Music to make you productive?

I'm sure this service is great for a ton of music (and with a wide variety) to help you focus, but I don't like to pay for something if I can avoid it.

That said, I've found that a lot of Baroque music works well for productivity. And more recently, I've been using ragas with a lot of success.

I generally find that music meant for meditation or spas is generally useful for this purpose as well.

As for soundtracks, I'm amazed at how well the two Age of Conan soundtracks I have work for boosting my energy in a focused way. For a while, I was using Dragon Age: Origins and a few World of Warcraft soundtracks as well (and I should go back to those). Once you get used to the music, you don't actively listen to it when you're working, but it gets you in the zone, if that makes sense. The WoW music is a bit cheesy (though comforting if you play the game), but the others are actually quite amazing.

 

My husband uses this to get through thesis writing. He's a special case, though--ADHD Type Inattentive. Personally, I have a playlist of songs titled "Writing" that I listen to over and over again. Baraka_Guru, the problem with the WoW soundtracks is that they hit some button inside of me that says, "MUST PLAY WORLD OF WARCRAFT NAO."

 

I get that only on occasion. What I get way more often is nostalgia about discovering the world for the first time. I really enjoyed doing levels 1 to about 30 mostly. I did that several times. It seems beyond that it loses its appeal a bit. I found 30 to 60 okay, but I didn't like Burning Crusade all that much. Wrath of the Lich King was pretty good, as was much of Cataclysm. I haven't gone to Pandaria, or whatever it's called. I guess I found the higher levels merely abstractions of lower levels. There is much I found quaint and relaxing about the lower levels. Beyond that, it got simply repetitive, plus the Horde typically outnumbered the Alliance 5 to 1 or worse on my server, so I would always get ganked/grieved to the point of not having fun—at all.

 

Pandaria is pretty original, actually. There's some neat stuff to explore. I also enjoy farming. Actual farming. I grow crops at my sweet farm in Valley of the Four Winds.

 

Oh, snowy.... You shouldn't have told me.... You. shouldn't. have. told. me.

Curse you, vile temptress!

 

I'm currently listening to the soundtrack to World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria. Though I probably shouldn't, right, snowy?

 

I actually haven't listened to the pandaren music! My husband insists I play with the music off. I'll have to turn it on today while I'm doing my Anglers and Tillers dailies.

 

It's not amazing. I've only been through it once, though. I still much prefer the original soundtrack and the WotLK soundtrack out of the bunch.

Still nothing touches Age of Conan though.
--- merged: Aug 23, 2013 at 10:16 AM ---

Head office has reviewed a study developed by a respectable and lauded outside consultancy, and it has been decided that a particular type of music shall be played during all productive hours at all locations. Compliance is expected, and random audits and evaluations the norm.