Here's a topic that I've been meaning to post for a long time:

How do we all integrate music into our daily lives?  

* Do we listen at work?  Have part of our collections on work harddrives?  Plug iPods into work speakers?  Have stacks of CDs next to our desks?  Do you we rock it at work or stick to the bossa nova jazz or Bach cantatas?  

* Do we bring CDs into the car anymore (mine always get trashed that way).  Do we have iTrips, plug portable harddrives into our radios, or listen to satellite radio?  Obviously, alone in the car is an ideal listening opportunity and I suspect one of our major outposts.

* At home, is there music playing all the time?  Do we still have single-CD players, or do we have those 500-disc changers.  Or have we abandoned the silver altogether and again, plugged in harddrives or iPods into the players.   Do we have small systems in dens and studies, or is it all in the living room?

* Do we listen by the seat of our pants or plan?  I've read about people making "getting dressed playlists" or others for dinners, parties, etc.  If so are they on an iPod, or other programs I'm not even aware of?  How about random shuffle?  While it's kind of fun because you sometimes forget what you have, I just can't get into it.  Knowing what comes next is somehow important to me.  (more on this topic later).

* Do we even have component stereos anymore ie amp, CD player, and speakers?  You can't seem to find them anymore, much less get them repaired, or do we have surround systems that serve both TV and audio?

* What about our spouses?  Do we curb our listening around them?   At my house, my wife often says "this [music] is not relaxing to me" as if I put it on to "relax" her.  For the first few years of my marriage I would say, "But honey, Iggy rules" but it came off just the same.  Now we have clearly estabilshed boundaries as to what's acceptable to her, and it's about 5% of my collection, if that.

* Music management.  With about 2,000 pieces I suspect I have a medium to fairly-large collection for an ROer.  Still, with new stuff coming in all the time I can't keep track of what I've got, or what I wanted to listen to yesterday.  I have a couple of dozen "security albums" I've loved all my life, but I always say to myself I must listen to this or that, but I never get around to it, largely because of the spouse situation.

* Where do we store our collections?  Living room, or in boxes in the basement?  Mine take up three walls of the study, my wife's one concession to my "obsession."  (Cheap shot, huh?  Her "obsession" - horses - costs tens of thousands of dollars as opposed to mine which is largely free, yet she somehow gives the shit rather than gets it. )

Please, let's discuss any or all of these issues and we can all improve music time management.  

Then we can get back to jb's birthday.

 

• Do we listen at work?  Yes, I used to listen Wolfgang's Vault and my own stored files, in the past also Real Rhapsody but we removed all the software owner by user and we only have the company's software
• Do we bring CDs into the car anymore: yes and DVDs too, I have a DVD player but most of the time I used to play either DVD-Audio or DVD-Video but in this case I turn the screen off. This  DVD player also plays mp3 and of course CDs. This is where I listen more music nowadays as I travel around three hours during working days as I work half an hour from home.
• At home, is there music playing all the time?  yes, but not mine  In my particular case is the old way, I have a lot of LPs (Vinyl), lots of tapes, lots of CDs but most of the times it is invaded my my daughters and they listen crap most of the time. Fortunately in the recent years they like The Beatles but listen more covers (the Across the Universe & Sgt. Pepper's sound tracks)
• Do we even have component stereos anymore ie amp, CD player, and speakers? I have all the components as individual parts, and one of them is the commputer which is connecte to the amplifier twice, one from the audio output of the computer to the AUX input and the other from the Internet modem to the "Net Audio" input of the Onkyo Amplifier
• What about our spouses?  LOL my wife does not like rock at all, my daughters the same so that's why I listen more music in my car.
• Where do we store our collections? I have a studio only for my collection and the sound system, I made a very special furniture to store my big collection I also have my hard drive storing a bunch of music files in many formats.

Thanks for your input, Joseph. 

I was looking forward to you saying that you watch Who and Macca DVDs all day and all night long, and listen to the Eagles and " the Dan " in your cubby at the sock factory.

Please answer the question, goofy.

I thought this would be an interesting thread.  Thanks Joey.  You really helped.

* Do we listen at work? 
Not at the office, at all.  But I work a lot at home and I always have music on at home, unless the wife is also there.  After 6, she prefers the TV news and then more tube through the night.




* Do we bring CDs into the car anymore (mine always get trashed that way). 
I always have one in the car, but more often listen to the radio---WEEI sports--as Nelly is familiar with.





* At home, is there music playing all the time?  Do we still have single-CD players, or do we have those 500-disc changers.  Or have we abandoned the silver altogether and again, plugged in harddrives or iPods into the players.   Do we have small systems in dens and studies, or is it all in the living room?
As earlier posted, I ripped thousands of CD's to my hard drive (and a backup hard drive).  I listen to music over my computer with Bose speakers.  I also watch TV on the same computer.



* Do we listen by the seat of our pants or plan?  I've read about people making "getting dressed playlists" or others for dinners, parties, etc.  If so are they on an iPod, or other programs I'm not even aware of?  How about random shuffle?  While it's kind of fun because you sometimes forget what you have, I just can't get into it.  Knowing what comes next is somehow important to me.  (more on this topic later).
I never random shuffle, and I'm still partial to album playlists, but the way my system is set up allows wild flexibility when I'm in the mood.  I can go from "Spirit In The Sky" to "Sway" to "Your Cheatin' Heart" to "No Woman, No Cry" with an ease no one with CD's can.





* Do we even have component stereos anymore ie amp, CD player, and speakers?  You can't seem to find them anymore, much less get them repaired, or do we have surround systems that serve both TV and audio?
I moved my component system with its dinosaur huge speakers to a back room.  It still sounds great, but I don't use it much anymore.  I still have two turntables ( but not a microphone ) and at least a thousand LP's.





* What about our spouses?  Do we curb our listening around them?   At my house, my wife often says "this [music] is not relaxing to me" as if I put it on to "relax" her.  For the first few years of my marriage I would say, "But honey, Iggy rules" but it came off just the same.  Now we have clearly estabilshed boundaries as to what's acceptable to her, and it's about 5% of my collection, if that. 
My wife shares 90% of my tastes and I about the same amount with her.  Stereotypically however, I am partial to the louder/faster/harder stuff later in the day than is she.






* Music management.  With about 2,000 pieces I suspect I have a medium to fairly-large collection for an ROer.  Still, with new stuff coming in all the time I can't keep track of what I've got, or what I wanted to listen to yesterday.  I have a couple of dozen "security albums" I've loved all my life, but I always say to myself I must listen to this or that, but I never get around to it, largely because of the spouse situation. 
I have my complete collection on my hard drive, fully backed up on a 999 GB Maxtor hard drive--maybe 8x8x3 inches.  I usually play it on winamp and this keeps things VERY organized.





* Where do we store our collections?  Living room, or in boxes in the basement?  Mine take up three walls of the study, my wife's one concession to my "obsession."  (Cheap shot, huh?  Her "obsession" - horses - costs tens of thousands of dollars as opposed to mine which is largely free, yet she somehow gives the shit rather than gets it. )
I moved my CD's to the basement.

Ipod on commute to work.

Cd's and internet radio, whilst at home. (4-5 hours a week max. these days)

Vinyl in storage - hasn't seen the light of day for years.

Wild Bill wrote on Feb 13^th, 2009 at 10:07am:



funny!!!

How do we all integrate music into our daily lives?  

* Do we listen at work?  Have part of our collections on work harddrives?  Plug iPods into work speakers?  Have stacks of CDs next to our desks?  Do you we rock it at work or stick to the bossa nova jazz or Bach cantatas?  

The only time I listen at work is when I have that part of the building to myself and it's usually just You Tube.

* Do we bring CDs into the car anymore (mine always get trashed that way).  Do we have iTrips, plug portable harddrives into our radios, or listen to satellite radio?  Obviously, alone in the car is an ideal listening opportunity and I suspect one of our major outposts.

I don't have a car. My ears are too trashed to do headphones all the time unfortunately. If I ever have to travel any sort of major distance to work I would probably say fuck it and get an Ipod and listen anyway.

* At home, is there music playing all the time?  Do we still have single-CD players, or do we have those 500-disc changers.  Or have we abandoned the silver altogether and again, plugged in harddrives or iPods into the players.   Do we have small systems in dens and studies, or is it all in the living room?

Music is playing all the time. I have a stereo system but it doesn't get much use anymore. A lot of time is actually spent transferring stuff, either masters out of my collection or of 2 friends, one who sends me raw files on discs and another who let me raid his collection in his mom's garage. I have a 5 disc changer. Also a record player, cassette player and Tascam DA-20 DAT player. I go to a few shows a week and tape them so that takes up a bit of time too.


* Do we listen by the seat of our pants or plan?  I've read about people making "getting dressed playlists" or others for dinners, parties, etc.  If so are they on an iPod, or other programs I'm not even aware of?  How about random shuffle?  While it's kind of fun because you sometimes forget what you have, I just can't get into it.  Knowing what comes next is somehow important to me.  (more on this topic later).

Nah, no random shuffle. Listen to Dime downloads, my own masters or CD's.


* Do we even have component stereos anymore ie amp, CD player, and speakers?  You can't seem to find them anymore, much less get them repaired, or do we have surround systems that serve both TV and audio?


Yep. No surround though. Will probably do that one of these days.

* What about our spouses?  Do we curb our listening around them?   At my house, my wife often says "this [music] is not relaxing to me" as if I put it on to "relax" her.  For the first few years of my marriage I would say, "But honey, Iggy rules" but it came off just the same.  Now we have clearly estabilshed boundaries as to what's acceptable to her, and it's about 5% of my collection, if that.

No spouse. My stepdad is also a music freak. Blasts it when my mom isn't home. My mom used to like music when she was younger but she doesn't like it loud and doesn't listen much anymore. Says it gives her headaches. If that shits hereditary I will be taking a 45 calibre aspirin. She got my stepdad an IPOD and a USB turntable for Christmas. He wears the thing around the house. He is retired and never been much of a TV watcher. I don't think anyone has had a conversation with him in about 6 weeks.


* Music management.  With about 2,000 pieces I suspect I have a medium to fairly-large collection for an ROer.  Still, with new stuff coming in all the time I can't keep track of what I've got, or what I wanted to listen to yesterday.  I have a couple of dozen "security albums" I've loved all my life, but I always say to myself I must listen to this or that, but I never get around to it, largely because of the spouse situation.

I have a few hundred "essential" CD's and I get depressed because I don't have time to listen to them all. But my archival projects are most important at the moment. Usually it's fun but sometimes it's like work (bad recordings of even worse bands in the early 1990's).

* Where do we store our collections?  Living room, or in boxes in the basement?  Mine take up three walls of the study, my wife's one concession to my "obsession."  (Cheap shot, huh?  Her "obsession" - horses - costs tens of thousands of dollars as opposed to mine which is largely free, yet she somehow gives the shit rather than gets it. )

One huge gorilla rack in my living room - mostly boots and DVDs with VHS's stacked to the ceiling, a 4 drawer file cabinet, top drawer Alice Cooper, Iron Maiden, Throw Rag, Breeders, Supergrass), 2nd drawer, Therapy? and Eric Clapton (mostly boots I scored for my dad), 3rd drawer Stones (Licks tour CDs and all DVD's, starting to overflow), bottom drawer, Ramones.

In the bedroom, 2 more gorilla racks stacked with tapes and CDs and a few stray boxes and also the shelves of the closet. The pantry in the kitchen is all VHS tapes but I thinned that out a lot too. The garage is several boxes of cassettes but a lot of those I can get rid of.

Masters/Friends masters and a few essential bands (boots) are being burned to FLAC on 2 different brands of DVDs and I also just ordered a 1TB drive because it pains me whenever I have to delete them from the computer. Love having them right at my fingertips.

My boot collection is just about to bury me, especially when CD-R's became the standard. You think because they are cheaper and faster it would free up time and money but instead I just did so much more. Will be streamlining in the coming years.

Zack wrote on Mar 9^th, 2009 at 2:36pm:


Ha Ha!!

I've been wondering what the difference is for years now.  I admit I am not a stereo junkie. but I honestly can't tell the sound difference.  A bad show tape sounds just as bad in lossless  as it does in MP3 or AAC or aiff or wav or wmv or whatever other file format you have.  I am sure the discerning "listener" will dispute that...

but heck Zack ...

it is your computer and YOUR music..so why bother if you can't tell the difference and if you aren't gonna upload your music to a torrent site.  Besides keeping those flac files and the mp3's both on externals is a pain in the ass.....

I can't believe YOU have any concerns about time/management!

Actually, I had to look up "vitiate" myself. I've seen the word before but I hadn't remembered what it meant. And I still haven't seen "profit-earnings ratio" anywhere yet except the current occupant's mind.

mp3's don't matter on what were originally low fidelity recordings, i.e. most bootlegs, pre-sixties recordings, most punk/hardcore....but for things like Queen or Pink Floyd or studio Stones, lossless only---and the difference is noticeable on those!!