With my CD collection now format-shifted in its entirety for my listening and travelling convenience, I have access to 22,868 songs – or 75.6 days non-stop listening. The Party Shuffle feature, which I initially hated, but have slowly come to love, allows me to do in iTunes what no radio station would ever dream of: the ‘NO-REPEAT WINTER’.

I like music’s capacity for surprise. It’s why I’m a jazz fan – and it’s why I’m not only a jazz fan.

To hear something that makes you go ‘wow!’ or that just makes you think ‘I’d have never have thought to play THIS after THAT – but it works!’ It’s something I think that radio – commercial radio, specifically – has more or less entirely relinquished, and yet it’s potentially one of its greatest assets.

I just had a lovely run of 7 back to back NZ favourites (what are the odds when only 12% of that whole collection is homegrown?): Nick Gaffaney, Mike Nock, Betchadupa, Greg Malcolm, Goldenhorse, Bluespeak, The Muttonbirds. Two singles in there, one hit (-ish), and the rest quality album tracks worthy of a good listen.

And the next tracks? Parliament, Funky Porcini and Francisco Aguabella. Every five minutes I’m thinking – ‘oh yeah! I LOVE this!’ – but would never have thought to go out and get the CD off the shelf for that one track.

The BBC reckons we’re becoming digitally obese, but if you ask me, we’re just crossing over a threshold between robotic programming (that’s you, radio stations) and organic relationships with our sources of music.

So 100-odd gigabytes of heavily-compressed music might count as digital obesity – but I’ve never been one to object to carrying a little extra weight in the interests of good living.

But a digital jukebox – 22,000+ songs or not – is no substitute for a human being and the ‘daily-ness’ of radio (term courtesy Paddy Scannell).

I just wish that commercial radio would value the notion that people might genuinely appreciate something interesting in the mix – and not simply programme so that audiences will merely tolerate it sufficiently to stick around until the next ad break.

There are exceptions. And I understand that people like to have their expectations met. When they turn on the classic rock station, they want to hear Led Zep.

But the McDonalds philosophy of consistently and unfailingly meeting its customers’ low expectations need not be the only recipe for success.

The no-repeat workday is a strategy to boost TSL (Time Spent Listening – a measure of ratings success). Why not take a leaf from the way people are beginning to choose to consume their own media – and try a no-repeat WEEK once in a while…?