Tidal has no official Linux app, which is shocking considering their demographic. But a hero has made an app that gets pretty close. Under the hood it’s the web client with some add-ons to support full quality streaming. The user experience is generally fairly close to an official app.

I used soundiiz to convert all my content over, and of probably over 10,000 songs there were less than 100 unavailable, so library isn’t a concern. The increased quality is nice, but the big reason I choose tidal is that instead of doing unnecessary stuff like podcasts they pay artists better. As much as 3X according to some things I’ve read. I have not verified those numbers.

Cards on the table: for Google money I’d do it too. If they want to enshittify their product until the competition has a fighting chance, who am I to stop them? Sure, it’s an annoying and anticonsumer thing to do. But making a “free” product’s bad qualities harder to circumvent isn’t the ethical hill I’m going to die on.

One up from the lower right where I live

My kit:

• pocket knife
• flashlight
• wallet
• folding phone stand
• phone
• earbuds
• pen (with a cap, not a clicky)
• sharpie
• breath mints
• 4’ multi-end charging cable
• thumb drive
• lightning > 3.5mm (aux)
• USBC > 3.5mm
• bandaids
• OTC drugs (Advil, Tylenol, Aleve, Benadryl, lactase (I’m lactose intolerant))

Everything on that list was added because I needed it and didn’t have it on multiple occasions. There have been plenty of other things that I would love to carry, but found too bulky to justify.

A note to everyone recommending condoms: they do expire, and can wear through if carried in an environment with friction (wallet, pocket, etc). I prefer to play it safe and make a stop at a drug store should the need arise.

If you have the budget for it, get an SSD. You will never look back. Even if you never open a game, the difference in pc boot and application load times alone makes it worth it. Not to mention the increased life span, as others have mentioned. If budget is a serious concern, you can consider a fusion drive. Fusion drives have a segment using the same memory cells as SSD for frequently used programs, and a traditional spinning disk HDD section for affordable storage. Especially if you are looking to upgrade to 2+TB, a fusion drive can bridge the financial gap. But my personal recommendation would be to splurge a bit on a full SSD, and get at least 2TB if at all possible. Files sizes get bigger every year, and if you intend this to be your only storage the extra breathing room will be a huge QOL difference.