Recently my wife bought me a set of very nice speakers which has renewed my interesting in "listening" to music. I haven't done that in a very long time. Life is busy and it is easier to use music for the background.

So I'm trying to take time out to listen, really listen, to my music and I've learned a few things in the process. One, I've learned that not having the song list in front of me is distracting. With tapes we could listen and keep the song list in front of us, with cd's we often had all the lyrics, and now that we have moved to mp3's we don't have jack. I'm gonna have to print out a song list before I listen! What would be really cool is to get a printout giving info on the artist and maybe some info on the songs if available. Maybe they are remakes, or were inspired by something in particular. ya I'm asking alot but it would be nice! Or even a lyric printout of the cd.

Two, I've noticed is how hard it is to feel like I "know" my music collection. Where I used to have maybe 10 or 20 tapes that I would listen to over and over, knowing them perfectly, I now have 953 albums by 563 artists in my itunes library. Surely many of those are single songs by an artist, gleened from compilations, boosing the numbers but you can see my point!

So how do you feel about the changes to how we listen and enjoy our music? Are you sitting on the couch enjoying a favorite album or just doing random music from huge selections?

Dave

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Beer Club meeting. We are all about the education.

Random shuffle, almost always.

But to really "listen", I put on my red robe, fill a brandy snifter and sit with my golden retriever at my feet in the study, while reading the Penthouse Forum letters.

burning my own CDs from what I own for the car. satellite or AAA college radio at home and random or streaming radio on the road

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I think so, Brain, but wouldn't anything lose its flavor on the bedpost overnight?

I use a lot of smart playlists. If I really like something and wouldn't mind listening to it somewhat often, it gets a 5-star rating and get placed into my "favorites" playlist. There are currently 1250 songs in that. I then have various other smart playlists for various moods and situations. With over 20k songs, my playlist method is pretty good for breaking it down into digestable portions. Now, I am a music lover. I make it, I listen to it, and I DJ it. It surrounds me all the time. Bluetooth adapter from the iPod to the home theater, streaming wireless from computer to computer, three different iPods for the two cars, all of my music library on my laptop... etc. Just keep buying larger hard drives and more music.

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iTunes and iPod are almost always in use here. I use iTunes throughout my work day.

988 Albums, 743 Artists, 51 Genres

9435 Songs, 25:02:09:24 total time

ALL OF IT LEGAL, before someone chimes in like the last time I mentioned it.

I do a lot of playlists, some "Smart" but mostly my own set-ups. Some examples:

* Beatles & Beyond (Smart Playlist); everything by the Beatles then their solo careers

* Most Played (Smart Playlist); duh

* Never Played (Smart Playlist); I work this one down a lot

* 70s FM (Playlist); not just 70s, but mostly the stuff I remember from being a kid

* Smokey New Orleans Piano Bar (Playlist); stuff that reminds me of home, the various jazz bars I'd haunt in my college days, listening to a pianist and maybe a combo. Current population includes Peter Martin and Mulgrew Miller.

* I Will Kick Your Ass (Playlist); includes stuff like Alien Ant Farm and The Offspring, among others

* Jazz Corner of the World (Playlist); includes favorite jazz cuts, including every version of "Birdland" I get

* These Are The Voyages (Playlist); my favorite Trek music

* Soundtrack Standouts (Playlist); my favorite soundtrack music

* Absolutes (Playlist); my absolute favorite songs

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davemchine I understand completely. There's a disconnect, if you're used to holding a nice album cover or CD or tape cover in your hands, reading the liner notes or lyrics or just glancing at the song list while you listen.

The closest thing possible now would be to have a wireless laptop nearby with all of that a click away, but of course, that's not as convenient, just as reading online will never replace the experience of holding a book.

That said, I prefer iTunes as the interface instead of loading CDs into a player now, even though I'm still an album and not playlist or shuffle kind of guy.

You might consider printing song lists (ITunes can now do this, with cover art) and putting it into a binder you keep nearby. I didn't see an option to include lyrics though.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/05/2007 11:58AM by deckeda.

Ya, i've been looking for a website that can print album lyrics but so far no luck. One song at a time yes, but not an entire album of lyrics.

Dave

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Beer Club meeting. We are all about the education.

Great topic. Since I got my Pod, my 1991 5-disc Maganvox CD changer has been wholly neglected...where in the old days, it was on constant shuffle and on just about every day. I'm a huge music aficionado (23 gigs of aac, all legal) and I work at home...so playing music and at times loudly is pretty easy! I also enjoy reading liner notes, really LISTENING to the music and lyrics, etc.

My quest was always to find the perfect 5 CDs to put on shuffle. (I also enjoy album listening.) Of course the Pod has made all that infinitely easier with playlists. And now that I have AirTunes, it is ALMOST as good as having the liner notes in front of me. What I love about AirTunes is you can change the music from across the room in an instant.

I have also taken in my parents' vinyl collection ('50s-'80s mostly pop) along with their very mod 1964 Magnavox console stereo/turntable...which I plan to install some awesome speakers into after I finish my basement. So "The Lava Room" (yeah I have an original Lava Lamp) will be the ultimate listening station.

Papercup: LMAO.

Great topic. Since I got my Pod, my 1991 5-disc Maganvox CD changer has been wholly neglected...where in the old days, it was on constant shuffle and on just about every day. I'm a huge music aficionado (23 gigs of aac, all legal) and I work at home...so playing music and at times loudly is pretty easy! I also enjoy reading liner notes, really LISTENING to the music and lyrics, etc.

My quest was always to find the perfect 5 CDs to put on shuffle. (I also enjoy album listening.) Of course the Pod has made all that infinitely easier with playlists. And now that I have AirTunes, it is ALMOST as good as having the liner notes in front of me. What I love about AirTunes is you can change the music from across the room in an instant.

I have also taken in my parents' vinyl collection ('50s-'80s mostly pop) along with their very mod 1964 Magnavox console stereo/turntable...which I plan to install some awesome speakers into after I finish my basement. So "The Lava Room" (yeah I have an original Lava Lamp) will be the ultimate listening station.

I do random shuffle most of the time. I have a very lo-tech friend who told me once he finds it very disconcerting listening to music at my house because the songs he expects to follow never do. When he's here hanging out, I play them by album without shuffle.

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This article seem to indicate itunes will be able to print lyrics soon, [www.gracenote.com]

Dave

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Beer Club meeting. We are all about the education.

Interesting. Although I have embraced iTunes and mp3s, I suppose I mostly still listen to music by the album. Admittedly, this means that quite a lot of stuff in my library is quite underplayed. Like Zoidberg, I have a Never Played playlist, and a "surprisingly good songs" playlist, which is album tracks from albums where the whole album is not something I would listen to a lot, but that one song is great, and it also has the 'odd' songs that I have downloaded from bandsites, or free eMusic tracks, that are worth repetitive listening.

Thinking about it- I listen to each album a lot when I have just bought it (for instance, this is the second listening of Elliott Smith's From a Basement on the Hill since I bought it yesterday, and it will probably feature heavily for a few days)- and then the album either sticks in my mind, or it doesn't- in which case it just sits in my library. From a Basement on the Hill will definitely stick around.

cheers

scott

dm, I feel your pain.

Usually, I'm doing something else, though the music is actually foreground and not background stuff. Often a particularly good song will distract me, much like a bright, shiny object.

Often, I kick back in the recliner, sometimes with headphones, other times, the speakers.

I've got a ton of music on my 'Pod, most of which is ripped at 320AAC. (I'm thinking of re-ripping to Apple Lossless, after I try some listening sessions.) Sometimes I don't recognize the name or artist though I remember the song.

I've been thinking of getting one of the pricier docks that show the info on the TV so I can check it out when the neurons freeze up. A glance at the TV would quell my questions.

On the computers, I use Sizzling Keys to quickly bring up a display of the Song, Artist, and Album, and I *thiink* playing time. (I really prefer Remaining Time.)

Anyhow, the high-end docks would take care of the brain fade.

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We don’t do focus groups. They just ensure that you don’t offend anyone, and produce bland inoffensive products. —Jonathan Ive

-An armed society is a polite society.
And hope is a lousy defense.

There is no safety for honest men
except by believing all possible evil
of evil men.

I *love* Sigs. It's Glocks I hate.

What you describe is a reason I'm not about to toss out my CDs anytime soon.

A lot of what I have in my collection does not come into iTunes gracefully: I have yet to import a piece of classical music that didn't require me to re-do all or most of the info, sometimes from scratch. I don't want to spend my time that way, especially not when I can stick a CD into my stereo and have accurate information and liner notes in my hand, if I feel like reading them.

I hate the space taken up by the CDs, but I wouldn't like to see that replaced by a huge bunch of files that I had to organize and back up, after correcting a ton of CDDB info.

I recall importing a lot of classical into my folk's iTunes and having to re-do a lot of the CDDB stuff as well.

It's as if that stuff was typed by monkeys, trying to reach Shakespeare. [en.wikipedia.org]

This is a really good topic. I can really relate to Davemchine's and SteveO's experiences.

I still have about 1,000 CDs, mostly ripped to 320Kbps MP3s. Our two CD changes in the house go largely unused, and I think it's been almost three years since we put any CDs in the car's changer! The iPod and iTunes just make it all too easy, except I can't fit all the music I'd like on my old 30GB iPod.

I abandoned my cassette deck as soon as I bought my first CD burner back in the early 90s. I still have about a dozen cassettes for sentimental value only.

My turntable gets far more use than my CD changer. It's nice to pick through the records, slap one on, and enjoy. Something about that old analog sound still seems just a little more pleasing to the ear than the newer digital formats. Unfortunately I haven't gone record shopping in a while; it's still my favorite way to fill in my collection with older titles I'd been wanting to get for years.

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"We are two robots in this pyramid with this light show, but everything is for you to have fun and enjoy yourself."
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