I Built My Own Audio Player

Original Article ↗ Hacker News Discussion ↗

Frustration with Existing Music Players

  • Many commenters resonate with the author’s core problem: mainstream music apps (especially on iOS) feel hostile to local files, overcomplicated, or designed around streaming, not simple playback.
  • Several people say they feel like they’re “fighting” every app just to play their own music, especially large folder-based libraries or compilations like “Various Artists,” which many apps mishandle.
  • Others counter that default Apple Music + Finder/iTunes cable or Wi‑Fi sync still works fine for them and see little need to reinvent players.

Streaming, Ownership, and “Enshittification”

  • One camp frames the state of music software as “enshittification”: incentives of streaming platforms misalign with user interests (lock‑in, pushing podcasts/cheap content, eventual AI music, DRM).
  • Another camp argues many users never cared to own music (radio analogy) and that streaming is a genuine improvement for them; not all degradation is malice.
  • There’s particular distaste for rental‑style audiobook models and opaque download/DRM limits, but also clarification that some perceived “countdown” features were UI misunderstandings.

Local Libraries, Self‑Hosting, and Alternative Apps

  • Many recommend self‑hosted or server‑backed setups: Jellyfin + Finamp/Symfonium, Navidrome + various clients, Nextcloud Music, Plexamp, Subsonic‑style apps.
  • Others rely on simple local players: foobar2000, VLC, Evermusic, Documents by Readdle, Doppler, Musicolet, Decoupled, VOX, etc.
  • A lot of commenters have built their own players (web apps, SwiftUI, Rockbox targets) to solve specific pain points like device handoff, album‑oriented listening, or better metadata handling.

Dedicated Hardware & Nostalgia

  • Strong nostalgia for standalone MP3 players (Sansa Fuze, iPod Classic/Nano, SanDisk Clip, Shuffle‑style devices) and hardware modding (flash storage, new batteries, Rockbox).
  • Some lament that smartphones + Spotify killed the standalone player market; others note there are still DAPs (Fiio, Sony, Surfans, HiFi Walker), though often Android‑based or pricey.

Web vs Native & Platform Constraints

  • Debate over whether an HTML5/PWA player could replace native: desktop/Android browsers now support directory access, but iOS Safari’s filesystem limits and background‑audio restrictions make this impractical.
  • Workarounds for iOS web audio (fake live streams, silent loops) are shared, reinforcing Apple’s bias toward native apps.
  • There’s side discussion of iOS development friction (App Store fees, sideloading under DMA, dev‑build limits) versus Android’s broader freedom.

Technical Side Notes

  • Some discussion on async/await and concurrency: a few find async code harder to reason about long‑term; others say good concurrency abstractions should simplify growing systems.
  • Long thread on FLAC vs high‑bitrate lossy, archival formats (FLAC vs WavPack), and the practical challenges of curating multi‑terabyte libraries and matching players/servers that don’t mangle tags.