I constructed a subscription-free lossless music library with this inexpensive USB accent

Subscription fatigue is actual, and I’ve been slowly constructing a digital music library to lessen my reliance on streaming services like Apple Music. In parallel, I’ve assembled a bodily media assortment of vinyl information, CDs, and cassettes with a few of my favourite music. As a results of that arduous work, if music streaming companies disappeared from the face of the earth right now, I would not miss them.

I’ve a sustainable, self-hosted media library that did not break the bank to place collectively, and it is all due to an inexpensive USB accent most individuals forgot about: the exterior optical drive. It’s cheap, connects to fashionable laptops and computer systems, and allows you to reap the benefits of plummeting CD costs.

Apple Music is dropping its luster

The adverts and redesigns are distracting from the music

I’ve been paying for my Apple Music subscription for over a decade. Before that, I used to be a Beats Music subscriber. You won’t keep in mind it, however Beats Music was the music streaming service from Beats by Dre that turned the muse of Apple Music following the acquisition.

When I initially joined Apple Music in 2015, I paid for the subscription service by buying physical gift cards that might be redeemed for one yr of entry. It’s secure to say loads has modified since then. Apple Music is only one of many streaming companies I pay for month-to-month in 2026, and costs proceed to rise.

If I tallied up how a lot I’ve spent on music streaming companies over that span, it’d most likely break into the quadruple-digit vary. And if I cancel Apple Music, my handcrafted library disappears.

The worth proposition is not the one factor pushing me to think about leaving Apple Music behind. I selected Apple Music over Spotify and YouTube Music for its mild, ad-free software program expertise. Apple Music is hardly minimal or ad-free today. I see adverts for live performance tickets and distracting album paintings animations within the app, and all I actually need from Apple Music is its namesake: music.

If you are uninterested in paying for music streamers like me, beginning your personal digital library might sound daunting. There aren’t some ways to legally purchase high-quality track recordsdata, and the accessibility of lossless audio on Apple Music, Tidal, Amazon Music, and Spotify is tough to disregard.

Luckily, there are options. Qobuz is a digital music storefront that allows you to purchase lossless FLACs for nearly any album, however the costs are steep. The higher means is to amass low-cost secondhand CDs and rip them, creating your personal lossless digital recordsdata. I do not use any computer systems with an optical drive today, so I turned to a $40 combo CD/DVD reader and author from Asus.

An optical drive is the important thing to proudly owning your music

CDs are nonetheless inexpensive and straightforward to search out, and you may rip them

The exterior optical drive from Asus plugged straight into my macOS and Windows computer systems, and labored instantly with out drivers. Ripping CDs is easier than you’d think, even in the event you’ve by no means executed it. In my case, I ripped and burned my justifiable share of CDs throughout the MP3 golden age of the 2000s, grabbing digital recordsdata to sync to my iPod. So, I fired up iTunes and started working.

I like to recommend iTunes as a digital library supervisor and CD ripper to anybody who craves a easy expertise. iTunes continues to be obtainable for Windows customers, and could be put in on unsupported macOS variations utilizing the Retroactive tool on GitHub. It helps computerized ripping and ALAC encoding, which could be transformed to FLACs later with out high quality loss. Go to Preferences → Files → Import Settings and select Apple Lossless Encoder for lossless rips in both the iTunes or Music apps.

For Windows customers, there’s nothing better than Exact Audio Copy. Exact Audio Copy is a free app that creates lossless FLAC recordsdata out of your CDs whereas guaranteeing the copies are 100% correct utilizing the AccurateRip database. It’s the straightforward selection for anybody that values the compatibility of FLAC and the AccurateRip assure.

The purpose for returning to CDs within the first place is their value. While CDs are steadily gaining recognition, they’re nonetheless available at low-cost costs. I by no means pay greater than $10 for used CDs, and I paid underneath $5 for a lot of the discs in my assortment. Thrift shops and Goodwill places nonetheless have greenback CDs, and music shops do not upcharge used CDs by rather more.

I can decide up a handful of used CDs to pad my assortment of digital music every month for a similar worth as my Apple Music subscription. The distinction is, I can cease paying at any time, and my digital music recordsdata will not ever go away. With a music streaming service, you are locked into paying ceaselessly, otherwise you lose entry to all the things.

7,000 songs later, I do not depend on streaming

Physical media and a digital library are a successful mixture

Credit: Brady Snyder / MakeUseOf

Building up a digital music library of your personal takes time, and it is best to begin accumulating whereas protecting your subscription lively. It’ll value extra within the brief time period, but it surely’ll prevent cash in the long term, and you may profit from true possession. I’ve a bodily media assortment of over 500 vinyl records and CDs, and a digital library of over 7,000 tracks.

There are avid collectors on the market with tens or a whole lot of 1000’s of songs of their digital libraries, and maybe I’ll get there in the future. For now, my respectable library covers all my favourite tunes. Everything I’d want or need to take heed to is there, and I’m now not depending on a recurring subscription that comes with a month-to-month cost.

It took me some time to get right here, however I began with a $40 exterior optical drive and used CDs from the greenback bin. If you are uninterested in paying month-to-month for music you do not truly personal, placing collectively a digital library with CDs might be the choice you are searching for.

Power

USB-powered

Speed

USB 2.0: Up-To 480Mbps

Connection

USB 2.0 (Type-C)

Brand

Asus

This USB optical drive from Asus connects to any fashionable laptop or laptop computer and helps CD/DVD studying and writing. I’ve used it with Macs and Windows PCs to tear and burn audio CDs whereas constructing a self-hosted lossless music library.