Media ecologist Marshall McLuhan once said, ‘We walk backwards into the future’. He was referring to the human tendency to feel nostalgic in the face of new things—to focus on what has already passed us by. I find myself frequently in conflict about the devices that I use: their usefulness, balancing necessity with desire and whether they remain true to the design, accessibility and sustainability principles that I regard as important.
One technology that has troubled me since I started using it is music streaming. TV and movie streaming, whilst frustrating in their fragmentation of massive libraries of popular culture, certainly have their place in delivering entertainment to the masses. We used to collect VHS tapes, DVDs or digital purchases (some of us may still do the third), but nowadays it generally makes sense to pay a subscription fee to watch content, rather than own it. We move from movie to movie, series to series, and we’re not terribly likely to revisit all of that content… only our favourites, which we’ll probably purchase.
Music, however, is a different beast. Music is incredibly personal and we play our favourite songs, albums and playlists regularly. We want our audio with us.
Vinyl, cassettes, CDs and digital downloads, while very different in their delivery of audio, all shared something in common: the physical media or files resided with you. Music streaming, whether Apple Music, Spotify or otherwise, forces you to pay to have access to someone else’s gigantic music library. Are the metadata correct? Do album covers remain consistent? Does the right version of the song come up when you ask your digital assistant? These things aren’t guaranteed. Not to mention, if a song that you love is removed from the service to which you subscribe, whether the decision of the artist or the result of some business or legal decision, you can’t get to it anymore. I noticed exactly this with a song that I love, Marina by Felix Riebl, which fortunately I purchased from iTunes before it disappeared entirely from Apple’s archive. There’s no reference to it there now.
We’ve traded personal curation and possession for broad access and convenience.
Now, I’ll be honest that I pay for Apple Music; there are many aspects of it that I do enjoy. The playlists are excellent, the artist pages are comprehensive and the radio stations are good fun. Still, with all of these paper cuts, I was finally pushed over the edge on my Mac. You see, with so many interfaces now in the Music app that rely on updating through the Internet, page elements regularly change or disappear—jumping around while I’m using it on Mac and Apple TV—and I’m left wondering why I persist with this experience on a desktop device where I’m only listening to certain types of (my favourite) music while I work.
So, what did I do? I turned off library synchronisation with Apple Music on my Mac and restored my collection of ripped songs and iTunes purchases.
Hemisphereans may recall that I occasionally like to use old iPods. Until recently, these were synchronised with an old secondary Mac. Now, I’ve shifted to using them with my M1 Mac mini, which is more convenient and feels somewhat nostalgic. The Music app isn’t perfect, but by reverting to an iTunes-style experience where I have only the music that I really love, it feels less burdened by the cruft that has come with streaming convenience. No more disappearing tracks or messages like ‘Not available in your region’, even when I’ve already downloaded the track! Now, Apple Music is reserved for my iPhone and Apple TV, where we play things through our HomePod Stereo Pair in the lounge room.
Perhaps you think I’m crazy for doing this. My justification is this: it’s OK to march forwards into new technology, as long as you think about it. Question its purpose, ethics and usefulness. Are you enjoying what you’re paying for? Do you feel conflicted? If you enjoy the old and the new, find a way to resolve that conflict and have the best of both worlds. Maybe it’s fun to walk backwards.
This post was originally written in May 2023 for Hemisfeldic News; subscribe at the members’ site One Prime Plus to receive this newsletter and other benefits that are linked to the Hemispheric Views podcast.
Lounge Ruminator 