music

Duel of the Defaults: My List

Episode 097 of the Hemispheric Views podcast held a fun Duel of the Defaults! competition.

Here’s my list. I’ve really shifted to defaults over the past year. I’m conflicted about this: I really like a good indie app, yet find my needs don’t justify the complexity of using non-defaults.

  • ✉️ Mail Client: Apple Mail
  • 📨 Mail Server: iCloud Custom Email Domain
  • 📝 Notes: Apple Notes
  • ✅ To-Do: Reminders
  • 📷 iPhone Photo Shooting: Camera.app
  • 📚 Photo Management: Photos.app
  • 🗓️ Calendar: Calendar.app
  • 🗄️ Cloud file storage: iCloud
  • 📰 RSS: NetNewsWire connected to Feedbin
  • 📇 Contacts: Contacts.app
  • 🕸️ Browser: Safari
  • 💬 Chat: iMessage, WhatsApp
  • 🔖 Bookmarks: Micro.blog
  • 👓 Read It Later: Micro.blog
  • 📜 Word Processing: Pages
  • 📊 Spreadsheets: Numbers
  • 🛝 Presentations: Keynote
  • 🛒 Shopping Lists: Reminders
  • 🧑‍🍳 Meal Planning: None
  • 💰 Budgeting & Personal Finance: ScotiaBank app
  • 🗞️ News: The Economist
  • 🎶 Music: Apple Music
  • 🎧 Podcasts: Overcast (though testing Podcasts.app again)
  • 🔐 Password Management: 1Password (likely changing to iCloud Keychain)

Continue reading →

This didn’t last long. When using Apple Podcasts to listen to Apple Music radio, you don’t see album art and can’t easily add music to your library. Discovery is my main use case. So, though I like the idea of this integration, in practice it doesn’t suit my needs 🎵

🎶 After a last scrobble on Dec 4 2007, I’ve resurrected my Last FM account and connected it to the Albums app. This should encourage me to listen to more complete albums, while also tracking what I’m listening to. I’ll keep using the Apple Music app for those “in between moments” when I don’t have an album queued up

Listening to Apple Music Activity Playlists for a week 🎶

As an experiment, I spent the past week listening only to the Activity Playlists in Apple Music. So, whatever I was doing, I picked the most closely related playlist.

Often these were straightforward. Cooking dinner with help from the kids: Cooking with Family; triaging the morning inbox of email: Checking Email; mind mapping a project: Brainstorming.

Other times it was more mood oriented. Reading by the fire when it is -20ºC: Winter; augmenting an early Wednesday morning coffee: Wake Me Up!.

Continue reading →

I added a HomePod to the newly renovated house. The sound quality is definitely as good as advertised and I appreciate the Apple Music integration 🎶. Siri has worked just fine for me so far, though I only really use it for reminders and calendar events.