I love coming back to the iPod. It’s great having almost all of my music on one device that only does one thing: playing music.
My listening habits are much better when I listen to downloaded music than when streaming. On streaming services I tend to listen to lots of lists and I end listening to the same songs for long periods of time. On my computer and the iPod I usually listen to full albums, in order. It’s a different experience. I listen to the songs as the artist intended when publishing the album.
It’s an iPod gen 7 with the the HD replaced by a 128gb microSD. The firmware is the holy rockbox.
I find this too. If I listen on my iPods, I listen. If I have Apple Music playing, it’s just audio wallpaper. I break out The Good Headphones and choose something from a finite selection of music that I’ve curated, and I’ll sit there and enjoy it properly, without the temptation to scroll the internet while I’m doing it.