I bought an MP3 player this year. Browsing eBay one night, I came across some new old stock Philips GoGear MP3 players for a ridiculously low price. I snagged one for $12 shipped. It arrived a few days later looking like it had just come off a store shelf. I opened it up and, within a few days, it changed the way I listen to music at home.

I collect physical and digital music, and have done so for a long time

But I’ve never been a fan of streaming music

Credit: David J. Buck/How-To Geek

I’ve been a music collector for most of my life and adore physical media. My rare Frank Zappa albums simply aren’t going to vanish because the licensing expired. They’ll always be on my shelf unless I choose to get rid of them.

I don’t care for Spotify or music streaming in general. On paper, it’s a cool idea: unlimited access to all your favorite songs, in one place, for a small fee. The idea’s been around a long time. In fact, Zappa talked about something similar in his autobiography, The Real Frank Zappa Book, back in the late 1980s.

When the late 1990s hit (like most people in my generation), I got into Napster, MP3s, Ogg Vorbis, and music collecting and hoarding. I got my first portable music player sometime in 2005 or 2006. It was a hand-me-down Philips MP3 player with a scroll wheel and a gray-scale display. I used that thing constantly.

Later, I picked up a Philips GoGear SA10PS08K/37 and used it extensively while threading and running film projectors full-time. Eventually, it died, and I never replaced it.

A few factors made me dive back in this year.

Listening to music like it’s 2008

Why I bought a Philips GoGear in 2026

Credit: David J. Buck/How-To Geek

My GoGear purchase was rooted in a desire to get away from streaming, using my phone as a primary music player, and reducing the amount of time I interact with my physical media. I have a large CD collection. Sometimes, it’s easier to just play my albums digitally.

I use Symfonium on my phone and through Android Auto. It’s fantastic for being out and about, but it’s not uncommon for me to keep my phone in a different room while I do stuff at home. The GoGear has a headphone/aux port and works with wired headphones, so I can hook it into my stereo’s line-in port. I won’t use the earbuds because I suffer from hearing loss.

Aside from that, it’s about control and customization. Plus, subscription costs are getting out of control, and I already have a ton of music. So, why not?​​​​​​​

Exploring what’s in the box

Unboxing some “vintage” consumer electronics

It’s been a long time since I bought a new music player. The box, which had extremely hard plastic that was difficult to open, had:

1. The GoGear itself
2. A warranty card (probably no longer valid)
3. Wired earbuds
4. A very short mini-USB transfer cable
5. A surprisingly thick user manual
6. A drivers/program installation disc
7. The typical warning pamphlets that come with consumer electronics

I booted up my hobby laptop (which runs an isolated version of Windows 10), installed the drivers and the Philips Media Converter, and then waited for the device to charge. It took about four hours. Finally, I loaded up some music: a few Jonathan Coulton albums, a Ween concert, some Ozric Tentacles albums, Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots by The Flaming Lips, and Pink Floyd’s The Wall.

After that, it was time to check out some tunes!

A quick listen revealed some audio quality issues

Some audio tweaking and a peripheral upgrade made things better

Credit: David J. Buck / How-To Geek

I forgot how compressed and tinny MP3 files sounded on the Philip Go Gear. I tried listening with the included earbuds, and it was on par with listening to a dubbed cassette on the lowest quality Walkman you’ve ever owned.

I switched to some old Sony padded headphones. It sounded better, but still not great. I played with the settings a bit. After finding the least offensive equalizer setting (rock), things started to sound better.

Then I threw on my Tascam monitoring headphones. Now we’re talking. It sounded best through professional-quality headphones. Of course, it does. Finally, I hooked up an Aux cable to my CD player and would honestly say I got some pretty good results. Is it as good as a modern phone?

No. Not by a mile. But that’s okay. I’m seeking a nostalgic experience, complete with the audio quality I remember. I listened to the entirety of Code Monkey Save World, which was a Kickstarter-exclusive album I received in 2013 after supporting the comic miniseries of the same name. I just sat at my computer and worked on a coding project, and just like that, I felt like I was back in college.

That was exactly the experience I wanted from this project.

Having an MP3 player is changing the way I listen to music … sometimes

Fewer options are better sometimes

Credit: David J. Buck/How-To Geek

Part of the reason I wanted an MP3 player, aside from nostalgia and reliving my college coding days, was to narrow down my choices. Sometimes, too many options give me fatigue and make me avoid listening to anything at all.

By narrowing down the albums or live shows that I want to listen to on any given day or week, I can throw them on the go gear, hook it up via line-in my stereo, and just listen to whatever while I work completely uninterrupted.

Zero notifications, no phone calls, and no ads. I don’t even have to get up to change a disc or cassette.

That’s how I want to listen to music. I’m glad I picked one up.

An MP3 player in 2026 augments other listening methods

Now I won’t say that I’m replacing my primary music devices with a 24-year-old MP3 player. That would just be ridiculous. But it’s useful for a very specific purpose: helping me keep focused and less distracted while working at home.

Credit: David J. Buck/How-To Geek

The only real downside is the battery doesn’t hold a charge for very long. I’ll eventually get a new one. Because it’s over two decades old.

It’s cool having an MP3 player again, although if you decide to get one yourself, you might have to replace the battery sooner rather than later…