The state of Linux music players in 2026

Summary

Update: This post generated a thread on lobste.rs with some more recommendations and thoughts from the friendly folks over there! If you haven’t heard yet, in big 2026 we’re all ditching Microslop for systems that actually respect you, and we’re also breaking up with our ever-pricier Spotify subscriptions in exchange for actual ownership of the media we consume. So, for Fun February, I thought I’d take a look at some of the apps we can use to fill the Spotify-shaped void. The manifesto, which you can skip if you do not care about the self-righteous Linux user rant At this point, I strongly believe even straight up piracy is better for artists than streaming. At least looking up your favorite artist on Soulseek doesn’t pop up a dozen ads and two AI-generated ripoffs that Spotify would rather you listen to as they profit more from them. But copyright infringement is only good when multi-trillion-dollar corporations do it to feed their LLMs. Us peasants are still bound by regular laws. So do not Google “life of a showgirl torrent safe no virus”. Instead, you can just… buy music for cheap. The never-ending vinyl trend cratered prices of CDs, and even new releases can be found for under 10€, with older ones available for half that, especially if you look up sales. If you aren’t too bothered by a lossy format, iTunes - yes, that iTunes, the Apple one - will sell you DRM-free music on release day just like in the good old days. Finally, most music that’s not released on a major label finds its way to Bandcamp, which is another venue for lossless DRM-free music. Of course, we’re not living in the stone ages anymore, so no one expects you to carry your Discman or iPod around. It takes whole of five minutes to pop a CD into a cheap drive and rip high-quality FLACs onto your drive, which you can then stream from wherever you are in the world. Yes, this advanced technology that took Spotify almost two full decades to figure out can be yours in just a few simple steps through se...