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Cool tools really work.
A cool tool can be any book, gadget, software, video, map, hardware, material, or website that is tried and true. All reviews on this site are written by readers who have actually used the tool and others like it. Items can be either old or new as long as they are wonderful. We post things we like and ignore the rest. Suggestions for tools much better than what is recommended here are always wanted.
Wacom Intuos tablet. This is an old, and now discontinued, tablet that my Oxford college gave me for making the illustrations for my doctoral thesis. After I used it for that, I set it aside for several years. But then I started composing music again, and I realized that I could use the tablet and its pen to write music notation into my notation software in a more physically natural way than using a computer mouse. Because the tablet is discontinued, getting the drivers to work with my computer takes a bit of tweaking, but it’s all a learning experience.
Audio Technica QuietPoint headphones. These headphones are old, and they’re in terrible shape cosmetically. They are in such bad shape that I’m not sharing a photo because I’m embarrassed by them. Because Audio Technica has discontinued the model, I can’t replace them. So I just keep repairing them. They’ve been a real workhorse set, surviving audition preparation, film sets, lots of travel, and even serving as adequate studio monitors.
DIGITAL
Obsidian note-taking application. During my doctorate, I used Evernote since most people at my institution used it. Then I moved to Notion. However, recently, I had a bad experience of vendor lock-in, so I began moving my notes to Obsidian because I like that the underlying files are plain markdown, and I like the ability to link notes to each other.
Nick Milo’s Linking Your Thinking YouTube channel. Once I realized I had to move almost ten years of notes from one application to another, I knew I had to take the time to learn how to use Obsidian before starting the migration. Milo’s channel has been invaluable for this. I haven’t taken any of his courses, but given the quality of his YouTube content, I’m open to doing so.
INVISIBLE
“Structure must be earned.”
Nick Milo quoted this in one of his videos. I don’t know where it came from, but I’ve been batting it around in my mind. I’m someone who tends toward making overly elaborate organizational structures, e.g. too many folders and sub-folders in my note-taking application, but then the structure is so over-engineered that I can’t find things when I need them. This quote has made me slow down and spend several days thinking of how I am using a note, document, music excerpt, etc. before filing it.
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