The Joy Of Passive Listening

David Porter wrote a post about music discovery and linked to me.  David was one of the most articulate bloggers in the interesting discussion that evolved out of my pandora vs last.fm post from earlier this year.

In David’s post, he says:

This is why "programmed" radio-style listening is important. Of course,
beyond music discovery, there can be value to music-based radio, in
that people can hear music they own or already know about but just
couldn’t recall top-of-mind to play or acquire. But it is music
discovery that can differentiate a great radio experience from simply
putting all or a subset of one’s existing music collection on shuffle.

Jim Griffin, in his comment to my post on How I Like My Radio Delivered says:

The iPod doesn’t compete well. For me, pull can’t compete with good
push. I like the community megaphone, the shared experience and fact
set. I don’t need Channel Me; I adore Channel We.

Clearly there is a role for radio going forward. We are not all going to listen exclusively to our music collections on our iPods and laptops. But it’s going to be delivered in many ways.  I like CBS Radio’s new tagline:

Broadcast, On Demand, Streaming, HD Radio

It shows that they (like many of the major radio station operators) realize its their programming that matters and they need to support whatever delivery channel the customer wants to use to get it.

But back to my current Internet radio binge.  It’s not discovery that I am after so much.  It’s that excitement you feel inside when the first couple seconds of the next song comes on and you realize its an old or new favorite of yours.  That’s what keeps me listening to radio, and there is a ton of good radio out there, and the Internet lets you get at it regardless of where you are.