Anti-Blog Design Blog: November 2009 | jim thomson

Does music help you pass the time at work? The grating background music that I was forced to listen to nicely sums up the type of work I did at my first set of jobs. All static walkman radio in my neighborhood landscaping job, mind-numbing metal during my short order cook days, looping muzak tapes at my retail jobs and cliché Italian lounge music while serving at the Olive Garden.

Working at a computer in an office or my home office offers the relieving freedom listen to what you want after years of an audible prison. It is your ultimate jukebox with unlimited quarters. I do have officemates, so headphones are not the most professional accessory, but in design and production, it can be a necessity. What do you listen to at work? What helps you pass the time or improve your productivity? Here are a list of mine. Hope you enjoy.

SomaFM

Hands down, the best choice for streaming radio. It is perfect if you don't have time to weed through your music library. I first discovered SomaFM in nine years ago in college. Pulling all-nighters in the computer studios, I would have gone insane if I didn't have one of the stations cranking out magical ambient music. SomaFM has many stations of electronic genres, my top picks are Groove Salad, Secret Agent and for the upcoming holidays, Christmas Lounge. There are no ads, so be sure to donate or purchase the app.

Pandora

The smart streaming playlist with a bit of control. Pandora is really a great service. If you spend time educating Pandora what you like and don't like, you can get some amazing hours of listening pleasure. It does take some babysitting at first, when it times out and for the occasional dud of a track. There is also a 40 hour time limit per month. Check out my recent Pandora activity in the right rail widget.

Grooveshark
Is a great service for finding music specific music and adding it to a playlist. I use it more when I am craving a certain artist or song.

Library
Library

Of course there is always the music I have on hand. I like a lot of music that I don't need to futz with, or use to subconsciously distract me from my work. A few albums I like to keep in the queue for this are; Nu Jazz Collection, Ultra Lounge and the Vitamin String Quartet.

Box.net is a great, free online storage service I use for sharing documents with clients, backing up files, working remotely on the same files and compiling music. Every once in a while I will get stuck on a song and repeat it all day while I work. Try them out here:

There are literally hundreds of choices out there for music services. Tell me what you listen to and what service you use while working, driving, house work, etc.

We are just about finished with a little redesigning of my condo. I'm really happy with the results. The main goal was to get rid of the germ filled carpet. We repainted the walls and cabinets. And added new hardware to the kitchen and bathroom cabinets. New faucet in the kitchen. The floor we installed is IKEA's Tundra laminate. I was a little worried about the durability of the flooring but have been very surprised with the results.

The IKEA Expedit desk shelf system I already had and bought it to help divide my large living space in my condo. It ended up consuming the space more then dividing it. I was able to take it apart and push the pieces flush against the wall plus Jen's extra shelf of the same brand completed this wall of books and work space. I added short legs to the shelves so they could sit above the baseboard heater. My tabby spends most of her time in the bookshelf and now that it has 'central heat' she isn't going anywhere.