| Jul022009 | Mixtapes and Podcasts |
Because I’m so indie, I jumped on the MP3 thing a lot earlier than the rest of the world and my introduction to the world of music happened in this order:
- Music videos of the Top 50 singles on rage
- Whatever radio my dad listened to in the car
- Songs are downloaded à la carte and shuffled on an MP3 player
For the past few years, it’s been less and less radio to the point where it’s almost zero. But the sad fact is that I actually miss radio. I absolutely hate the horrendous advertising voices there but I love the mix or when they play one of those hits from my childhood that I would never add to my own collection but adore nonetheless. There really is value in having a curator that decides what flows from the speakers to your ears.
Thankfully, the internet is slowly moving in to fill that gap. We have more intelligent music shuffle courtesy of Pandora (which is about as repetitive as pop radio stations) and last.fm. These are just two of many services let you rate songs and they will pick based on your loves/hates and what other relationships it can determine from its vast amount of user replies and music categorizations.
We have podcasts that replicate the radio shows of the old days and cater to every ridiculously niche topic you can think of. When I drive, sometimes I want music and sometimes I want to learn something interesting. Get the juices in my mindgrapes flowing. I’m kind of an NPR whore and I listen to This American Life, Radiolab, Planet Money and Car Talk.
Finally, internet mixtapes. Ooh, these are a new frontier for me. I’m still skeptical of a lot of mixes but someone linked me to Radio Friendly Unit Shifter ’09 which is just an incredibly fun mix of 90s alternative rock. Perfect for driving; I’m so glad I burned this on to a CD.
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