I have struggled my entire life with ADHD, and one of my first coping
mechanisms was to shut out the world of sound distractions with headphones and
some music, primarily classical, at that time since it had little in the ways
of lyrics. The relief my busy brain got from this music made me take the
plunge; my small wallet and lack of understanding made me very innovative in
how I curated my listening experiences to get the most out of that time. Early
I began researching how I could acquire and store music; these were the high
years of Limewire and Napster but seeing how easy and often viruses would be
spread through this, I chose the safe route of using my lawn mowing cash to buy
CDs from the local used book store. Now that I had a way to bring the audio to
me, the joy of ripping the music to WMA/MP3s was present; I started asking
myself:
– What is VBR (Variable Bit Rate), and is it good? (spoilers, it is not)
– Is 128Kbps good enough? (nope)
– How much do headphones matter? Almost everything
So started my passion as an avid music listener. I could not get enough,
From a mono micro tape recorder to carry my music around to a slew of budget
MP3 players and an ever-increasing mass of audio files on my computer that I
religiously backed up and sorted. Humble beginnings that grew substantially. As
I began earning an income, I jumped on the iPod craze with many different
models and headphones, trying to find that portable sonic bliss for a price I
could justify. In my offices, I was always the guy with a massive set of cans
on his desk that would shut out the world, and I would be able to start many
conversations with them because who doesn’t like music? I eventually jumped
into vinyl and home hi-fi, making a small sanctuary for myself in the living
room that I would gladly share with guests, friends, and co-workers.
This realization has kept me in the audiophile hobby. Music is not only a great escape
from things around you, it is also a shared experience to build stronger relationships.
So go out there and share your love of your music with others.
Suits' Studies 