Very interesting thread peoples
Just to jump back on that question of why ambient has become so popular now
Firstly, the rise of internet radio, which prioritises the drift of the mix and the curation of the DJ, as opposed to the stop-start quality of conventional broadcasting and its aspiration to journalism, of some sort at least. Basically, internet radio encourages radio shows which are just one or two hours of textural immersion, no track IDs, no intervention from the DJs. Partly this is because people are submitting shows from all over, sometimes with no microphones, maybe just sequencing tracks together on a laptop; also people may be operating in different time zones so the sense of place is lost; also the audience may often be diffuse and listening at work, in shops, etc, where the music works best if it is 'secondary'. Also, there's surely an element of fetishism of the DJ as the creative force in such platforms as NTS, Rinse, etc.
Secondly, streaming platforms like Spotify etc, which in turn often function to provide music for people to work, concentrate, revise, block out the rest of everyday life, to help ease insomnia or anxiety, to much greater and more formalised degrees that previous platforms for music. Basically, Spotify desires an endless ever-changing amount of this kind of stuff. And, because of the Jukebox Jury effect of Spotify – it encourages instant skipping, liking, rather than taking time to listen – it encourages a certain bland, smooth, regular quality to background music
That's not to say I don't love some of this stuff – Joe Muggs's idea that ambient of the 90s was his punk resonated strongly with me, the idea that it was multi-function, full of possibilities, a frame in which everyone could do it, etc.