Whether your setup consists of a mere laptop and headphones or a whole-home wireless audio system and personal streaming service, keeping a digital collection is likely to offer a significantly more rewarding-and only slightly more time-consuming-listener experience. Storage space is dirt cheap, and bandwidth has reached the point where it’s relatively easy to replicate the convenience of on-demand streaming without ever having to surrender your cash-and data-to some Swedish tech baron.īelow we’ve collected some links to gear that will help you build and maintain a digital music collection for years to come. Maybe you’re still a little sore from the trauma of having once lost your digital collection to some unfortunate event, but it’s never been easier to start over. Without the support of corporate server farms allowing companies like Spotify to seamlessly provide access to millions of songs, you will now be the one responsible for keeping redundant copies of your files, replacing hardware when it fails, and the electric bill to keep it all running.

Running your own collection is not without its burdens. With great power, of course, comes great responsibility.

Buying mp3 music online