Just bring a personal laptop to work and enable hotspot on your phone.
this post was submitted on 28 Jan 2026
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Don't try to bypass IT controls. That's a great way to get yourself into a lot of trouble.
My advice for running the software on a work PC: Don't. You can buy an old used laptop off of eBay for $50 in working condition that works fine as a media center. $50+the convenience usually isn't worth your job, but YMMV.
My advice for discovery: Idk what spotube is, but panoscrobbler+listenbrainz works great for me
Short answer: Don't.
Long answer: Your SO can use a personal laptop if they absolutely must have access to it. For slow work days, I bring a personal laptop paired with my personal phone hotspot to get it online. Work doesn't see it, nor do they care as long as it doesn't circumvent anything.
Only do work on work devices. This is a quick way to lose a job. Always assume the company sees everything that's happening on their device. No way around it, and any attempt to get around it will raise the alarm. Just do the music/podcasts/etc... on another device. Why "need to be able to run it on their work PC"?
Only do work on work devices.
Flashback to when I worked as a Mech Eng, I also 'ran' (term used loosely) the IT dept as well. Small fledgling company and I had the most experience. We would issue our service techs a laptop and a camera (back before phone cameras were popular) to use in the field to document. I've had to have a few conversations with individuals about non-work content on work computers. Some conversations were awkward as it dealt with porn. I'm not a prude, but I care none about your sexual proclivities. I had mentioned this to one of the principals who had told me to just issue the laptops without any lock features, but he later rescinded that and allowed me to lock down everything.
But yeah, non-work on work devices is a foul.
Oh yeah id never try to circumvent it, thats dumb. Im good friends with all the IT guys and I help them with certain issues sometimes (a lot of them follow the IT rules but arent really tech people if that makes sense)
But if I can have a solution that we just access on our nas via web browser, that'd be fine.
As an IT admin, I can confirm that we are everything.
Don't mess with IT, they can make your job even more difficult
What kind of dystopia are you living in that listening to music or podcasts would 'raise the alarm'? Yes, don't do anything inappropriate (definitely no piracy, obviously), or detrimental to productivity, but listening to music? Would definitely quit if an employer had a problem with that.
Is this a thing that's considered 'normal' in the US? (I'm assuming US mainly because other countries are not generally so hostile towards employees)
(I’m assuming US mainly because other countries are not generally so hostile towards employees)
It's not a matter of hostility to employees, but it does have to do with liability and some people don't know where the boundaries are. It's usually a small minority screwing it up for everybody else.
The issue is not listening to music, the issue is trying to circumvent company IT policy to install software they're not allowed to install, e.g. spottube. So, if they want to use something like that, they need to do so on their own devices.
The company owns legal liability for anything you do on their hardware.
The end.
I don't think the issue is listening to music, but installing potentially dodgy software that could bring a virus into the corporate network. Hence most businesses handling sensitive information try to protect their systems and networks by preventing unauthorised installation of software.
Don't worry, we are all on win 11, its already a virus xD I cant stand it.
this is a problemXY type of deal. leave the work PC alone. metrolist on android has everything you mentioned, allows download so it's even available offline, etc.
Is spotube just another client for Spotify? Or what does it do? How is it getting rid of Spotify? You could host navidrome on your NAS and access it via webbrowser. If you don't like the interface, there are several subsonic alternatives.
Best not to go against policy on a work PC. Ideally switch to another alternative who's app actually can just run.
In general running isolated, throwaway things in windows can be done via https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/security/application-security/application-isolation/windows-sandbox/windows-sandbox-install
Installing unapproved software on your work PC is a good way to get hassled about it. Even worse if it becomes a risk.
Instead of breaking the Acceptable Use policies set by your employer, if this Spotify piracy app can be self hosted at home, then you can serve it to the work PC over the Internet.
Yeah exactly, I wouldnt install it on there anyway because it would block it.
I think the nas route is the way to go.
Consider: a bunch of mp3s and a media player
Yeah i do already have that but they want more music than that
Several bunches of mp3s, then.
I also enjoy good old fashioned FM radio from time to time myself.
Fm here is solely nazi conservative rage and stadium ai country. Hell to the no. Oh and "Christian rock". I envy those of you with good radio. Its been dead here for 20 years.
Npr is the only station ill listen to.
why not use something web-based? there's navidrome for self hosting, or plenty of other piracy(?) music streaming sites (which some aren't sketchy, or safe enough to use with ublock origin)
Well the work laptops block websites too if they arent corporate. Amazingly the archive is completely unblocked. Anything gaming related is blocked.
I think access through the nas would work best.
If website are blocked properly, then any app running on the device likely also won't connect.