The drama, the inspirations, and the hijinks that went into the creation of sounds you hear nearly every day.

If you have a music library on your computer, you probably use iTunes. It might not be by choice – there’s not much out there. But before iTunes, there was another app. An app that was beloved by many. An app that was quirky and strange and delightful. An app called Audion.

Today: a story about one of the Mac’s first big music players, and what it means to break with the mold of Silicon Valley and forge your own distinct, creative identity.

Brought to you by:

• The Decision: The podcast where people try to convince host Alex Kapelman to finally abandon The Knicks, and become a fan of their favorite team.
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Get an awesome sticker of the Audion Orb face! 

Emoji put a once obscure group of nerds, known as the Unicode Consortium, into the spotlight. How have these cute little pictures challenged and changed this stodgy organization?

You can learn more about making your own emoji with Jenny's project, Emojination. And you can adopt an emoji of your very own through Unicode's Adopt-a-Character program.

Brought to you by:

• Outlier: makers of clothing for the 21st Century. Try some of their comfortable, stylish, innovative clothing (my favorites are their Slim Dungarees). 
• Tab for a Cause: Raise money for charity every time you open a new tab.

Credits:

Music in this episode is by the mysterious Breakmaster Cylinder and Mark Bramhill. Theme music is by Terique Greenfield. Editing by Rob McGinley Myers and Suzanne Smith. Special thanks to Avery Trufelman and This Wachter.