As an elder millennial, I’ve gotten to see and experience life in both its analog form as well as it’s digital form. Days when a new song would be released on radio and you’d have to wait months for the physical album to come out. Going to Blockbuster and putting your name down to reserve a copy of a movie when it came in. Reading concert reviews in newspapers or from word of mouth of friends who were able to go. I use to record music videos all day while I was at school and come back home to rewind and watch them. Now I just open Youtube.

One of the more tedious chores that I found when younger was trying to make my own custom mix tapes. Looking back I find the memories to be good and a sign of the times. Calling and requesting a song on the radio and waiting with a cassette tape in ready to hit record when a song would finish. Or having two radios with cassette players and starting a song on one and hitting record on the other, just to piece together the perfect group of songs to rock out to or send to another person.

While in hindsight I enjoy those memories, there is absolutely nothing that beats the ability to make a playlist on the fly on any streaming service. They also have pre-curated playlists that one can easily find on any platform. Have a bad breakup? You can instantly pull up your music app of choice and load it with as many songs as you can think of within minutes. You could also just type in Taylor Swift and it’ll be even faster.

I have a laundry list of Playlists on multiple platforms I have an Angry playlist that consists of a lot of heavy rock and Eminem. I have a playlist full of songs that have either lyrics or instrument solos that when I hear them just rip a hole in my soul.As I’ve mentioned before, I have a playlist I use for when I am working out that I call Adrenaline. Full of random songs that I help me stay focused and driven to keep moving.

The best part about these playlists? You can share them! I had mentioned on my 75 Hard blog that I wanted any recommendations for songs for my adrenaline playlist for while I do my exercises. I had two friends just send me their own playlist links. I also like to send songs to friends who I know are going through hard times or certain situations that remind me of a song that I hopes hits well with them and they can use it for any kind of musical therapy.

As a fan of basically any music genre you can think of, I’d love to hear some of your favorite playlists. Do you have one fed by emotion? One fed by a life experience? One that helps you get through your workouts and helps you stay motivated? Send them to me. Either reply on the social media post you found this blog on or email me psaprez@gmail.com

Do I think the audio in the digital format is superior to the analog days? Sometimes. On music that is obviously over produced, it very much sounds amazing, though I do still find the more analog form of something like vinyl to be much more appealing. But there is nothing like the convenience digital audio brings when it comes to finding and listening to the music that moves you the most, and feeds your soul.