One of the #23mt items I’m tackling today is #Thing11, audio apps. I was already familiar with everything but the Magic Piano app, but as someone who actually plays the piano the reviews were a turn off for me. It seems like a neat idea, but it’s a game, not an actual app that lets you learn how to play the piano. The marketing slant makes it seem a bit like a tutorial, but the reviews were clear that while it was a fun way to waste some time, users weren’t going to learn anything practical. Back in the day I was a huge Pandora fan, but I got fed up when it started giving more and more time to ads. It was a good choice when I was interested in discovering new bands, but now my mobile music listening is more of the “Mommy, play Frozen again!” variety, so I needed something that let me play specific songs and albums instead of just giving me a radio station based on a song or artist. Enter Spotify, aka my only source of solace in the car. After some frustrations with only being able to skip a certain number of songs in an hour and some tearful moments from the youngest kiddo when I couldn’t play a specific song from Frozen or Annie on the mobile app, I bit the bullet and bought a subscription. Now I can listen to whatever I want on demand, skip as often as necessary, and even download music for offline listening (a must when you drive through dead zones like the Smokies). And I can even share playlists, like I’ve done here. This was a playlist I used while I was writing Playing House.