While we were living in Hawaii, I had a lot of things I wanted to do for myself. Most of them involved learning something. I wanted to become a better web developer, wanted to be a songwriter, wanted to be a media mogul, wanted to be an IT guru, wanted to listen to new music.
My friend Marty introduced me to podcasts. They have been wonderful tools for me. I can learn stuff passively without needing to pay attention. Unfortunately, my commute in Hawaii was 10 minutes each way. That’s not long enough to listen to most of the podcasts I like all the way through. So I was trying to cram a podcast into each day, and music ended up getting pushed out.
Now my commute is ridiculously long, and I have a lot of downtime when I can either doze off or listen to something. I now have the time to listen to podcasts.
And now I’m getting a little tired of them.
I’m in no way saying I’m going to stop listening, but I don’t want them to rule my ears. I’d forgotten the joy of just listening to music.
Yesterday the Blackberry Appworld launched, and in it was a BB app for Pandora, an internet radio station that guesses what you like based on a few choices you make to start with, your feedback, and the music genome project. So far, it’s remarkably accurate. I’m now rediscovering music, and I’m loving it. If you want to hear what I’m listening to, it’s that blue box on the right, a little bit down, labeled “My Stations”