An open letter to someone you just can't handle right now...

Dear NPR Music,

You used to be so great. Subscribing to your RSS feed helped me keep up on new music, see tiny desk concerts, and occasionally discover new artists. But you currently have some BIG problems with your feed.

First, repeats. I got 8 posts of the same exact story on the new Bright Eyes record. I know Connor Oberst gives you all kinds of grown up feelings in your pants, but come on. I saw it already. 7 times too many. Then they had the nerve to play on World Cafe a show who duplicates every feed item. So there was Bright Eyes two more times, and me, still not interested.

Second. Hipster central. Do you guys ever cover mainstream music besides Lady Gaga? I love indie rock. I own an independent studio/record label for goodness sake! But come on, it's like the "must have a strange beard" parade. I feel like I'm at the Newport festival every time I sign on to my reader.

Third. The jazz and classical beats are prolific. I love jazz, but I honestly can't handle the sheer volume of stories about obscure jazz players I've never heard of WITH NO ACCOMPANYING AUDIO. If you're gonna write a story about this one clarinetist who died in 1962 and tell me why he was so pivotal, let me listen to some pivotal recordings. Classical is similarly out of hand with the no-sound music journalism. The worst is the W.W.B.D. series. I don't care what Beethoven would like on the internet this week. I don't even care what music he'd dig (he was deaf). Also, YOU DON"T EVEN KNOW, so stop writing articles about it every week. That series sucks, and it doesn't ever seem to get more interesting.

Fourth. Sheer mass. You need weight loss. Heaven knows I support and love public broadcasting, but I'm the kind of person who opens my reader once a week. I subscribe to not a small number of feeds, but without fail, NPR music is responsible for 65-80% of the content. Which brings me to my biggest complaint.

Fifth. All or none. You have ONE, count em, ONE feed for articles. Even if I subscribe on All Songs Considered's page, I get the full NPR music feed. I could subscribe to just tiny desk for concerts, but once in a very great while, World Cafe or the NPR studios have something I'd like to see.

It's enough to make a music lover unsubscribe, which is I guess what this has come to. I'm sorry, I think we should see other people. And it is YOU, not me.

Jared