i’ve been off Spotify for just shy of a year (!!) and owe much of my success to my refurbished iPod and the Chicago Public Library. I made the transition very strategically, making a list of all my playlists and manually rebuilding them in iTunes with music I ripped from CDs and purchased from Bandcamp (Bandcamp Friday is the best!). I keep all of my mp3s backed up on an external hard drive just in case something happens to my iPod. I have found myself more actively listening to new music, music I didn’t remember I loved, and seeking out CDs at the library and used CD stores. It’s been a journey, a hobby, a discovery, and an absolute blast.