Music listening issues...

[wheelco]

as much as I love my i-pod, I love dusting off an old CD and listening to every song, shit and all

 

except Summerteeth . . .

[Mystik Spiral]

i have been know to delete my entire ipod in a fit of rage.

 

I have been known to delete my entire ipod in a fit of incompetence... OK, that really only happened once...

 

i have been trying to get into tom waits for a year now and it just isnt happening, even though i really like the idea of him and see him as an american treasure...go figure.

 

I have NEVER been able to "get" Tom Waits... I have tried and tried, but I just don't like listening to him. I liked him in Mystery Men though...

[froggie]

i usually listen to cd's or vinyl at home, but i've made an mp3 data disk of my favourite songs to listen in the office

 

havent had any of those portable gadgits since my diskman broke down

[howdjadoo]

Don't have a working turntable anymore

Don't listen to hissy cassettes anymore

Don't owe an iPod

 

Only have the music I like

 

So it's time for this poor soul to start collecting music DVD's.Only where to start:Elvis or Marah or maybye Arcade Fire.Life is hard these days (sigh)

[Sweet Papa Crimbo]

the accessibility to all this music is both a blessing and a curse...i think it's shortened attention spans (including mine), due it becoming more disposable in nature. i mean, if you took the time to go out and buy a physical album/tape/CD...most of the time, you'd give it numerous spins whether you initially liked it or not. sometimes, it clicked for you and becomes one of your favorites.

 

i find myself giving less time to certain albums that don't sound good to me from first listen...it's too easy to click 'delete' on an album i'm most likely test-driving to see if i actually want to purchase. plus, i don't mind single tracks...especially if the rest of the album is of little interest to me.

 

so, i appreciate being exposed to more music...but a good % of it isn't that good...but i likely didn't drop any actual $ for it initially and all i'm out is the time wasted listening to it.

 

so, yes, i'm overwhelmed sometimes.

 

You have hit the nail on the head.

 

The easy access to music has cheapened it and not just in a monetary sense.

 

Right now...i have an iPod Nano and a Video iPod filled with songs...a CD collection that I had numbered about 3,000 five years ago, access to the internet which makes bit torrents readily available, and a vinyl collection that still takes up a wall in my office (even though I have severely downsized) and I listen to music less that I did when I was in High School.

It might be a change in lifestyle, but when I had to work to find the new Elvis Costello record or when I stumbled upon the new Springsteen record, it meant more.

Now, we have instant access to every fart, burp and whistle an artist decides to commit to plastic. The length of the cd medium has also diluted the quality of music. Some artists feel the need to fill every second of an 80 minute disc (the equivalent of a double vinyl album).

The world has changed, I don't like all of it, but it's not a requirement.

[dmait]

> have been trying to get into tom waits for a year now and it just isnt happening

 

To oversimplify his career, his earlier years are cocktail-bar jazzy and starting in the 80s became much more experimental and perhaps less accessible. Try "Nighthawks at the Diner." If that doesn't do it for you, then, well, there are plenty of other bands to try.

[poppydawn]

I have NEVER been able to "get" Tom Waits... I have tried and tried, but I just don't like listening to him. I liked him in Mystery Men though...

 

Here's one of my dilemmas (and I use that word tongue-in-cheek because good lord, how lucky am I to have access to any music I want?) - I love the bits of Tom Waits I've heard. But there's so much that I don't know where to begin collecting. I'm on a Gigatribe network with some of my friends, one who has the entire Tom Waits catalog. I could download all of it, but then I'd still be overwhelmed with quantity. I could download them chronologically, but my attention span is so shot that I probably wouldn't make it past the third album. So I'll just keep listening to the 15 songs of his I already have, wishing I had more, knowing I'd be totally irritated if I did.

[markosis]

I haven't read any of this thread because I have a lot of feelings about this myself.

 

I do not bother with downloads. I like the physical artifact of a cd/record/cassette. The artwork/photos/thanks list/credits/everything makes it a whole piece of art to be enjoyed collectively, for me. Mp3's and such feel kind of hollow and slightly artificial to me. I don't even like ordering cd's from Amazon etc. because the thrill of going into a record store and finding something expected or unexpected holds the most joy for me. I am lucky to live where I do with some (although less in recent years) great indie record stores between South Jersey and Philadelphia where I can always find some great purchases. Yes, cd's and records may cost more than downloads, but I am absolutely willing to pay the extra couple of dollars for the whole package because it means alot more to me.

 

Digital music feels more disposable to me, whereas I want to hold on to cd's and records and get the most out of them.

[howdjadoo]

Here's one of my dilemmas (and I use that word tongue-in-cheek because good lord, how lucky am I to have access to any music I want?) - I love the bits of Tom Waits I've heard. But there's so much that I don't know where to begin collecting. I'm on a Gigatribe network with some of my friends, one who has the entire Tom Waits catalog. I could download all of it, but then I'd still be overwhelmed with quantity. I could download them chronologically, but my attention span is so shot that I probably wouldn't make it past the third album. So I'll just keep listening to the 15 songs of his I already have, wishing I had more, knowing I'd be totally irritated if I did.

 

You might give "Mule Variations"(skip track 1 ) a spin or 2 to get onto the Waits Groove

[Mystik Spiral]

I haven't read any of this thread because I have a lot of feelings about this myself.

 

I do not bother with downloads. I like the physical artifact of a cd/record/cassette. The artwork/photos/thanks list/credits/everything makes it a whole piece of art to be enjoyed collectively, for me. Mp3's and such feel kind of hollow and slightly artificial to me. I don't even like ordering cd's from Amazon etc. because the thrill of going into a record store and finding something expected or unexpected holds the most joy for me. I am lucky to live where I do with some (although less in recent years) great indie record stores between South Jersey and Philadelphia where I can always find some great purchases. Yes, cd's and records may cost more than downloads, but I am absolutely willing to pay the extra couple of dollars for the whole package because it means alot more to me.

 

Digital music feels more disposable to me, whereas I want to hold on to cd's and records and get the most out of them.

 

I agree with this, but... I use downloads mainly to listen to albums before I buy them. I'm all for not spending money on crappy albums anymore. I use emusic for the albums that I like but probably wouldn't spend $15 on... unfortunately I don't have the money (or space) to buy a physical copy of every album that I enjoy.

[markosis]

I'm all for not spending money on crappy albums anymore.

 

Haha, yes, yes, very good point!

[Vacant Horizon]

I have been known to delete my entire ipod in a fit of incompetence... OK, that really only happened once...

 

 

 

I have NEVER been able to "get" Tom Waits... I have tried and tried, but I just don't like listening to him. I liked him in Mystery Men though...

 

 

damn, forgot he was in that. gonna have to rewatch that one. he's great in short cuts and is also in the new indy flick, wristcutters.

[Vacant Horizon]

You might give "Mule Variations"(skip track 1 ) a spin or 2 to get onto the Waits Groove

 

 

yeah, i have been using mule variations for latter day waits and heart of sat. night for early waits. both are okay.

[Vacant Horizon]

Digital music feels more disposable to me, whereas I want to hold on to cd's and records and get the most out of them.

 

 

i also feel like mp3s are disposable. just so easy pick up or delete. i miss when i was a kid and spending 10-15 bucks on an album and later a cd was a huge deal. it was always something i really wanted and i just let myself enjoy the entire thing. i need to get back to that. unfortunately, the dudes at the record stores in my town can be assholes.

[Vacant Horizon]

Now, we have instant access to every fart, burp and whistle an artist decides to commit to plastic. The length of the cd medium has also diluted the quality of music. Some artists feel the need to fill every second of an 80 minute disc (the equivalent of a double vinyl album).

 

the whole 'everything an artist does we have to get' is really overwhelming. i gave up on that years ago. very rarely do i hear a 'bonus' track or whatever that i like better than the album. even with wilco. artists write a ton of shit and part of their art is choosing the songs they want on their album. we have no business hearing the rest. i also hate long cds. case in point, the new DBT is like 20 songs. way too much. i am sure they could do a tight 10 song album. i do miss the old days. so easy to get through an album with 7-10 songs on it. houses of the holy, neil young, etc.

[kathyp]

I've less listening to less music despite having more options. Mostly I listen to whatever's streaming out of my iTunes library, or one of the Last Fm stations. Like someone else mentioned, I do like having the artifact: I still buy cds; I rarely download music. (Everything in iTunes has been ripped from cds I own.)

 

I'd rather buy a cd than download and burn it to a cd (by the way, do people actually burn music to CDRs anymore?) because some of the cds I've burned didn't even last three years.

 

I'm kind of stuck in the middle. I'm buying a new iPod (my first, actually). Though I'm trying hard to justify the price given I don't listen to music "on the fly" all that much, I still want one.

[Analogman]

I have about 600 hundred or so cdrs of music. I suppose the only way I listen to music these days is via cds played on the computer cd player. I sometimes listen to BBC Radio online - Sounds of The Sixties/Sounds of The 70s/Suzi Quatro Show and/or shows at archive.org/wolfgang's vault when I am at my desk at work. That's about it.

[poppydawn]

damn, forgot he was in that. gonna have to rewatch that one. he's great in short cuts and is also in the new indy flick, wristcutters.

 

And "Coffee and Cigarettes". I thought everyone was great in that, though.

 

I'll grab "Mule Variations" from my Gigatribe network when I get home.

[Griddles]

I completely agree with just about everyone. I use the shuffle on iTunes, but only to skip forward to a good album that I have not heard in a while, or some random artist. My crazy relative sends me 3-6 data discs every month. With this addition I get overwhelmed to the point of not even looking at what is on the discs. That said, I also cannot go into a record/cd/music store more than about 2-3 times a year, because I almost always spend about $100. Not even on new artists, just back filling my catalog. I tend to carry about 4 travel cd cases in the car with me and end up going through all four, while driving, to find the next cd, even though I know it will end up being one of about 15 cds. So yes music today is overwhelming.

[Vacant Horizon]

I completely agree with just about everyone. I use the shuffle on iTunes, but only to skip forward to a good album that I have not heard in a while, or some random artist. My crazy relative sends me 3-6 data discs every month. With this addition I get overwhelmed to the point of not even looking at what is on the discs. That said, I also cannot go into a record/cd/music store more than about 2-3 times a year, because I almost always spend about $100. Not even on new artists, just back filling my catalog. I tend to carry about 4 travel cd cases in the car with me and end up going through all four, while driving, to find the next cd, even though I know it will end up being one of about 15 cds. So yes music today is overwhelming.

 

 

 

totally fascinating. more music than ever before, even by our favorite artists, at our finger tips and we're all overwhelmed.

craig

[Mr. Heartbreak]

I was feeling overwhelmed too, until I got an iPod. I really think it's the greatest thing since sliced bread. I put about 6000 songs on iTunes from CDs, then transferred them all to the iPod, and got a new car stereo which has a plug-in for the iPod. Now I hardly ever carry CDs around, and I love being surprised by stuff on the Shuffle feature, though I often play random songs by artists or even entire "albums." I LOVE not having to constantly change CDs.

[DAngerer09]

Yeah, I also got a new car stereo with an input for the iPod. It is like having most of your music library right at your fingertips. Perfect.