Music is the ultimate form of expression. We use it to celebrate moments in our life. We use it to tell the stories of our life. We use it to escape from the reality of our lives. We use it to understand our own emotions. We use it to express and exhaust ourselves by singing along or to someone.
How we listen
Ways of listening to music has changed dramatically over the course of the last couple of decades but there are tools to ensure that we’re able to listen to our favorites no matter what the circumstance.
Recently my uncle bought a new van. Not new in the sense of a modern van, his is a throwback from 2006 and featured a cd and cassette player. Since he mainly listens to his music on his iPhone he felt stuck with the dilemma that he could no longer use his phone since there wasn’t a plug in for an mp3 it and was without bluetooth capabilities.
So lately he’s been tooling around with his collection of cd’s, quite happy with the fact that he has found a use for them and is re-discovering loves that he’d forgotten about.
I felt obliged to tell him that there is a Cassette bluetooth adapter he could get for his van that would allow his to play from his playlists on his iPhone. He was ecstatic to learn about this vehicle audio tool and has since bought one. Seeing how he is enjoying the freedom of listening to his music in any form he chooses now has led me to write this post.
Remembering
It wasn’t too long ago, (I say this to make myself feel younger, of course), that I had a truck with an 8-track player. The memory of owning more 8-tracks than cassettes still plagues me. Ah, the good old days. When cassettes came around I thought it was amazing that something so small (comparatively) could contain the same magic. In my mind, cassettes seemed to long the lasted compared to all the others. And yes, I still have quite a few of those. I considered handing them over to my uncle, but thought better of it.
My cd collection has been uncased and now sits in a leather binder collecting dust. Long gone are the days of restocking my 6cd changer in the car. Ever since the iPod and mp3 came out, I’ve been collecting my music on an external hard drive. I still use the hard drive as a backup to the ‘cloud’. And now, if I felt inclined I could probably write about all the music apps available for us, but I differ.
In the end
I am surrounded by tools of enhancement for listening to my music. While my main form is through apps on my phone, I constantly carry my bluetooth speaker around the house with me. For working outside, I have my Sony headphones. I’m also someone who still owns a record player and I love that there are bands today that provide their music in the 78 format for those of us who today are considered ‘retro’. I also have my old stereo sitting in my living room but other than leaving the radio on my pets while I’m gone I can’t say it gets much use. In my car, I have my ‘aux’ cord to plug my phone in.
It seems that we are determined to find a way to get our music no matter which tool we have to work with. And the reason we do that is because we’ve placed so much importance on the idea that music is necessary in life. Music is what allows us to express ourselves in our truest form.