Places we hear music in our everyday lives

Not only has the way we listen to music been changed in the sense that we now have multiple devices to listen to music on, that we can transport with us anywhere that we go, we can also hear music constantly, wherever we go even when it wasnt our aim to do so.

For example, when going shopping, depending on how you take your journey, the likelihood that you will be exposed to music throughout your day is very high indeed.
This is because, at the start of your journey, if you drive, or get in a taxi, you're more than likely going to have the radio on, or even if you dont, someone may drive past you who has loud music on, and you would hear it through this. Even if you go on the bus, either the bus driver could have the radio on, or someone could be playing music at the back of the bus for example, or just have their music on their headphones loud, and you will hear it through this.

Image link
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/ac/Arriva_T6_nearside.JPG/220px-Arriva_T6_nearside.JPG

 



Once you arrive at the shopping centre, it is almost guarenteed that their will be music playing in the main building, and definitley in the seperate shops that you go in, and this will include all different genres, so you will be exposed to quite a lot of different types of music, just through browsing in shops. Which is quite incredible if you think about it used to be, compared to how it is now.

Furthering this, if the shopping centre has a lift, and you need to go to another floor, again this is a place you could hear music, although quite an unusual one. You wont hear actual songs when in a lift, but you will more than likely hear lift music, which will be some kind of soothing tones, to try and make your transport from floor to floor more enjoyable.

Image link:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/de/Brighton_Churchill_Square_Shopping_Centre.JPG

This just shows, on a typical day how, without even intending to, you can be exposed to all different types of music, just by carrying out your normal day to day activites. This highlights just how much this technology has developed.

Evolution of listening to music, dates and images

The Phonograph, 1877 

(Image link http://media.liveauctiongroup.net/i/5774/8652937_1.jpg?v=8CC0BEC166B8590)

The record player 1888
Image link: http://www.uk-jukeboxes.co.uk/images/prods/norwich-2-dark-wood-retro-USB.gif

The radio, 1939
Image Link: http://blog.yourcoverinsurance.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/Roberts-radio.jpg

The cassette/tape player, 1962
Image link: http://www.kitguru.net/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/sony-walkman.jpg

The CD player,  created 1970's, available to the public in 1982
Image Link: http://www.aesthetictechnologies.org/atlab/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/walkman_cd_player.jpg

The MP3 Player, 1997
Image Link: http://www.whoguides.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/mp3-player.jpg

Mobile phones with radio, 1998
Image Link: http://media02.hongkiat.com/mobilephone-revolution/cellphone-nokia-5110-(1998).jpg

The first mobile phone to hold MP3 Music, (Samsung SPH-M100 Uproar), 2000
Image Link: http://images.pcworld.com/reviews/graphics/38943-1903p083b-1b.gif

Nokia Launched their smartphone, 2010
Image Link: http://c2499022.cdn.cloudfiles.rackspacecloud.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/Nokia-5230-white-Symbian-100-Euros-2010.jpg

The smart Tablet was introduced
Image link: http://androidspin.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Xperia-Tablet-S.jpg

Listening to music in present day

As we are all aware, in present day, listening to music isn't seen as a luxury, because it is something we have access to every single day, and basically have it on demand any time we want.

Whereas in the past where I have explored the development of music becoming more a thing that everyone could listen to, rather than just a luxury as it was when it began, the way we can now listen to music is amazing compared to the past.

With the invention of mobile phones, that you can get the radio on, and you can transfer songs directly to, it was a much easier way for us to be able to carry around our music with us, as mobile phones are tiny compared to the size of walkmans and CD players. However, this was taken even further with smart phones being introduced, along with apps such as Spotify.

Spotify is a music app, that allows you to stream songs directly to your phone, computer, tablet etc. You don't need to pay for the music you listen to, but if you want unlimited access to the music, you do need to pay a £10 a month subscription fee, which is quite generous considering the amount of music you have access to with this app.

Furthering this, Spotify also helps to promote new albums that are being released by artists, as there is a 'whats new' section, and you can also see the most popular tracks in the 'top tracks' and 'top albums' lists available. You can also have access to other peoples playlists if they have made them available to preview by the public, and you can create your own playlists.

Image Link: http://www.inquirelive.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/bigspotify.png

However, you dont just need to be able to access applications on your phone so that you can have music streamed to your device whenever you want. As long as you have an internet connection, you can just connect to youtube and type in the name of any song you want, and the likely hood is that it will be there, and available for you to listen to, and even watch the music video if you feel like it. It is also completley free, and available to everyone.

This is such a dramatic change from how it used to be, and it does show us how technology has developed dramitically over the years.

Image Link:
http://i4.dailyrecord.co.uk/incoming/article1776249.ece/ALTERNATES/s615/3869411_YOU%20TUBE%20LOGO%202-1776249.jpg



How it all started...

The phonograph was invented in 1877 by Thomas Edison and was the first way to listen to music in a portable fashion.
On this device you could play records, and it was small enough that you could lift it and transfer it from room to room, so essentially, could take your music wherever you felt like listening to it within your home. Before this, music was seen to be something of a luxury, and something to be enjoyed at concerts for example, and other social occasions, not within your home. However, this is the start of how all of this changed and how it has now come to the totally different extreme that we know and is what appears normal to us. Below is an image of the phonograph.




(http://media.liveauctiongroup.net/i/5774/8652937_1.jpg?v=8CC0BEC166B8590)

Following this invention, and the invention of records, is how listening to music really took off, and from this moment, when it comes to music, technology has developed to extremes that would have seen impossible once upon a time, and they are still continuing to become more and more impressive.




(https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlxylDmYIlS4Toa3bkS0Qy7zHyJ8eR1-WdmieY82zkB7KxaEPRJrj9T7V6v8LLmLpZ_ybTpjTIHvybQ7tP9zCNQN3Xzcae_RfjW5t1fUpG81vh2ISkmn0G_EV9Cjz__lj-HzsNUGKw_Pc/s1600/records.jpg)

Following the phonograph, and as it is other wise known the record player, came the radio. This happened because although everyone was overwhelmed by the creation of the phonograph and record player, they were exciting and new, but also very expensive. This resulted in not a lot of people being able to afford to buy them, so not a lot of people were able to enjoy the luxury of listening to music in their own homes, whenever they wanted.

However, the invention of radio waves was what really helped people to be able to have this luxury. Because of radio, people were able to tune in and dance along to their favourite songs, without having to go out and spend great amounts of money on record players, so it is then that people really began to listen to music more, and the real bug for music began to develop.

(http://blog.yourcoverinsurance.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/Roberts-radio.jpg)

Again, this invention really helped artists within the music industry, because more people were having access to their songs, and then if they really liked an artist they heard on the radio they could save up their money and buy their record.

After the radio was invented, and people were really getting into listening to music, it seems like it must have been essential for something more portable than this to be created, as the success of the previous things had been so great. So after this, the next thing that was made was the walkman. The walkman was introduced to the public in 1979 by Sony and it was a portable device, that you could take with you anywhere you wanted to, and you could play music on demand, at any time, with cassettes.

I don't think it was what people were expecting, because it was quite small, so it was very easy to transport from place to place, you could even fit it in your pocket. So technically, this is where the portable music that we are so used to having, and so used to being able to carry with us anywhere began.



(http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1907884,00.html)

After the walkman came the CD player, which wasnt really a help when it came to size, this is because the CD's are round so it was still quite a big thing to be carrying around with you, but it was easier and more up to date than the walkman.
Then, because of the CD player came things such as the boombox, which people used to carry around on their shoulders blasting out music to, because in some places people considered it to be the 'in' thing to do, although if this happened in present day I'm sure they would get some funny looks!

From this point onwards came the remarkable technology that we are so used to having in present day, which I will explore further in the next few posts.

Introduction

Hi! I'm Becky, and here's a little insight to what you should expect on my blog.

I am extremely interested in music, so I thought I would use this passion I have and link it to developing technologies.

Throughout this blog I will explore the first ways that we used to listen to music, and compare it to the way it is now. This will include everything from record players, to Iphones, and how over the years the devises we use to listen to music have gotten much smaller, but much more powerful, and if this hadn't happened we'd probably all still be walking around carrying boom boxes on our shoulders!

Enjoy!