For mail, I would really consider Fastmail (over Migadu).

Fastmail has contributed a huge amount to the open source community, also include Calendar support (Migadu does not) and has a fantastic web interface (where Migadu is extremely lacking).

Even though I have no expectation that my emails are 100% private, I'm still incredibly hesitent to trust any company operating out of Australia with their horrible stance towards encryption and backdoors (which is not Fastmails fault of course, it's a pretty horrible situation for them).

I'm fairly sure that Migadu also supports caldav, although I don't think there's any UI for it on the web. I think there's pretty much an expectation that most people using Migadu are bringing their own clients rather than using the web one anyways.

Posteo is also good. Endorsed by the FSF even. Not sure about the web interface hehe, it's just RoundCube.

Posteo's web UI is very barebones, a little clunky but ok. I rarely use it though, because why would I when I can just use IMAP and choose my client?

If I really wanted a different web UI I could still just run my own and sync using IMAP.

Their service is excellent and cheap. I highly recommend them.

+1

I've been using Posteo for years, and I have also been very happy with their service.

Yeah that's what I use for email and I've had no issues with it.

Fastmail is in australia though? Didn't they just get completely backdoored?

Email is insecure by default. The best you can do is go with a provider that doesn’t sell your behavior to advertisers like Google does.

But if even 50% of the population uses gmail then they have your information anyways?

I wonder why there's always such a focus on streaming music, and not the old fashioned "play what you own". You're just putting yourself at the mercy of a slightly different service provider.

Bandamp allows you to purchase music directly from the artist, in high quality, and download and own it permanently. They also let you stream it from them after purchasing it which is a useful bonus but the main thing is you own the music.

TIL. Thanks for the info! That does seem like a nice alternative to Spotify/Apple Music.

I discovered Bandcamp while trying to buy music by Hatari a few years ago and have loved it since. They have definitely done things right and the ability to discover interesting artists there is just an additional perk.

I buy stuff from Bandcamp, download the ALAC, and then iTunes Match automatically adds it to all my computers and phones. It's not an either/or proposition lol

I used to use iTunes Match but now it syncs through Apple Music’s iCloud syncing feature. It’s the one thing that keeps me on Apple Music instead of Spotify because there’s a lot of live stuff I’ve got from Bandcamp and demo stuff from Patreon that aren’t on streaming services and would be a pain to sync manually.

As someone with 60+ gigs of mp3s all organized into folders and properly tagged, I'll take Apple Music all day long. What "mercy" am I subjecting myself to? A friend says: check out this band, and within seconds I am playing it. Compared to spending a huge % of my income on records and CDs and then a huge % of my time dealing with mp3s, this is living the dream! How am I being abused? Because I don't own the music I am renting? My annual sub would buy a paltry number of CDs.

You're attributing a lot of malice to my message that I did not put there.

And yes, the convenience is great, until 1) you stop paying, 2) they go out of business, or 3) you are interested in music they don't have licenses to.

As contentous as the relationships are between spotify-alike services and the music rightsholders, I don't believe that they are a very good long term investment. I almost expect to see the music space to move towards where the TV space is now - each publisher running their own streaming service.

That is a great list. And a reminder to backup.