Sorting your collection, long and fraught with opinionation.

[Sunlight Caller]

I can't imagine playing Lark's Tongue while cutting the lawn....

I can't imagine what your lawn would look like if you did.

I should have taken note... I was listening to Absent Lovers while attacking some deadwood with a hedge-trimmer yesterday... Predictably the music went silent and I realised in my aggressive enthusiasm I had gone through the headphone cord too... Bloody expensive Bose one at that... Damn those Crims and their gardening-unfriendly sounds!

[Scott Bails]

I could rip all my music to my harddrive, make back-ups, make PDF's , make copies of album art, store it on the cloud, etc, etc, - OR -- I could reach out and take it off the shelf in front of me.

Which won't help you if you want to listen to your music when you're not at home.

[Trane]

I can't imagine what your lawn would look like if you did.

lmao.gif

Which won't help you if you want to listen to your music when you're not at home.

Well, in the occasional time a year I'd take the subway, I couldn't care less bringing my music with me... I got it at home and in the car.... and if I need it at work, I've got a CD player in the desktop.

[Vic2012]

I could rip all my music to my harddrive, make back-ups, make PDF's , make copies of album art, store it on the cloud, etc, etc, - OR -- I could reach out and take it off the shelf in front of me.

Nailed it. I could do all that too. I'm good just playing my disks at home or in my car. This need to have a device with ear buds with me everywhere I go is not something I feel a need for.

[Gruno]

This need to have a device with ear buds with me everywhere I go is not something I feel a need for.

Sometimes it is not for everywhere you go. Sometimes it is for convenience when you decide you would enjoy some music without the need to have certain CD's with you that you might be in the mood to listen to. It may not be for you, I understand. For me, I have an iPod that is used for convenience. Earbuds are not implanted into my ears from the time I leave my house until the time I return home.

[tom unbound]

This need to have a device with ear buds with me everywhere I go is not something I feel a need for.

I must admit, I'm a very poorly trained consumer. Earbuds are out of the question, and walking around with the preferred headphones would look.... well, I'm sure it will come into style eventually.

Shuffle Play - I was the biggest and loudest anal powered militaristic dictator for the damning of shuffle play. Nowhere in life have I changed 100% in my opinion of something. Sony 300 disc changer. But -- it'll hit on something amazing and I'll stop it to play the whole disc.

(Lark's Tongue Lawn Service was one more red nightmare...)

[rcarlberg]

Shuffle Play - I was the biggest and loudest anal powered militaristic dictator for the damning of shuffle play. Nowhere in life have I changed 100% in my opinion of something.

I will admit, I enjoy the hell out of Pandora, and have set up dozens of stations catering to specific music styles. It is FUN to see what kind of "shuffle" Pandora will throw at me next, and discover new examples I was previously ignorant of.

However, Pandora comes with a "thumbs down" option and it takes a while to fine-tune most stations.

If I had 300 CDs on a Sony disc changer -- unless all 300 were in exactly the same style -- I would find the contrast jarring and off-putting.

[tom unbound]

If I had 300 CDs on a Sony disc changer -- unless all 300 were in exactly the same style -- I would find the contrast jarring and off-putting.

Well, of course they're exactly the same style, they're all Prog !!

And, then again, there's always the skip button on the remote......

[markwoll]

My phone has a 200gb microsd with about 230 albums ( flac, about 15% of my collection. There is room for another 400 or so ) , I carry phone earbuds in case I need to make a call. Music in a pinch, just not the best quality.
I take my good earbuds for travel or knowing that I will be able to listen for a while. It has the album art and tagging.
It is usually on shuffle so liner notes are of little use. I can tag a song or album for future reference if I want to read up at home.

[rcarlberg]

It is usually on shuffle so liner notes are of little use.

Shuffle mode is the tool of the devil. It turns serious music listening into lazy passive consumption of interchangeable music-units.

For shame. Turn in your Prog Badge now.

[Facelift]

Shuffle mode is the tool of the devil. It turns serious music listening into lazy passive consumption of interchangeable music-units.

For shame. Turn in your Prog Badge now.

Frankly, shuffle mode is something that, perhaps, can only be truly appreciated by the most sophisticated and perceptive music listeners. Cross-genre, cross-era juxtaposition can offer a perspective on the music that simply isn't possible otherwise, and I would submit that one can't truly appreciate it without a high degree of familiarity with a broad range of music and artists.

Granted, it can also bring some perspective on what should be the next items to put up on Ebay.

[Trane]

Frankly, shuffle mode is something that, perhaps, can only be truly appreciated by the most sophisticated and perceptive music listeners. Cross-genre, cross-era juxtaposition can offer a perspective on the music that simply isn't possible otherwise, and I would submit that one can't truly appreciate it without a high degree of familiarity with a broad range of music and artists.

Granted, it can also bring some perspective on what should be the next items to put up on Ebay.

TBH, I learned doing that quite a while ago (without shuffle play, if I may), and if I don't apply it systematically, it's precisely because I don't want to get rid of my Retro-prog bands from the 90's & 00's.

[NogbadTheBad]

I apologize for not listening to music the way you deem suitable.

[Trane]

Sometimes it is not for everywhere you go. Sometimes it is for convenience when you decide you would enjoy some music without the need to have certain CD's with you that you might be in the mood to listen to. It may not be for you, I understand. For me, I have an iPod that is used for convenience. Earbuds are not implanted into my ears from the time I leave my house until the time I return home.

TBH, if I have to carry around a discman (I own one, but only for holidays purposes) or iPod and earbuds, I maybe will prefer to do without music

unless for a small sampling sessions, I now refuse earbuds... Headphones (preferably the wirewith kind) are the way to go for me

Shuffle mode is the tool of the devil. It turns serious music listening into lazy passive consumption of interchangeable music-units.

that's almost a point, set and match point

I apologize for not listening to music the way you deem suitable.

I'll recognize shuffle play some (few) qualities (like bringing back forgotten album tracks to the forefront), but indeed, what an insult to the "album" concept

[markwoll]

I exchange shuffle for any 'internet radio'.
It is my 'radio station'.
I can always listen to an album straight through.
Some albums are pretty pointless unless they are consumed completely and in the order recorded.
Most of the time I am after My Soundtrack, which is the combination of all the music I have.
I find over the ear headphones to be too warm for extended use. I have some, and have tried many.
Closed, open back. not my preferred means of music delivery.
My listening earbuds are pretty high quality and I like them.

[Scott Bails]

Shuffle play may be the best music-related innovation of all time.

So there.

[rcarlberg]

Shuffle play may be the best music-related innovation of all time.

So there.

How do you ever eat a whole Chinese dinner without throwing in some haggis and pizza and tabouli and baked beans?

[Poisoned Youth]

Shuffle play may be the best music-related innovation of all time.

So there.

Agreed. There is simply no reason to put down one listening mode vs. another. I mean, how snooty.


I have been and always will be an avid "album listener", but once I ripped my collection and had the opportunity to shuffle play, it was a revelation of immense proportions.

I now pretty much do my album listening in my bedroom at home and my shuffle play in the car, at work, on a plane, etc.

[Gruno]

Agreed. There is simply no reason to put down one listening mode vs. another. I mean, how snooty.


I have been and always will be an avid "album listener", but once I ripped my collection and had the opportunity to shuffle play, it was a revelation of immense proportions.

Pretty straight forward!

I am not into shuffle-mode. I rather make playlists for most of my listening needs. For the "get off my lawn" people who insist on listening to complete albums, it's easy to make a playlist with complete albums on them, back-to-back. So, you can load the albums you want to listen to on one playlist for that particular day and have that convenience. Then again, there will be some type of complaint that will need to be lodged because that's how it goes.

[NogbadTheBad]

I like shuffle a lot, when I'm in the mood for full albums I play full albums, when I fancy shuffle I shuffle.

[Jerjo]

I have four playlists on my PC that are perfect for shuffling. One is Americana and rock n' roll, another is all prog, the third is old school metal, and the last is just prime 70s hard rock. They're called Get Loose, Get Tight, Get Heavy, and Get Hard. I can put the shuffle on for a few hours and not hear a single bad segue.

[Trane]

I have four playlists on my PC that are perfect for shuffling. One is Americana and rock n' roll, another is all prog, the third is old school metal, and the last is just prime 70s hard rock. They're called Get Loose, Get Tight, Get Heavy, and Get Hard. I can put the shuffle on for a few hours and not hear a single bad segue.

But in that spirit, I'd get one step further:

I'd call the first one Get Greasy, the second Get Uptight, the third Get Meaty and the last Get Horny

[Poisoned Youth]

Get Hard.

Um...

I can see the start of a new thread... "ViagraProg".

[NogbadTheBad]

No idea, I know I always have bacon & black pudding with my biriani

[tom unbound]

"Shuffle play is an all-you-can-eat buffet for the ears."

Kind of hard to do with LP's