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[godinpants]

Music is pretty much everywhere these days yeah? It's always being played on the tv, radio, from your computer, off your phone, from your ipod.
I think music is becoming something you do with other things, and rarely by itself.


Lately I've revived my habit of listening to music, and listening to music alone.
I have a few ways, one is, lying on the floor of my room in the dark with headphones on.
Another is that I go downstairs where my dad has a solidstate fancy set up, and lay on the couch.

Although, chances are, I'm normally doing something else if I'm listening to music, and it just drifts in and out of focus with whatever else it is im doing.

So what do you do when you listen to music?
When you buy a new album for example, how is it you enjoy this album the most?

Do you sit on the internet with it playing through headphones?
Do you eat?
Do you sing along/attempt to pick up on whatever instrument you have in your hands?
Do you have an expensive audio set up with tube amplifiers and oxygen free gold tipped cables?

[CmonMiracle]

Most of the time now I listen to music on my computer speakers - I have this weird paranoia about listening on headphones because I'm afraid I'll miss out on someone talking to me. Once in awhile if I'm all alone or sleeping at night I do use headphones though.

[ScrambledGregs]

Have we done this before?? Oh well.

70% of the time, I listen to music while I'm doing something else. Reading websites or playing videogames, that sort of thing. The other 30% of the time, I just listen to music with no other distractions. It's hard to make time for doing one thing, but it's so much more rewarding in the end.

I have genuine beloved memories of sitting down to listen to certain albums for the first time, and that says more for the singular attention holding power of music than a thousand more words ever could.

[TheFuriousWombat]

Usually I have music on as a background thing. I don't often have the chance to just sit and listen although I wish I did. Sometimes I'll sit in the dark with my record player or stereo and my big headphones and just listen to music. I enjoy it a lot more when I do this because I can really pay attention and become immersed in it. I almost always have music on though. When I'm reading or on forums or cooking or whatever. I always play my ipod when I'm driving as well.

[Storm Rider]

I generally use my ears.

[Scandanavian War Machine]

I was walking down the street with my friend and he said "I hear music." as though there is any other way to take it in. I said "That's how i recieve it too. You're not special."

[iliketodraw]

I'd say 68% of the time i have my headphones in, whether it be at uni or just sitting at home browsing the t'intnernet. Recently i decided to spend a substantial amount and purchase a pair of Shure headphones., It's without a doubt one of the best purchases i have ever made. I don't understand why people will gladly spend 300 pounds on an ipod then use the shitty standard headphones that come with it. Surely thats like spending a months wage on an amplifier etc then using some sub-par micro system speakers? But yeah i use headphones 

[Scandanavian War Machine]

because we spent all our money on an iPod. duh.
now we are broke.

[amok]

90% of the time I play it from my computer, through my hi-fi speakers.

Got a Sony Walkman for in bed/travelling purposes but generally the PC is the jukebox.

[imapiratearg]

I listen through my computer most of the time when I'm at home just lounging around.  I play or sing along sometimes.  I only really use headphones through my mp3 player when I'm somewhere I don't want to be and I can get away for a moment and listen to music and zone out.  Other than that my mp3 player is usually in my pocket with no headphones because I don't like leaving it in my car.

[kablaaamo]

Like practically everyone else, I usually just have tunes on when I'm doing something else.....but when I get a new album that I am besotted with I
   A) listen through headphones while lying in the dark
   B) drive aimlessly with said album playing. I have a pretty decent car stereo.

[SleeperCylon]

I mostly listen to music either while I'm working on my webcomic, or while I'm playing video games with the TV on mute.

And I listen to full CDs, and load a bunch into my huge 60 CD changer so I can just press play and not even have to touch it for a while.

[Caiphana]

How do I listen? Always, pretty much. At work, I plug my iPod into the computer's speakers. In the car, I listen to the radio (how else do you get expensive tickets to big concerts?). At home, I have a fairly decent all-in-one center where LPs and 45s play, along with CDs and tapes intermittently, and I connect my iPod to it as well.

[jeph]

Good speakers, better headphones, and my computer.

iPod when I'm working out.

Car when I'm driving.

[öde]

Chunky Sony headphones when I need to be quiet and earphones when I'm using my MP3 player.

I either listen to stuff on my computer or stuff on vinyl, through the speakers pictured above.

[Rambo.Turtle]

Usually I have a playlist set up for when Im browsing the internet and I have a completely different list on my mp3 player for when I'm reading or just lying around my house. Generally I go with stuff like Spoon, M.Ward and Elliot Smith when I'm using the computer and I have stuff like Eels, apostle of hustle, more spoon, and generic rock on my mp3 player. But I do use Last.FM when I'm on the computer a lot so I usually use the Flaming Lips tag.
My MP3 player was around 80 bucks and I have around 2 dollar headphones right now because I bought expensive headphones which didn't fit my head and then promptly split into two...

[Johnny C]

When I'm upside-down in the Batcave I don't listen to music.

[öde]

Also, I always listen to music whenever I'm at home, from my own 'collection,' usually whatever I feel like listening to. Same goes for when my mp3 player goes out with me.

[Caspian]

I have pretty high quality computer speakers, so normally I listen to music while on my PC. I'll use headphones and my ipod when reading or on the bus and when going to sleep. My headphones are pretty decent quality but a bit too bassy. If no one else is home, I'll use my parents' stereo setup, because it's extremely high quality- a total audiophile setup, which is quite funny considering my parents mostly use it to play 70s disco music.

Unfortunately, my car stereo broke, but I don't mind because it's good to have the occasional break from music.

[TrekkieTechie]

Most of my music-listening is done in the car. I drive a lot for work, so... yeah. Thank God for iPods. At home when I'm tired of the TV being on for background noise, I plug my iPod into my stereo or I use headphones on my computer.

[thenosebleedkid]

Usually through my mp3 player or computer. Or when I'm in rehersals, which is too often.

[jimbunny]

Too often I'm doing something else when I listen to music. What sucks about this is, is that I'll sometimes have exhausted a particular album before I feel like I've actually appreciated it. Occasionally, I'll listen to a CD that's been sitting unused for a while, or read a snippet of a song lyric, and it will totally blow me away with how good it really is; something I might have noticed the first 26 times I listened to it if I'd been paying enough attention.

But, yeah. For the most part, I think audiophiles overdo it. I'll listen to music on pretty much anything, in any format.

...wait a minute...

[Misereatur]

I listen to music when I read comic books, photography magazines and surfing around the web. I can concentrate on both and if there's a bass line I like I try and pick it up.

I do sometimes just read the lyrics sheet along with the music, or read the liner notes on Jazz albums.

[TheBoredOne]

I listen to music very well. Thanks for asking.

[Cenyu]

Winamp when I am at home working on my laptop.
MP3 player when in the bus/boring lectures/walking somewhere.

I don't fancy high bit rates or high fidelity sound systems, a recognizable tune usually suffices.

[Rishnai]

Thou hast made the grave error of asking me how I listen to music. I, like everyone else alive, mostly listen to music while I'm doing something else, but I never listen to something while multitasking unless I've truly appreciated it first. In the car, I used to listen to the radio, but then the local station made this real dick a DJ for the whole timeslot when I'd be listening, so I listen to CDs now, but only mix CDs of singles, not whole proper albums. I do most of my true listening at home, on a total audiophile set which I inherited from my parents and then improved upon. God, I love quad. That's where I spin vinyl, listen to the occasional CD (only rarely, though, on that set), cassette, a few choice 8-tracks, etc. When I'm listening there, I crank it up until the sound fills the room, then sit in a camp chair with my feet on the TV. I generally dim the room, and enjoy.

Oh, I almost forgot, some CDs and/or tapes that I just got I choose to listen to on long car trips instead. As I'm never the one driving (driver buys the gas), I wait 'till I'm out in the middle of pitch-black nowhere, then turn on the tunes, on headphones. An example of this would be Paranoid, the album, not the song.

I don't do mp3, etc, as it pains me to hear the sound quallity. I wish I could be like you, Cenyu, and have my only need be that the tune is recognizable. It would save me incredible amounts of money. As things stand, a slightly staticy record can make me wince in pain, let alone crappy computer speakers hooked up to the stock sound card, playing a low-bitrate version of a song I've heard in hi-fi.

Am I the only person who still even owns a quad set?

[Kai]

AUDIO DORK

[Rishnai]

AUDIO DORK

Guilty as charged. Of course, we are all spending our time posting on a forum for a webcomic, as though we have nothing better to do. Which I'm sure you don't. Or you would have already taken your caps lock over there. I know I don't. It's either look busy here, or go mow the lawn. It's too hot to mow.

[Caiphana]

Wow, aren't you bold. Just because this is a forums for a webcomic doesn't mean that everyone on here discusses the comic... or even reads the comic! Generally, people go on forums to talk to people about things that interest them.. that's not a crime. And the "better things to do" are often boring. Like work. Blegh.

Also... really. The sound quality of mp3s ain't that bad. At least.. not that I can tell on the high end. You see, I can't hear very low sounds (I can't hear people whispering, not because of the low volume, but because of where it is on the scale), so I turn up the bass to compensate, which kills my hearing even more. Oh well.

...I think you're a bullshitter. A slightly staticy record can make you wince? What the FUCK, dude. ALL records are slightly staticy at the best of times. I have an immaculate collection of records, inherited from my dad- and his dad went batshit fucking loco if my pops did anything questionable to a record, so they really are immaculate (and CLEAN, by the way).... and they all have their pops and crackles in places. It's the downfall of the medium.

[Rishnai]

I cannot help  but think that things have veered a bit away from the original spirit of this thread. So let's wrap this up soon or take it elsewhere.

Hyperbole on the staticky record thing. To illustrate a strong contrast; although I could have picked a better one, I suppose. Props to your dad for actually taking good care of his records. I wish my parents had been that considerate of their collection, a lot of it's warped beyond all function.

MP3s aren't awful, but they're not good, either. When a program that put something into mp3 automatically applied volume levelling, or if somebody got cheap for space and used a pathetic bitrate, that can be noticable, in comparison to other formats. Of course, that begs the question, what is the "true" format to use as a metric? I don't know. I don't think there will ever be consensus.

You make a formibible point about the nature of forums. However, if one is looking for discussion on a topic of common interest --people's preferred way to listen to music, in this case-- and then flames people who don't type "i use teh i-pod,." maybe you outghtn't look there. I'm not the only audiophile who's posted. I do not appreciate those who go looking in forums just to flame them. So, yes, Kai, fuck you.

[Kai]

woah guys, my response took an all of 13 seconds. It is totally not worth this kind of thing. That being said, what I said was a lighthearted poke in the ribs.

Are you on the OiNK forums? You would fit in. They get their kicks over lossless formats too.

[Rishnai]

Hmm...not a bad idea. Invite-based, though, so not happening.

Also, something I have learned the hard way: lightheartedness and sarcasm actually are very difficult to accurately communicate in a text-only medium. So I took it a bit wrong. Two words, in caps, no explanation....little tough to read between the lines there. I came down a bit heavy, though, in any case, so sorry mate. Anyway, since we're all in that sort of thread, what is your preferred way to listen to music?

[Caiphana]

*coughs* I like music in all forms, and I listen to it in all forms. If the sound quality sucks a bit, I'll get over it, because music is about the feel, about the beat, about the lyrics if there are any....

I sincerely doubt that anyone can say they seriously think that listening to recorded music through speakers (no matter the system, no matter the cost) is teh bestest way to listen to teh musics. Speakers and systems and audio formats.... they just can't compete with the sound and the camaraderie you get from a live concert. That is, indisputably, the best way to listen to music. *nods* That said, Coachella rocked.

[philharmonic]

Woah after reading this thread i felt compelled to post. If i could sum in a word it would be eclectic(spelling?). Lately I've been listening to the radio. At work a crappy old tape deck radio combo. It sucks because there is so much other noise there. At home there are lots of radios. I mainly use the one built into my MP3 player and if not with headphones then i might patch it into my soundcard line in. Sometimes i'll even stream the station online. For the rest of the time i'll play on the computer with Winamp. I have been known to on occasion hook up the turntable and play some 70 and 80's stuff on vinyl. Sometimes i'm not able to find something on IRC so I'll hunt through my old tapes. On CD's it depends. At work its a no no. Most stuff i'll rip to MP3 but when I do my own its ALWAYS 192kbps or  more. I find 128kbps or less sounds like crap. And finally there is in my car. I got an Alpine CD/MP3 deck. Stock front speakers are 2 way in my 1999 VW Beetle. I've replaced the rear speakers with 2way coaxial speakers. I've also made a custom fiberglass sub box of two 8" rockford punchers. They are powered by a 120W Sony amp.

[2HourHiatus]

About a third of the time I am browsing the internet/playing videogames, but the other 66.6 repeating per cent is spent me listening to music on my bed playing from my sweet, sweet computer speakers. Yet, usually before bed I get the ol' discman or mp3 player and listen to some quite music before I sleep.

[Scarychips]

75% of the time on my computer, 24% on my cd/mp3 player and 1% on the radio but only the University of Montreal radio cause the music they play is better than all the commercial radio music

[Kai]

Anyway, since we're all in that sort of thread, what is your preferred way to listen to music?

Underwater.

[HeyBickley]

Anyway, since we're all in that sort of thread, what is your preferred way to listen to music?

Underwater.

The fishes don't gots no good metals.

I sit on the 'net and play my entire library on random, for the most part.  I make a new mixed CD practically every day just to shake things up when I'm on the road.  I don't prescribe to this religion of "iPod" yet, but I have an equivalent little doodad that I use on longer trips. 

Though my favorite listening time is right before I go to sleep, like a few others, just laying in the dark and listening to the music.  There used to be food involved, but I found out that eating bags of chips is not the healthiest thing to do all day.

[Holm]

mostly on my ipod when i'm walking or on the bus or something. not so much on my computer anymore for some reason.

[TheOrangeNova]

I listen to alot of my music on my Knockoff ipod while walking.

And sometimes on my computer.

[thegreatbuddha]

When I listen to music, it's generally at a bar as a form of terroristic social protest. I play DavidAllen Coe's "You Never Even Call Me By My Name" 3-18times in a row with the disclaimer that I'll stop when they put good music on the jukebox.

[Johnny C]

Are you on the OiNK forums? You would fit in. They get their kicks over lossless formats too.

I once caught an OiNK member masturbating over the spectrograph he'd screencapped in Audacity of the FLAC version of a Phillip Glass piece. True story!

[HeyBickley]

There's nothing like loading a jukebox at a country bar full of Social Distortion or The Flaming Lips or some nonsense.

Because in Texas, they are all country bars until you make them otherwise.

[amok]

I once caught an OiNK member masturbating over the spectrograph he'd screencapped in Audacity of the FLAC version of a Phillip Glass piece. True story!

The FLAC-worship on that site cracks me up sometimes. When I'm bored of it all I'm gonna transcode a 32kbps radio rip to FLAC, upload it, and see how many milliseconds it takes them to ban me.

[heyboygetasweater]

if anyone could give me an OiNK invite, they would be my hero

[a pack of wolves]

When I'm at home I usually listen to CDs and tapes on the living room stereo while playing board games, reading or surfing the net and simultaneously chatting with my flatmates, mostly about the music. Or often we just sit and listen, which is mostly what we're doing with the Sandy Denny album on now. Oh, and occasionally BBC 1Xtra gets played on the tv. If I'm reading, dancing like a goon or just listening in my room I usually play vinyl since that's where the only record player in the flat is or sometimes BBC Radio 3 if I'm going to sleep and feel like having something on in the background. If I'm out I used to always have a CD or tape walkman with me but I've got a little irritated with that now, I felt like I was wearing things out of their impact from over listening and I wanted more time just to think. None of my equipment is particularly good since I can't really tell the difference enough to warrant flashy stuff and I'd rather spend the cash on something new to make music with or going to gigs anyway (I just posted a cheque for this December's ATP. It'll be great, but god damn is it expensive!).

[Hat]

I once caught an OiNK member masturbating over the spectrograph he'd screencapped in Audacity of the FLAC version of a Phillip Glass piece. True story!

Oh shit I should probably not admit that I rip everything in V0.

Oh shiiiiiiiit

[Beren]

I once caught an OiNK member masturbating over the spectrograph he'd screencapped in Audacity of the FLAC version of a Phillip Glass piece. True story!

Oh shit I should probably not admit that I rip everything in V0.

Oh shiiiiiiiit

I think there's a level of hell devoted just for people who do that.

[hellion]

Normally it's when i'm at the computer or in the car.
Unless it's MeshuggaH, Then it's on the couch with the lights off & the home stereo cranked.

[pen]

i tend to listen to indie stuff while i'm getting ready for work, i blast punk in the car at 5:30 as i drive to the train station to wake my ass up.  when i get to work, i usually hit shuffle on my ipod.  at night, when i work out (aka dance my ass off in my bedroom), it's techno/trance.

and then of course, around 8-9, it goes to kid songs for my faybie.