Outside Your Comfort Zone
Plexamp is rapidly becoming my favorite music player for a number of reasons. One of which is that it still has the small-development group feel of being a passion project, while also being very good at what it does. It is a commercial product that doesn't feel commercial.
Here's what I mean: When you are listening to a song Plexamp will give you a list of recommendations based on the song and your music library. This is not new. Pandora built its entire identity around that concept. You listen to music, it learns what you likes and then plays more of what you like.
But Plexamp takes it one step further with this section:
Oh, hey, that's new! Technically it's extrapolating a few more steps out, following more links from what you definitely like, (meaning what you're listening to right now) to something you might like, to something that's somewhat related to that and so forth.
Overall the suggestions it makes are fairly solid. I don't like all of them, but that's the point.
It reminds me of one of my favorite quotes from Jonathan Gillette, aka “Why The Lucky Stiff”, one of the heroes of the Ruby world back in the early 2000's:
When you don't create things you become defined by your tastes rather than your ability.
Your tastes only narrow and exclude people.
So Create. (emphasis mine)
If we only listen to music we know we like, we will be limited to just a few tracks, a few bands, a few albums. Our musical world shrinks until it's small and comfortable around us.
I don't like that idea. I'd like to keep exploring music I've never heard before. I'd like to come across ideas that differ from my own. I'd like to think that I'm still open enough to new views and new opinions to listen to not just new voices, but to other people in general.
I’m publishing this as part of 100 Days To Offload. You can join in yourself by visiting 100 Days To Offload.
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