I’m not saying nobody has that requirement, I’m just predicting that most people actually don’t if they sit down and think about it for a minute.

Also, what jaroni just said about cover art and position saving is still patently false and has been since, like, 1994.

Artwork

Yes they can, via images embedded in their ID3 tags. This is supported by a huge array of players in terms of both physical hardware and software.

Keep your place

Yes they can, via many players (including both VLC which is what I use, and also my car stereo).

Sync across devices

This much is true, at least in the players I use. There’s probably a solution with some specific player somewhere.

But specifically for audiobooks, I don’t… need… to play across multiple devices. I listen via only two methods: My headphones (which are driven by my phone) and in my car (which works with my phone). I only actually use one player. It goes with me everywhere. Ours go with most of us everywhere; we’re naked without 'em.

If your use case requires a networked solution, you do you. I’m just saying, don’t automatically get blinded by how the Streaming Era has kind of fucked up everyone’s brain.

Edit: Downvoting me doesn’t change the fact that what you said was false.

Yes, I am aware of where this is posted and am prepared for my inevitable crucifixion as a result. But, like, is this really a problem that requires a self hosting solution? That seems like quite the overcomplication to me unless you absolutely require access to your entire selection on multiple devices that will have 24/7 network connections.

MP3’s take up negligible amounts of storage space on modern devices and can be played on anything, and can be easily taken with you anywhere including out of network range.

I guess teaching people how to drag-and-drop audio files onto their phone and open them with VLC would be a much shorter article.

Note that this is not a catch with this recycling process (necessarily, anyway; the article doesn’t get into too many specifics) but rather an end-run to make lithium mining and refining appear less awful than it actually is.

Mining new lithium may be “cheaper” in raw dollars and cents provided only you don’t include the environmental impact or the costs of dealing with the same as a line item on the invoice.

Are you callin’ me out, old man???

Anyway, it’s rarely the cardboard that’s a hassle. It’s the damn glued shut bubble mailers, the boxes that are completely shrink wrapped, or have those damn plastic straps around them, or plasic clamshell packaging.

All of those get the chop. The latter often with extreme prejudice.

It makes total sense if you’re of the generation(s) whose brains were fucked up by the American public education system pre-1980 or so, and were never taught how to understand abstract concepts nor any critical thinking skills. They learned everything by rote recitation.

Everything.

FYI, this is probably in no small part why your parents struggle with technology or at the very least anything with an on-screen user interface so much.

Up until then, “thing you stick in machine that plays movies” inevitably involved some manner of tape. I imagine the majority of the public has absolutely no idea nor any interest in how this actually works inside the machine; as far as they’re concerned it’s either magic or complicated nerd technology stuff that they have convinced themselves that they’ll never understand. It was just hammered into them that When Done With Movie You Must Rewind (or else mom/dad/the video store will get mad at you). However, no logical connection is made between the medium in question and the act of rewinding. Merely that it is a movie thing. Movie things get rewound.

I’m sure this is also why a particular generation insists on calling Nintendo cartridges “tapes.”

My father is an engineer, which has its ups and downs. He can definitely be trusted to read a dialog box and nearly 100% of the time even understand what it says. Abstract concepts, problems he’s never encountered before, all generally no issue.

My stepmother, however, once asked me if she needs to rewind a DVD before putting it away. We’ve been working on it with her over the years. She’s certainly better now, but she still has an acute case of just randomly clicking on things without reading them.