Who buys an MP3 player in 2025? Why music streaming doesn't always cut it

"When I was 18, I bought a heavily reduced MiniDisc player. This wasn't even what you could charitably call fashionably late, given the format was already on its last legs, but I loved it, and because nobody else was interested, blank discs were dirt cheap. I have a vague recollection of grabbing packs at Poundland, allowing me to create a glorious self-curated library of cheap music, five years before the birth of Spotify."

"Or digital audio players, to give them their more accurate name, given MP3 playback is just one of many supported file formats. For some time, I've had a nagging feeling that music streaming wasn't cutting it. Yes, having all the world's music at your fingertips is a technological marvel, but you have to deal with kid in a sweetshop choice paralysis and even more importantly, it's not your music."

"When he started in 2017, the customer base was primarily the niche audiophile community, pursuing high-res audio as a hobby, he says. People who talk more about the tech than they do about the music. But since Covid, these buyers have been joined by a new, more casual customer. For some, there's an element of nostalgia, but there are more logical reasons, too. It gets them off an algorithm, Laidler says. It's music they're seeking out themselves."

An early MiniDisc experience demonstrates how cheap physical media enabled personalized, owned music collections before streaming services existed. MP3 players (digital audio players) provided portable playback of multiple file formats and later waned as streaming rose. Streaming offers vast catalogs but creates choice paralysis and lacks user ownership of music. Since 2017, a niche audiophile market sought high-resolution local playback, and after Covid a broader casual customerbase emerged. Motivations include nostalgia, escape from algorithmic recommendations, deliberate music selection, and the ability to store files that users truly own rather than lease through streaming subscriptions.

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