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Well, I was pondering what my next post was going to be about, and after my experiences today, I decided I’d do a post about something that I realized really bugs me: the way iPod playlists work (specifically on the iPhone).  Don’t get me wrong, I definitely think Apple has improved iPod playlists over the years; the most marked improvement was the ability to create and edit playlists straight on your phone.  However, there is still a major problem, in my opinion, with iPod playlists on the iPhone: there’s no way to sort, refine, or easily browse through playlists.

Now, this isn’t a very big problem with a really small playlist with twenty songs or less.  But if you are prone to making huge playlists like I am (just made a “Party” playlist of over 1300 songs – for variety during shuffle), the lack of any sort of ability to easily go through a playlist can be a major pain.  The most annoying part about it is how potentially easily it could be to resolve: Apple already has “Artists”  and ‘”Albums” tabs for the iPod, so why not add the ability to browse through all of the artists and/or albums within a given playlist?  At the very least, they could add an alphabetical quick-browse option on the right side of the screen like they have on a lot of their other tabs already.  It’s really a very inconvenient omission.

 

^Herein lies the problem.  Note lack of browsing options within playlist.

 

I don’t want to be too pessimistic however; as late in the game as it is for Apple, they have a pretty solid record for making necessary and important improvements, albeit very slowly and steadily.  My only hope is that they hurry up on this one – while I’m no programmer, it seems like it would be a fairly simple fix.

I recently realized that I’m not really that aware of the whole music scene. That kinda bugged me. So over the past couple of weeks I’ve undertaken a serious task: revamping my entire iPod. In short, I took a bunch of music that’s been carried over through the various generations of iPods I’ve owned (and haven’t listened to in almost as long), and went on a journey of discovering (mainly across Last.fm) to discover genres of music and specific bands that I might like. What I discovered was that there were a lot of bands that I had heard a song or two from but hadn’t listened to in-depth that I found that I really liked a lot; there were also quite a few bands I had never heard of but actually seem to be pretty popular or are picking up popularity; and finally there were those bands that were relatively obscure that I managed to find and enjoy anyway.

A couple new genres that I realized I’m fairly consistently into are Garage Rock Revival bands and Post-Britpop bands.

In terms of bands, some of my new musical fancies are:

 

Band from Glasgow, Scotland. Highly energetic and an interesting combination of modern rock with retro influences. I was surprised to find that I actually recognized one of their songs, “Chelsea Dagger”, even though I had never heard of the band before. A proud addition to the widely-respected genre of British rock. I can honestly say that I enjoyed every single one of their songs on both of their albums; the fact that they’re so good allows me to forgive them for adding an “s” to a word that is already plural in the original Italian.

 

Obviously a well-known band – I just hadn’t realized how much I liked them until I listened to more than just Seven Nation Army. Has the distinction of being considered one of the “saviours of rock and roll” by the BBC. A great husband-wife band (though now divorced). Jack White is the man: great voice, wonderful song-writing, extremely talented guitar-playing, and the somewhat quirky style of the music he writes; Meg White does an absolutely fantastic job on the drums, and the band wouldn’t be the same if she wasn’t a part of the team.

 

This is another example of a band I definitely would’ve loved had I bothered to pay attention to the music scene and listen to more music earlier on (i.e. listened to more than just “Are You Gonna Be My Girl”, which I had already known I liked a lot). The thing I love Jet for, in summary, is the distinctly 60′s and 70′s rock elements of almost all of their music. You just don’t see people playing that type of music for the most part, and I love the fusion of the old with the new. Makes me think of The Rollings Stones + The Beatles + AC/DC, etc.

 

Another great addition to my expanding musical horizons. Ever since I heard “Drunken Lullabies” I knew that I would like Flogging Molly; I just never had the opportunity to listen to any more of their music. But let’s be honest: how could anyone not like such an iconic Celtic Rock band? Maybe it’s because of the fraction of Irish blood coursing through my veins, but their music really pumps me up and makes me want to do a jig. Would also fare very well as background music for a drinking party.

 

There’s no way I could possibly feature every new band i’ve discovered and enjoyed, but I thought it would be nice to at least list and link many of the others:

The Raconteurs
The Greenhornes
Codeine Velvet Club
Vampire Weekend
The Strokes
The Vines
The Hives
Arctic Monkeys
The Pigeon Detectives
The Kooks
Angels & Airwaves
+44

 

Well, that’s it for now. By the way, if after reading this anyone has any suggestions for other bands I might like, please feel free to drop me a line and suggest them to me!

P.S.: Happy birthday, Jenna!