Music rocks

ORN: [ ] I might not get around to running today until later in the evening. I had a hot lunch date with Wifey, and lunchtime running is how I do it these days. We shall see.

The cybernetic philosopher kings over at The Runners' Lounge have commanded us to write about podcasts and music this week. On these tear-stained pages, I have written several times on the subject of music. My first real post on the subject was a rant against the ninnyhammers who object to running with headphones. I'll let that post stand on its own, but I will add that since I have started using the Nike+ system, my opinion has only hardened. My iPod is as much a part of my running as pants. I would not go out for a run without either piece of gear. Music is just that important to me.

In my second musing on the subject of music, I discussed what I listen to while I run, and along with my post on my anxieties regarding nudity and the men's locker room, this post is one of my most popular according to Google. The short version of that post is that on the rare occasion when I listen to podcasts while running, I listen to the CBC Radio 3 Podcast for music and the Chud Show for movie talk and juvenile humor. More often than not, I want to zone out and not pay careful attention to hear clever new music or dick jokes; therefore, I depend on my iPod's fantastic DJ skillz to keep me bounding along. In other words, I have play my whole library randomly. Whatever comes up, great. That is an advantage to running with the Nano rather than a big iPod. With only 4 Gigs to work with, I must limit myself to my favorite music rather than everything I've ever bought or downloaded. Sometimes, DJ Nano will play something inappropriate, like a wispy, ponderous, dub-infused jam when I need something more driving. When that happens, I just skip it. Eventually, my DJ will rock me like I need to be rocked.

After getting a recent request from one of you, my beloved readers, I have started posting the music that DJ Nano plays for me during each run. It's a little extra effort, and it means delaying my posting until after I get home and grab the data. But I think it adds some value and don't mind farting around with a command line tool. I wrote a little program to turn an exported iTunes playlist into an ordered HTML list, so if nothing else, I got to geek out a little to make this little bit of magic for you.

I do it because I love, people.