Four Macs, four operating systems (10.2-10.6 but skipped 10.5) and 1.2 million songs played later, my stream has achieved its ninth birthday and will probably make it to 10. Apple ended QTSS with 10.7’s server OS. I recall it worked to a limited extent through the client version but I shouldn’t hold my breath for the Darwin people to recompile it. Allegedly a co-worker said QTSS’s way of transporting data is inefficient in light Apple putting all its eggs in the iOS-iCloud basket. There is a successor, I have yet to see it.
Anyway, today is a milestone of joy, not one to be spent discussing on how to avoid extinction.
I continue to enjoy turning on my stereo in the living room knowing I will hear great stuff without commercials or annoying DJ banter. Sure it can be my own musical echo chamber because it’s composed of my collection. However, I’m a musical fanatic so KMAG continues to grow by at least seven songs a week (more like 15-20) which tacks on 20-plus minutes. Thus the stream’s randomness has only improved over the years. It’s even nearing 10,000 songs (9563 today), that blows away anything commercial FM radio, satellite or cable will work with.
These days, my energies have been focused on trimming down the cover songs to being no more than 10 percent of the playlist (it’s at 11.7 now, when I made the decision it was over 15). Why? Traditionally, Pop and Rock music has a rich history of this, the latter genre (I think) began to slow down for philosophical reasons. KMAG’s primary goal is to widen the horizons for new material and covers are a lazy crutch I could easily pad the stream’s playlist through. Besides, I’m not a product of the Fifties or Sixties.
Onward to its 10th anniversary! Meanwhile, I will be posting a podcast containing what were my favorite songs for each year KMAG the stream has existed. They tend to reflect the few Web pages I posted with an annual round up so the picks are colored by outside forces: emotional resonance, meeting the performers, bias and live shows.