Music to my Ears

Music to my Ears

It has been said that music can change someone’s mood and I have always believed that. If I’m in a low mood, an up-beat tune can cheer me up. If I’m happy, an up-beat tune can keep me up-beat. A mellow tune can calm me. An old tune can make me feel nostalgic. Songs can remind me of specific moments in my life, be they happy or sad, and they just help to keep me sane. But for years I have just listened to my iPod and the music that I downloaded onto it about four years ago. I started purchasing books instead of CDs and just stopped listening to the radio so never really heard any new music. But that was fine with me. I liked what I liked. I listened to what I liked and it was good.

Until recently.

A few months ago I started to get a little bored of my music. A scary thought to think really. Instead of listening to the same songs over and over, I opted for silence. Preferring to just walk with the sound of my thoughts. But public transport became an issue. I really struggle with loud noises that I have no control over. They jar into my brain and make me feel incredibly uncomfortable. So I usually put my headphones in and tune out the rest of the world. Allowing my mind to become an internal little bubble of comfort.

So I started looking into the options of changing up my music. CDs have always made sense to me as I’m a driver with a CD stereo in my car and only a year ago got an aux cable so that I could plug in my iPod. But I didn’t really feel drawn to CDs. I didn’t want to spend money on a CD only to find I only liked one song on it. iTunes would have been my next option but having changed laptops recently, I actually haven’t re-downloaded iTunes – eeek – and my iPod hasn’t changed from like OS 4, a guess, I don’t actually know what operating system it is on but I know it’s not current. I’m also not sure if I’d ended up losing all my songs as I haven’t transferred them from one laptop to another.

My stepbrother uses Google Music and so I thought, why not give that a try instead? I downloaded the app on to my phone, tried the trial for a month or so but found that I just did not get on with it very well. I loved listening to it in the browser but on my phone it kept cutting off after a certain period or if I tried to do something else on my phone and it just took up so much space so I decided to get rid of it.

I went back to iPod, back to my old tunes and left it at that.

Then I went on a road trip with some friends and they all had Spotify on their phones so we were able to listen to a range of music that I hadn’t even heard of with relative ease. So when we got back, I thought, why not? I downloaded Spotify on to my computer and straight away saw the “Mellow Radio”. Clicked on it and it was just perfect for the mood I was in. Later I asked for some recommendations on Twitter of good artists to listen to and loved that I could just search for the artist and not just listen to their tunes but get more recommendations of similar artists!

Naturally I quickly downloaded the app onto my phone too and loved how everything I did on the computer went straight onto my phone too. I’ll be trying to see if I can get my iPod connected soon but think my low OS will probably not allow it! After trying the free version for a while, the other day I decided to trial the premium and I love it so much more. I can listen on my phone offline, it doesn’t take up too much space, I can create my own playlists, explore so many songs and it has broaden my horizons so much!

I will definitely be looking into purchasing the premium in the long run. Starting with just 99p for the first three months!

So, if you have any music recommendations for me, do send them along! I’ll listen to basically anything!

Do you use a music subscription service at all?