this post was submitted on 23 Jul 2026
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We got frog boiled in the 2010s to accept renting out media. Me and my sandisk Sansa clip still go for walks listening to mp3s. I wonder if devices like this will see a resurgence under the idea that owning it gives you control of your media.
Like every trend does on social media, it's devolved into another consumerist "spend money" issue, but on Tiktok and other places there's a trend of "going analog" and returning to old tech. Okay not "full analog" as some people were using mp3 players and 3DS as a way of returning to tech that doesn't talk you, and those are obv digital and not analog, but that's the overall spirit of the trend.
The issue is people are going out and buying shit instead of finding what they already have and repurposing it. Use an old phone without a sim card as an mp3 player, or get one used from a friend or a slightly more ethical marketplace rather than a brand new thing you might not use.
Its a thing already.
Companies like fiio, shanling etc make old skool style players.
E.g.:
https://www.fiio.com/newsinfo/1131387.html
We thought we were signing up for libraries. We forgot the "Public" part of how libraries work.
If Amazon sales of "MP3 players" are indicative it's simmering; I see a handful with over 1-2K sales per month (assuming we can trust those numbers, it is Amazon after all). I imagine it's going to be a bit muted for a while due to the memory and storage price gouging and that may push more people towards CD's, which are already seeing a resurgence.
I have an mp3 player that I occasionally use, but much more frequently I'm streaming my music to my phone from my Plex server.