Algorithmic Music Playlists

I’ve always avoided playlists like Apple Music’s “my” station. I’d tried it years ago but found them to not be to my taste, playing songs that were ok but not really what I wanted.

Then last weekend, due to Alexa mishearing my wife’s instruction, we ended up listening to my Apple Music station without realising it. And it was absolutely bloody brilliant! A fantastic mix of songs from many genres I enjoy. There were some real blasts from the past in there too!

For the last few months (or maybe even year!), I’ve found myself wanting to listen to music while I work but not really being bothered to think about what I wanted to listen to. So I would just end up listening to the same albums or playlists over and over.

But since last weekend, I’ve been sticking “my” station on in Apple Music and it’s been fantastic.

I guess the point is that this is a reminder that algorithms aren’t inherently bad. Yes, Apple is selling me a service, but it’s a service I find value in rather than algorithmic advertising or doom scrolling social media crap.

It’s been really nice this week to not have to decide what to listen to, but to still have great music on that’s tailored to me.