Here’s a suggestion, if you have the equipment to do so. Which, conveniently isn’t a lot, but it is rather specific considering it’s considered “obsolete” by 2022 standards. I had the same problem you mentioned, tons of CDs, an Apple Music subscription (free with my Verizon employee plan) and alot of frustration with was WASNT available to stream. As this frustration grew, I realized how much streaming actually sucks in terms of bit rate and sound quality and looked for a fix. It’s safe to say I won’t go back now.
My “quarantine project”, after stumbling onto some forum post or something about it, was to start modding old original iPods. I realized how much you could do with custom firmware and how, in the last few years, the hardware mods had not just caught up, but surpassed what was possible with just software. No more tying up my phone with streaming, and no more music interruptions with calls, texts, notifications, GPS, etc. a DEDICATED music player that could literally hold up to 1TB of music, had a battery that would literally play for 80 hours, firmware that allowed everything from dragging and dropping folders (no more iTunes) to GameBoy emulation, and some really rad custom housings. This is when I discovered lossless (FLAC) music, and decided to build a complete lossless library.
All of this completely changed music for me, and was done, ironically, with devices 10-15 years old. Using my 2012 MacBook (the last model that allowed user upgrades to RAM, HDD/SSD, etc. as well as the last model to have a CD/DVD drive) I could rip all of my 200+ CDs to lossless FLAC format and simply drag and drop the ripped files to my iPod in a completely custom-build database I could in folders that I could sort/arrange/layer however I chose. I prefer physical media, but I like some extremely obscure older hip hop that’s not always easily obtainable, but I can usually download them in CD quality or above (IE not mp3), which I’ve done for much of my library as well.
At this moment, I have a 700+ GB storage limit on my 2005 iPod, with about 250GB free, and over a TB of music on an external drive I use as my complete database. If you did the math, you’d discover that over 250GB hasn’t even been added to my iPod yet, which is simply because I have more music still needing sorted, tagged, album art added, etc. than I have time to do.
I use my iPod for my line-in boomboxes, for recording mixtapes, for listening to music on the go with headphones, for music in my car, for literally everything. My iPod does literally everything streaming can do, and more…. Plus is does all of it even better. The only advantages to streaming are that it requires 0 time and effort, and it requires carrying 1 less device with you. People like my brother live their entire life by convenience, and I guess it works for him and people like him, but I honestly believe that the only people who think streaming from their phone is the ultimate music experience simply have no idea that an alternative exists, but when they discover one, they’ll switch every single time.
I know it’s not exactly an answer to your question, but it’s definitely another avenue to achieve essentially the same result, so I thought I’d share in case it’s something you’d be interested. Either way, hope you find a solution to your problem that works for you
