We all listen to music. Whether it’s listening to the radio, your favourite album or a playlist you just threw together, we all have something to listen to. I can’t tell you the number of people who I see on a day to day basis with headphones on their ears. Seriously, I can’t tell you because it’s nearly everyone. Since we could make our audio so portable and so accessible, almost everyone can have something to listen to whenever they want. Yes, I have found that when I listen to music (or some background noise), it makes it much easier to do the work that I do.
Streaming Music
Whether you use Spotify, Apple Music or Google Play, Streaming music has become the primary way that people get their tunes nowadays. For those of you who are not on the Streaming train, the primary way that it works is that instead of the traditional way of accessing music by buying it and then loading to your iTunes (or buying directly from iTunes) you basically “rent” the music from your provider. I should be clear, I’m saying “iTunes,” but you can sub in any of the streaming services. I’ve talked about the different video streaming services that are out there, and the music services are exactly the same. You pay a fee, and you get unlimited access to music. The trick here is, “So long as you pay the fee.” When you buy music, you get access to it forever. When you stream, if you stop paying the fees, then the music will become unavailable to you. I like streaming music because of the ease of access. The line for me has been blurred between the music that I own and the3 music that I am merely renting.
Audio-books
I remember when I was a kid, one of the things that my parents did (aside of my father pointing out things along the road and making up wildly untrue stories, that my sister and I took to be sacred truth) was listen to Audio-books. These stories would chew up the kilometres as we would take long trips to wherever we were going. Now my wife and I do the same thing with our kids. Sadly I’ve been forbidden from telling the wildly untrue stories….but the Audiobooks are still around. Where previously you would have a box of CD’s (or for those of us who can remember them, a box of cassette tapes) which you could put into your car and listen to a good story while you were on your long drive. Now you connect your phone via Bluetooth and get your favourite book going. What I like about this is that if you finish a book and you’re mid-journey, you can download a new book (after pulling over and stopping safely of course) and once you have your new book loaded, you can carry on with your journey.
Podcasts
I don’t know about you, but when I was younger, I liked listening to the radio when I was driving to and from work. The chats that would happen between the Dj’s would keep me amused, or informed, or interested in what was going on in the world while I was in the car. Podcasts are the next evolution of talk radio. We can search and see any of the hundreds of podcasts that are out there and download them — every episode is at your fingertips. Depending on how long the show had been going, there could be quite a few episodes. The beauty of Podcasts is that there are so many of them. If there is a topic you’ll are looking to learn about and or something you want to listen to, very likely there is a podcast for it.
With so many different audio sources out there available, there seems to be no end of choice for what we want to listen to. Further than that, with personal sound systems like Digital Music Players and Smartphones, there is no end to when you can listen to what you want to listen to. The trick now is figuring out what to listen to and when. There is a time and a place for everything. Something that I have started doing is listening to podcasts while on my early morning walks. My morning walk allows me to catch up on podcasts that I like listening to while getting exercise at the same time. As I mentioned before, I still like likes tending to Audiobooks for longer car rides, and for shorter trips and my commute, there is always the music that I can get through my iPhone.
What do you listen to?
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