 in the age of streaming
Hanging under the extended roof a re-worked shipping container and faint string lights, I tell Egle about my research into how our music consumption is governed by streaming platforms, she tells me she’s been carrying an mp3 around, I’m curious. We call a few weeks later in preparation of a short lecture I’m preparing about music consumption. The lecture never happens, instead, a CD-mixtape-making-workshop which Egle takes part in.
Weeks later again, we get to talk about her mp3 habits again and how she now listens to CDs.
Egle is a designer, she graduated from Design Academy Eindhoven in 2025.
W: Hi Egle, how are you doing?
I’m good, I’m just on vacation forever so I took a spontaneous trip to see my sister in Germany.
W: Where is it?
It’s a small town not far away from Heidelberg, about an hour away from Frankfurt, kinda towards Stuttgart. Tell me, what do you want to ask?
W: Yes, first, maybe you can tell about how your story with the MP3 started, and what pushed you into using an MP3 again?
Yes, I actually found it in my drawer, it was a time when I changed phones. I think the adapter for the headphones broke, then there was no audio jack, and I couldn't use my headphones.
Oh no, I'm sorry, it was the other way around.
It was when I had a Bluetooth headphones, big ones.
And then they broke.
And then I also lost my AirPods.
And then I thought, okay, I don't really want to spend money on new devices and new electronics.
And then I found the iPod.
I actually brought it so I could show it to you.
It's quite small in comparison to my head.
I feel like listening to the MP3 comes in a much more cautious manner. Because I don't always carry it with me.
So I have to particularly plan that I want to listen to music.
You know?
Also after we talked last time, I remember that I was really thinking where to spend those few euros when I buy a new album. Because if it's someone really famous, then my five euros are not going to make a difference. And I would much rather spend it on someone who is maybe not as well-known.
W: Last time we spoke you had two albums on your Ipod, are they still the same or did you change?
Yes. One is an album by Antocha MC.
I cannot pronounce the title of the of the album. I don't even know the name of it, because it's in Russian. I can send you the screenshots.
And then the other album is by the Lord of Isles. And the name of the album, I think, is either a storm of mother or storm, something with storm.
It's for sure the Lord of Isles;
W: Are they the same genre? Or is one calmer and the other more energetic?
They're quite different. It's a bit of ambient.
It sometimes is a bit more like dance music, but not anything intense, also a bit of break.
I don't really remember that well every song, but I know that the last song of the album has some spoken words incorporated in it.
It's an album that I also feel very comfortable doing work with, so if I'm working on my computer, editing or emails, it’s that kind of album.
And then the Antocha MC album, it's a bit more like hip hop beat.
I don't know if you know him, but at least a few years ago, when I was still in high school, he was doing a concert in Vilnius and I went and he was playing a trumpet and break dancing at the same time.
It was crazy.
W: I was wondering how you got the Ipod, because it’s the one that you had when you were a teenager, was it a birthday gift, a christmas gift or did it get pass down to you?
It was kind of like a birthday gift.
My parents did this thing where they were teaching us how to finance.
So on our birthday we could make a big purchase, we would get a discount, they would pay for a percentage of the price.
And then we have to cover the rest.
I bought this with my parents discount on my birthday. I remember that I saved that for it. It was a time when we still had old currency in my country. It was still the time when I would fall asleep in the car, so around the beginning of teenage years.
I remember the first ways of uploading music. It was really difficult because no one in my family had ever really been a fan of Apple products. So then when my dad would have to upload the music, he would be super frustrated.
I would hear a song on YouTube, or let's say, from my friends phone, I would write it down, like, ‘Katy Perry’. And then I would say, ‘dad can you upload the song to my MP3?’
So then he would download the full album, not only the one song.
And I think that's why I am still doing that, where I have a full album in my MP3 player.
W: Was it the only way you could listen to music, as in you didn’t have a phone yet?
I think by that time I did have a phone, but the phones didn't really have that much, either battery or storage.
I also think that the phones were not yet that good at playing music.
I just remember the first time when I got songs through Bluetooth from my friends. It was Justin Bieber, the song ‘Baby’.
W: Oh my god, this just uncovered a whole new set of memories for me…
Yeah, I remember it was the summer, and I was listening to Justin Bieber, and I was so shocked when I found out he was a guy, cause I had only downloaded it from my friends’ phone.
W: You said that your family didn’t have any apple products, that also reminds me of how much more expensive it was for Eastern european countries versus Western europe.
Yeah, it was expensive.
I remember extremely well, because it was, I think, my best friend, she got this kind of iPod, I think it was a gift from someone.
Then I accidentally spilled water on it, and I was like, fuck. Apparently nothing broke, but I was prepared to buy a new one for her.
So then I already knew how much it cost.
And I liked it so much, maybe it was the inner consumer in me really liking the product, because it was super elegant, and the buttons are so nice to press. It was a bit of a fashion thing as well.
And then I knew how much money I had to save up.
I think at the time it was costing like 30 euros, but it was a lot of money for me.
W: What about the interface of the Ipod nano?
Yes so you have this button, you can barely see it in real life too, if you push it it turns on, you have the green. But if you push it all the way, rhen it's becoming a shuffle instead of a loop. So it's the same as on Spotify. And then there's a small button for the voiceover, because you can't really read what is the title, so they voice it for you.
I think it’s a two, the storage is two gigabytes, it’s a lot, I don't think I've ever filled it.
And for interface, you can't really see what you're listening to.
I said that you couldn't skip through the timeline of the song, but then I was thinking, what if you press it down and hold it for a long time?
But it's really simple, it's nice.
Volume, skip and backwards and play and pause.
W: Can you actually skip the song? Did you try it?
In the recent days, no. I was thinking a bit about the interaction and I thought there are more functions, but didn't check.
I don't know, whenever I turn it on, I don't feel the need to skip through the song.
If I don't like it, I just play the next.
W: I’m also curious, does it stop after you’ve listened to both albums?
No. It keeps going.
I guess it does shut off at some point.
And last time we spoke I mentioned that I would fall asleep and then the music would have stopped. And then I would think that the iPod stop, but then I would also think that my parents paused the music.
But now that I get to know my parents more and more, I feel like they would have never stopped the music, because they wouldn't notice.
W: Do you have any memories of you using the Ipod from when you were younger?
There was one really specific moment after visiting a summer camp.
I just really did not want to leave. I had some songs on it that were reminding me of this moment, of the camp, because I was listening to it continuously there. And then those songs became a kind of memory holder.
I was listening to them the whole day until I fell asleep in the night. And then I woke up in the middle of the night with my headphones still in the ears. It was painful.
But actually, I remember, I can tell you a small story, if it's relevant.
I was in this same summer camp, which was about filmmaking, and we had to talk about an object that is valuable to us. It was my MP3 player because it was valuable in money, but also in sentimental value, because of this aspect of putting new songs and clearing up whatever was there.
So imagine it's not exactly like a subscription, but you get a fresh set of songs every month or so.
So those songs, they now hold the memory of that period of my life because I was listening only to those songs and only in that month.
And there was a lot of value on that because whenever I wanted to refresh the memory, I could just listen to those songs again.
W: So you kept them also.
I mean, the songs I no longer have, but there are specific albums that I very much remember being on the iPod. And then if I go back, I have the memory of it.
So that's the short story.
W: I was also thinking that when you started using the nano again, you must have had songs on there as well, no? Or was it emptied?
Yeah, it was actually a really sad moment because I found it, but somehow my computer couldn't read it, so then I had to format it.
And I was really looking forward to that moment.
So actually, after your workshop, I went into a kringloop and I found a CD player and I bought it for myself.
I bought some CDs and it's so fun.
W: Love to hear that. I'm curious, what CDs did you buy?
The first four CDs I bought in a kringloop, which was four CDs for one euro.
W: That's a bargain, like better than any like bandcamp.
It was, yeah. I didn't even listen to the CDs. and I brought it home to my sister because I was visiting my other sister and we listened to them and they were amazing.
One was, I think this single with two remixes called Die Das by the Fantastic Four.It's German band. It was super nice. Then there was this album of called Caribbean Nights or something.
Like a collection of different Caribbean music. Then there was a collection of Scottish music. And something else that was a bit, a bit wacky. And then a few days ago, I was in a music store, looking at CDs and it said like, breakbeat mix. It was two CDs in one case.
I wanted to hear what it sounds like, so we were listening in the shop and I was like, shit, I can actually get it because I have a way to listen to that.
And it's kind of nice because I saw the artists and the albums and I have never heard about them before.
Now I’m thinking, hmm, what else can I find?
And also one of my friends has said that she got a DVD player.
She has Sex in the City, Devil wears Prada and she bought them for, like, 20 cents in a kringloop. It's the alternative for Netflix as well.
W: And the CD player you got, is it on of those portable ones, that you put in the pocket of baggy jeans?
No, it's like a radio slash CD player. I wish it was the portable version. But I put it in the tote bag and it was fitting..
You know, there's also this kind of satisfaction that you don't get what you want instantly with buying CDs.
You have to make it happen on purpose and you have to make time for it and you have to put effort in it. Then listening becomes not a background music, but actually an activity where.
I go and I sit down and I make myself a coffee. And I can clean my house or something, but I'm still, and I still have to be in my house, you know, I still have to be plugged into a wall.
It's quite funny.