Why is the cloud good? Because its not all work!

Written by Dave Bennie

Music. I am not the worlds biggest muso, nor would I rank in the top million for that fact but I still enjoy music. I have a varied collection that I have built up over the years of tapes, CD’s and digital downloads and to be honest my favorite there is the digital downloads.  I like CDs. They look cool when you have a shelf full of them, but today they are just not practical.

Like many people, I have a laptop, desktop and mobile phone (plus others might have a tablet too); so to use a CD across all would involve breaking a law or two, or of course I could assume I have fair use rights since doing anything other than using them for myself. But that boils down to me knowing what to do, copying the songs or making them available on the device.

Ok, so I have the music in my library. But my library is too big for my phone. Ah yes, first world problems. Problem solved, I will delete a few and copy a few more... Sigh. Can't be bothered or I forgot to do it before hitting the road. Ok then, I will just put up with what I already have. 

Still, I am lucky to have what I have, and now at least when you use something like iTunes or Google Music you can pick and choose what songs you want from an album instead of buying the whole thing. A cool feature but the companies charge you a premium for picking and choosing the popular songs from an album, but hey, $2.50 is still cheaper than $25 for the album, right?

If only some clever person would do something about that. 

Cloud.

Cloud, you say. Cloud is great. But how does it solve my small conundrum?

Have you heard of Spotify? Well this is something that late last year I jumped into thinking I should have a wee look at it. For those of you who are already all over it, you can tell I am not one of the early adopters of this! But, it only took me a couple of days to decide that I have to have this service and was quite happy to pay a monthly subscription (about $12.99 NZD) for just about an unlimited collection of music!

So from the Spice Girls (yes, I loved them back in the 90's!) to Foo Fighters, to Mumford and Sons, to Lady Gaga and Johnny Cash; it's amazing. That ticks the box for the artists I regularly listen to but what about sometimes when you just need background music, or something to chill out with? 

It's called Genres and Mood. 

Chill, Party, Indie, Decades (80s, 90s, etc), Running, Rock - to name a few.

In here is where the real power of Spotify is. This is content I would never even think to buy or albums I would pay for, but you know what? Sometimes it's perfect to put on and kick back to. 

Right now - I'm listening to "Just Chill, Feels by Kiiara". Would I buy this album? Nope. But it's just right for today.

Cloud.

It's not just Smartphones, pie charts, and on the go collaboration. It's also scratching a few itches that are not so important but make life a bit more enjoyable.