Offline: listening to music

Paul Miller discovers a very new world beyond Rdio.

What’s most interesting to me is that as I continue to rack up the repeat Tusk listens, my favorite song keeps swapping around. This is a phenomenon that Nilay Patel pointed out on a recent podcast, when reminiscing about his pre-Spotify days. When it happens, it almost feels like you’re hearing that song for the first time ever. It’s magical, and turns an album into an endless treasure trove. Instead of listening to a new song every day through Hype Machine or Rdio, I’m discovering an old song has become my favorite, that subtle textures have revealed themselves or surfaced to match my mood.