Today’s stop was 20 on 20, where the listeners pick 20 songs from a list of about 40 current hits, and XM plays them; this cycle repeats every 90 minutes or so, ad nauseum.

Nausea set in pretty quickly. Before I gave up, I was “treated” to Janet Jackson, Britney Spears, and, of course, Hilary Duff — a threesome I could do without. And there were other hits, too, none of which I enjoyed. But, to 20 on 20’s credit, they didn’t talk non-stop about Hilary Duff, unlike Radio Disney.

I had low expectations for this channel — I wasn’t disappointed. And I won’t be back.

When I went to Israel for the first time, back in 1997, I spent Shabbat at the Dan Panorama hotel in Tel Aviv. I intended to go to services on Friday night, but I didn’t know where to find a Reform shul, so instead, I found myself wandering along the beach and Hayarkon Street (adjacent to the beach). My meandering took me to the Sheraton Tel-Aviv, where a big crowd of twenty-ish folks was spending Shabbat evening at the Tango Club, dancing frenetically to music with a very distinct thumping beat. I listened for a while, then walked on — it wasn’t what I was looking for on my first Shabbat in Israel.

Today’s Bootcamp channel, The System, might well have played some of the same music I heard that night. It certainly had the same energy.

And, much to my surprise, I kept listening to The System all day — it was good music to program to, and even to have on in the background during a couple of phone calls. It’s a good thing I don’t use a touchpad, though, because I kept tapping my hands and feet to the rhythm all day long!

I don’t know if I’d want to listen to this kind of music as a foreground activity, but I might well return here on a day when I can use an infusion of energy.