I would like to write a paper about how headphones change the way people turn public space into their own private space. My thesis statement is ” How headphones demarcate personal space”. Headphones help demarcate personal space even though people are using headphones during using public space. They allow people to feel cloistered, safe, and comfortably alone. They give people the power to control an audio environment.

In public spaces, there are many noise pollutions that one doesn’t want to listen to such as traffic noise or construction noise. Digital devices like headphones or earbuds help people calm down by escaping to another favorite place with only just one click. People have the ability to listen to their music like their own thought. It is something that nobody else can hear.

Even though without music, wearing soundless headphones is now a new common thing to block other people. So, we get more privacy than we used to be before headphones were invented. In a crowded and noisy world, a headphone is a small invisible fence that makes space, create separation, help one listen to themselves.

This is a comparison about Ralph Ellison’s “Living with Music,” and Damon Krukowski’s “Ways of Hearing- Power”

In “Living with music,” Ralph Ellison describes music as a way to escape from all the noise by his neighbors and the noisy neighborhood. Instead of listening to the noise from his neighbors, he listens to music as a way to get rid of all the noise by constantly hearing it daily. He creates his peace from listening to music and how he hears it. He did mention “In those days it was either live with music or die with noise.” This means that you can choose to continuously hear noise coming from the neighbors, or you can do something about it by creating your own and choosing to listen to music. In “Ways of Hearing- Power,” Damon Krukowski describes music as having numerous ways to enjoy music and block out anything that we do not want to hear. He mentions that we have better technology for streaming music that we no longer have to walk into a record or a CD store to browse for our selected music. Nowadays, we have better means for getting the music we love at our fingertips. By using apps like Spotify and Apple music. To some, music is much more enjoyable now than it was back then because we can use our phones and technology to browse and search for the music that we want from the comforts of our homes, compared to a time when we had to physically go into a record or music store to browse the selection of music that we wanted to hear. Having ways to block out noise with music gives one many possibilities of being in their own world for that period. Listening to music can take you to a place where you dreamt of being, by imagination, thought, and hearing the sounds which you love.

At the beginning of the “Power” episode Krukowaki asserts, “the marginal-the rejected-the represses- is whatever the powerful have decided is of no use at the moment.” He means that people nowadays buy or download music apps online rather than buying CDs from the store physically. Matter of fact, technology has worked so well that people now live in a digital world where they do not go to bookstores, or record stores, or libraries.

In the episode of “power” Krokowsaki draws differences between being “surprised” by music and “discovering” music. I believe that being surprised by music means that the music that we hear every day on our phones using the music apps like Pandora, or Apple music, or Spotify. Moreover, those music apps want to give us music we probably like where we don’t have control over it. On the other hand, “discovering” music means that we go into a bookstore where we can gain so much information. Even Though going to the bookstores, or record stores, or libraries is fundamentally different, when we learn to navigate, we adopt it where we can discover something good.

The music listening experiences by Forced exposure is different from platforms like Spotify. Forced exposure is a music magazine where Jimmy Johnson would listen to every record that comes into his record store so that he would be able to provide knowledge and recommendation to his customers. In other words, forced exposure means buying music from people who recommend us to listen. On the other hand, Spotify is a digital music, podcast, and video service which wants to give us the music we probably like. In addition, it gives us access to millions of songs all over the world and it is done by computers where humans have no control over it.

For this blog post, I would like you to write a paragraph of no more than 250-300 words that describes your argument and focus for Paper #2. The first sentence of this paragraph should indicate what you are working on, and the second sentence should be your working thesis statement. (Look back to the Sheridan Baker Thesis Machine.) The following sentences should detail how you will analyze examples to make your argument. 

This document is meant to help move your work on paper #2 along, and you should not think of this proposal as something that you are bound to. I will give you feedback and you may find that your thinking about your paper will change, perhaps substantially. My comments will focus on the quality of your arguments and be geared toward helping you write the paper as it seems to me in the proposal. While your paper might change, however, at this stage it would be a good idea to choose texts that you know you will write about.

• When Krukowski asserted “the marginal-the rejected-the repressed-is whatever the powerful have decided is of no use at the moment. From what I understand, he meant that in the world of music, there is not everybody’s favorite. It depends on an individual’s test of music. So, some rejected songs from some groups could be another group’s hits. 
• What he trying to say is sometimes the test of music can identify what position of people in the society. It’s a hierarchy. People who like to listen to mainstream music seem like they are on top of the triangle. On the other hand, people who listen to something different are on the bottom. These people could be marginalized and oppressed.
• According to Krukowski, being “surprised” by music and “discovering” music are different. The difference between these experiences is a surprise is not a helpful thing. He talked about Facebook and other search engines that usually do not surprise us, but it wants us to feel comfortable with it. On the other hand, going to a bookstore or record shop gives us a different feeling.  We will find something new in the real world, that doesn’t get narrowed down by the algorithm. That is discovering.
• “Forced exposure” lets the music companies pick songs in order to play on the radio. It’s a lot of various types of music. This doesn’t like Spotify because listeners can predict what they will be listening to. In Spotify, they use the same algorithm which does not help listeners discover a new type of music.

i think Krukowski means that music is no longer appreciated through CDs. With the new technology in this world everything is so advanced CDs aren’t used anymore. People now listen to music through apps on their phone. The distinction between being surprised by music vs discovering music is when you’re surprised you have no expectations you’re just surprised of the unknown. Vs when you discover something you are looking for it. It’s important because this is how we understand music more. Forced exposure vs listening to music on Spotify is different. When listening to Forced exposure you can listen to lots of music but have to wait to make contact with the artist. Meanwhile with Spotify it provides music based on your interests or mood. Spotify has unlimited amounts of music.

Krukowski asserts, “the marginal-the rejected-the repressed is whatever the powerful have decided is of no use at the moment.” Then he goes on to say, “ But might it [the marginal-the rejected-the repressed] not to be a key to alternative approaches-to art, to society-to power itself?” what he means is how music companies have a sense of control over listeners. The music companies choose what type of music you like depending on what you listen to. As a listener, your options are limited your stuck not exploring other types of music. For example, when you sign up for Apple Music, they ask you what kind of artists you like, then they customize stations, playlists, and similar artists (popular artists) for you. No music company is going to suggest random music automatically unless you do that on your own. For instance, you usually listen to R&B music and magically see Rock music pop up in your suggestions, which will motivate some listeners to join another music streaming service because they are unfamiliar with that sound. 

The distinctions Krukowski draws between being  “surprised” by music and “discovering” music is when a person finds music that sounds similar to what they like vs. finding music they’re not used to hearing.

Forced exposure allowed music companies to find and listen to thousands of songs and choose what they thought was worth putting out on the radio. Before music was downloadable, people listened to the radio and changed the station until they found something they liked. It might not be the exact song they’re looking for, but it sounds similar. Paul Lamere works on platforms like Spotify to help listen to stream music they are already familiar with quickly. In addition, it gives listeners access to a wide variety of music to choose from.