A surprising device is capturing the vibe of a single street corner in San Francisco

A surprising device is capturing the vibe of a single street corner in San Francisco toggle caption Eric Risberg/AP Bop Spotter isn't much to look at: it's a plastic box attached near the top of a light pole located in the heart of the Mission District — one of San Francisco's most densely populated and diverse neighborhoods. "Bop Spotter's like a living time capsule in real time of what songs are playing," said Bop Spotter's creator, Riley Walz. Defining the urban soundscape "One of the things that really defines the urban soundscape to me is all the music that you hear coming out of car stereos, people's phones, from retail stores and coffee shops," said Nate Sloan, a University of Southern California musicologist and the co-host of the Switched on Pop podcast. Questions about surveillance as entertainment Other scholars, such as Washington University in St. Louis assistant professor Sarah Koellner, who researches culture and surveillance, said Bop Spotter raises serious questions about contemporary surveillance culture.