How to Build a Music Library That You Actually Own

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It's ridiculous that the pace of my day can be ruined by the realization that a beloved song is no longer on the streaming platform I pay for. As someone who vividly remembers cassette tapes, CDs, and hoarding hard drives full of MP3s, it's a reminder of what we traded in when we said "yes" to streaming services years ago.

I've been working on my Warped Tour playlist for the summer, but I keep running into a ton of licensing holes and grayed-out deep cuts. The gaps are everywhere, and it's harshing the vibe. It's another harrowing reminder that I merely rent whatever Spotify offers in its music library. That's why I started building my music library from scratch again. Here's how to find, buy, and own music in a world that has gone purely streaming.

The best places to buy MP3s

Buying and owning MP3s depends entirely on the type of music you like. If you're into mainstream mega hits or your favorite grungy band is on a big label, you can look to the major players to buy music: Apple and Amazon. Apple's iTunes Store (it's still called that!) remains one of the most robust among the "available everywhere" sect. It's also easy to buy high-quality 256 kbps AAC files, which are technically more efficient than regular MP3s and offer CD-like sound quality without being massive files. Just make sure you're purchasing the music through the purple iTunes icon and not the red one. Amazon's MP3s are DRM-free, usually 256 kbps, and you can usually find what you need there, even some more obscure offerings.

If you're hoping to own digital and physical media, Amazon offers AutoRip. When you buy a physical CD or vinyl marked with the AutoRip logo, Amazon adds the digital version to your cloud library for free. You can stream these purchases through the Amazon Music app without needing a monthly subscription. Apple also lets you stream your iTunes purchases directly within the Apple Music app. Even if you don't pay for the monthly streaming service, you can dig into your legacy library and stream what you own within the platform.

7digital is greatly heralded as a long-standing hidden gem of the MP3-buying world. The service itself is a backend provider for other global music services, which is why they have so much access to music licenses. It's a British company, so if you listen to more international artists, this is a viable solution, as Amazon and Apple's offerings can be region-locked. 7digital also allows you to choose between MP3 and high-resolution FLAC files at checkout.

All three of these services have been around long enough to have a legacy of longevity. If you lose your digital files, Amazon, Apple, and 7digital will let you re-download them through your account.

How to buy music directly from artists

If you're buying digital music to support the band or artist you love directly, try Bandcamp before you go anywhere else. It's one of the few music marketplaces where you can choose your flavor of file—MP3, FLAC, or WAV, in some cases—within a single transaction. Sometimes there is even merch and physical media, like LPs and CDs, that you can add to the cart. Bands like the site because it doesn't take a huge cut of what you're paying the artist for an album. The Bandcamp app also acts like a cloud locker for everything you've bought on the platform, so if you get a hankering for music you don't have on you, you can access it through the mobile app.

Some bands and artists get around their labels by using platforms like Patreon or Substack to distribute music files directly to a monthly "fan club." Others lean into their labels by using direct-to-consumer online shops, like Polyvinyl, which notoriously prioritizes a 50/50 profit-sharing model with their artists. The digital store also features high-res, DRM-free files, ensuring the artist gets a fair share while you get a file you actually own.

Where to buy higher quality digital music

Even if you aren't trading your Apple AirPods for a dedicated DAC (Digital-to-analog converter) and a pair of serious headphones, you may want to own even higher quality digital music, beyond 256Kbs. You'll want to seek 24-bit/192kHz FLAC files, which aren't available in mainstream digital music stores.

Qobuz is a global favorite for buying high-res tracks, and it's one of the easiest to use. You can buy what you want in the browser and then use one of the companion desktop apps to batch-download files. Qobuz even offers a streaming subscription that gives you massive discounts on future high-res albums and EPs you purchase. It's a good deal if you're actually planning to collect MP3s, and the streaming ability lets you preview an album before you commit.

Other popular services include HDtracks, which has been around since 2008. Founded by a pair of audio engineers, the site specializes in definitive masters. It's a good choice if you have a more classical or legacy rock taste in music, as 24-bit remasters are usually available to own. Bleep is another service geared toward electronic and alternative music lovers, while Boomkat serves the more experimental and underground niche.

How to RIP your own CDs

Part of the fun of getting back into digital music is remembering that another way to collect it—and really solidify your ownership—is to go to your local record store or second-hand market for CDs. Yes, CDs, the compact discs that somehow endure even though the players aren't even standard in cars anymore.

Since most modern laptops and computers no longer ship with optical drives in favor of slim, svelte designs, you will need a simple external CD/DVD drive that connects via USB-C or another method. Brands like Asus and LG still make these combination drives. They're easy to buy and aren't too pricey.

Next, you'll need ripping software. For Mac users, the Apple Music app features the same built-in ripper that shipped with iTunes all those years ago, and it's still a viable option. If you want something more robust, there's X Lossless Decoder. It's simple, handles album art and track names quite nicely, and is a good idea if you're a stickler for metadata.

If you're willing to spend a little money, dBpoweramp costs about $40 and works for both Mac and PC. Users like it because it pulls track information from multiple databases simultaneously to ensure metadata is solid.

Windows users also have a plethora of options. Exact Audio Copy is one of the more popular free ripping suites. It cross-references global metadata to ensure you're grabbing audio that sounds like the original, though it does have a learning curve. I use Express RIP CD Ripper because I paid for a license long ago (around $40). It's fairly plain and works fine on most of the albums I recover from Goodwill. However, it doesn't handle compilations very well. I'm still working through a couple of albums in Mp3tag to get them to display the correct song titles.

One major thing to keep in mind if you decide to become CD-obsessed: Always rip to a lossless format like FLAC (Windows) or ALAC (Mac). You can convert a high-quality file into a smaller MP3 later. But you can never expand an MP3 back into the full-fidelity sound of the original CD.

How to stream your musical library now that you own it

Now that you own your own digital music, you'll likely want to play back those files away from the tethers of your home computer. If you've got a centralized storage solution at home and you want to connect your library to the internet, Plexamp lets you create your own private streaming service. You can log in to it from anywhere in the world with the mobile app and stream the files you own in high resolution.

If you don't want to deal with home servers and want to carry your music with you, apps like Prism on iOS and Symfonium on Android are primed for power users. Prism connects to cloud services like Plex and iCloud and features an Apple-worthy interface, while Symfonium supports almost every music format and even lets you cast to other devices. You could also invest in a dedicated mp3 player, either an off-brand one or a revived old favorite, to carry your music with you.

Finally, keep the 3-2-1 rule of file ownership in mind when managing your music collection: If the song doesn't exist in three places, it doesn't exist at all. There should be one copy on your main computer or home server, one on an external backup drive, and one in the cloud or physically stored on a bookshelf. Yes, it's maintenance work, but the trade-off is that you own what you listen to.