Time and Opinions

[pwhodges]

Having a head start, I probably have more recordings (largely classical, as it happens) than most of you.  I reckon that if I listened for several hours a day it would take me more than a year to listen to every one again.  As a corollary, many (most, even?) of these recordings I have only ever listened to once, or maybe twice.

How long would it take you to listen through every recording you have, how many have you listened to enough times to become really familiar with, and - the killer - what does this say for your opinions about the relative merits of recordings you may only have heard once or twice at a couple of years' distance?

[valley_parade]

According to iTunes, I have 24 days, 6 hours, 44 minutes, and 44 seconds of music.

Make what you will of it. That's not counting a few albums I have on vinyl but not digitally, though.

[De_El]

If I listened to music for four hours every day, without repeating any recordings, it would take me 351.5 days to get through all my audio files. Some of that isn't music per se, I've got some readings, meditative noises, sound experiments.  Some of the things I've got that I only listened to once I really liked, but for some reason didn't return to, out of business or perhaps preoccupation with other music. Some are things I heard once and felt kind of ambivalent about but thought if I listened more might grow on me. Some of the things my computer says I've only listened to once are files that I've replaced for higher quality recordings, so it's misleading.  I guess I hang on to things I know I like but don't listen to a lot because I like to have the option of listening to them, even though I know the chances aren't as good that I'll go back and listen to Tosca's Suzuki as they are that I'll listen to Unknown Pleasures for the umpteenth time. And that's fine.

[Zombiedude]

10.8 days of music, holy shit

[scarred]

1,276 albums that total 31 days, 3 hours, 36 minutes, and 59 seconds of music.

I'd like to think I'm intimately familiar with around half of that. But that's wishful thinking, and I'm sure the real answer (if I were to throw my iPod on shuffle) would be closer to 1/4 or 1/5.

[squawk]

According to iTunes I have 26 (26:02:48:21) days of music. (Actually I have a lot of downloaded but uncompressed albums that I still haven't added yet. Dang it.)

I have listened to approximately 7100 out of 10198 songs at least once! That actually exceeds my expectations. There are probably some random albums that I downloaded for no reason that I could listen to right now and be confused as to why I was interested enough to download it.
Then, of course, there are the ones I overlooked that I would probably fall in love with if it hit me at the right time.

[Zombiedude]

I'd like to think I'm intimately familiar with around half of that. But that's wishful thinking, and I'm sure the real answer (if I were to throw my iPod on shuffle) would be closer to 1/4 or 1/5.

Usually I am able to recognize whatever artist that comes on when I do this.

[scarred]

I should play that Music Quiz game and see how well I do.

I know I can recognize just about every artist in my library, but that pertains to specific songs - there are some artists who are one hit wonders for me but I still have their whole album for no reason. This is funny because I just cleaned out my itunes a few months ago (It was at 78+GB, went down to 44. Now it's at 53 again. >.>).

[Scarychips]

I have 2093 songs, 5.2 days of music (5:06:07:18). That's without half of my cd collection, some LPs and some folders that I didn't decompress and that are somewhere on my computer (notable that Sneaky Mister compilation that scarred posted not so long ago).
I think the most files from one artist are from Final Fantasy, since I have about 4 bootlegge shows, and all his EPs, albums.

[David_Dovey]

I have 30.2 days/50.61GB/9428 songs of music according to iTunes, and out of that 4.5 days/1353 songs have never been played, at least since this incarnation of my iTunes library, which was started in 2005.

I'd say it takes me longer than most (for whatever reason) for music to really sink in for me, so on that basis I have listened to 12.2 days/3905 songs in my library 5 times or more.

Honestly if I was really brutally honest about it I could probably cut out a significant portion of the music in my library and never miss it, either because it is stuff that I used to listen to and don't care for anymore, or because it's stuff that I grabbed off of friends and never really cared for. But hey, that's the beauty of digital files and large hard drives, I don't have to worry about that. Maybe if I fill up my 80GB iPod then I'll have to get the shears out.

[Johnny C]

It's tough to tell because I have music in several formats and that I haven't bothered ripping - some of that is stuff I haven't heard, but some of it's stuff I listen to on the regular, like Yank Crime.

W/r/t your final question, I don't think it's actually that much of a killer. All it says is that at the time I thought they were good enough records to keep around. I've sold off the ones that weren't.

[Inlander]

All my music is on C.D. and I've just recently finished iTunesing them all.

35.6 days, 94.96 gigabytes.

I'll address the other questions in this thread later, perhaps.

[E. Spaceman]

As it happens, itunes is right now scanning my media folder (and being pitifully slow about it). In acouple of hours i expect to know more or less how much music is in my computer in mp3 format. Sort of a cheat but i have an inherited record collection numbering somewhere over a thousand CDs and hundreds of vinyl records (mostly Classical and Jazz).

Most of the music i have I have listened to at least a couple of times but I tend to only listen to a dozen or so albums for months at a time. In addition, many of the albums i have are compilations, which usually have limited relisten value. Personally I don't understand it when people want larger mp3 players because of the 15000 songs that my ipod has in it at the moment I could do with carrying 100 and simply changing the music from time to time.



As an aside, am I alone in thinking that along with countless benefits, the ability to instantly download and listen to an album has changed our attitude towards listening to music? Added a sense of dispose-ability maybe? Sometimes I wonder, mainly while reading our own mediaf!re thread, if people now really listen to the music or just hear it and then move on to the next thing. Maybe I am just wrong but I feel that some of the albums  we filed in the "only listened to once" folder would be regulars if we weren't as accustomed to instant gratification. On this I am most interested on Paul's view due to obvious reasons.

[Zombiedude]

There is some stuff I feel I should like, but I don't really. Radiohead is one of those things.

[michaelicious]

As an aside, am I alone in thinking that along with countless benefits, the ability to instantly download and listen to an album has changed our attitude towards listening to music? Added a sense of dispose-ability maybe? Sometimes I wonder, mainly while reading our own mediaf!re thread, if people now really listen to the music or just hear it and then move on to the next thing. Maybe I am just wrong but I feel that some of the albums  we filed in the "only listened to once" folder would be regulars if we weren't as accustomed to instant gratification. On this I am most interested on Paul's view due to obvious reasons.

I noticed this about my listening habits about a year ago. My music listening habits have changed pretty drastically since then, actually. I have regained my ability to become totally obsessed with a band. I didn't realise how much I missed that feeling. I have been on a massive Neil Young kick lately. Before that I was listening to the song "Will You Still Love Me in December?" by Julie Doiron about 13 times a day.

Personally I don't understand it when people want larger mp3 players because of the 15000 songs that my ipod has in it at the moment I could do with carrying 100 and simply changing the music from time to time.

I only have a tiny 4gig mp3 player that I barely ever listen to. I can't seem to wrap my head around people constantly having headphones in whenever they are in a public space. People don't spend enough time day dreaming anymore.

[evilbobthebob]

My puny music collection stands at 9.97GB, 1691 songs, 98.5 hours, so about 4 days. However, according to some Last.fm statistic messing, I listen to about 2000 tracks a month. So, allowing for a good few repeats, once a month I can cycle through my entire music collection.

If you check out my Last.fm account, you can see my listening tends to focus on about ten bands. However, over the past few months, I've changed that up a bit by listening again to a lot of albums I had rarely listened to, or new releases from bands. I've listened to most of my library at least twice. By that point I decide whether or not I'll bother to keep the album. (If I do decide to keep it, I tend to go out and buy it). I don't tend to get entire discographies unless I really, really like the band, or they have a very solid (or very short!) discography.

Over the past eight months or so I haven't listened to music on the move very often, mostly because I haven't been going anywhere. At college, I always listened to my MP3 player on the bus. That was a 1GB model, so I had to do a lot of regular swapping of tracks. I now have a 2GB Walkman phone, and I'm trying to decide if I should bother to upgrade the capacity. Mostly I want to fit about the same number of songs (500) at a higher bitrate.

[Scarychips]

Well, if we move onto the subject of listening habits, I usually have my mp3 player with me (4gb of music). Not because I want to shut myself off, but when you have to walk alone to school every day for three years straight by using the same route, I get a bit bored of daydreaming of the same places. When I go to new places, (eg, I went to Montreal two days ago and I just walked for about 3 hours), I usually don't listen to my mp3 player and I check out places. I find that when I have my earphones on, I am mostly focusing on the music and on my "own world" than otherwise. But I think I'll upgrade my mp3 player. Not that I need the extra space, but I am extremely indecisive. If I delete something from my mp3 player, next time I'll open it up, I'll notice that this song isn't here and I'll want to listen to it.

[Inlander]

Personally I don't understand it when people want larger mp3 players because of the 15000 songs that my ipod has in it at the moment I could do with carrying 100 and simply changing the music from time to time.

I only have a tiny 4gig mp3 player that I barely ever listen to. I can't seem to wrap my head around people constantly having headphones in whenever they are in a public space. People don't spend enough time day dreaming anymore.

I absolutely agree with you. My iPod almost never leaves my house. The sole reason I got it was so that I could listen to music on long-haul flights (I fly from Australia to England usually every two or three years - 20 hours each way). But for that reason I wanted an iPod that I could put all of my music onto: I have no idea what I'm going to feel like listening to up in the sky (or sometimes on a long-distance train or bus) when I don't have access to my computer or my C.D. collection.

[Bastardous Bassist]

I'd say it takes me longer than most (for whatever reason) for music to really sink in for me

Whenever I get new music, I always throw it into my "new music" playlist, which I listen to for several days/weeks until I start to get a feel for what I like and what I don't like.  This is especially true for concert music, where there's usually too much going on for me to get the full impact with just one listen.  As such, I usually end up liking or disliking albums in a way that stands the test of time.  Hell, most of the time when my opinion changes over time it's that I begin to enjoy an album more after I give it some space.

Personally I don't understand it when people want larger mp3 players because of the 15000 songs that my ipod has in it at the moment I could do with carrying 100 and simply changing the music from time to time.

I bring my mp3 player everywhere, and sometimes I'll want to listen to different music.  As such, I load it up with all sorts of different stuff, and then I choose as I go.  It's also great for if I end up hanging out with people and we all play awesome music for each other.  I've got access right at my fingertips.  Also, I listen to music most of the time when I'm in the lab (because I've usually got the lab to myself), because it helps me focus, and if I get the same stuff over and over again (because I'm in the lab a large portion of the day), then I start getting a little annoyed.

I can't seem to wrap my head around people constantly having headphones in whenever they are in a public space. People don't spend enough time day dreaming anymore.

When I am going from point a to point b (which is what is going one when I've got my headphones on in a public space), I am usually listening to music to which I can daydream.

[David_Dovey]

As an aside, am I alone in thinking that along with countless benefits, the ability to instantly download and listen to an album has changed our attitude towards listening to music? Added a sense of dispose-ability maybe? Sometimes I wonder, mainly while reading our own mediaf!re thread, if people now really listen to the music or just hear it and then move on to the next thing. Maybe I am just wrong but I feel that some of the albums  we filed in the "only listened to once" folder would be regulars if we weren't as accustomed to instant gratification. On this I am most interested on Paul's view due to obvious reasons.

Absolutely true. Even just going on the Play Count column in my iTunes (ha), All of the songs that have had the most plays

a) are stuff I was listening to 3-4 years ago i.e; before I downloaded music and bought everything on C.D, and as such acquired music much slower

b) have twice as many plays as any of my heavily-listened-to music from more recent years

[Retrospectre]

Not trying to be a dick but since I know quite a few people here like to grab stuff from the mediaf!re thread,what percentage or everyone's music library is made up of stuff they paid money for?

[spoon_of_grimbo]

i have 67 days of music.  fuck.  that's over TWO MONTHS non-stop listening!

in all honesty though, i'm pretty anal about my media library - full albums only.  so there's several i downloaded for teh sake a few songs i liked at the time and rarely listen to now.  i do have a HUGE cd collection that's all on here though, so i'd say at least half of that 67 days is paid for, and probably a third of the total running time is known pretty well by me.

[Touch Me Im Sick]

5458 songs, 14.7 days.

Not trying to be a dick but since I know quite a few people here like to grab stuff from the mediaf!re thread,what percentage or everyone's music library is made up of stuff they paid money for?

I'm gonna guess

40% physical (whether it was bought before I added it or after I downloaded it)
60% downloaded (mediaf!re thread or just on my own)

[Scandanavian War Machine]

I have EXACTLY 15 days worth of music on my iPod. naturally, that doesn't include the few records I own and the random stack of cds that I have yet to re-rip to my new iPod.


I used to be pretty familiar with almost all of it. One of my friend Tj's favorite games would be to put my iPod on shuffle while we were hotboxing my car and quiz me on the songs that came on. I got almost all of them, but nowadays I don't think I would do as well since there is alot more stuff on there that I've only listened to one or two times, or even less.

[celticgeek]

I have about 450 hours of music on my computer (I do not own any other digital music player), most of it in .flac format, with some of it (stuff that I have purchased for download) in mp3 format.   All of it has been either purchased by me, or has been given to me as a gift, so it has all been purchased by someone.  There are probably another 70 plus hours of music which I have not ripped to my computer. 

I listen to about 60 to 80 hours of it on a regular basis, since I have about that much on various playlists. 

I also use last.fm, jango.com, and playlist.com, and usually look at any suggestions that they have, and purchase any interesting music that I find. 

Also, I like to go through my music files every now and again, during which I notice music that I have not listened to in a while, and then listen to it.  Edith Piaf and Mary Hopkin are the latest examples of this.  And usually I add this music to one or the other of my playlists. 

I will admit to having weird and wide-ranging musical tastes, from ABBA to Warren Zevon. 





 

[Muffin_Buns]

70.8 days

God damn, that is entirely too much music. Although to be fair I do download a lot stuff on a whim and I'm pretty obsessive about owning full albums.. If I hear one song that I like I'll go and buy/download the whole album. I'd say only about 10% of that comes from CDs that I actually own, and if I put my library on shuffle I could probably recognize the artist about 80% of the time but wouldn't be too good at recognizing individual songs. I'd also say that a good 10-15% of it is stuff that I don't even like and just haven't gotten around to deleting yet.

[scarred]

Not trying to be a dick but since I know quite a few people here like to grab stuff from the mediaf!re thread,what percentage or everyone's music library is made up of stuff they paid money for?

Sadly, I'd estimate the music I actually own hovers around 20%.

I do buy CDs more often than sane people, however.

They're secondary only to beer money (which is usually spare change from an earlier music purchase anyway).

[MrBlu]

Only 11 days, but that's what I have on my PC. I haven't gone through the massive Vinyl collection my brother's father (not my father) has, and a rat pile of CDs between me, my brother and my (full) sister.

[kyleg]

110.2 days in my itunes. All ripped from CDs I own. wtf? Must be a glitch. I feel like it should only be in the 50 day range.

[StaedlerMars]

I've found that iTunes does this really annoying thing where it duplicates your files. So you might have a bunch of files with ' 1.mp3' at the end.

Happens to me loads of times.

[öde]

I have a few weeks worth of music. A fair amount of it I'm not interested in anymore and a lot I haven't sorted out and listened to yet. When I get my iphone back I'll listen to stuff I really like more often, and I always find I become much more intimate with music when I listen to it on an mp3 player as it becomes less of a passive act of listening. I don't think I even liked Sleater-Kinney before I listened to them on my mp3 player for a while, and now I can't imagine not loving them.

[rynne]

How long would it take you to listen through every recording you have, how many have you listened to enough times to become really familiar with, and - the killer - what does this say for your opinions about the relative merits of recordings you may only have heard once or twice at a couple of years' distance?

I have no clue how many hours of music I have (900 CDs is... how long?).  I'm in the same boat—there are things that I have that I've listened to maybe once or twice.  On one hand, I suspect there are some albums I've probably overlooked because I haven't given them enough time to sink in. 

But, on the other hand—and this is the view I lean towards more strongly—I feel that I've listened to enough music to have a very good immediate gut reaction as to what will appeal to me.  In other words, if I get an album and end up not wanting to listen to it, obviously it's not as enjoyable or appealing (to me, at least) as other albums in my collection. 

That isn't to say that not listening to an album is equivalent to not liking an album.  There are plenty of albums I own that I wouldn't want to listen to all the time (e.g., Nurse With Wound, Merzbow, etc.) that I thoroughly appreciate when I'm in the right mood.  But if years go by and I never feel the urge to listen to a particular album, I think that's a pretty good indication of said album's relative merits (i.e., it doesn't have many).

[KickThatBathProf]

I have no clue how many hours of music I have (900 CDs is... how long?).

If I were to compare it to my collection (790 albums/23.2 days) I would guess yours would be somewhere in between 25 and 26 hours, depending on the style of music you listen to.