A New Way to Look at the "I've Got So Much Music" Topic

[Dan Gould]

My purchases have gone way, way down in the last 5 years or so, and now that I commute 250 miles a week I've been digging in to the archives to fill my CD case. And it dawned on me - unless I re-start my "Listen to every CD alphabetically" effort, there is a pretty sizable portion of my collection I am highly unlikely to ever listen to again. I'm not sure the percentage just yet but I thought this might be an interesting alternative to the old "I have so many new CDs I haven't even listened to" meme.

What about the ones you're never going to listen to again?

[.:.impossible]

Give them to a high school music student, one at a time.

[JSngry]

I find myself re-buying stuff that I got rid of decades ago just because the urge itched and I couldn't scratch it. So I've kinda decided to never say never again again, and not 'cause here I am in love again, head over heels in love again with the same sweet you.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TWRnWEN1nSQ&feature=related

[Shawn]

I never know which direction my moods will take me going forward, so i wouldn't even venture a guess.

[A Lark Ascending]

I'm not sure I'm ever going to eat that meal again I ate yesterday. That won't stop me going to the supermarket today to buy more food.

Yes, not quite the same. But there is a pleasure in exploring new ground that is different from the pleasure of exploring the familiar. The extent of what lurks on the shelves no longer haunts me.

As for the records I'll never listen to again. Well, I've not too sure which ones they are yet! I have a habit of returning to things I'd thought I'd lost complete interest in.

Edited March 3, 2012 by A Lark Ascending

[Big Beat Steve]

As for the records I'll never listen to again. Well, I've not too sure which ones they are yet! I have a habit of returning to things I'd thought I'd lost complete interest in.

Same here. (Well, almost ... though it's not a matter of having lost complete interest in but rather of music that has moved down a good deal on my priority scale).

And sometimes events intervene that unsettle things considerably. A couple of weeks ago a friend asked me to do the DJ-ing at his 40th birthday bash. In compiling the music suitable for that event and knowing the musical preferences of a good deal of those who will attend, this has led me to revisit quite a large number of my platters that I haven't listened to for years (my preferences have shifted though I still hold on to those records). Very nice and satisfying even for myself, though I do not know how long it will be before I revisit these records again after tonight's DJ activities are over.

But this makes it even harder to give a percentage figure. Though I guess it is at least 10% that I will never listen to again. But which 10%???

[sidewinder]

though I do not know how long it will be before I revisit these records again after tonight's DJ activities are over.

One day I will get round to spinning my 70s disco records again. Or maybe not.

[A Lark Ascending]

though I do not know how long it will be before I revisit these records again after tonight's DJ activities are over.

One day I will get round to spinning my 70s disco records again. Or maybe not.

Very brave of you to admit to those!

[Big Beat Steve]

though I do not know how long it will be before I revisit these records again after tonight's DJ activities are over.

One day I will get round to spinning my 70s disco records again. Or maybe not.

Disco ... ha! Just fit for frisbeeing or dart throwing!

I am talking about genuine 50s rock'n'roll and rockabilly (and their today's offspring bands in the rockabilly subculture). Music which I still like a lot but which has receded a bit into the background in my listening habits and also in what I would normally spin in my rare DJ activities.

Edited March 3, 2012 by Big Beat Steve

[Dan Gould]

I went with 20-30% without really flipping through any three ring binders, but as I think more about it I bet my true number is 40% or more. I mean, I look at all of the Scott Hamilton or Eric Alexander discs I compiled over the years. Unless I explicitly decided to listen to each of them, there's a handful of each I'd pick if/when I wanted to listen to them. The rest ... no way.

Then, in the mad collecting phase I was in, I did a lot of huge CDR trades of never-reissued LPs. And there are a lot of discs there that, as happy as I was to hear them once, I'll probably never voluntarily play them again.

[John Tapscott]

Well, two factors - IF I live a normal male life-span (no guarantees, though I'm in good health), and IF I basically stop buying recordings right now, (again, no guarantees, in fact, not going to happen), I could probably listen to every thing in my collection at least once, if not twice more. One of my problems is that sometimes I get stuck on something, in other words, I hear a CD (and it might not be a new one) that I like so much that I listen to it fairly regularly or at least 5 or 6 times before filing it. That obviously lessens the probability of listening to everything again. Also, the CDR's that come my way (which I greatly appreciate). But listening to my whole coillection as it stands now is not beyond the realm of possibility. In fact, it's something I'd like to do.

[A Lark Ascending]

Think of it another way.

I suspect most of us only ever watch a film or TV programme once. Why not a recording? (Doesn't address our desire to own it, sometimes several times and with lots of fluffy packaging too)

Before 1900 most people only heard any piece of music once anyway (apart from those who learnt the piano and could replay from a score).

So maybe the aberration is repeatedly listening to the same records (an aberration I'm more than happy to indulge in).

[sidewinder]

though I do not know how long it will be before I revisit these records again after tonight's DJ activities are over.

One day I will get round to spinning my 70s disco records again. Or maybe not.

Very brave of you to admit to those!

My Kool and the Gang and Chic albums are still in the racks. Hidden at the back next to Devo.

[Noj]

The "play count" sorting tab in iTunes gave me a similar revelation as the one being discussed here. I was shocked to see zero, one, or two plays for songs that I really love. It got me thinking, "how many times will I ever hear any of these songs?"

[BillF]

Before 1900 most people only heard any piece of music once anyway (apart from those who learnt the piano and could replay from a score).

I take it you don't include popular hymns, anthems and ballads.

[A Lark Ascending]

Before 1900 most people only heard any piece of music once anyway (apart from those who learnt the piano and could replay from a score).

I take it you don't include popular hymns, anthems and ballads.

Well, there you have a key difference. Music as a participatory rather than a spectator sport.

I'm thinking of the reason given for the repeat of the main themes of a classical/early Romantic symphony; it was the one chance most people got to hear (often most composers got to have performed) a piece so the audience needed a chance to embed the thematic material before the development. No chance to play the piece again later.

I believe some of the more doctrinaire free improv aims at something similar - music created in the moment that can never be relived again.

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

Well, I just looked and there are seven (7) albums I haven't listened to for five years or more.

Abbey Lincoln - Abbey is blue

Henry Johnson - Keeping the dream alive

Jimmy Smith - Compact jazz

Jazz Crusaders - Images

Lee Morgan - City lights

Sir Charles Thompson - Swing organ

Donald Byrd & 125th Street, NYC

See, when you retire, you have a lot more time, so don't flog your old stuff.

MG

[Clunky]

Well, I just looked and there are seven (7) albums I haven't listened to for five years or more.

Abbey Lincoln - Abbey is blue

Henry Johnson - Keeping the dream alive

Jimmy Smith - Compact jazz

Jazz Crusaders - Images

Lee Morgan - City lights

Sir Charles Thompson - Swing organ

Donald Byrd & 125th Street, NYC

See, when you retire, you have a lot more time, so don't flog your old stuff.

MG

hmm... I don't even have a full database of all my CDs and LPs let alone a handle on when each was last played !!!