Pandora advice
Does the ability to buy anything online impact you more? Then you should be more uncomfortable.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RSA
RSA WHAT WHAT? Yeah, I went there.
For over a month, Dirty Projectors Radio has been my default background music for working on the computer. During that time, it pretty much played the same fifteen pretty songs over and over, which was good, because too much new music distracts me. I rarely “disciplined” it. Then all of a sudden, about forty-five minutes ago, it veered suddenly into new classic-rock-sounding musical territory, and ran through about ten artists I’d never heard of and didn’t really like. Fixing this problem led me into new distractions, and now here I am posting on Tumblr.
I am uncomfortable that a computer algorithm has this much impact on my well-being.
Pandora is a strange, strange program. Usually, for the first hour or so of music, it plays songs that I like and agree with. After that, though, no matter how intensely I ‘discipline’ it (thumbs up! thumbs down!), it goes into some realm of music that I do not understand or appreciate. However, I have a list of do’s and don’ts that may be helpful:
Do: M. Ward Radio— Tends to stick to exactly what you would like. Good for general background music.
Don’t: Meat Loaf Radio— I love me some Meat Loaf, but apparently Meat Loaf is very similar to Journey, Bon Jovi, and Poison. No thanks!
Do: Otis Redding Radio— Etta James! Sam Cooke! Al Green! Check plus, Pandora. But be warned, if you don’t discipline often, it will slide off into the land of funk. I don’t know, maybe you like that kind of thing.
Don’t: Any-female-singer Radio— Pandora takes this as permission to play every and any female singer/songwriter ever, of which only about 30% are good. Someone here is sexist: either me or Pandora.
Do Do Do: ‘Merry Christmas Baby’ by Otis Redding Radio— A superb collection of Christmas music. Happy Holidays!
