This mixtape is called SEPT2024

The other day I picked back up on my never ending internal conversation about why I do this. For whatever reason I started out making some venn diagrams about the situation and was able to distill it into this.

Not to spin off into an 'old man yells at cloud' situation re: technology, but... ... hasn't technology helped us forget what we really like because we can access pretty much everything? When the stuff you like is sitting on a shelf in your home it is fairly easy to reference what it is you like. Granted there are all types of problems with that model.

In my teenage years a trip to Amoeba Records in Berkeley was a really exciting prospect. However, I quickly learned that if I didn't go with a list then I would walk through the doors and forget what type of music I liked. These days I feel the same way when I open up my music app.

So obviously the algorithm driven systems of listening to music these days kind of make sense. If your 'music shelf in the cloud' contains a trillion hours of music (just a guesstimate) then surely you need a few tricks in order to optimize your musical journey.

Fair play technology.

Around my house I am the lead dishwasher (for clarification I said lead not only). Washing the dishes after dinner is one of my favorite times to listen to music. I have a set and achievable goal (as well as some really nice headphones). Perhaps I flailed during the rest of my day and feel like I did nothing. If I finish the dishes I can rest easy knowing I gave it my all.

However, sometimes I stand in front of the sink staring at my music app trying to remember what I like. I might as well be trying to wash dishes in an aisle of Amoeba Records.

By collecting songs in this inconvenient (and very much non-shelf) format I at least have a snapshot of what I like, which in theory gets me out of that 'tyranny of choice' loop and into doing the dishes.

Optimization is everywhere...