The REAL Reason Algorithms are Bad For Art (iPod Week 2) 

Spotify didn't save the music industry, it only saved the record labels ...

I think the biggest thing with this series I'm seeing thus far is the idea of intention. It's the idea of conscious effort to do something that you want versus leaving things up to some unknown puppet Master telling you what you should do. Yeah this applies to music but it could easily apply to anything else in life.

Week 4, time travelled to prevent the algorithmic future.

I wonder how much of this is generational. This Gen Xer has been much happier since ditching social media. I didn't need it, and wanted to work on MY life instead of following others. I guess RU-vid could be considered social media, but I try to stretch past the algorithm and have a strict NO NEWS AFTER 9PM.

Part 1 of this series was served to me by an algorithm. Your creation of and my viewership of an anti-algorithm video still ultimately feeds the algorithm and supports the platform. It’s like controlled opposition. The only way to win is to not play the game. But, then, to not play the game is to a significant degree to not engage with these media at all. What a world we’ve built for ourselves

One thing is for certain : sharing artists name or albums name is brilliant 😇 No algorithm will be able to do this the way another human being is doing it. That is the part I really loved in this video. And yes, it’s not your usual vid, but man, that’s true entertainment. Real, deep, rich, funny, light, etc What a treat, Brendon. Cheers to you

Smino doesn’t get enough love. That dude was spot on with that recommendation

One of the biggest differences to me between Spotify and an iPod is the behavioral change. Spotify encourages you to flick through playlists, whereas an iPod is about the full album experience. Ultimately, the latter is more satisfying to me, but I struggle with discoverability. If I'm just using an iPod, I'm only ever listening to music I've already heard, which makes the experience somewhat stale. The excitement for me is discovering new music and constantly developing my palate. An iPod is like a favorites list, a time capsule of my favorite music, but it doesn't broaden my horizons, which is why I end up going back to streaming.

nothing feels better than hand-selecting one of my vinyl records off my shelf and taking the time to dust, clean, and set the record on my turntable, setting the needle and adjusting the volume to my home stereo. And to be clear, I'm not an "Analog is better" guy. But there is something about tangible music that just hits different. To not be fed music, but to curate your own experience and to listen to an entire album literally "Front to Back" Love these videos man. Stoked for the next part of this series.

This is an important conversation. Musicians should always be keeping their finger on the pulse of counter culture and I think the somewhat-global undercurrent of looking to escape the platforms should be a call for anyone with the means to fight against them by providing alternatives to discoverability feeds. Good thing is we can see how much the platform doesn’t care about manipulating your attention by how much they pay their creators. It’s an inverse relationship, money and discoverability. The current answer is using discoverability platforms to funnel audiences to somewhere else where they won’t be influenced by algorithms. It’s not perfect but it’s what works right now. Great series so far.

if you're not using a walkman with home dubbed tapes then your life is already over

Audio-Content is such a perfect way to describe the music industry post tik-tok! This series continues to scratch my brain in a spot that has been long neglected.

The fact that subscribers don’t mean much anymore and viewers will only watch whatever the algorithm serves made me realize that it’s almost impossible to build an actual fanbase/community anymore, unless you constantly create whatever the algorithm favors, no matter the topic or genre, and sometimes it doesn’t even work. Every content feels like a one-off. I’ve seen so many RU-vidrs who blew up because one of their videos got boosted by the algorithm, but after a while their viewership went back to normal and no one cared about them anymore even if they produce a video similar to the one that went viral. I came into this video through the Recommended section and the most likely scenario after this video ends is that I leave a like, close it and continue my day. I don’t know anything about the creator of this video or whatever this channel has to offer, and it’s very hard to care. I just found this video in particular, no, the *thumbnail* and the *title* to be interesting. I don’t even know if I want to subscribe, because RU-vid most likely won’t promote videos to my sub box. It feels like subscribing only give a channel more harm than good because the algorithm will think your channel needs a certain amount of views and if you fail to meet such criteria, RU-vid won’t promote your channel anymore.

Talking to people in person and sharing music is a lost art. I still do it with a lot of my friends but getting off the algorithm is intriguing bro

Love this type of video. I want to point out. HE BROUGHT THE ALBUM from a recommendation. That’s so important in this day and age.

iPod + iTunes is cool but No-Brand MP3 Player + Pirated MP3's is a fire combo

I really like the way you're going about this. I got myself an MP3 player a few months ago and ditched my iPhone. I basically told myself until I finish my album, I'm gonna stay off of it. I have honestly only seen the benefits of it. I am more present and able to actually do things I want to do, have more time to just chill. I've finished like 16 books already and just feel so much more clearer in my way of thinking. I think ditching social media is possible, but not ideal. I basically chose to do this: Live like it's 2008. What this means is I check my social media when I'm at home on my computer, but I don't have any of this on my phone, which just has messaging, google maps, and call. I can honestly say I don't have much of an urge to check online, and when I do, I'm reminded of why I had to get off of it. Good luck with your phoneless journey and thanks for some album recommendations. That's one of the first things I ask people about when I first meet them or am catching up with buddies.

This was one of your best videos. The guy you featured described human curation. It's what the algorithm automated. Back in the day, ALL travel included a finding and visiting a local record store and local book store. And live music - whether small club, bar, theater or concert hall - feeds the soul. I miss it all and appreciate the reminder. In my effort to partially unplug, I deleted twitter, deleted IG for a while (I back slid), started buying vinyl records and PRAY I can get back to live music and live comedy again soon. While I sometimes go outside with just my Apple Watch (w/ LTE cellular connection), I don't see letting a smartphone go. Lyft, Waze, Google Maps and several other apps are too indispensable at this point.

"I'm just going to say it for all the great stuff we have now, the pre-algorithm internet in some ways was better". I'd go as far as saying in all the ways. Great sentiment. I deleted FB and IG to reduce the endless noise. Then RU-vid introduced shorts and it's like whack-a-mole with a new worthless distraction. I'm fortunate enough that music and photography are purely hobbies so I've taken the approach of making exactly what I like, when I like, and decorating my house with my photos. If no one else ever sees them that's ok too. They bring me joy every time I look at them.

I’ve had an iPod in my gig bag for a few years but I think I’m gonna really commit to it now

I've been off Facebook for seven years, off Twitter for five years, off Imgur for three years, and off Instagram for about a year now, and I don't miss any of them. All I do these days are watch RU-vid, listen to podcasts, and play single player video games, it's so much more peaceful and fulfilling.

I listen to music mostly on vinyl, cassette, or CD at home now, but I still have my iPod with 15K songs on it. Never letting that bad boy go.

This is an interesting experiment, and I find myself looking at listening to music via an iPod with rose-tinted glasses and a warm hug of reminiscence. My reality is that I pay for Spotify but I don't find myself going through playlists or AI generated content like others might. I only play my playlists that I put together, or ones that have been shared with me via friends, I'm very much using it like winamp or itunes back in the day. I do find myself in constant conflict about the subscription business model of everything these days though, because as you said, the generations that remember life without the internet, understand that feeling of ownership of a physical disc, VHS tape, etc.

again great series I'm hooked. I appreciate the time you put into your videos feel like I am watching an HBO special lol. This is something I have been researching and looking into myself. I remember the days of having a CD book with all the music I downloaded from Limewire. My wife and I talked about building a Media computer and buying movies and music just to host on our home network. As a music producer and engineer, I have credits with music that's over half a million streams and I still can't live off the money I make from streaming. I look at Spotify as a marketing platform, to draw people in so they can actually purchase merch or music directly from us.

I've collected so much music over the years, I'm 52.. that it seemed crazy to me, to pay any streaming service, to listen to the music I already have. I've uploaded all of my cd's to the cloud and basically stream my own music. Along the way I find new music, acquire it and upload it to the cloud, but admit I've missed out on so much.. can't miss what you never had right. This doesn't even include the music I can't convert from iTunes (which if I've paid for like the rest, why can't I convert it for my own use.. don't get me started)

I ditched music streaming services for almost a few months and it has made music SO much more enjoyable. Now, I did sail the seas for most of my music BUT I don’t think I’ll go back again. Makes the music I listen to so much more special

This channel is criminally underrated

This makes me smile so much. I remember back on both my '07-'08 deployment and '10-'11 deployment, a Zune or iPod was my go to for music and now I've been regressing back to burning CDs again and putting music vids on a thumbdrive to play in my truck(it's old enough I don't an infotainment fortunately) and I've notice my mood has been changing for the better. I've also been canceling my video streaming one by one to break away to go back to the old ways and it's been fun.

Now your pushing me to buy an iPod 😮

Had to chirp in as a huge fan of the iPod. There is something amazing about carrying my entire music collection in my pocket. And I don’t mean streaming files from a server. I mean carrying all MY CDs that I collected over decades in my pocket. When I push play, it’s my collection that plays. No cloud, just my collection.

I'm ALL about analogue, old school shit, and have said it for literally decades, vinyl will never die, film, paper, none of it, but WHY do you make us wait another week for the next episode! I know, I know...

Loving this video series! Just went to find my iPod and gave it a charge! Something i was thinking about recently is how with the algorithms, a "viral" video or meme that I see all the time, my friends/family might never come across. Used to be fun back in the day when a viral video was viral for everyone, Panda sneeze, Charlie bit my finger, Shoes, etc. Despite being online, it created a sense of community that connected everyone. Now we're all just in our own little niche bubbles that keeps going deeper and deeper.

I’m digging this series. I just picked up a copy of FilterWorld and as a software engineer I have to say I am really enjoying the book so far. Of course I also loved Dilla Time, and if you have any other books to recommend that would be dope! Definitely getting Questlove’s book next!

Coming from someone who’s part of Gen Z, I’ve began to appreciate music so much more ever since I bought a portable CD player and have started collecting albums. Ripped all of my albums to my PSP and that’s what I’ve been using to play my music. I still use Spotify for ease of use and recommendations but having all of my music curated by me is so much better. Hopefully these practices help influence my music so I can make whatever I want without having to worry about the algorithm.

I went back to a portable CD player ‘cause I found myself so easily distracted by everything on my phone, and I absolutely love it! Realistically I can only carry three or four albums with me, so my choices become insanely intentional. Having said that, for any actual long-distance travel it’s pretty tedious; plus, I risk breaking my physical albums. I think the iPod will provide the happy medium between CDs and Apple Music on my iPhone.

If I’m going to think solely about my own listening experience (not cultural impact, not impact on musicians, etc), then signing up for Apple Music this year has been the best for my exposure to music that is new to me. I’m 47, and realize this has been a great tool to listen to older music (which is still new to me). I used to only listen to whatever the current music was of the time, but I’ve found myself looking backwards at what I’ve missed over time. I don’t rely on any algorithms, and don’t use any of the curated playlists. Sure, I’m still a slave to the RU-vid algorithm, but not when it comes to music.

born in 1995, i refuse to stream. I download all my music to my phone, treating it like an ipod. it's the superior way to listen.

@Digging The Greats maybe after all the episodes are out we could get a poster, T-shirt or something of the story board on the white background thing. coz i think its a cool concept as a way to follow the flow of your thoughts as the weeks progress. I appreciate your effort that goes into these videos so thanks and have a good day

Loving the installments to this so far. The get rid of my iphone question is where I'm at right now. I've started using the "gray scale" filter to take all the color and aesthetics away and it's been a big help in cutting my screen time from 6-8 hours down to 3 hours. Highly recommend trying that and using dedicated widgets on your phone because I'm finding the less there is to look at the less time I want to spend on my phone.

Might try this myself

Omg this is my sign to social media detox!!!!! The studies I ve seen of the impact of social media addiction scares me. They really connect it to be addicted to cocaine and heroin!! Because of your video. I just pulled out my old digital camera, my iPod classic, my manual gps. Now all I need is a flip phone. I’m going do this and I’m already excited. I love the nostalgia behind technology always have but my mental has suffered a lot from social media. Please continue with these videos and keep us updated on your iPod journey

Man! I have been hooked on your channel since the first episode I came across like a year and a half ago. I watch every week and realized I wasn’t getting notifications a while back. Algorithms at work. You have truly hit a new level with this series and I thank you for it. All of your videos have clearly been labors of love and provide genuine depth and quality. Please keep it going. Thank you! Much love!

Really cool to follow you on this journey man. You’re really on to something here. Much love

not gonna lie, i broke my phone about 6 months ago and lived without it. I had the iPod idea back then. Now I'm thinking I shoulda made a video about it lol. Synchroneity is a weird thing. I live in India and you, 2 oceans away and yet we stumble across the same thing. Amazing

This is such an interesting test. I still have my old 30gb ipod and last weeks video got me to bring it out and charge the old guy up. I'll be bringing it on my next trip. I tend to pick my own music to listen to anyway, but I do miss the ipod era. You appreicated the music more. I'd love to see if things went back to paying for your music, who would remain popular. I think it would make people really think about what they choose to listen to.

I had purchased an iPod last year and upgraded it to 500gb ssd and to have a better battery, for sure there is still something special about running your own collection. Also smino is amazing, His first albums blkjuptr and blkswn are still the best for me

just because of part 1 I bought a 5th generation ipod yesterday...

I'm 39 and I've never used Spotify or any other streaming service. Still doing things the old school way - intentionally check for new music and purchase it if I like the snippets or singles. If I hadn't moved into my current apartment, which is really tiny, then I'd probably still be buying physical CDs. I even used an iPod mini until it died last year. And I do it exactly for the reason outlined in these videos - I want to have a control / freedom of what I listen to, and I intentionally choose music to match my current mood. I don't want it to be dictated by algorithms. Plus I love the excitement of discovering new artists and albums. EDIT: And there's one more reason that I didn't realize until I saw other comments - the ability of being offline. I don't depend on wifi or mobile data to listen to my music.

loving this series! this is on my mind too. i'm not using iPod but im also trying to listen to albums more than playlists. but the music industry has already changed and it feels rarer to have great albums that were made to be listened to in one. or is that just me projecting? in my car i listen to CDs cause thats all there is and i love it, i find new ones 2nd hand and i'm enjoying it so much i bought lil simz' newest and that one is on repeat

I find myself going more in the analog ways again. For the car, I just have 2 CDs, Nevermind and Toxicity. One is for getting somewhere fast, the other one is for concentrating on getting someplace new. I also plan on getting a FLAC player to put all my CDs on to. I really like this approach you're doing.

Got rid of my iPhone and switched to an old T9 nokia with only call and text 5 years ago. Don't miss it for a minute. Bought a 4th gen monochrome iPod two years ago and barely stream music anymore between iPod and vinyl. Doesn't feel that life altering anymore but going back to a smartphone does not appeal to me in slightest.

I've never used Spotify simply because I listen to so much music that is too obscure to be found on Spotify most of the times. I just do MP3's on my phone instead.

And the plot thickens…. Looking forward to week 3 🤙🏼🤙🏼

What I’ve loved about this video is that it clearly demonstrates the point of “fluff vs quality”. This video (and series) is produced in a quality manner. And quality content allows you to THINK about what you’re watching, not only whilst you’re watching it, but also after. Short form “content” doesn’t give you a chance to do this. With content, you consume, you move on to the next thing, you consume, you move on to the next thing. With quality materials your brain has something meatier to grasp onto and DO something with. There’s a purpose and a point and a story and the experience of watching/listening is so much more satisfying. It’s like having a well balanced meal rather than constantly snacking on “content breadcrumbs”

To make some suggestions for the iPad : pivot gang- you can't sit with us , lil Simz - sometimes I might be introvert, kojey radical - cashmere tears, RAP ferreira - purple moonlight pages, koreatown oddity - little Dominique's nosebleed, balming tiger - Jan never dies

These apps COULD in theory, make it incredibly easy to find new music that's to your exact tastes. They wont. It's still a headache and you still constantly get railroaded to crap you don't want. Human curation is more important than ever

This video made me delete tiktok because I realized that I that it was a distraction from my music, and I think I'm going to use cassette, so I don't have any more distraction, and I don't know if you're reading this but I want you to know that you created something that made someone want to created

Speaking to the maker/artist/creator side this go around, IMO the point about making something (a video, a song etc.) for the “algo” when zoomed out from its unique peculiarities for a moment is not particularly unique at all at a broad distilled level. Remember when folks tried to write a hit song so they can get on radio, on MTV. That you were held in disdain in some quarters as a “sellout” if you wrote a pop-radio friendly song. Revel Day’s anecdote about live music mostly being a drag speaks to the same sense that this climate exists beyond and before the current “algo scene”. Yes there are specific issues with the current situation but they are not unique in that these don’t exist elsewhere or in other times. There’s a recent clip of Beck telling Martin Short about his struggle amidst the grunge era. IMO the algo problem is a manifestation, a symptom but not the actual disease. Manage the symptoms yes if we like (iPod only, vinyl, delete social etc.) but IMO it’s worth not being confused that the underlying issues. What are these issues? We could go on and on about what these possibly are - just turn on the news, go onto the forums and Twitter. Pick your rabbit hole and anger fuel. But IMO to cut through the noise and zero in - the issue is a whole bunch of people across generations, across societal strata who have chosen whether wittingly or otherwise to poison the well from which we all drink from. We take what we want, and dump our waste into the river, thinking it’s someone’s else’s problem. “Be kind, rewind”. Why bother? Doesn’t benefit me. We make our choices. Artists, musicians, makers, creators also get to make our choices. If we have the ear and the trust (and yes..”attention”) of subscribers, patrons, listeners, fans..do something worthwhile with it. Make it count. Don’t seek for more subscriber etc. numbers. Do something valuable. Make something valuable. Don’t just “get yours”, take from the well and not gaf. Replenish it. Clean it. Take care of it. Keep it healthy. As makers, musicians, artists etc. we are in a unique position to do so, to do something about it.

You went all out there in using an iPod with a headphone jack lol and even wrote in a book with a pen! Most people take this for granted these days I need to start using good old notepads and pens myself 😊😊

my favorite way of buying music is used CDs because they are cheap, and then i can save/ backup the high quality files right onto my computer

I've read some 10 years back that a study showed stuff you write stick to you longer and better than stuff you type. Since then I've make a point to write down in paper anything I'm learning. I write it in a way that makes sense to me and makes my brain recall stuff better.

As 90s baby I have to say life was easy the internet and social media was fun when it first came out. Now it just feels overwhelming

Man, this has been the content I have been searching for. Most videos feel like they were made for short consumption but this here is gold. I have been able to get through watching both videos without clicking off. Amazing! Just ordered myself an Ipod classic last week. Looking forward to disconnecting with the algorithm.

I watched a lot of these "get of socialmedia" videos lately, but i have to say yours has a special spin to it! May even motivate me to do this as well for one month

I’m surprised you didn’t talk about the iPod featured in wwdc for like 4 seconds. Also I’ve ditched Apple Music and use the music app on my phone as an iPod (daily driver is 7th gen classic) and I’ve been loving it

On the plus side, the algorithm sent your video my way because I've been watching videos about people using pocket notebooks to simplify their lives (I'm 33 days in myself). Yes, I am well aware that I am contradicting myself, but at least I get to watch some content I normally would not be exposed to. Ready for your week 3.

I was using my ipod classic up until the start of the pandemic when it died on me. I thought about figuring out how to buy new components and fix it myself, but never did. I was mostly only using it in the gym as by that point I had already been using google play music (now youtube music) since about 2016. I was fine with it at the time,but ever since we were forced to switch to RU-vid music, my relationship with music streaming has become much more frustrating. Not alerting me of new albums by artist, I listen to all the time until after I've already listened to the album. But instead, recommending some artists that are waay off the mark from my personal tastes. My biggest frustration is that I have really big playlists that i love putting on random. Unfortunately YT music's "random" feels far from it. There's a clear pattern of the songs it selects,it seems to select the same ones, and it will repeat a lot. It's improved a bit lately, but it also feels like it's trying to curate a playlist instead of just being random. Anyway, your series is inspiring me to either go back to the ipod or some other mp3 player. Ipod probably is the best bet so I can add new music if I want to (I dont have it in me to go back to pirate life lol). Although, I'm going to have to develop a budget for it. I do feel like I've lost a lot of intentionality with my music listening, and this could potentially help keep me away from my phone. Only issue is, idk if I see me using it outside of the gym again. But maybe that's enough.

if you think going back to an iPod is good look into digital audio players (daps) essentially the same concept as an iPod but with current Hardware this will enable you to enjoy music on higher quality headphones there are some portable daps now that output enough power to drive tungsten which is fantastic

Haha love this series man. Great job. had me genuinely smiling at your editing and fourth wall breaking moments within your own narrative. Truly great job.

Would be very interesting to see this type of experiment on a younger person. Taking away the iphone and replacing it with an ipod. What would they think or feel about that sort ‘analog’ way of interacting with music and creation in general? Would they enjoy the human to human discoverability aspect of it? Nice video!

I came back here 3 days later to say thanks to your band member how recommended Peado Bryson, some great morning listening! Thank you my guy!

Love your videos, it’s amazing to see such an immense appreciation of music in them! My favourite videos you’ve done are on the native tongues movement and I was curious if you’re going to do a video on Tribe’s first album? Specifically their song Youthful expression

I love this. I ditched streaming a couple of years ago because I noticed how little I was paying attention to what I was listening to. I can't ignore the irony though that it was down to an algorithm that I discovered this great channel and video series

This might be redundant but I tried this with my iPhone SE (5S, 2016). No SIM card, wifi + Bluetooth off, background refresh off - these all kill the battery so it’s a perfect happy medium. Yes I download via wifi and connect Bluetooth headphones at times but it’s such a good way to focus

it's just something about physical media - for me, it's cassettes in particular - that no algorithm-driven, AI-inspired, glossy online technology will EVER come close to. That feeling of just LISTENING from start to finish, to whatever was on that tape. Whether it was a greatest hits collection, a full album, something you recorded off the radio...it all had meaning in that context. I made a choice to listen to that cassette, and whether it was a good or bad choice, I stood by it. I first got into music in my teens in 1997. My family had relocated to Saudi Arabia for my dad's work. So you can imagine at that time, there was nothing. A barren landscape, just like most of what Saudi looked like to me! There was one music chain (there are probably more now) Megastar. They sold a limited number of cassettes and CDs. If I was lucky to go there, and if my parents agreed to buy something from there for me. So, it was left to me to rifle through my Dad's cassette collection, listen to everything he had, ask around in school, borrow tapes from friends, recording my own mixtapes. Occasionally I bumped into someone with vinyl records, and he'd record an entire album onto cassette for me. I never get that feeling now with Spotify, Tidal, iTunes or any other app. That conscious decision that you made, the work that I had to do to find stuff I enjoyed, discussing music with friends... I miss that now. I had the same feelings too when I bought my first Sony mp3 Walkman. This video brought back some great memories.

So I found your first video thanks to the algo 😂 but these videos have gotten me interested in getting an iPod again. For me personally, what I do to find new music is I never use the playlists they make me, I put all my music on shuffle and only find new stuff from friends through discord. I have started buying CDs as well about 6-7 months ago and been listening to them more I’m hoping to get an iPod soon. Also, if you want a band to check out, Taco by Bilmuri

It took be about an hour to watch this video because I had to check out all the album recommendations in between. Thank you very much for this!

for the past few years, when I come across an album/song/artist that I really really enjoy, I will pick up the physical CD and/or vinyl. I'll rip the CD to my pc in ALAC and keep it all on a private server. Its way more satisfying, and you actually OWN a physical copy of the music which is huge to me. I've been collecting blurays of movies and tv shows as well.

The storytelling here is next level. I love the intercut between past and present (future?) you. Class.

Bought the book, got the iPod out of storage. Thank you for the inspiration !

Mad respect!! You may start a movement with this experiment.

We need a website that people can recommend stuff and send links without some company discouraging it so we can share the things we love without some ulterior motive to make money or keep you on their page.

Smino is right down your alley, hope you got to dig into his stuff. I'm surprised you hadn't heard of him before tbh but that just means you get to enjoy his whole catalog

Omg is that Jackie Foster! We went to Berklee together lol A joy to work with!

good stuff man. yeah as a gen x'er IT guy, i still have tons of old tech lying around. i think just like throughout history there are leaps in technology that actually move us forward. fire, printing press, etc. but everything in between is just us trying to find wha the next thing is that we didn't know we needed. mp3 players were just one of those golden moments where we didn't need to drag a backpack full of cd's, tapes, etc with us everywhere to listen to our stuff. after that, meh. i do have to admit that i've picked up a bluetooth 'dongle' to headphone jack so i can use my wireless headphones with my zune. :D can't wait til next video :D

Reaching For The Sky · Peabo Bryson. Great shout there. I'd not even heard of him before.

I love this experiment. I guess I'll check back in next week. I'm looking forward to you moving into the woods in week 4

YES! Love this video! When Apple announced AI rolling out, that was the last straw and I actually decided to seriously move away from the latest Apple ecosystem and explore other areas. Prior to this, I had canceled my Spotify subscription a few months back as I too decided I wanted to take more control of the media I consumed. Around the same time, I quit IG and have also since quit TikTok. I'm getting more into journaling/physical note taking too and I feel much better for it. This was a great video that I'm so glad I stumbled on, and I'll be checking out those albums that were recommended too!

Never had a Spotify account or music streaming services. I believe in owning the physical items. Whilst I know it can be a chore, I have always done my own mix up/playlist stuff. From doing my own mix cassette tapes, to burning cds to feeding the iPod. I’m old tech in that sense, from time to time, I get old tech second hand for cheap, because I like it and it’s fun to explore them. Recently picked up a iPod touch 4th gen with 32gb for less than £5 (Pound Sterling). As soon as I got it home, charged and linked up, I started to feed the iPod with music and audiobooks from my CDs. Love it. And yes, I too also have a variety of iPods, from nanos, minis to classics 4th, 5th, 6th and 7th gen. Some as projects in that I want to repair and expand memory, boost battery etc and some I just use straight away. It’s nice to have that switch off time.

I'm digging it. This series is truly special and speaks to my own struggle to balance the usefulness of vs. the overreliance on modern tech. I can't wait for episode 3.

Ma brotha. Please find a way to continue the series. 3 week aint enough. I dig it.

That payson Lewis album was incredible.

I seriously wish they still made iPod classic, I was so pissed when they stopped. It used to be one of the 5 things I needed to have with me when I left the house. I still use my iPhone like an iPod and just use my iMusic library but it’s not the same

Great video as always. If you are still taking requests for new music, I highly suggest a band by the name of The Marias. Their latest album is called Submarine.

I truly believe this is the path to healing the entire music scene.

Sat down and wrote down the recomendations from all of the comments there is to the video so far, I feel like I just found a gold mine of music

Hey Digging, loving this series so far and would love to hear more about how spotify, etc. affects the way we enjoy media in ways we didnt notice until its too late. I love the similar video by mic the snare about using a CD player instead of streaming subscription.

Feeling really thankful for this. I‘m inspired (and have been off SM and on a modded iPod classic for years).

I use an ipod instead of listening to music online and I've been running out of music to listen to... Thanks for the recs. I also recommend Raye's 21st Century Blues! Every single on that album is fantastic

I would love to see you modifying an iPod. There are hundreds of options to further increase the capabilities of these wonderful audio nuggets. Everything from adding Bluetooth, solid state memory, bigger batteries, and even after market operating systems like rockbox. And it can be rather easy depending on what iPod you are modifying. 80gb is a lot, but how about 512? Or 1tb? How about instead of 10 hrs of playback, you get 30+?