The availability of ever more specialized music filtering online means we can all listen to exactly what we want – but at the expense of sharing a soundtrack with everybody else. (This amazing article from the New York Times explores this phenomenon in depth.)
Music sites are getting more social, letting you simultaneously drill into the sub-sub-subgenres you like and share them across your social networks to find a happy medium: you and your friends can cultivate a shared music culture that resonates. Most of us are already familiar with Pandora and YouTube. We love both of those dearly and use them constantly, but we’re also intrigued by these three newer services that are taking social listening one step further, each in a different way.
I have a pair of old hiking shoes in my closet. They’re dirty, worn out, and the tread is almost all gone. I finally vowed to get a new pair after my last attempt to hike Mt. St. Hellens. The lack of traction was becoming dangerous on the snow. I bought a shiny new pair of shoes this winter that will carry me up the summit trail later this summer, but I still haven’t thrown my old shoes out. I can’t seem to get rid of them.
As big soccer fans we were so excited to be a part of the opening game for the new Timbers MLS team. It was clear from the crowd’s enthusiasm that it didn’t matter that it was cold and pouring rain for the entire game. We’ve been waiting for a long time and there was no dampening the fans’ spirits. As the Timbers Army sang for the entire game, the atmosphere seemed to lift the team. This was really about the fans as much as the game itself and in that spirit the Oregonian created a Gigapan image of the crowd—over 18,000 fans. You can scroll around and find yourself and tag the image, turning it into a digital keepsake of a historic moment for Portland soccer.