Streaming services suck...

...but they are so good.

Finding new music used to be exciting. You'd flick through the crates, looking at the cover art of the records and CDs. Diligently divided up into vague genres by the staff at the store.

Today I will flick through the punk section. No Use For A Name? Sounds cool. I'll ask to listen. Bad Religion released a new album? Amazing - I don't even need to listen to that one first. Then you'd check the "now playing" shelf of what was playing in the store.

You'd tell your friends about the new albums you bought. They'd probably come over to listen to it. It was An Event. You might make them a mix-tape of your favourite tracks.

This is all gone with the rise of the streaming service. We've given up the chase and hunt (or shop and cook, I guess) for the fast-food Uber delivery of music and it's taken some of the joy out of it. At least for me. I can find a dozen new artists that sound a bit like Lulu & die Einhornfarm in a matter of minutes, but there's no buzz to it all. There's no spice. It's all delivered on a platter (heh - vinyl record pun...). The music is the same, but there's no chase. I don't get excited about a notification that a new album has been released - not in any way like finding a new album in the crates.

I love having nearly all the music I love in my pocket. It's incredible and with nearly ubiquitous cellular coverage, I can listen to nearly every song I love at any time anywhere.

But the discovery process is bland, and I struggle to forgive it for that.

End rant.