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Why I Flip-flop between Three Streaming Music Services

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For the past several years, I’ve gone back and forth between three premium music streaming services: Apple Music, Spotify, and YouTube Music (formerly Google Play Music). What’s funny is that I never tend to stick with one of them for longer than a few months. Of course, this is mostly just me being wish-washy (as I am with many things), but it also boils down to the fact that each of them has distinct features that I like — as well as those I don’t.

1. Apple Music

I’ve subbed and unsubbed many times to Apple Music. Given that I’m somewhat of an Apple fanboy, it makes sense for me to subscribe to their service since I’m well-entrenched into the Apple ecosystem. Apple Music works flawlessly with Siri and with their other devices.

But it usually doesn’t take me long to get sick of Apple Music constantly pushing Hip Hop and Rap music down my throat. Okay, well, maybe not down my throat. But whenever I listen to a recommended playlist, it’s rife with those two genres, neither of which I listen to nor enjoy. As for why Apple Music continues to recommend those to me, I have no idea. I have a music library with over 70,000 songs, and not one of them is Hip Hop or Rap. Now, I have nothing against these genres — hell, I have a friend who’s a Hip Hop musician. But those are just not music genres that I enjoy (I’m more of an easy listening and jazz guy). You’d think that after all these years, Apple would know my musical tastes. I kept hoping that eventually, Apple Music would learn my music tastes, but alas — I’m still waiting.

I’m also not a massive fan of their app, and I find that Apple Music on the Mac is still a nightmare. Their iOS app has gotten a bit better, but it’s still not a favorite of mine. It seems to be buggy, especially when adding music to the queue (which works only part of the time). And again, disliking songs seem to have no effect whatsoever on what’s the app recommends to me.

However, there are a lot of positives about the services. First, the sound quality is excellent. Apple Music streams content at 256kbps, using AAC, and they’ve recently introduced lossless audio compression that true audiophiles may appreciate.

Another plus is that you can easily access your own music via any device. They also offer a human-curated Radio station, which features top artists and shows, and is excellent for discovering new or unreleased music.

2. Spotify

I always manage to find my way back to Spotify on a regular basis, probably because, in my opinion, this service is the best for music discoverability, and they excel at tailoring playlists. As for recommendations, they always nail it, and because of them, I’ve discovered many new musical artists over the years. Their daily recommended mixes are typically spot-on, and I love their Discover Weekly mix, which changes weekly. Their collaborative playlists are also a favorite feature of mine.

They’ve recently added podcasts to their offerings, which I don’t use as I typically listen to them using an iPhone app, but this might be a plus for other people. Their app is also beautifully designed, ascetically pleasing, and user-friendly, and they make it easy to find the content you’re looking for quickly. The Spotify platform is also supported by most voice assistants—including Siri, Google Assistant, and Alexa.

Truth be told, there’s not really anything that I dislike about the service. Additionally, choosing the highest quality on Spotify will get you a stream of 320kb/s, while YouTube Music and Apple Music max out at 256 kb/s (though now Apple offers a lossless streaming format for specific devices).

3. YouTube Music

So if I don’t dislike anything about Spotify, you might be wondering why don’t I stick with it? That’s because the third service, YouTube Music, offers a couple of things the others don’t. For one thing, my spouse has a family membership to YouTube premium, which means that even if I switch to another service, we’re still paying for it.

What I really love about the service, however, are the music videos. Formerly, I spent a lot of time on YouTube watching them, but now, they’re rolled right into their music app. I enjoy watching my favorite artists perform their songs live. And in addition to official releases from record labels, YouTube Music has tons of remixes, fan-created covers, mashups, and more, resulting in quite a massive music selection.

But probably the main thing that keeps me with the service is that I love the fact that it also comes bundled with ad-free YouTube. That is to say, I never see ads when I’m watching videos on YouTube — it’s all part of the premium package. Though I don’t find their music discoverability quite as good as Spotify’s, they do have several recommended mixes from which I’ve found new favorite musicians.

Another huge plus for me is the ability to upload my own music. While I can access music I own on Apple Music, it’s not quite so easy with Spotify and requires a bit of hoop-jumping (in other words, it’s a huge pain).

Verdict

The verdict is inconclusive. There are things I love about each of them, and there have even been times where I’ve subscribed to more than one of the services: YouTube Music & Spotify or YouTube Music & Apple Music (and one time, all three). But then I think about what a waste of money it is, given that their music libraries are mostly similar.

So, for now, I subscribe only to YouTube Music but will undoubtedly be revisiting the others in the future as they are all worthy competitors, and I’m often tempted by the greener grass on the other side.

How about you? What’s your favorite music streaming service?

My Dislike for Ads

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I’ve always hated commercials. Even as a little kid, I use to leave the room whenever a commercial came on television. Eventually, I stopped watching television entirely. But, of course, this was before the days of ad-free cable television. I still never watch commercial television. Hell, I’m not even sure if my TV picks up those channels.

I’m not sure what’s at the bottom of the disdain for ads. I think it’s the fact that someone is deliberately trying to manipulate me into buying their shit. Advertisers try to make us feel guilty for not buying their gadgets, envious of others who have it, or make us feel somehow less than a person because we don’t bite. Advertisers are masters at making us feel like crap about ourselves: we’re too fat, too poor, our house isn’t clean enough, we own the wrong car, the wrong computer, the wrong phone, on and on. Advertising has always struck me as being sleazy and manipulative. It’s funny — whenever I’m exported to an advert of any kind, I instinctively put myself on the defensive, bringing down a mental wall. That is to say, I consciously fight back against their manipulations.

Every now and then, when I’m out of town, I’ll turn on the hotel room television and attempt to watch a show or a movie. Probably within 20 minutes (often less than that), I’m desperately scrambling for the remote to turn it off. Whenever I watch a program with commercials, it’s pure torture for me. It’s as if I’m deliberately torturing myself for no reason. I begin to get involved in a show, sucked into the story when wham! I’m asked if I’ve talked to my doctor about hemorrhoids. For the next couple of minutes, it’s ad after ad: life insurance, viagra, accident attorneys, funeral parlors, athletes foot spray, etc. With relief, we return to our programming, only for it to be interrupted again 6 minutes later. And on and on it goes. It doesn’t take me long to put the torture to an end and turn off the damn set.

I’m the same way with ads in other areas of my life as well. I don’t listen to ad-based radio, and when browsing the web, I use several ad-blockers on my browser (without it, it’s almost nearly impossible to navigate a website.) If a website slaps me with a pop-up, I immediately leave and never come back. No matter what the medium, whether it be television, radio, or websites, I find ads to be manipulative and insulting. Always have.

Now I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with ads. This is all me and most people aren’t bothered by them at all. Unfortunately, I’m not one of those people and go out of my way to avoid them. The little television that I do watch is only through ad-free streaming networks like Netflix and HBO Max. I find my sanity is much better because of it.

Of course, being an author, this opinion puts me at odds with my business, given that I’m a business person who needs customers. Marketing has always been challenging for me. I never want to appear to be too “in-your-face,” too insulting to people, or too sleazy. I maintain this website and occasionally mention my books on Twitter and sometimes on Facebook, being careful not to turn my feed into an ad machine. It certainly is a difficult balance, trying to figure out how to advertise effectively yet non-sleazily while still getting the word out about my books.

I guess I’m still trying to figure it out. I’ll let you know what I come up with.

Some of My Favorite iPad Apps

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Photo by LinkedIn Sales Solutions on Unsplash

These days, I do the majority of my work on my iPad, a device I’ve come to love more and more over the years. Many people often ask me what are some of my favorite iPad apps so in today’s post, I thought I’d share a few of them with you.

  1. Scrivener
    This is my main long-form writing app. I mainly use it to write novels though I have done certain types of journaling in it as well. It’s a powerful and flexible writing app that is probably my most used one as well. There are so many wonderful features to this app: the ability to easily rearrange sections/chapters, color coding, powerful outlining capabilities, project/session targets, export to ePub and mobi, corkboard (an Index Card view), full-screen composition mode, and autosave.
  2. Ulysses
    This is another writing app, but I use this one for my short-form writing, such as blog posts. I love its organizational tools, especially the single hierarchical library and its ability to export and share to various formats. I especially like its clean and distraction-free interface, which makes writing it in enjoyable.I’ve tried getting rid of it a few times because it’s a subscription, but I go running right back to it. It does so many things that other markdown apps can’t do, so for now, it stays.
  3. Netflix/HBO Max/Hulu/Amazon Prime
    I’ve grouped these into one category because I go back and forth between them. For example, if there’s a show I want to watch, I’ll subscribe to one of them, watch all the show’s episodes and then unsubscribe. This way, I only subscribe to the service that I’m actively using at the moment.
  4. Firefox
    My web browser of choice. I use this because of its security and privacy features. However, if there’s a site that refuses to work with Firefox, I’ll use Safari in that case.
  5. Goodnotes
    This is another note-taking app but one that works flawlessly with the Apple Pencil, allowing me to take hand-written digital notes. I actually keep my digital journal in Goodnotes. I also use this to mark up drafts of my novels. I’ll import a PDF version of the book and then make pen corrections to that version. I find that this app comes in handy for so many things.
  6. Kindle App
    The Kindle app is my ebook reader app of choice. Though I read most of my ebooks on my Kindle Oasis, I will occasionally read them using the Kindle app on my iPad, especially if the book contains illustrations. I love that the app will sync what I’m reading with my iPhone and my Kindle.
  7. Instapaper
    Instapaper is a read-later service that allows you to save web content so it can be read later on your devices, such as on a smartphone, iPad, or computer. I use this app daily to curate articles that I share on social media or articles that I want to read later on.

    Instapaper syncs the articles and videos you save so that they’re waiting for you on all your devices – iPhone, iPad, Android, or Kindle. You can read anything you save, anywhere and anytime you want, even offline!

  8. Drafts
    This is another of my most-used apps. Drafts allows you to quickly jot your ideas down, whether it be for a tweet or an idea for a novel. You can then come back later on and share it with a variety of services or apps. Almost all of my Tweets begin in the Drafts app.
  9. Lightroom
    I subscribe to Adobe’s Photographer’s package, which includes Lightroom and Photoshop. Though I do most of my photo editing in Lightroom Classic on my Mac, I often edit photos in the iPad version as well, especially if I quickly want to share them online.
  10. Playground Sessions
    I’ve recently begun learning the piano, and this is one of the apps I’m using to learn. It has some great lessons and methodology, and I use it every day. Unfortunately, the iPad app is kind of buggy (though they are supposedly coming out with an update shortly). But that aside, I’ve had a lot of fun learning piano with the app. They also have an amazing and supportive online community.
  11. Piano Marvel
    This is the other piano app that I’m using every day to learn piano. It has excellent sight-reading features, which initially drew me to the application. The method they use to teach songs is super helpful, especially the ability to work on only specific measures of a piece. Again, another app I use daily.
  12. YouTube Music
    Right now, YouTube Music is my music service of choice (I jump back and forth between Apple Music, Spotify, and YouTube Music). One strong reason for subscribing to YouTube Music is that it removes ads from YouTube videos. I also enjoy watching music videos, and I can do so right from the app.
  13. Excel/Google Sheets
    Because I’m not too keen on Google’s privacy track record, I tend to use Excel for all of my spreadsheets (I have a subscription to Microsoft Office). I keep a few things in Google Sheets that I want to access from any device.
  14. DevonThink
    I’ve been using DevonThink since its early days, and it still is an app that I use almost daily. It’s essentially a database for storing, tracking, and tagging all types of information. What I love about this app is how easy it is to get data in and out of it. Additionally, you can store data in its original format, such as PDFs, Microsoft Office documents, HTML files, text, and files. I did use Evernote for a while, but it didn’t meet my needs like DevonThink does.
  15. BoxCryptor
    BoxCryptor is a reliable and secure software encryption app that I use to encrypting the sensitive files that I store on the cloud. What’s nice about BoxCryptor is that I can access my encrypted files from my iOS devices. I encrypt pretty much anything with personally identifiable information.
  16. Epicurious
    This is my favorite app to use when I’m cooking or baking as, for the most part, their recipes are foolproof. In addition, the app includes tested recipes from publishers such as Bon Appetit, Gourmet, and many others. I love the ability to save recipes, create shopping lists and find pretty much any recipe I’m looking for. I find the reviews for each recipe also incredibly helpful.
  17. Todoist
    I’ve experimented with many to-do/project management applications but always come back to Todoist. Todoist is a cloud-based task management service that is a cross between a to-do list app and a project management service.I love its flexibility, natural language input ability, the ability to use it on all major devices and platforms (Mac, Windows, iOS, Android, etc.), productivity reports, and the ease of use, though it is pretty powerful. This feature-packed app is one for which I don’t mind paying the yearly subscription fee.
  18. ByWord
    If I need to create a quick text or markdown document, I use Byword. I also use this sometimes to make a quick, on-the-fly blog post. It’s simple yet an app that I always return to. The app also allows you to publish directly to Blogger, Medium, or WordPress.
  19. iThoughts (MindNode went subscription)
    iThoughts is a mind-mapping tool that I use to generate quick ideas. It’s excellent for visually organizing your thoughts. I also use it for general brainstorming, coming up with novel ideas, project planning, goal setting, and more. You can also export to a variety of formats such as PDF, Microsoft Word, Microsoft Project, Microsoft PowerPoint, PNG, and Markdown.I used to use MindNode until it went subscription. I’ve been an iThoughts user for many years now and am still extremely happy using this flexible app.
  1. DayOneDayOne is a journaling app that I’ve used on and off. I mainly keep my journals in physical notebooks. I did start transcribing my journals in DayOne a while back. Additionally, I take a break from pen and paper writing every now and then and instead do all my journaling in the DayOne app. Regretfully, DayOne went subscription a few years ago. I feel silly paying $36 per year for a journaling app, especially when I have other tools (that aren’t subscription) that I can use. When they started charging yearly for the app, I didn’t move over as I deeply entrenched into their ecosystem. Okay, but I’m seriously thinking of moving my digital journals into Scrivener before my next subscription renewal date. We’ll see.
  2. TextExpander
    TextExpander is a productivity app that allows you to insert blocks of text using keyboard shortcuts. For example, whenever I type in ddd, TextExpander will insert directions to my house. Likewise, typing my initial will insert my email address. Though this app also follows the subscription model, I don’t mind paying for it. I find it an invaluable tool in my workflow, and I save tons of time using it.

What are your favorite iPad apps?

My Backup Routine

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When I use to teach technical training courses, I used to tell my students, “There are two types of people: those who backup and those who wish they had.” This is the voice of experience talking here. Early on in my computing days, I lost data due to faulty backups or no backups. Since then, my backup procedure has evolved quite a bit and consists of several steps.

  1. Local Backup. Each week, I backup my computer’s hard drive as well as my external drives using a backup program called Carbon Copy Cloner (SuperDupe is also another excellent app). I have two external drives that I use regularly, one for my data files and one for my media that is part of the backup. I have two different backup versions, which I alternate each week (weekly 1 & weekly 2). So thus, I have six drives total for my backup: two for my hard drive, 2 for my data files, and 2 for my media files, all of which I alternate.
  2. Time Machine. I have a Mac, so I always have a Time Machine drive. What this does, is backs up continuously throughout the day, so I pretty much always have a recent backup of the data on my Mac. I used to alternate Time Machine drives as well each week but have subsequently reduced it to only one drive.
  3. Sync.com This is the primary cloud service that I use. It’s similar to Dropbox and Box in that it synchronizes your data continuously to the cloud. I have my Sync.com folder stored on an external drive, and it also gets backed up each week when I do my Carbon Copy Cloner backup (see #1).
  4. Dropbox. I also use the free version of Dropbox. My main reason for using this is because it’s the only thing that works with Scrivener, my main writing application. Given that I switched back and forth between the Mac desktop app and the iPad version, I need to keep Scrivener around to ensure that syncing is smooth and I don’t end up losing any data.
  5. AWS. Okay, so this is totally optional. I also have an Amazon AWS account where I store my super-important files that are essential for running my business. AWS is a cloud storage solution as opposed to the likes of Sync.com or Dropbox, which are cloud sync solutions. The difference is that if you delete or change a file from your Sync.com folder, that file is deleted from the cloud. With services like AWS, files are not synced to your computer. Instead, you upload to their cloud servers, where they’ll stay until you delete them yourself.

So that is my backup solution. It might seem a tad confusing at first glance, but it’s really simple. One local backup, an always-on Time Machine backup, automatic sync to the cloud, and extra storage for my super-important files. Some people take the local backup to the next level by storing their backup drives off-site, such as at another person’s house or in the trunk of their car. I don’t do this, figuring that my system is relatively foolproof as is.

I do recommend storing at least one full version of all your data off-site or in the cloud, should your home ever face a natural disaster such as a flood or a fire, or if there’s ever a break-in and your drives get stolen.

Online Security & Privacy

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I’ve been on a security & privacy kick recently. I’ve always taken online security recently, but given all the hacks, phishing, and ransomware attacks as of late, I decided to up my game. Below are some of the things I did.

  1. Encrypted my cloud files. I realized many of the things that I had stored in the cloud contained sensitive information, such as credit card numbers listed on monthly statements. So using a program called Boxcryptor, I encrypted all the files on the cloud services that I use (Dropbox, Google Drive). So if the service ever got hacked or if someone gained access to my password, they’d be unable to read any of the files.
  2. Use a VPN. I used to always use a VPN whenever I was away from home and using public Wi-Fi, but I now use it full time, even when I’m in the house. A VPN is an encrypted tunnel between your device and the Internet and can help you maintain online safety and privacy. It hides your IP Address allowing you to browse privately without anyone tracking your online activity.
  3. Updated my passwords. I went through my password list and ensured that I didn’t reuse any passwords. I also changed them all to have at least 15 characters, including special symbols & capital letters. If there were passwords for sites or services I no longer used, I logged on and deleted my account.
  4. Encrypted my hard drive. Mac computers include a feature called File Vault, with which you can encrypt your entire hard drive. This way, if your computer is ever stolen, nobody will be able to read your files without knowing the encryption password.
  5. Encrypted my external drives. Mac computers also allow you to encrypt your external drives. All you need to do is right-click a drive from the Finder and choose “Encrypt” from the contextual menu. Again, anyone who accesses the drive will need to know the password in order to read the data on it.
  6. Froze my credit. I also put a freeze on my credit at each of the three big credit reporting agencies. This way, nobody will be able to open any accounts in my name unless they have the “unfreeze” codes that the companies provided to me.
  7. Use an encrypted email service. I signed up for an encrypted email service so that messages that I sent are encrypted both ways, as long as the person with whom I’m corresponding uses the same service. My emails are also stored in a super-secure site in Switzerland. This is important to me, given that many emails that I receive — such as credit card statements — contain sensitive information.
  8. Use a Password Manager. I’ve used a password manager for several years now and what I love most about them is that you no longer need to memorize your passwords or write them down on papers (where they could fall into the wrong hands) — simply copy and paste them directly from the app. This makes it easy to have lengthy and complicated passwords without fearing that you’ll forget them. I also store credit card numbers and credit card contact info, passwords for encrypted drives, medical information, software keys, or any confidential data that I want to keep from prying eyes.

These are just a few of the things I’ve done to ensure that my online life is safe as possible.

AirPods?

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Airpods

Today I received my new AirPods in the mail. What’s funny about this is that I told myself that I would never buy myself a pair of them. It’s not that I have anything against Apple. Hell, I’m a major fanboy in that I have an iMac, an iPad, an Apple Watch, and an iPhone. Yes, major fanboy here.

The reason I never considered them is because when I see people wearing them, it makes me think of a particular scene from a film entitled, “There’s Something About Mary.” And I’m not going to tell you what that scene is — you’ll have to watch the film or do a Google search (look up the term “ear” 😊).

Moreover, I was convinced that the buds never stay put in my ears. I once had a pair of wired earbuds, and they’d fall out constantly. But I became intrigued when I read that the AirPods Pro come with several tips so that no matter the size or shape of your ear, they will supposedly fit snugly. I began to become intrigued.

But a couple of events pushed me towards getting them. One was that my current pair of over-the-ear noise-canceling headphone cans died after many years of heavy use. Given that noise-canceling is an essential feature for me (I’ll chat more about that in another post), I began researching options, and the AirPods Pro ended up at the top of my list. But what really clinched the deal was that they were on sale last weekend for $50 off. I took that as a sign from the universe (hey — we have to justify our purchases somehow).

So far, so good. I like them. I think these will work out just fine.