I love music! Always have. Recently I have started to dabble with some apps that have reminded me of the importance that music plays in my life; namely Spotify and MusicHarbor. This is NOT going to be a post of how I discovered each of these apps and how awesome each one is; although...truth be told...I was one of the first people in America to give Spotify a try when it first came out around 2007. No...in keeping with the spirit of my yearly theme, The Year of Gain, this short post is going to be more about some recent insights I’ve (for lack of a better word) “gained” while dabbling with both of these apps.

I read a great article on MacStories (amazing website), at the end of 2020, about some really interesting apps that the staff had reviewed and recognized as “the best” of the year. The app they deemed all around “App of the Year” is a music app called MusicHarbor. I’m not going to review the app here. MacStories did a great job of that and I strongly urge you to read what they’ve put together. What I will say about MusicHarbor is that they have a really cool widget that you can put onto the home screen of your phone. The one I’m using currently shows the latest release of one of the artists you’ve chosen, on the top along with other releases, from other artists, along the bottom.

That said, remember, this post is about insights I’ve “gained,” in this particular case, as a result of reading articles and downloading apps like this. After reading about why MusicHarbor was chosen as “App of the Year” on MacStories I thought it would be interesting to check in on some of my favorite artists/groups so I downloaded the app and immediately added 6 artists/groups. This led me to purchasing Paul McCartney’s latest album, McCartney III. It’s a wonderfully, playful album that McCartney made during the pandemic. Listening to his voice on this album lifted my spirits while bringing back memories of seeing him (along with Bob Dylan, The Rolling Stones, Neil Young, The Who, and Roger Waters) perform in Indio California, at the Empire Polo Club, while celebrating my 50th birthday with my amazing wife.

Shortly after listening to that album my wife and I visited two of our very good friends. As we were enjoying the evening together I noticed that they were playing holiday music on their Alexa Show. I also noticed that they were streaming the music from their Spotify account. As we were listening I thought, “Spotify...it’s been a while. I wonder what’s going on ‘over there?’” The next morning I was downloading the app and playing around with it. Like the MusicHarbor app, I input the same 6 artists/groups and was immediately presented with playlists that I could start listening to. Since that morning I’ve found several playlists that I like. I’ve also downloaded a cool widget to my home screen that Spotify has available, for my iPhone XR. The cool thing about this widget is that it shows the current playlist on top and 4 other playlists you’ve been listening to...making it easy to get into what you want. I’ve since taken that widget off of my home screen (I’ll share more about that decision in a few weeks).

So, you might be wondering...what have I “gained” from all of this? It has occurred to me that I have not been listening to enough music. “It” nourishes my soul whether I’m walking or running outside or on the treadmill, driving in my car, doing chores around the house, writing, or just sitting; “being.” I need more music in my life in 2021 and with things like Spotify, MusicHarbor, and the massive library of music I have at my disposal on platforms like Apple Music, Amazon Music, Sonos, and my Sirius/XM subscription...I aim to bring music back into my life as we move into 2021.