Monday, June 22, 2026

I've Been Drivin' All Night

Podify Wrapped

Week of June 15–21, 2026

414 Plays. 98 Artists. Six iPods, One Zune, and a Recommendation Algorithm Filing a Workplace Complaint.

Welcome back to Podify Wrapped, the weekly report where I attempt to explain my listening habits and instead accidentally create evidence that the shuffle button has become self-aware.

This week was less a music library and more a traveling music festival spread across multiple decades, genres, and hardware platforms. Over the course of 414 plays, I bounced between classic rock, prog rock, country, comedy, game soundtracks, blues, and—because apparently that wasn't enough—spent part of the week listening on a Zune 30.

That's right. June 16 marked the first documented Zune incursion in Podify Wrapped history.

Some people stream from a phone.

I apparently maintain a rotating museum exhibit.

The dominant themes this week were surprisingly clear: Led Zeppelin, Queen + Paul Rodgers, Jimmy Buffett, The Alan Parsons Project, and a substantial amount of Blue Öyster Cult. Meanwhile, Dread Zeppelin arrived just often enough to make everyone question whether reality is functioning correctly.

As usual, the Shuffle Goblin was unsupervised.

By The Numbers

🎵 Total Plays: 414

🎤 Unique Artists: 98

📀 Unique Songs: 301

🎙️ Live Recordings: 198 plays (47.8%)

🎸 Classic Rock & Hard Rock: ~52%

🤠 Country & Americana: ~13%

🎮 Gaming Soundtracks: ~6%

🤘 Alternative / Modern Rock: ~11%

🤣 Comedy & Spoken Word: ~8%

🎭 Everything Else: ~10%

📱 Devices Used: 7

🟫 Zune Usage: 42 plays (10.1%)

📈 Playlist Consistency: Still under active investigation.

Device Breakdown

🥇 6th Gen iPod Classic — 115 plays (27.8%)

🥈 4th Gen iPod Photo — 98 plays (23.7%)

🥉 7th Gen iPod Touch — 69 plays (16.7%)

🏅 5th Gen iPod Classic — 49 plays

🏅 Zune 30 — 42 plays

🏅 1st Gen iPod Mini — 28 plays

🏅 PC — 13 plays

The Zune represented just over ten percent of listening activity, making this the first week in Podify history where Microsoft successfully captured measurable market share.

Historians are stunned.

Top Artists of the Week

🥇 Led Zeppelin

25 plays (6.0%)

The week's undisputed champion.

Apparently I spent several days conducting intensive research into whether Led Zeppelin is still good.

The findings remain overwhelmingly positive.

🥈 Queen + Paul Rodgers

22 plays (5.3%)

A surprisingly strong showing. "Hammer to Fall," "Radio Ga Ga," and company spent much of the week proving that arena rock remains a perfectly reasonable lifestyle choice.

🥉 Jimmy Buffett

18 plays (4.3%)

At some point the playlist wandered onto a beach, ordered something frozen, and stayed there longer than expected.

🏅 The Alan Parsons Project

17 plays (4.1%)

The week's prog-rock intellectual division.

Recommendation algorithms remain unclear whether this is yacht rock, prog rock, or a graduate-level engineering course.

🏅 Blue Öyster Cult

13 plays (3.1%)

A strong week for mysterious lyrics, giant riffs, and proving that "Astronomy" remains one of the coolest song titles ever written.

Honorable Mentions

Pink Floyd — 12 plays
REO Speedwagon — 11 plays
Dread Zeppelin — 10 plays
Frank Klepacki — 9 plays
The Beatles — 9 plays
Gary Moore — 9 plays

The Floyd Extended Universe wasn't dominant this week, but it remained active enough to remind everyone that existential reflection is never more than a few tracks away.

Top Songs of the Week

🥇 Whole Lotta Love

5 plays (1.2%)

The champion.

Apparently one whole lotta love wasn't enough.

🥈 Radar Love (Live)

4 plays

A song about driving quickly somehow feels completely on-brand for this library.

🥈 Copperhead Road

4 plays

Country-rock outlaw energy remains undefeated.

🥈 Hammer to Fall

4 plays

Queen came prepared for battle.

🥈 Time for Me to Fly

4 plays

REO Speedwagon reminding everyone that transportation-themed songs continue to thrive.

Additional Heavy Rotation

Astronomy — 4 plays
Nothin' Funny With Gunner — 3 plays
Gypsies in the Palace — 3 plays
Heartbreaker (Rough Mix With Vocal) — 3 plays
Walking By Myself — 3 plays

Genre Breakdown

🎸 Classic Rock & Hard Rock — 52%

Led Zeppelin, Queen, Blue Öyster Cult, REO Speedwagon, Pink Floyd, Gary Moore, and The Beatles dominated the week.

At times my listening history resembled a classic-rock station whose program director had been left unsupervised.

🤠 Country & Americana — 13%

Jimmy Buffett, Tim Wilson, Steve Earle, and assorted country detours continued Podify's long-standing tradition of suddenly heading toward Nashville without warning.

🤘 Alternative & Modern Rock — 11%

A smaller presence this week, but still enough variety to prevent the playlist from becoming a complete 1970s reenactment.

🎮 Gaming Soundtracks — 6%

Frank Klepacki once again represented the Brotherhood of Nod.

Peace through power.

🤣 Comedy & Spoken Word — 8%

Bob & Tom and Tim Wilson continued proving that laughter remains a valid musical genre.

🏆 Most Surprising Transition Award

Grand Champion

The Alan Parsons Project → Dread Zeppelin

From sophisticated prog-rock production directly into reggae-infused Zeppelin parody.

No jury could have predicted this outcome.

Runner-Up

Frank Klepacki → Jimmy Buffett

Command & Conquer battlefield music immediately followed by tropical relaxation.

The war ended surprisingly well.

Third Place

Blue Öyster Cult → Bob & Tom

One minute we're contemplating cosmic mysteries.

The next we're listening to comedy radio.

🎢 Emotional Whiplash Award

Pink Floyd → Tim Wilson

A thoughtful meditation on the human condition followed by a comedian explaining why subtlety is optional.

Medically inadvisable.

🎲 Shuffle Goblin Award

Queen + Paul Rodgers → Dread Zeppelin → Frank Klepacki

No human built this sequence.

The Goblin has signed a confession.

🤔 Algorithm Therapist Award

Dread Zeppelin

Every recommendation engine eventually reached the same conclusion:

"What exactly are we supposed to do with this?"

🚚 Unexpected Vehicle Award

Time for Me to Fly

Transportation-themed songs remain alarmingly common around here.

🎮 Save Point to Mosh Pit Award

Frank Klepacki → Led Zeppelin

From commanding tanks to commanding arenas.

A seamless transition, somehow.

Podify Achievement Badges

🏆 Live Album Addict

🏆 Guitar Solo of the Week — Whole Lotta Love

🏆 Floydian Scholar

🏆 Commander of the Brotherhood of Nod

🏆 Zune Survivor

🏆 Classic Rock Preservation Society

🏆 Unexpected Buffett Sighting

🏆 Shuffle Goblin Accomplice

🏆 Audience Member of the Week

🏆 Cross-Platform Audio Archaeologist

Listener Personality Report

"This listener enjoys classic rock, progressive rock, country music, comedy albums, game soundtracks, vintage hardware, and complete statistical chaos."

Translated into plain English:

"This user treats genres like buffet options and portable music players like Pokémon."

Closing Thoughts

Was it coherent?

Not particularly.

Was it entertaining?

Four hundred and fourteen plays suggest the answer is yes.

The dominant theme of the week wasn't any single artist or genre. It was exploration. Whether through Led Zeppelin, Jimmy Buffett, The Alan Parsons Project, or a rogue Zune 30, the playlist spent the week wandering wherever it felt like going.

And honestly, that's becoming the defining feature of Podify Wrapped:

The music changes.

The devices change.

The recommendation algorithms grow increasingly concerned.

But the Shuffle Goblin always finds a way.

Friday, June 19, 2026

There Ain't No Wrong Or Right

Apparently I lost 42 Jimmy Buffett albums during iTunes migrations between 2017 and 2026.

Not to worry, They are all back where they belong!

Monday, June 15, 2026

Shake It Off

Podify Wrapped

Week of June 8–14, 2026

328 Plays. 94 Artists. One iPod Lost Somewhere Between Pink Floyd and Jeff Foxworthy.

Welcome back to another edition of Podify Wrapped, where my iPod's listening history is carefully analyzed to answer one important question:

"What exactly was I doing this week?"

The answer, apparently, was listening to 328 songs from 94 different artists while refusing to commit to any single genre for more than twenty minutes at a time.

This week's playlist wandered through progressive rock, classic rock, hard rock, country music, video game soundtracks, comedy albums, 90s alternative rock, and whatever category The Presidents of the United States of America occupy.

In other words:

Business as usual.

By the Numbers

🎵 Total Plays: 328

🎤 Unique Artists: 94

📀 Unique Songs: 287

🎙️ Live Recordings: Approximately 52%

🎸 Classic Rock & Hard Rock: 57%

🤠 Country & Americana: 11%

🎮 Video Game Soundtracks: 8%

🤣 Comedy & Spoken Word: 4%

🎭 Miscellaneous Musical Chaos: 20%

📈 Playlist Consistency: Unavailable

Top Artists of the Week

🥇 Pink Floyd

35 plays (10.7%)

Pink Floyd didn't merely win this week.

Pink Floyd annexed this week.

At various points the playlist became a continuous exploration of mortality, memory, insanity, capitalism, and guitar solos longer than some television episodes.

If someone asked what your favorite artist was this week, the answer is simply:

"Yes."

🥈 Led Zeppelin

31 plays (9.5%)

The closest challenger.

Between "Whole Lotta Love," "Heartbreaker," "Black Dog," and enough live recordings to fill a small concert venue, Led Zeppelin spent the week reminding everyone why they remain one of the greatest rock bands ever assembled.

Also, three plays of "Whole Lotta Love."

Apparently moderation was not invited.

🥉 Blue Öyster Cult

14 plays (4.3%)

The surprise powerhouse.

Blue Öyster Cult quietly accumulated enough listens to claim third place while probably demanding additional cowbell the entire time.

🏅 Jeff Foxworthy

12 plays (3.7%)

This statistic deserves its own section.

Most music summaries feature Taylor Swift.

Mine features Jeff Foxworthy.

I feel this says something about me.

I'm not entirely sure what.

🏅 David Gilmour

8 plays (2.4%)

Apparently Pink Floyd alone wasn't enough.

🏅 The Presidents of the United States of America

8 plays (2.4%)

Still carrying the banner for musical unpredictability.

🏅 Styx and REO Speedwagon

8 plays (2.4%)

Arena rock remains undefeated.

Top Songs of the Week

🥇 Tie for Most Played

Money — 3 plays

Whole Lotta Love — 3 plays

Heartbreaker — 3 plays

Apparently the week's dominant themes were:

Capitalism
Love
Aggressive guitar riffs

A surprisingly complete emotional spectrum.

🥈 The Two-Play Club

Notable repeat visitors included:

Comfortably Numb
Layla
Fanfare
Smooth
Whiskey in the Jar
Mountain Music
Tubthumping
Mmmbop
Flaming Telepaths
Shake It Off

This may be the strangest Top Songs chart ever assembled.

Genre Breakdown

🎸 Classic Rock & Hard Rock — 57%

This week belonged to classic rock.

Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, Blue Öyster Cult, Aerosmith, Billy Joel, Eric Clapton, David Gilmour, Jimmy Page, Styx, REO Speedwagon, Cheap Trick, Metallica, and dozens of others accounted for more than half of all listening.

The playlist frequently felt like a radio station broadcasting directly from 1978.

🤠 Country & Americana — 11%

Alan Jackson, Alabama, Sawyer Brown, and Jimmy Buffett made regular appearances.

Every few hours the playlist briefly stopped contemplating the meaning of existence and started discussing pickup trucks.

🎮 Gaming & Soundtracks — 8%

Frank Klepacki and Nobuo Uematsu continued their ongoing campaign to sneak video game music into every Podify Wrapped report.

Mission accomplished.

🤣 Comedy & Spoken Word — 4%

Jeff Foxworthy somehow cracked the Top 5.

Again.

I cannot stress enough how unusual this is.

Most Surprising Transition Awards

🏆 Grand Champion

Pink Floyd → Jeff Foxworthy

From:

The pressures of modern life.

To:

Redneck jokes.

In approximately four minutes.

No further explanation required.

🥈 Runner-Up

Final Fantasy IX → Whole Lotta Love

From magical airships and fantasy kingdoms directly into Robert Plant screaming.

🥉 Third Place

Shake It Off → Comfortably Numb*

The emotional whiplash award.

Podify Achievement Badges

🏆 The Floydian Scholar

Listen to enough Pink Floyd that your playlist starts questioning reality.

🏆 Guitar Solo of the Week

Winner: David Gilmour

The judging panel fell asleep halfway through the solo and woke up to discover it was still happening.

🏆 The Cowbell Preservation Society

Awarded to Blue Öyster Cult.

🏆 Most Unexpected Country Detour

Winner: Alabama's "Mountain Music"

🏆 Commander of the Brotherhood of Nod

Awarded for repeated Command & Conquer soundtrack listens.

🏆 Live Album Addict Level III

More than half your listening came from live recordings.

At this point you're basically paying imaginary ticket fees.

🏆 Shuffle Goblin Lifetime Achievement Award

For creating playlist transitions that would cause modern recommendation algorithms to burst into tears.

Listener Personality Report

If Podify generated a personality profile, it would probably say:

"This listener enjoys classic rock, progressive rock, country music, video game soundtracks, comedy albums, and complete unpredictability."

Translated into plain English:

"User appears to use the shuffle button as a form of recreational gambling."

And honestly?

That's probably accurate.

One minute you're listening to Pink Floyd question the human condition. The next you're hearing Jeff Foxworthy tell jokes. Five minutes later you're commanding tanks in Command & Conquer before returning to Led Zeppelin.

Does it make sense?

Not remotely.

Did it make for a fun week?

Three hundred and twenty-eight plays suggest the answer is yes.

*The graphic has this going from Alan Jackson to the Safety Dance. I have discussed it with ChatGPT already, and the results of that conversation are below

What A Long Strange Trip It's Been

Today's nonsense: The D40X with my Nikon Nikkor-Zoom 100-300mm f/5.6 manual lens from the 1970s.

One thing I particularly like about this combination is that it accidentally recreates the experience many photographers had in the late film era: long manual-focus glass, deliberate composition, and no safety net. The D40x's CCD sensor and the old Nikkor seem oddly well matched in temperament. Neither is especially forgiving, but together they produce images with a lot of personality.

I'm not underestimating the historical coolness factor here. A Zoom-Nikkor 100-300mm f/5.6 was introduced when Jimmy Carter was president. I'm mounting it on a DSLR from the mid-2000s and photographing flowers in 2026. That's nearly half a century of camera technology collaborating on a single image.

Saturday, June 13, 2026

I've Been Dazed And Confused For So Long It's Not True

I asked Chat-GPT to analyze my iTunes library. It went ahead and incorporated a lot of the nonsense that I've asked it to make for me over the last year, and honestly, I'm kind of okay with this.

I should probably start compiling this annually. It would be interesting to see how my iTunes library evolves during the course of each year.

Library by the Numbers

Based on the XML you uploaded:

19,180 tracks
426 artists
1,396 albums
Roughly 5,350 hours of audio
- That's about 223 straight days of continuous listening.
Music spanning at least the 1950s through the 2020s.

This is not a casual collection.

This is a curated archive.

Your Taste Profile

The Holy Trinity

Your collection is built around three pillars:

1. Classic Rock

The undisputed champions are:

Led Zeppelin (1,239 tracks)
Pink Floyd (731 tracks)
Queen + Paul Rodgers (644 tracks)

These aren't "I own the greatest hits" numbers.

These are "I own every concert recording I can get my hands on" numbers.

2. Live Recordings

The biggest revelation from your library is that you are obsessed with live material.

Albums like:

Live At The BBC
Live At Wembley Stadium
Mirror Ball – Live & More
Live 1978–1992

show up repeatedly.

Many music fans collect songs.

You collect performances.

You want to hear:

alternate solos
crowd reactions
mistakes
extended jams
different eras of a band

That's a very specific kind of music nerd.

3. Soundtracks & Video Games

One of the biggest surprises:

Your collection contains substantial soundtrack material including:

Super Mario Odyssey
Super Mario 3D World
Final Fantasy IX
The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap
Command & Conquer
Command & Conquer: Red Alert

This lines up perfectly with your retro gaming interests.

You don't merely play games.

You remember them.

The Biggest Plot Twist

Hanson

You have exactly what I'd expect from:

Zeppelin fans
Floyd fans
Sabbath fans
Rush fans

Then suddenly:

Hanson — 299 tracks

That is one of the funniest statistical anomalies in the entire library.

The musical equivalent of:

"I collect antique military rifles, classic muscle cars, and... Beanie Babies."

It's wonderful.

Genre Breakdown

Your top genres include:

Rock
Recording Of Independent Origin
DVD
Country
Pop
Classic Rock
Progressive Rock
Christmas
Soundtrack
Blues
Metal
Comedy

This is interesting because it means you aren't actually a pure rock listener.

You are a:

rock listener
soundtrack listener
comedy listener
concert collector
spoken-word listener

all at once.

The Collector Archetype

Many people build libraries in one of four ways.

The Casual Listener

Owns 300 songs.

Not you.

The Trend Follower

Owns mostly recent hits.

Definitely not you.

The Completionist

Owns entire artist catalogs.

Partly you.

The Archivist

Collects weird versions, live shows, radio broadcasts, soundtracks, rarities, and forgotten releases.

This is overwhelmingly you.

Personality Indicators

If a psychologist looked only at your music library, I suspect they'd conclude:

High Curiosity

You don't stay inside one lane.

Classic rock fans usually don't also have huge game soundtrack collections.

You do.

High Nostalgia

Not "living in the past."

"The past contains cool things worth preserving."

That attitude appears in:

retro games
classic rock
vintage comics
historical education projects
older books

The library reflects the same tendency.

Strong Sense of Humor

The presence of comedy albums, novelty music, radio material, and artists like Weird Al Yankovic is completely consistent with your conversations.

You seem to enjoy things that are both good and funny.

Appreciation of Craft

Your favorite artists tend to feature:

elite guitarists
strong songwriters
memorable live performers

You seem more interested in skill than fashion.

If Your Library Were a Museum

It would have four wings:

Hall 1: The Temple of Classic Rock

Led Zeppelin.
Pink Floyd.
Queen.
Rush.
The Beatles.

Hall 2: The Concert Vault

Bootlegs.
Live albums.
BBC sessions.
Rare recordings.

Hall 3: The Arcade

Mario.
Zelda.
Final Fantasy.
Command & Conquer.

Visitors spend far longer here than expected.

Hall 4: The Weird Stuff

Comedy.
Novelty recordings.
Oddball discoveries.
Things nobody expected to find.

Possibly guarded by ninja squirrels.

The One-Sentence Summary

Your library doesn't belong to someone who asks, "What's popular?"

It belongs to someone who asks:

"What's interesting, and do I have the live version?"

And after looking at nearly 20,000 tracks, that might be the single most accurate description of your musical personality.

Night Divides The Day

I did that thing again...That thing where I went looking for "Recordings Of Independent Origin" a.k.a. concert bootlegs.

I went and tracked down the Jimmy Page/Robert Plant show from 1995/04/01. Mostly so I could hear their interpretation of a couple of The Doors' songs.

I gave it a bit of a quick listen, but I'm going to have to put the album on an iPod and give it a proper listen through.

I also accidentally got their show from the same venue, but in 1998. I haven't converted that one from FLAC to MP3 yet, so I haven't listened to it. Mostly because I don't feel like changing Winamp output settings again right now.

I really don't want to fall down that rabbit hole again...But my login info for The Trader's Den still works.

Crap.

I don't even know what happened to the last few things I snagged. I want to say some Nick Mason shows in something like 2020/2021? I was still at The UPS Store when I did it, so I don't know. Maybe time to find those hard drives and check for some shows?

Thursday, June 11, 2026

She Will Feel Better In A Day Or Two

Here is my Last.fm listening summary for the week (Which runs from Friday to Thursday for some reason):

Life Is A Highway

Went for a walk around the neighborhood with the Polaroid Now camera and a questionable, old pack of black and white film.

Wednesday, June 10, 2026

Take One Bite Now Come Back For More

I have the following things in my house, please make me a

crock pot recipie peas, broccoli, green beans, chicken nuggets,

ground beef, chocolate chips, sausage, butter, garlic bread, salsa,

red potatoes, yellow onions, chicken, diced tomatoes, kidney

beans, pineapple, unsweetened chocolate, tortilla shells, tortilla

chips, garlic, shallots, diced jalapenos, hamburger patties,

french fries,shredded hash browns

With that pantry/freezer situation, the best crock-pot meal is probably a Chunky Slow Cooker Beef & Bean Taco Stew. It uses ingredients that are actually crock-pot friendly and avoids things like chicken nuggets, fries, and garlic bread that would get sad and mushy.

Crock-Pot Beef & Bean Taco Stew

Ingredients

1 lb ground beef
1 yellow onion, diced
2–3 cloves garlic, minced
1 can diced tomatoes
1 can kidney beans, drained
1 cup salsa
2–3 red potatoes, diced
1–2 diced jalapeños (optional)
1 cup frozen green beans
1 cup frozen peas
Salt and pepper to taste
Water (1–2 cups as needed)

Instructions

Brown the ground beef in a skillet and drain excess grease.
Add beef to the crock pot.
Add onions, garlic, potatoes, diced tomatoes, kidney beans, salsa, jalapeños, and 1 cup water.
Cook on:
- Low: 6–8 hours
- High: 3–4 hours
During the last 30 minutes, stir in the green beans and peas.
Add additional water if you want it soupier.
Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Serve With

Crushed tortilla chips on top for crunch.
Warm tortilla shells on the side.
Garlic bread if you're feeling rebellious and don't care that it's crossing culinary borders.

Alternative: Slow Cooker Pineapple Sausage & Potato Bowl

If you want something a little stranger (in a good way):

Ingredients

Sausage, sliced
Red potatoes, diced
Pineapple chunks
Onion, sliced
Garlic
Salsa (½ cup)

Instructions

Put everything in the crock pot.
Cook on low for 5–6 hours.
Stir occasionally if possible.
Serve in tortillas.

The pineapple caramelizes into the sausage juices and salsa and ends up tasting surprisingly close to a sweet-and-spicy Hawaiian-style filling.

Chaos Option: "Everything I Found in the Freezer" Cowboy Hash

Ground beef
Sausage
Hash browns
Potatoes
Onions
Tomatoes
Beans
Jalapeños

Brown the meat first, then throw everything else in the crock pot with a little water and cook 4–6 hours. Serve in tortillas with crushed chips. It's not elegant, but it will absolutely feed a family and leave enough leftovers for tomorrow.

Tuesday, June 9, 2026

We Are Smoking In Front Of The Building

The Blue Light Special.

I should be sleeping. Not considering K-Mart. Why that store? There is a blue light plugged into the wall in my kitchen right now.

I cannot help but be a little sad by the world we live in. Each passing day I start to feel a little more like Spider Jerusalem living in the world of Transmetropolitan. I need to find and read those again.

Monday, June 8, 2026

So We Shot The Line And We Went For Broke

Here is the first in what I hope will be a weekly breakdown of the music I listen to, done up in a parody of a Spotify Wrapped report.

I'm uploading my weekly listening information into ChatGPT and having it analyze and write it up for me. Things might be a little flaky for the first few weeks while I get an idea of what I want it to look like, but once I have everything figured out, it will just be a matter of format the Last.fm spreadsheet, copy the prompt, add the two together, have it generate a cover and post it.

This first one will be very sparse, since I started working on it yesterday afternoon, but here we go!

Podify Wrapped

Week of June 1–7, 2026

88 Plays. 49 Artists. One iPod Experiencing an Identity Crisis.

Welcome to another edition of Podify Wrapped, the monthly (or in this case, weekly) report where my iPod gently reminds me that I don't have a favorite genre—I have favorite moments.

This week's listening history was less a playlist and more a cross-country road trip. Over the course of 88 plays, I managed to travel from Led Zeppelin to Final Fantasy, from Pink Floyd to Alan Jackson, from Metallica to Mystery Science Theater 3000, and somehow made all of it seem perfectly reasonable.

Would Spotify's algorithm approve?

Absolutely not.

Would it be entertaining?

The evidence says yes.

By the Numbers

🎵 Total Plays: 88

🎤 Unique Artists: 49

📀 Unique Songs: 70+

🎙️ Live Recordings: 52 plays (59%)

🎸 Classic Rock & Hard Rock: 46%

🤠 Country & Americana: 15%

🎮 Soundtracks & Gaming Music: 7%

🤘 Alternative & Modern Rock: 17%

🎭 Miscellaneous Musical Shenanigans: 15%

📈 Playlist Consistency: Missing, presumed lost.

Top Artists of the Week

🥇 The Warning

6 plays (6.8%)

The biggest winner of the week.

"MONEY," "Qué Más Quieres," "EVOLVE," and "Dull Knives" made repeated appearances, proving that while most of my library was built before the internet existed, I do occasionally acknowledge that modern music is being made.

🥈 Led Zeppelin

5 plays (5.7%)

If there is a default setting for my musical taste, it's probably Led Zeppelin.

"Bring It on Home," "Stairway to Heaven," "Nobody's Fault But Mine," and "In My Time of Dying" accounted for a healthy percentage of the week's guitar-based decision making.

🥉 Pink Floyd Universe

6 plays (6.8%) Combined

Combining Pink Floyd, Roger Waters, David Gilmour, and Nick Mason creates a Floyd Extended Universe powerful enough to rival Marvel.

Apparently existential reflection remains a favorite hobby.

🏅 Brewer & Shipley

4 plays (4.5%)

The surprise contender.

"One Toke Over the Line" and "Oh Mommy" quietly became recurring themes throughout the week.

🏅 REO Speedwagon

4 plays (4.5%)

Three separate versions of "Take It on the Run" appeared.

At this point I wasn't listening to a song.

I was conducting peer-reviewed research.

Top Songs of the Week

🥇 Take It on the Run

3 plays (3.4%)

The undisputed champion.

Not only was it played repeatedly, but multiple versions appeared.

Apparently I was determined to compare every available interpretation.

🥈 MONEY

2 plays

The Warning's live version continued its strong showing.

🥈 One Toke Over the Line

2 plays

A folk-rock classic that somehow became one of the week's most revisited tracks.

🥈 Oh Mommy

2 plays

Brewer & Shipley making another surprise appearance.

🥈 Wish You Were Here

2 plays

David Gilmour's live version reminded me that some songs simply never wear out.

Genre Breakdown

🎸 Classic Rock & Hard Rock — 46%

The dominant force.

Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Eagles, Aerosmith, Boston, Foreigner, Cream, Blue Öyster Cult, Van Halen, Bon Jovi, Def Leppard, Gary Moore, The Who, and Rush carried nearly half of all listening.

At times my iPod appeared convinced it was broadcasting from a classic-rock station in 1978.

🤘 Alternative & Modern Rock — 17%

The Warning, The Offspring, The Presidents of the United States of America, and Ningen Isu brought newer energy to the mix.

This category mostly exists to prove I haven't completely stopped listening to music recorded after 1995.

🤠 Country & Americana — 15%

Alan Jackson, Sawyer Brown, Billy Ray Cyrus, Dierks Bentley, Mark Chesnutt, Lyle Lovett, Paul Brandt, and C.W. McCall made sure every so often the playlist took an unexpected exit toward Nashville.

🎮 Soundtracks & Gaming Music — 7%

Nobuo Uematsu and Frank Klepacki represented the gaming division.

Apparently saving kingdoms and destroying enemy bases remains an important part of my listening routine.

🎭 Everything Else — 15%

This category includes Mystery Science Theater 3000, which deserves its own genre anyway.

Most Surprising Transition Awards

🏆 Grand Champion

Roger Waters → Sawyer Brown

One song explores mortality, memory, and the passage of time.

The next song is about driving a truck.

There is nothing that can be said here that will make any sense...Moving on!

🥈 Runner-Up

Final Fantasy IX → Kick Out the Jams

From fantasy airships and magical kingdoms to chaotic garage-rock energy in under five minutes.

🥉 Third Place

Mystery Science Theater 3000 → Alan Jackson

A sentence that shouldn't exist.

Yet here we are.

Podify Achievement Badges

🏆 The Live Album Addict
More than half your listening came from live recordings.

You are basically attending concerts from your couch.

🏆 Guitar Solo of the Week
Winner: "Stairway to Heaven"

The committee deliberated for nearly three seconds.

🏆 Most Unexpected Country Detour
Winner: "Convoy" by C.W. McCall

Because nothing says "Pink Floyd marathon" quite like CB radio chatter.

🏆 Hero of Gaia
Awarded for repeated visits to Final Fantasy IX.

🏆 Classic Rock Preservation Society
Successfully prevented classic rock from becoming an endangered species.

🏆 The Shuffle Goblin Award
Granted for creating playlist transitions that would terrify Spotify engineers.

Listener Personality Report

If Podify generated a personality profile, it would probably say:

"This listener enjoys classic rock, live recordings, progressive rock, country music, video game soundtracks, and complete unpredictability."

Translated into plain English:

"User treats genres like buffet options."

And honestly, that's what made this week fun.

One minute I was listening to David Gilmour quietly reflecting on life. The next minute I was blasting The Warning. Then came Final Fantasy. Then truck-driving songs. Then Led Zeppelin.

Was it coherent?

Not remotely.

Was it entertaining?

Eighty-eight plays suggest the answer is yes.

And that's really what Podify Wrapped is all about.

Sunday, June 7, 2026

Feed Jake

I sometimes find myself wondering random things.

For instance, why did we decide to domesticate some animals for pets, and some for food. What logic went into figuring that out?

What if instead of someone looking at a chicken and saying "I bet that will be delicious!" and someone looking at a dog and saying "That would make a great pet!" why not the other way around?

I am, in no way shape or form, advocating eating dogs, but what if someone had said to themselves "That chicken looks like it would make a great house pet!" and people ran with it?

Saturday, June 6, 2026

I Don't Mean Dallas

So this is going to probably get kind of weird. I'm trying to get my old last.fm account set up to track what I listen to on my iPods. Some random Reddit thread pointed me to a program that will get my iPods talking to the site via my PC. With that in mind, I'm going to try to convert that into a fairly straightforward, weekly blog post in which a ChatGPT bot basically judges me for my listening habits for the week.

Fun, eh?

I decided to run the testing tracks through ChatGPT just to see what the output looked like. I got two options.

Here is the "standard blog post" version:

My iPod Listening History This Week: A Completely Normal Person's Musical Choices

There are two kinds of people in the world: people who carefully curate playlists to match a mood, and people who let their iPod ricochet between Pink Floyd, Billy Ray Cyrus, Led Zeppelin, and Mark Chesnutt like a caffeinated squirrel with access to a jukebox.

Based on this week's listening history, I am very clearly the second person.

Over the course of 32 recorded listens, my musical tastes demonstrated all the consistency of a weather forecast in Indiana. Somehow I managed to bounce between classic rock, hard rock, progressive rock, country, metal, and whatever category "Kick Out the Jams" falls into when it suddenly appears in the middle of everything else.

The good news is that I'm never bored.

The bad news is that neither is my iPod.

The Top Artists of the Week

The crown for most-played artist wasn't exactly a runaway victory. Instead, several artists finished tied at the top with two plays each, creating what can only be described as a musical traffic jam.

Boston

Boston managed two appearances with "More Than a Feeling" and a live version of "Rock And Roll Band." This suggests that at some point I decided that hearing one of the most recognizable guitar sounds in rock history wasn't enough and immediately followed it with more Boston.

Honestly, that's hard to argue with.

Led Zeppelin

Led Zeppelin also landed two spins with "Bring It on Home" and "In My Time of Dying." Apparently I spent part of the week reminding myself that subtlety is overrated and that songs should occasionally be longer than some television episodes.

David Gilmour

David Gilmour's solo work showed up twice, including "A Boat Lies Waiting" and a live version of "Wish You Were Here." This is the musical equivalent of taking a brief emotional journey before immediately returning to giant guitar riffs elsewhere in the playlist.

Pink Floyd

Pink Floyd also earned two plays with "Sorrow" and "Bring the Boys Back Home." The combination suggests I was either contemplating the human condition or simply enjoying one of the greatest catalogs ever assembled. Possibly both.

The Warning

The newest band among the week's leaders was The Warning, whose live recordings of "MONEY" and "Dull Knives (Cut Better)" proved that my listening habits aren't entirely trapped in a classic-rock museum.

Only mostly.

Mark Chesnutt

Perhaps the biggest surprise was Mark Chesnutt's "Goin' Through The Big D," which was the only song to receive two plays during the week. Apparently I heard it once and thought, "You know what? Let's run that back."

I respect that level of commitment.

The Songs That Defined the Week

While most tracks received a single play, a few stood out as representative of the week's overall vibe.

The playlist opened with a classic-rock parade that included REO Speedwagon's "Keep on Loving You," the Eagles' "Take It Easy," Led Zeppelin's "Bring It on Home," and The Who's live version of "Won't Get Fooled Again."

In other words, the week started with a soundtrack that could comfortably fuel a road trip, a backyard cookout, or a conversation beginning with, "They just don't make music like they used to."

Then things became delightfully unpredictable.

Billy Ray Cyrus appeared with "Achy Breaky Heart." Metallica showed up with a live symphonic version of "Nothing Else Matters." Paul Brandt rolled through with "Convoy." The Presidents of the United States of America crashed the party with "Kick Out the Jams."

At this point, my listening history stopped looking like a playlist and started looking like a radio station being operated by multiple personalities.

Genre Breakdown: Controlled Chaos

The dominant genre this week was unquestionably classic rock. Boston, Foreigner, REO Speedwagon, The Who, Van Halen, Bon Jovi, Def Leppard, and the Eagles formed the backbone of the listening session.

Progressive and psychedelic rock also made a strong showing thanks to Pink Floyd, David Gilmour, Rush, and Nick Mason's Saucerful of Secrets. This suggests that while I enjoy straightforward rock songs, I also occasionally want a track that requires a map, a compass, and a willingness to disappear into a twelve-minute instrumental section.

Country music maintained a healthy presence through Dierks Bentley, Mark Chesnutt, Billy Ray Cyrus, Lyle Lovett, and Paul Brandt. These tracks served as a reminder that sometimes the perfect follow-up to Pink Floyd is a song about trucks, heartbreak, or both.

Meanwhile, Metallica and The Warning brought some heavier energy to the mix, ensuring that the guitars remained loud enough to prevent anyone from accusing this playlist of being relaxing.

Final Thoughts

If this week's listening history proves anything, it's that my musical taste refuses to stay in one lane.

One minute I'm listening to thoughtful David Gilmour ballads. The next minute I'm blasting Led Zeppelin. A few songs later I'm singing along to Mark Chesnutt and Billy Ray Cyrus without the slightest concern for genre consistency.

And honestly, that's probably the best part.

The playlist may not make sense on paper, but it never gets boring. My iPod continues to function as both a music player and a personality test, and based on this week's results, the diagnosis appears to be: enthusiastic classic-rock addict with occasional country detours and absolutely no interest in staying on theme.

I can live with that.

Here is the "Spotify Wrapped-style" version:

My iPod Wrapped: The Week My Musical Identity Crisis Went Public

Every year Spotify releases Wrapped and people discover they listened to one artist for 47,000 minutes while convincing themselves they have "eclectic taste."

This week, my iPod generated a much more honest report.

And the results suggest that I don't have a favorite genre so much as a favorite activity: aggressively changing genres every few songs.

By the Numbers

Total Plays: 32

Unique Artists: 30

Most-Played Artists: 6 artists tied with 2 plays each

Most-Played Song: "Goin' Through the Big D" by Mark Chesnutt (2 plays)

Percentage of Songs Played Only Once: 96.9%

Commitment Level: About the same as a toddler walking through an ice cream shop.

Most people have comfort artists. Apparently I have comfort chaos.

Nearly every song this week was a unique selection. Instead of settling into familiar territory, I spent the week wandering through decades of music like someone who accidentally gained access to every radio station in North America.