Dammit, dammit, dammit. My exhaustion from the Franz Ferdinand concert and two recent celebrity passings made me forget this huge milestone on Sunday. Better late than never with some events I’d say.
Well, way back on August 7, 2002, my friend Jeremy put his new Mac Genius training to work before he moved to Houston for their new Galleria Store by installing an 80 GB hard drive I put into an Indigo iMac. The iMac then sat up on the entertainment center with an audio-out cable plugged into the stereo after I installed Mac OS X Server version 10.2.x for its new QuickTime Streaming Service. KMAG began with a modest 2000 to 2200 MP3s with just a Top 30 to rotate. Still a larger playlist than any commercial FM station.
Twenty years later the stream has continued to push forward even though it has had to move from the Indigo iMac to a Mac Mini G4 and then three more Mac Mini Intels. The key has been hunting down a system capable of running Mac OS X Server version 10.6.x since Apple ditched QTSS officially with Mac OS X 10.7’s release; it runs on this but it’s work to hunt it down and make it function. Given how reliable Apple’s hardware is, I’m hoping this Mini hangs in there for a good long time. After it, either KMAG the Stream is put to rest or I’m combing local Goodwills and the Internet for one more.
Sadly, the current Mini is no longer in the living room nor connected to a stereo. It resides in my home office, streaming into other systems as I choose to listen. My bitchin’ stereo is disassembled until I have the time and means to hook it up with a turntable.
KMAG the Stream did receive a new job this year. Whenever I add new music to change out its Top 35 Hits, I comb the first 50 songs it plays to set up my next KMAG Podcast Mix. My mixtape rules from 1993 remain in a effect yet 50 is enough to work from to narrow it all down to 16-18 selections on a monthly or sometimes bi-weekly basis. I do try to update the stream weekly. Given all the cool new releases continuing to happen from established and up-and-coming acts, it isn’t hard outside of finding the time to make the picks.
Lastly, I want to close out with KMAG the Stream’s stats on its anniversary to show you how awesome it has been; it certainly blows away Spotify, I paid the artists more.
- Songs Played in 20 years: 2,685,038
- Songs in the playlist 20 years later: 16,293
I do hope the Mini can hang in there to make it 25 years.