Listening to music

[imoldernu]

The older I get, and the expanding interest in new hobbies and world news, the less time I have for listening to music, so for the most part, it's now relegated to listening to old MP3's while driving or riding my bike.
Despite having thousands of my favorite songs on a 2T hard drive, I rarely listen at home. My TV provider has 80 channels of music, but I only listen to Traditional Country or Classical... Total music time per day? Maybe a half hour.

So, in a manner of speaking, the music industry has passed me by.
Now, I wonder where the music industry is supported. Who provides the music, who makes money on the industry, who buys, and in what format.
Then, who listens?... by age? by profession, or by other interests? Men, women...?
What kinds of music? Pop? Rap (hmmm)? Classical? Country? Mood? by decades?
Who plays an instrument or sings? ... and where?
How do you listen to music on a phone or Ipad?
Music alone, or with others?

And then, how... does one listen (or listen and watch) as in Utube...
Stereo system? TV and surround sound system? Car radio? Earphones or ear buds? Home wired for sound?

Buy?... online, music stores, Walmart... singles or albums? ITunes? Trade? Download or copy from radio or TV?
Radio? TV?... as major sources.

Now, here's a really good question... How often do you listen to the same tune or album? ... and maybe a better question... How many pieces of music do you have that you haven't listened to in many years? Is there a part of your brain that stores the memory of those songs in the pleasure center?

I suppose this is a non subject for discussion, but I wonder what the world would be like without music, and where we go from here. As life becomes more complex, and we're all forced into multi-tasking, what can we expect for the future, and maybe more important, how will the younger people fit music into their lives? In just my own lifetime, as best I recall, for the first 15 years, music was about 70% from singing alone or with others around the piano, ukes, or guitars... maybe 15% from the radio, and another 15% from playing those 78's. What exposure and what does todays youth get from the most popular music forms, today?

boiling it down:
Buy music? (cost ... music and listening instrument (player0.
Listen how?
Alone?
Favorite sound source?
What kind of music?
How much time per day?

... am guessing no two people alike

 

[BBQ-Nut]

Well, I'm not quite retired yet, but music is a major portion of my at home experience.

My sound system doubles for both HT and music - with music as the major use.

Most of the time, I have one of the commercial and dj free music only cable channels playing (jazz or blues).

But I also have an ever expanding collection of LPs, CDs and SACDs for when I'm in the mood for something - ranging from heavy metal to Gregorian chants, with jazz, blues and practically everything in between.

I buy mostly used, but when a favored artist comes up on a 'new' disc, then I'll buy that, too.

I very very much enjoy and need music in my everyday routine.

On the weekends, I rise early about 6am and the music comes on low and soft, and stays on practically all day until dinner, when we switch on the TV to catch some news and then some show on PBS.

 

[donheff]

I'm a bit like you (except he genres). I don't listen often -- usually on long car trips and occasionally at my weekend house. I like an Internet streaming station called Radio Paradise. RP has an eclectic selection of music from the 50s thru current so I get to hear all sorts of old favorites and a lot of new stuff I wouldn't otherwise listen to. My record collection is long gone. So I ripped about two days worth of MP3s from RP and winnowed that down to about 1000 songs I keep on my iphone and an old iPod that I play thru an amp/ receiver.

 

[David1961]

I have my music collection on my hard drive and iPod. I have my iPod hooked up to a docking station and have it playing frequently. (Right now, I'm listening to Dr. Hook's album "Pleasure and Pain"). I also listen to the radio a lot when in the house. In my car, I almost always have the radio on or listen to a CD.
I actually prefer to listen alone. When I'm around other people, I don't listen to music as often. When I do, I'll use the headphones with my iPod.
I rotate through different genres and/or artists. But my favorite groups, like the Beatles and Beach Boys, I listen to a lot. I love creating and listening to the Playlists on the iPod. Sometimes I want to hear a specific artist, and other times I want a variety of artists - there's a Playlist for whichever I prefer.

 

[RunningBum]

The older I get, and the expanding interest in new hobbies and world news, the less time I have for listening to music, so for the most part, it's now relegated to listening to old MP3's while driving or riding my bike.

If you wouldn't start so many new threads you might have more time to listen to music!

I don't even know what all you are asking for in there. I buy mp3s, mostly for listening to while I'm running or in the car. I really like that my new car has a USB port that I put an 8mb stub stick with my favorite music on. It took a bit of time to organize it so I don't have so many artists to scroll through when for a lot of them I just have one or a few tracks, but it was worth it. Plus even though digital music has tags from track #s to keep an album in order, some players, like my car stereo, and my home stereo that can access music off my home network, are dumb and go alphabetically by track name. Really annoying to hear "The Wall" in mixed order, so I had to go in an add the track number to the beginning of each track name for albums where I care about order.

I also have a choreographed playlist for running marathons, with smooth music early on to keep me from starting too fast, building up later to help as I get tired.

 

[chilkoot]

In a bygone era, Monday night was new music night and meant a trip to the music store (anyone else recall the chain Licorice Pizza?) My friends had tape decks in their cars so their choices were of the 8-track variety while I made due with LPs, to be savored later.

Deciding which stereo system to go with with was a major decision, as this would make up the main portion of my entertainment. OTOH I was much more likely to try out an unknown artist, based only on a good review or on interesting packaging.

The larger the speaker, the better. This is in contrast to the tiny speakers typically used today. The better the technology, the more compact it can get it seems.

My radio is normally on all day long but it's almost all talk shows now, a marked decrease in music listening.

There are still a handful of performers whose CDs I will still buy sight unseen (unheard?) I usually rip the CD right onto the computer or iPod, for listening via earbuds or through the (small) patio speakers. As I type this, I have on "Fight Songs" by the Old 97s in the other room.

 

[martyp]

I seldom listen to music at home. Sometimes on Sunday morning when I am inside reading the paper. Occasional Saturday's when a friend streams his vinyl collection of 70's salsa music over the internet. Most of my listening is done in the car using my entire collection of about 5500 songs stored on my iPod.

 

[Ronstar]

I listen to Country in the truck/car radio when I'm driving. Country/classic rock (purchased from iTunes) on my iPhone on bike rides, hikes. Same on iPad on flights. Same through Apple tv on home sound system. Christmas music playlist through the holiday season

 

[jjquantz]

How do I account for the music that is constantly running through my head, with no external source?

My music listening consists primarily of:

80% classical/baroque/renaissance
10% bluegrass and early country
10% other, mostly early jazz and folk

Sources are probably:
WETA radio - 10%
Satellite radio in DW's car - 5%
CD player in my car - 5%
Googleplay upload of my collection (work listening) - 20%
iTunes of my collection (home and travel listening) - 50%
Play old LP's/CD's directly - 10%

This is probably 20 hours or so each week. I spend a similar amount of time playing, performing and rehearsing.

 

[Koolau]

One thing I've been doing with my relatively massive "store-bought" (mostly Salvation Army Store, GoodWill Store, Resale Shop) collection of CDs. I transfer the disc and whatever liner notes I want to keep into a CD/DVD/Data envelope. In most cases, placing the disc face on the outside is enough to identify it. Now, you might think this would do little to save space, but it's actually amazing. IIRC, you can easily fit 400 to 500 such envelopes into a standard 8 X 12 X folder-file box. Also, the weight is dramatically cut down.

Clearly, any remaining "value" of the cd (on the market) is probably nil. But this is a way I have found to "keep" stuff I can't part with yet store much MUCH more of it in a small space. Admittedly, finding a particular item is difficult, but I don't seem to do much of that anyway. It's sort of a psychological trick I play on myself, I suppose. I haven't really gotten rid of it (and probably never will) but the down side of keeping little-used CDs (storage space) is dramatically improved. YMMV

 

[robnplunder]

(Am an audiophile)

I listen to specific music based on my mood, about once a week. Listening session can go for hours. Once I start, it's hard to stop. Fellow audiophiles can probably relate to it.

I no longer go to music stores. I still buy CDs, from E-bay or Amazon.

I explore youTube or ask my son for new music. I think keep finding new music is a key to continue loving music.

I listen to all kinds of music: classical, jazz, pop, disco, country, new age, rock, ..., anything that touches me.

Had season tickets to local symphonies (SF, Berkeley). I will stop to listen to good street music. DS is a progressive jazz musician and, once in a while, I will force myself to listen to his band live. It's crap but he's my son.

 

[Mr. Paul]

It seems that most folks I know have the same music collection they had at 25. Getting involved as a local radio station DJ has lit a fire under my desire to find new music. I listen to a lot of stuff on Spotify before deciding what to buy ... I've purchased my last CD that has one good song on it.

IPOD for walking and working in the yard (constantly adding and subtracting tunes), dedicated system for listening to LPs and CDs, and a central system with multiple sets of speakers hooked up to the computer for playing digital files, garage system where I work out every morning that can play from CDs or IPOD.

 

[yakers]

(Am an audiophile)

.....
I explore youTube or ask my son for new music. I think keep finding new music is a key to continue loving music.

I listen to all kinds of music: classical, jazz, pop, disco, country, new age, rock, ..., anything that touches me.

DS is a progressive jazz musician and, once in a while, I will force myself to listen to his band live. It's crap but he's my son.

Oh, Oh, Oh yea. DW & I have eclectic music tastes; some classical, lots of rock varieties, chanting & kirtan music, world music, and more. DS is a musician, a drummer; has a degree, in three bands and is in subsistence mode. When he plays with his death metal/grindcore/whatever band I have trouble listening as you say "It's crap but he's my son."

 

[HFWR]

"It's crap but he's my son."

I try to remember when I was a teen/20-something, and all the guff I got from the elders about "it's just noise" or "it's too loud"...

But, frankly, some of it IS just noise...

I've created a few stations on Pandora to help me discover some newer artists.

 

[imoldernu]

A little bounce back to the original post... Something to consider...

You can put your entire collection on a large hard drive, and use Plex to play it back on any wired or wireless device from anywhere. I just use Plex for my 500 movies, but also have my entire CD and MP3 collection on the 3 Terrabyte hard drive. Also solves the problem of what to do with or storing CD's.

 

[ajs56]

I definitely listen to music less than I did in younger years, when I always had music playing. I still appreciate the music I grew up with and have played (60's-80's pop/rock mostly, especially acoustic oriented). I listen some in my vehicle, and also on my pc/music system - mostly CD's, Pandora, Youtube there. Mny of my CDs are on my hard drive. My DS has taken my vinyl collection and enjoys listening to my old records, most of which I have on hard drive, CD, or MP3 now. Having been there, done that, I much prefer digital media for the sound quality, handling/portability convenience, and lack of deterioration. I also enjoy finding music on Youtube - seeing various performances and cover versions. Pandora is a good way for me to find new music (new to me, anyways). These days when I find new music that I enjoy, it's is truly a joy!