Music: Now that you’re back...
In my last 2 posts I’ve mentioned how I was going to “hire” certain apps/platforms/services to bring more music into my life this year. I’ve also mentioned how I would be using apps like Timery to quantify my journey. So far...I’m really pleased with the way things are going. Here’s an update.
Demoting Spotify
A few weeks ago I thought that Spotify was going to be more a part of this musical journey. I’ve since come to the realization that Spotify, for now, needs to be demoted. I didn’t realize at the time I was dipping my toe back into the Spotify ecosystem that I was in the midst of a two week trial where I could do certain things with the app that would no longer be available at the end of the trial. At the end of the trial I had a decision to make, “create another eel” in my life with a paid subscription or demote Spotify. I decided to demote Spotify since I am already paying for the Apple One service; more on that in a little bit. Luckily, two weeks into the ecosystem wasn’t enough to make this decision a difficult one. I’d only created a few playlists and found one episode of ambient music I was using to fall asleep at night; easily replicated if I did what I should have when I first paid for the Apple One service; double down!
Doubling Down with Apple Music...
I spent about 30 minutes one afternoon re-creating the playlists I’d initially made in Spotify, in Apple Music. It was very easy...I just pulled up the playlists on my iPhone XR and created new playlists in Apple Music on my 2015 MacBook Pro by typing the titles of the songs and moving them into the appropriate playlists. I’ve also been using features like “Listen Now” and “Browse” more often when looking for new music to try out. Apple Music already “knows” a little bit about me through my use prior to purchasing the Apple One service. It will continue to learn about me, moving forward, only if I use it more! I also used the “Made for You” selection/feature for the first time, accessing the “Favorites Mix.” I found the selection of songs in this mix to be not only accurate with regards to my taste but very eclectic at the same time; affirmation that my taste in music is not one dimensional. I plan on accessing the “New Music Mix” soon. Replacing the sleep episode playlist on Spotify was equally easy within Apple Music. All I had to do was go to the “Search” and scroll down to the Sleep category. There I found numerous playlists to choose from. I’m currently enjoying one called, Sleep Sounds. I use it in conjunction with the timer feature when we go to bed each night; a beautiful to end the day. I’ve also been using the Music Harbor app to keep in touch with artists I like. Recently I noticed the number “1” on the “Upcoming” section of a widget I have on my phone. Clicking that led me to find out that my all time favorite artist, Neil Young, is coming out with new music soon and that I could preview a single with a mere tap on my screen!
Quantified Analysis (and qualitative reflections) via the Timery Widget
Most of you know that Timery is one of my favorite apps. With iOS 14’s introduction of widgets Timery continues to push the limits with regards to what nerds like me can keep track of. I’m currently using a really cool customized “Time Tracked” widget. This particular widget allows me to see a visual of, in this case, how much music I am consuming weekly as well as daily both in bar graph form and in numbers, by day of the week. Here’s a screenshot of this week’s current data...
This particular widget has given me the opportunity to integrate my yearly theme, the Year of Gain, into my daily observations. I’m not aiming to have a “higher” bar each day mind you but what I can say is that the bars do provide a moment of reflection; like, “Oh, that bar on that day was bigger because it was a Wednesday and I had more time on my hands to listen to music and that’s what I did,” or “This was a workday and I still managed to get ‘x’ amount of minutes in listening to music...why is that so?”
To say that all of this music (and tracking of said music consumption) is bringing me peace of mind is an understatement. This journey has only begun. I’m still trying to figure out where the rest of the apps/platforms/and services fit (or don’t) within this journey. I’d say more but I’ve got some music to listen to.
Until next time...
