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Table of contents
- Preface
- Main Article
- Readers’ Favorite
- Stuff
Preface
This week I started an experiment: I stopped using my phone for music and I no longer use the suggestions from Apple Music or Spotify.
Why did I start this experiment?
It all began with my kids’ iPods.
Remember those small devices that store and play your music?
One of these iPods malfunctioned, and I tried to fix it. This iPod has my entire music library — every CD I ever owned.
I hadn't used it for years, so I gave it to my kids.
While looking for tutorials on YouTube on how to fix it, I discovered a new world of people listening to their music on a separate device from their phone.
It’s called a DAP (Digital Audio Player).
You might think, "What's the big deal? My phone plays music just like a DAP."
I thought the same. Why carry my old iPod in addition to my phone?
But seeing all the people who made this transition made me rethink my music listening habits.
So, I decided to run an experiment: I’m going to start listening to music on a DAP. A separate device that only plays MY music and nothing else.
What device do I use?
I won’t tell you yet.
Why?
Because it’s not important.
It can be an MP3 player, an iPod, or an old phone. Anything you can connect to headphones and use ONLY for music.
Then I went for a run, holding the DAP in my hand.
In the first few seconds, I thought, "This is annoying, carrying a device in my hand."
But then my music started to play. I began with something I listened to while running when I was 15 (some of you will remember this: Mashina Live: The Goodbye Tour).
OH MY GOD.
Those people on YouTube were right.
It was like magic.
Today’s newsletter is the first chapter in a series of newsletters focusing on how to get back the control you gave to internet algorithms.
The algorithms that have taken away your time, focus, creativity, and joy.
Let’s get them back.
We’ll start with your music.
Number 102!
Main Article
🔵 My First Walkman
It’s 1986, and I got a substantial amount of money from my grandmother.
Substantial for a 6-year-old…
Enough to buy myself a Walkman.
For those unfamiliar with this device, it’s a portable cassette player—a limited and older version of a DiscMan, MP3 player, or iPod.
I remember it like it was yesterday.
My sister had a Walkman, and I wanted one so much.
So, I went with my mom to the electronics store, and we found a Walkman. It was the cheapest Walkman.
The only one I could afford.
I remember my mom handing my money to the seller and asking me, “I’m going to give it to him so you can buy this. Are you sure?”
I said yes.
It was a white Walkman, probably low quality, but I didn’t care.
I put on the headphones and listened to music.
It was like magic.
But then things started to go wrong.
This cheap Walkman began to play my music very slowly. The music sounded awful.
We went back to the store, and the seller blamed the batteries. I tried other batteries, but that wasn’t successful.
I was devastated.
We went back again, and my mom told the seller that I was so sad because of it and that he should fix it. He sent it to their lab, and when I got it back, it malfunctioned again, so I decided to give up.
I continued to listen to it, but everything sounded terrible.
As a 6-year-old, I learned how cheap can be expensive.
I wasted my grandmother’s gift.
🔵 Running 6 km Every Day
After 18 months, I managed to save enough money to buy a new Walkman. A better one.
We went back to the store (same store, there was only one), and I bought one.
Not an original Sony one, but with a good enough name brand.
It was a red Walkman.
I had it for 7 years, and it worked great.
At age 15, I upgraded it to a much better one. I think it was a Panasonic.
This is the Walkman that was there when I started running.
A few days after starting high school, my gym teacher gave us all a talk.
He told us that some of us do nothing and let others carry the load for them. I was one of them.
Actually, he used a bad word to describe us, but I will keep this newsletter clean 😃.
And I took it to heart.
That day, I stopped being a couch potato.
My Walkman was there with me when I started running for the first time in my life. I ran EVERY day.
When I was 17, I ran 6 km every day. My Walkman and music with me every time.
I became one of my gym teacher’s favorite students.
I couldn’t do it without my Walkman.
🔵 Bye-Bye, Algorithm
Over the years, I experimented with successors to the Walkman. There was a Discman, a Minidisc, and an MP3 player.
But none reached the level of the Walkman.
And then came the iPod.
What a wonderful device.
“1000 songs in your pocket.” Steve Jobs is a genius.
Back to the present.
So here I am, trying to fix my son’s iPod. It used to be mine before I switched to listening to music on my phone.
Scrolling through the song lists, I thought to myself: why haven't I listened to these songs for so long? There are such great tracks here.
But my phone is not interested in MY music. The algorithm controls me. A computer decides what I should listen to.
And then it hit me. My phone sucked the joy out of my music.
Just like social media had sucked the joy out of being social.
That week, I went for a run with a DAP (the digital version of a Walkman). I felt like 15-year-old Shay, running with his Walkman.
I listened to music I hadn’t heard in years—music that brought back memories.
My music.
You see, streaming services (Apple Music, Spotify) will offer you music that isn’t really yours. It will be things that MOST PEOPLE listen to.
The most common music.
The algorithm’s music.
During that run MY MUSIC brought me more focus, creativity, and joy.
Every song brought back memories. It reminded me of things I learned in the past.
Things that made me who I am today.
I’m never going back.
Bye-bye, music algorithm.
Readers’ Favorite
What are the 3 most important research habits any clinician should have?
Read my answer here.
Stuff
📱Application I use - Apple Music
“Are you kidding me?! You just told me to stop using the algorithm, and now you’re telling me you’re using Apple Music?”
Well… yes.
But I use it in a very specific way.
I SEARCH for music that I already have at home and DOWNLOAD it to my DAP.
When I open the app, I go directly to the downloads folder.
No internet. No suggestions. No algorithm.
I enjoy the sound quality, the ability to find almost everything, and my own music.
Give it a try!
Epilogue
If you received this newsletter from a friend and would like to join Friday's Digest, visit: https://newsletter.shaysharon.com
That’s it for this issue.
Hope for better times.
Shay
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