I want to leave my phone at home or not have it on me most of the time. Most calls I get are meaningless spam and I rarely need to answer my phone for real calls outside my home (though it does happen on ocassion). One thing I do want and am accustomed to is having music, however.
I was looking at Amazon and Aliexpress for devices that can play mp3/mp4s, some can do that and even have ebook readers which is great. I don’t see any connectivity on them or microphones save for the one that is included on the earbuds or Bluetooth.
And that is one question I have: can Bluetooth compromised your privacy? I know Bluetooth hacking is real but how bad is it?
I guess if it has a microphone it is ok if I dont have any connectivity. What do you guys recommend?
Old phone which is supported by (even an old version of) LineageOS, kept permanently in airplane mode.
Can be extra cheap in countries which have switched off 2G+3G networks, and old phones are more likely to have a headphone jack. You might even have one kicking around in a drawer.
Audio output quality and headphone driving capability varies – research on audio forums for what might be good. LG v-series were very good.
If you’re feeling adventurous you could crack it open and remove/short antennas & microphones and cameras.
If it’s usb-only or the audio section is poor quality, apple sell a cheap usb-c dac that’s pretty good. (get it from a reputable source – most are counterfeit).