I don’t disagree with anything you’re saying.
I wish there was the infrastructure for that without Spotify like what radio used to be, or when the average person had nueanced opinions and it was easier to get recommendations from everyone.
However we don’t live in that world so there’s nothing to judge anyone on atm until Spotify collapses under its own weight.
Isn’t it owned by square?
I used it as a way to discover music not as my main player as I said but that’s also probably not a common issue (even if it is at its heart an accessibility issue for the partially deaf). I’m not sure if Deezer solves that issue but it also will feel shallow, but idk if it solves that issue.
Plex has gone kinda stupid lately. However Plexamp is very very feature heavy if you wanna own instead of rent the art you consume though. If you want a tier down from Plex, jellyfin with Finamp worked well for me as well when I switched. Emby isn’t feature heavy so maybe about Emby.
Personally though if you wanna get away from streaming I’ll throw in my two cents: an old iPod or iPhone would work great, have decent battery life, and allows you to listen to music without buffering. Takes a bit of getting used to but once you’re on it, you’re on it and it’s unfathomable for me to go back now.
Emby does as well. That said once you live without discover features and unshackle yourself from algorithms I will say … It’s really not that big a deal lol
I used to go hard finding new shit on Spotify and YouTube etc, but eventually word of mouth with friends and the library really solved the issue. Also changed how I consume music from songs in a playlist to looking at every album as one solid work of art to be understood.
Now I hit up my friends when I want new music recs, they hit me up. It’s a good ice breaker. The library is also mad under used as a resource, they love supplying new shit if people are wanting it.
I got to a point where I am now where I carry around an iPod, and some CDs for the car lol may be weird however works for me and I paid zero dollars for music the last couple months cause now I have a solid personal library.
Tidal I believe has what you’re looking for and may be worth a shot.
Deezer is non American and I think it’s worth a shot to try if you wanna give that a shot as well as the seem the least shitty.
That said, Plex/emby/Jellyfin although lacking discoverability is what I used to transition off Spotify in conjunction with tidal. Eventually found out the local library had CDs and used that to discover new music, started buying CDs I liked and enjoyed and have been very happy since since I don’t have a month subscription now as I don’t need to rent my music.
(if you’re the type to be sailing, you could also copy CDs from the library)
I’d say your best shot is to just experiment around, Spotify is always going to be the most convenient. Deezer (as far as I know) the least shitty, and tidal the best quality.
That’s how I did it before streaming and how I do now. Fortunately I got my friends to go down this road too and we’re all sorta healthier with it.
Will say, the library is an awesome resource if you start a local collection. It can be a good resource while you bridge the gaps. Most libraries also run their own streaming service for free it’s not feature rich usually but ours is very simple and very stable.
Like I said generally experimenting is best. Different people have different needs :)