I kind of solved that with favorites. For albums I favorite them like I said previously to bookmark them to see all of the ones I care about most front and center.

The favorites for songs though, I use for the use case you described above. Every song I favorite gets added into a playlist using Navidrome’s “smart playlist” feature automatically.

Don’t get me wrong I use playlists ritually, but for an easy “brain off” playlist with every single song I clicked the heart on automatically, it can’t be beaten for ease of use.

I definitely use favorites. I’ve never really cared enough for the rating system. I almost use the favorites button as a bookmark for albums and songs I don’t want to lose in the collection.

From the text you replied to:

Admittedly, this isn’t always the case

I believe you’re looking for a debate, where I was wanting discussion. Take care.

I love open source in an ethical sense, and I use it to meet all of my media and storage needs. Even my operating system is open source. However, as a consumer, I also value having the best possible experience. Companies can provide better and more refined experiences in many ways, often by leveraging their deep pockets.

I don’t mind paying for services that offer great value or save me time. The problem that most companies face, though, is that I expect them to respect both me and my privacy.

If we were to eliminate privacy infringements from proprietary software and make it open source, it would often become best-in-class within the open source community (e.g., Photoshop, Microsoft Office, etc.). Admittedly, this isn’t always the case, but all of this is to say that there can be arguments in favor of providing a service that respects the end user and their privacy, which warrants further discussion.

If it wasn’t Meta, I would almost be okay with this. If I genuinely believed that my privacy was being preserved, I think it’d be a fair trade.