Everyone wants AI to solve the big stuff. Climate change. World hunger. The existential dread of being ghosted after a second date. And don’t get me wrong—I’m rooting for all of that. But today, I want to raise a glass (or a coffee mug full of cold brew and crumbs) to a quieter miracle: Simple AI tasks.
After ten+ years of procrastination, digital hoarding, and folder-nesting so deep it required spelunking gear, AI helped me organize my 65,000-song MP3 collection.
In two hours.
Let that sink in.
The Great Musical Mess
I was a radio personality back in the 80s and continue to dabble even now. This wasn’t just a collection. It was a time capsule. A digital landfill. A museum of mislabeled tracks and duplicate downloads. There were songs with names like “Track 01.mp3” and “Final Mix 3 (Use This One) (2).mp3.” Entire albums were scattered across backup drives like breadcrumbs from a decade of good intentions.
I had folders named “To Sort,” “To Sort 2,” and “Seriously Sort These.” Playlists that hadn’t been touched since the Clinton administration. I had metadata so corrupted that one file claimed to be both Beyoncé and a Gregorian chant.
Enter the Algorithm
I didn’t expect much. I just wanted to find that one live bootleg of a 2004 indie band whose name I couldn’t spell. But then I gave AI a shot.
Two hours later, I had:
- Clean metadata
- Proper album art
- Duplicates flagged and removed
- Playlists auto-generated by mood, genre, and even “vibe”
- A newfound respect for automation that doesn’t try to sell me crypto
It didn’t just organize my music. It gave me back a piece of myself. The mixtape-making, late-night-downloading, music-nerd version of me who got buried under deadlines, diabetes management, and the slow creep of adulting.
The Small Wins Matter
Look, I’m not saying AI shouldn’t aim high. But sometimes, the most profound relief comes from the mundane. From the thing you’ve been putting off for a decade because it felt too big, too boring, or too tangled to tackle.
Sometimes, AI doesn’t need to be a savior.
Sometimes, it just needs to be a really good librarian.
And for that, I’m grateful.
Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got a perfectly curated “Late 90s Sad Bops” playlist to cry-dance to.
You can sometimes catch me volunteering on air on SimulatorRadio, a UK based non-profit.
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