You can get a Google pixel and sideload an operating system such as Grapheneos, and you won’t have to deal with any of Google’s bs spying. Highly recommend looking into it.

My main reasons for using mp3s are bc I only listen to music on my phone so I don’t need to sync across devices or anything. It saves a ton of mobile data to not have to stream, & even if there’s no signal I can jam out.

It does take a while to organize and perfect my library, but I actually love it that way, it’s like a constant journey to reach my peak listening experience. Speaking of that, if there’s something I don’t like about a song (There’s empty silence at the start/end, or i just want to customize it with a different mix) I just throw it into audacity & fix it up.

Not to mention I don’t have to worry about platform-exclusive songs, everything I want is in one place.