How to stay current with music from your own country, even if it's 10 years since you last left.
How are you doing? I am a Russki teenager who came to America to build a better future. I was very poor back in Russia. I was not even far from the middle class. I wasn't rich at all. My family, and not me. Russia was a country in which young adults were not required to have money as they grew to adulthood. Therefore, we had to find new methods to make money. Different schemes, mostly something similar to alcoholics asking neighbors to pay a few dollars for their communal vodka bottle. The concept is similar. We would look for quick money to buy bread or to go to work. We would always be hungry.
So, I arrived in America. It is far from New York, Brooklyn and Brighton Beach. The place is truly reminiscent of home. It's loud and dirty, it smells like Russia, and people there are rude. I've spent quite a lot of money there, mostly in Russian restaurants and bookstores.
I am a huge fan of music and books. Recently, it was revealed it is possible to find Russian books on Kindle. I've stopped buying books in hardcopy. Additionally, I don't have much space in our home, and my wife is an escapist, so I try my best not contribute to this. I also stay away from buying new things to put in my home that I don’t need as I don't have any space to store them. Although stacks of books looked intelligent the first few month, they became drab and boring as I realized there was plenty of room for my other items.
Music is a different matter. Since my job involves driving a lot I also listen to a lot of music. Even though I'm a Russian-born immigrant, I don't like American music. I'm not a fan of hip-hop, rap or metal, rock or pop. The latest music that kids enjoy dancing to. I am a huge fan of old Russian music, and also the Russian songs that are jail-like. These songs remain popular in Russia after twenty years. They're not on CDs - they are mostly tapes that are found in cars, as well as videos on Youtube. Yes, they put everything on Youtube nowadays. So I can spend hours watching music on YouTube during my commute or when I get home from work.
So, after a few days I made a playlist with more than 300 songs I truly love. Since I have this collection, I can easily be accustomed to music. 300 songs is a good amount. However, I'm not able to find the Internet to download them to play in my car. This is because I use it to navigate and driving. I do the preparations at home. I'm currently in the middle. I make a few tracks on Youtube, then I convert the mp3s into MP3 files using my laptop. Finally, I take the CD with me to my car, and listen. This site I discovered can take an entire Youtube playlist and print all songs. Each song can then be converted to mp3 format and stored on my personal computer. It's then easy to convert it into an audio CD. Sometimes, I'm a little naughty and just make data CD, that won't play on my old car stereo. If audio files are recorded, it's incredible how technology operates. You don't need to be connected to the internet to listen to mp3s. All I require is a CD to put into the stereo slot in my car. The music from Russia was blasting in Manhattan while I drove around.
It's easy and inexpensive to download Youtube videos to mp3 and save them to your Smartphone. A friend of mine hooked his smartphone to the car stereo and the phone began playing high-quality audio within less than two seconds. It was also feasible to stream Spotify and Pandora radio, which means there's no need for a lot of internet. I'm going to give this a go. Of course, I'll be careful to use free WiFi.