This month in digital music libraries - June 2026
June 25, 2026 in digital music by Dan Gravell
In June, a fresh crop of macOS music players and utilities, alongside a look at the hidden costs of cloud convenience; Wasabi storage rates rise whilst the quiet death of lifetime plans continue. Elsewhere, tinkerers wired their collections into the smart home, Last.fm regained its independence, and we fell down some indulgent rabbit holes: roads that play music as you drive, microgenres you’ve never heard of, and an app for learning classical music.
macOS music software
It seems macOS continues to be the spiritual home of the boutique local-first music player, and this month served up two fresh examples — plus a clever little tool for the times you’d rather your Mac kept its music to itself.
First, spite:
A purdy (and opinionated) new macOS music player www.jamesreeves.co/spite/ (feels like macOS and Linux get the bulk of new local-first music players these days)
— bliss - automated music library management (@blisshq.com) 2026-06-15T14:15:20.629Z
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VeraVox takes a different tack with a lighter, airier aesthetic aimed squarely at the #Mac #audiophile crowd; a break from the current dark-and-broody trend.
For the #Mac #audiophiles : VeraVox. Interesting lighter aesthetic to the current trend! rikypate.github.io/veravox--rel...
— bliss - automated music library management (@blisshq.com) 2026-06-19T14:15:06.703Z
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And for the flip side: a music app whose whole job is to not play music.
Does Apple Music launch on your Mac for seemingly no reason? Maybe you're brushing the [▶ Play] play button accidentally - this app stops Music from launching: lowtechguys.com/musicdecoy/
— bliss - automated music library management (@blisshq.com) 2026-06-17T13:30:34.220Z
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The hidden cost of “convenient” cloud
A recurring theme this month: the bill always comes due eventually. Three reminders that handing your music — or your money — to someone else’s service carries a long tail of risk.
First, a heads-up for self-hosters or data sovereignty-types leaning on cheap object storage: Wasabi is raising its rates from the start of next month. Worth factoring into your backup budget.
Alert: Wasabi is raising its data storage rates from the start of next month wasabi.com/pricing
— bliss - automated music library management (@blisshq.com) 2026-06-23T14:04:46.343Z
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Then there’s the not-so-curious case of a vanishing lifetime plan…
Wowzer www.androidauthority.com/lifetime-ple... - from the perspective of a (actual, not token) service though, any lifetime plan is a debt. My guess is they are trying to discourage lifetime plans, or they've found out it's costing them a lot.
— bliss - automated music library management (@blisshq.com) 2026-06-07T13:45:05.982Z
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And rounding it out, a textbook slice of enshittification in the wild. You know it when you see it.
Enshittification in action old.reddit.com/r/mildlyinfu...
— bliss - automated music library management (@blisshq.com) 2026-06-09T13:30:40.922Z
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Tinkering: music meets the smart home
For the weekends-and-evenings hackers, two projects that wire music into the fabric of the home.
First, piping a Google Drive music collection into Home Assistant for whole-house audio — with rclone.
Google Drive music -> Home Assistant and whole house automation - the heavy lifting here is done by rclone, exposing Google Drive via #WebDAV blog.tomayac.com/2026/05/30/y...
— bliss - automated music library management (@blisshq.com) 2026-06-11T14:15:07.028Z
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And in a similar spirit, syncing lighting effects to your audio… for a full light and sound experience!
Syncing lighting effects and audio... like a hacker aaronjanse.substack.com/p/syncing-li...
— bliss - automated music library management (@blisshq.com) 2026-06-13T13:45:03.994Z
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Last.fm strikes out on its own
Genuine news for the scrobblers: Last.fm is now independent again. After years of passing between corporate owners, the venerable listening-history service is back on its own two feet — reassuring for anyone who’s trusted it with a decade of plays, stats, analytics and recommendations.
@last.fm is now independent support.last.fm/t/last-fm-is...
— bliss - automated music library management (@blisshq.com) 2026-06-05T15:06:27.060Z
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Curiosities and discoveries
To finish, a grab-bag of the delightfully odd and the genuinely useful.
Firs the odd - “musical roads” - stretches of tarmac engineered to play a tune as you drive over them. Your tyres as the needle, the road as the record.
TIL about "musical roads" www.motor1.com/news/798011/...
— bliss - automated music library management (@blisshq.com) 2026-06-21T13:30:23.223Z
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Next, a tour through genres you didn’t know existed and possibly didn’t know you needed - Dariacore, ‘shitgaze’ and friends. Proof that the long tail of music is longer, and weirder, than ever.
Dariacore, shitgaze... the genres you didn't know you needed. pitchfork.com/thepitch/mee...
— bliss - automated music library management (@blisshq.com) 2026-06-01T14:31:04.905Z
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And for something more wholesome, an educational app for learning about classical music — a gentle on-ramp into the canon.
An educational app about classical music www.virtuosomusic.app
— bliss - automated music library management (@blisshq.com) 2026-06-03T15:15:16.539Z
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Photo by Bruno Bučar on Unsplash
