How do you listen to your music

I always try to put on CDs that I'm least familiar with (new or just neglected CDs). The downside is that sometimes it doesn't fit my mood and I'm forcing the music on myself. But I tell myself that I gotta put myself through this process of familiarization so that I can pick those records for future use. Of course, constantly buying new CDs kinda negates that theory.

Of course, when I'm obsessed with one CD, it pre-empts all of the above.

I can't do two things at once anymore. I used to be able to read while listening, do math while listening, talk while listening...and now it just distracts me. I have to give the music my full attention, with the result that I don't listen as much as I used to, but when I do, I'm really listening.

Listen mostly to CDs but also vinyl and tapes.

Speaking of listening in cars, I find it incredibly exhilerating to drive over bridges while listening to the radio, becuz I'm cut off from anything but water and road, but the music is with me, the waves are surrounding me. Never stops giving me a rush.

Bumpity.

I've loaded 4.5 days of music onto my work computer, a lot of it ambient or jazz but also other stuff (right now I'm listening to Spoon), which I play... at work. Sometimes genre / mood playlists, sometimes randomly, sometimes whole albums / artists. I'm alone in a huge office but still don't like things too loud or vocal - I prefer to work to ambient, or nothing, generally. If I buy a CD during the work day, or get one sent here, I might listen to that.

At home three or four options - big hi-fi in the livingroom / kitchen for listening when playing football on the PS2 or cooking or just wanting it IMPRESSIVE. Minisystem in the bedroom, but that's mainly just for radio to fall asleep to. In the backroom I've got a hotchpotch hi-fi assembled from bits and bobs, plus my headphones. If I'm reading or surfing the internet I'll listen in there.

The idea of having an mp3 collection has become so ridiculous to me that I'm thinking about moving off all my mp3s off my computer onto a external harddrive (rather than straight delete them) and just listening to music I already own (I've never bought an mp3)

I'm curious if anyone here has done this?

I used to have a rotating pile of 15 so I could listen to them all atleast once in a week, but now I changed to keeping a pile of 6 that I will try to listen to everyday, so I can get through more albums faster, because Ive been in a slump and have got through a shamefully small amount of music recently.

I dont like the idea of people impulsively listening to whatever they most want to all the time, I think you need to force yourself to listen to all your cds properly, because you never know what you might have passed up if you didnt. You could have sitting in your house what is potentially one of your all-time favorites.

As for buying, I used to just buy music all the time then try to listen to ALL OF THEM in rotation. That was stupid. So I changed to only buying a new record when there was a new gap in my pile of 15. But now I'm going back to buying loads but still keeping the rotattion pile of 6. And if I really love a band, I'll buy the rest of their albums and they will feed into the rotation one by one after I finish each one.

I listen to all my music with headphones when I'm drawing and painting in my bedroom.

I've always wanted to ask lots of people how thet fit all their music into their life. Because I'm having a hard time listening to all the expansive amounts of Goth, Dreampop, Prog, Folk, Classical and Extreme Metal I want to. You get people in their teens who seem to have heard it all. How in hell did they did that? Did they go into some place where time does not exist and bring thousands of albums with them?

How in hell did they did that? Did they go into some place where time does not exist and bring thousands of albums with them?

Yeah, wondered the same thing. I think a lot of young'ens listen to one track, think it sucks, then move on, satisfied that they can claim expertise in something; at least, that's what I think people who listen to music as some sort of dick-measuring contest does.

I still listen to CDs at home and if I go on a drive. At work I just listen to my ipod since it's easier.

Wow, this thread will be a decade old soon. Let me go back even further.

1973-1985: Vinyl 45s and LPs on grandparents' and mom's record players. Occasionally listened to my first mix tapes I made by propping mic up to speaker with old cassette recorder. Got first portable cassette player from Sears around '83.

1985-1992: Dual cassette boombox with graphic equalizer and detachable speakers. Don't remember what brand it was, but I thought it was pretty sweet, 'til I first heard the pro studio monitors in my college radio station in '87. Not having a turntable nor space in my dorm room pretty much weaned me off vinyl records for good. Bought my first CD player to attache to boombox summer '88. Had a cool cassette walkman (Aiwa) with a speaker I used during a job I had at a bakery.

1991-2000: With my first job working on a database for a law firm I set up portable powered speakers attached to portable CD player, similar set up at various jobs for the next ten years. Rarely used headphones, as I always had decent amount of personal space. Bought my first component stereo system with Infinity speakers and subwoofer fall of '92 when I moved to Chicago with a gf.

2001-2007: Started listening to MP3s more, hooking computer to stereo at home, burned CDs for work until it became easier to transport files with MP3 player in 04. Upgraded speakers (Rega R3) and receiver (Harman/Kardon) in 06, still listened to all my CDs.

2007-now: Moved from studio apt to condo, had to get used to dealing with bigger place with three main listening areas (bedroom, office, living room) and a woman who likes to go to sleep at 9:30, ha. Got sealed headphones for bedroom, big fat Wharfedale Opus 3 speakers and Emotiva amp for living room, converted entire CD collection to flac and got Squeezebox receivers so I can play music in entire house controlled by remote. Love it. Got another pair of sealed headphones and amp for work because we're moving to more open office space in the summer. Play CDs occasionally in car and pull them out for liner notes. I'm gradually whittling down collection.

Oh, and I have about 40 playlists/mixes according to mood. A general !NEW one that rotates most recent month or so of acquisitions that after hearing albums in entirety a couple times, play on random usually. Rest of my 40% of listening time just listening to whatever album I'm in mood for. Got entire collection backed up on 2TB (running out of space) drives at work.

having sensitive ears has drastically changed the way I listen to music. When you know that you can't listen to more than a few hours of music a day, or when you occasionally have to take a day or two or three, or even 4 without real music listening to let your ears rest, you really become aware of how you can waste so much effort on listening to bad music.

Then that unfortunately hasn't stopped me from having wasted loads of effort myself :(

recently realized that i had filled my ipod with music i hadn't listened to yet so i've wiped the slate clean and deleted everything, and now add a couple albums per week. i mostly listen to music on my ipod while biking or walking someplace, otherwise it's while drawing or doing light schoolwork, or drinking tea and listening to records in the living room. i try not to listen to anything besides youtubes while on the computer.

The idea of having an mp3 collection has become so ridiculous

What's so ridiculous about it? Isn't it just your music in a different format, or are you referring to massive amounts of purely downloaded material?

I think you need to force yourself to listen to all your cds properly

I agree that you should give new acquisitions a few listens before you move on but otherwise the idea of 'forcing' oneself to listen to music is silly.

I've always wanted to ask lots of people how thet fit all their music into their life

I fit music in whenever possible - driving around, while reading at night, during meal times. And I prefer to keep the variety going instead of cycling a handful of albums.

I should say having an MP3 collection feels ridiculous to me. downloaded music means much much less to me than things I've acquired does. I used to keep a somewhat curated selection of mp3's, but now I don't see any point to this, it feels vacuous and vaguely sisyphean. No practical reasons, that's just how it is for me.

my cd's are all on my harddrive. my downloaded mp3s are all on my harddrive. often i won't know which are which. if i like a song, it doesn't matter how i've acquired it. that said, i'm more likely to quickly dismiss songs and delete them if i haven't spent any money on them.

Ah, ok, I see where you're coming from. Yes, I agree that things I've paid for 1) mean more to me and 2) get more of a chance to make an impression. Things I download are usually bootlegs (which almost never mean anything and are often one-time-only listens) or for sampling purposes (also usually just a one-shot listen - I just want to know if it's good enough to make an initial impression). I buy a physical CD of things I like. Always.

because you never know what you might have passed up if you didn't. You could have sitting in your house what is potentially one of your all-time favorites.

This is true, and as I've ripped more and more of my CDs I've made sure to listen to things that I've always wanted to go back to, or have a faint recollection of really liking. But the truth is that I've got so much music already that there's plenty of stuff in my house that I should sell without even listening to again. I'll simply never miss it.

Right now I'm trying to go through my MP3 library and listen to every album once. I only started tracking play stats a couple of years ago so it's easy to go through my list and think, "Damn, I haven't listened to that album in 2 years??" and queue it up.

I usually buy a CD, rip it, and listen to it obsessively. Friends/family/everyone gets so annoyed with me having headphones on all the time (I'm a very popular young man) that I no longer do the ipod thing, I just listen while at home... reading a magazine, making food, cleaning, etc. Or just surfing the internet, as I am right now.

The time spent in between discovering music I actually like I try listening to albums I have on my computer I've yet to listen to entirely, or just stuff I've always and probably will always enjoy/enjoyed (My Bloody Valentine, Pavement, Boards of Canada, etc)

Vinyl, either in the front room - really my junk room, full of records and books and just about room for a not amazing but serviceable separates system (Dual TT, Aiwa Amp -the weak ink - big old Goodman speakers) there's another system upstairs in the bedroom and some records up there that I fall asleep to. CDs in the car, 'cept I've been without a car for a couple of months: I'm not working much, it's summer and I can cycle everywhere i need to go. There's a CD player upstairs but its not connected to anything. There was bunch of music on my last computer, but it died and I can't say I've missed anything: never listened to it much anyway.

There's a pile of about a 100 LPs that is more or less current listening - either new, or retrieved recently from the shelves. But if i want to hear something specific, I'll dig it out and play it and nothing else will do.

my favorite place to listen to music is in the car, that's for damn sure