How do you pick what you will listen to each day?

...is it just a random thing or does anyone have a system? Just curious.


As for me 98% of the time I have my portable hard drive with me and have the ability to listen to just about anything on a moment's notice.

I normally pick stuff I feel in the mood to listen to after perusing the cd shelves. If I just got some cds, those are generally the first to be selected.

Totally random. Once or twice a week I open my CD cabinet and grab a dozen or so CDs, stick'em in my knapsack, and take'em to work with me. I listen to those for a few days at at time, or till I get sick of them (whichever comes first), then I put them all back in the cabinet, grab another dozen or so, and the cycle begins again.

exact33 wrote:

I normally pick stuff I feel in the mood to listen to after perusing the cd shelves. If I just got some cds, those are generally the first to be selected.

Yup.

Before, it used to be what I purchased during the month. Usually I'd set a date to purchase a dozen or so albums and I would play them through just like that until I was satisfied that I heard each album enough times, plus I would put in a random old album I felt like listening to.

Nowadays, it seems more like I listen to albums based on what E33 and Ult said, mainly mood. Like I'll go on a total Doom mood for an extended period of time, or a Thrash mood, etc.

What The King said.... and includes any new vinyl buys when I am at home.

it's all based on mood for me as well. i actually load different ipods for different moods, but with just enough random stuff in case of an abrupt mood swing.

I never really listen to CDs, usually listen on my computer or iPod. Usually listen to random songs I feel like listening to, or sometimes maybe an album. I don't force myself to listen to albums just because i've recently bought them. Usually i'll listen to the main tracks that I bought it for and then i'll generally begin to like the rest.

I usually listen to the ones I recently purchased,then I'll pick a few for the week that I havent listened to in a while

Usually a conversation or an article I have read on a certain band, album, etc, sometimes I would make lists,etc

Lately I have gone thru a phase of exploring an artists discography, cherry picking favorite albums and albums that I may have ignored etc.


When I have purchased an album I usually do not add into my collection til I have at least listened to them once, and usually it will be the first thing I listen to is the album I just purchased.

Random for me. Although with the flash drive loaded up with stuff, I can listen to pretty much anything I want in a heartbeat.

I have a system. It's not nearly as complicated as it sounds at first from reading this:

#1 - Years ago I noticed I average about 6 cds a day, so that's my starting number.

#2 - I arranged my CDs alphabetically, and counted each stack.

#3 - I divide each stack by 6. If there are 30 "A" cds, I divide 30 by 6 and get 5, naturally.

#4 - I cut 5 slips of paper of equal size and write the letter "A" on each one.

#5 - I repeat this process for every letter. There's one slip of paper with a letter on it for every 6 cds I own. There might be 12 "S" slips and only 1 "Q" slip. This way each CD gets equal rotation rights. This appeals to my sense of fairness.

#6 - I put all the little slips of paper in a coffee mug and shake it up.

#7 - I draw one slip of paper out of the mug, look at it, and drop it into another "discard" mug. (This way each slip of paper is only pulled once until the "draw" mug is empty and the "discard" mug is full. Once the "discard" mug becomes full, it becomes the new "draw" mug.) Today was "P". So, I picked the 6 "Ps" on the top of the "P" stack. Today's were Paramaecium, Pharaoh, Pearl Jam, Pink Cream 69, Petra, and Punk-O-Rama Vol-2.

#8 - I'll listen to all 6, then return them to the bottom of their stack.

#9 - I'll pick a new letter, see what the new six is, and repeat this process.

If I feel like rejecting a CD if it's in the next six, that's an indicator that I might need to trade or sell it.

I LOVE this system because it's a surprise each time. I love the surprise. It's controlled randomness.

***New CDs have their own pile and have preferential treatment until I've listened to them "enough". The new CD pile is mixed alphabetically, but if I pull an "A" I'll check the new pile for "A" cds and they'll go first, before I check the regular stacks.

^^^ WAY too complicated for me. ^^^

It's not as bad as it reads. Now that I've set it up, it's a breeze and fun.

I prefer my system of stumbling over to the CD cabinet first thing in the AM, before I've even had my first cup of coffee, and grabbing at random. Sometimes I'll even be surprised ("Ummm...Now why did I grab this one again?" or "Aww crap, I didn't mean to grab this one, I wanted the one AFTER this...")

My whole cd collection is on my ipod. I normally just shuffle it and go from there. New editions get precedent though. I'll listen to them beginning to end to get a good feel from them and once I get tired of them,it's back to shuffle.

Now, when I'm out and about and have my MP3 player with me, it's just set on "random", unless I'm in a particular mood.

scottmitchell74 wrote:

I have a system. It's not nearly as complicated as it sounds at first from reading this:

#1 - Years ago I noticed I average about 6 cds a day, so that's my starting number.

#2 - I arranged my CDs alphabetically, and counted each stack.

#3 - I divide each stack by 6. If there are 30 "A" cds, I divide 30 by 6 and get 5, naturally.

#4 - I cut 5 slips of paper of equal size and write the letter "A" on each one.

#5 - I repeat this process for every letter. There's one slip of paper with a letter on it for every 6 cds I own. There might be 12 "S" slips and only 1 "Q" slip. This way each CD gets equal rotation rights. This appeals to my sense of fairness.

#6 - I put all the little slips of paper in a coffee mug and shake it up.

#7 - I draw one slip of paper out of the mug, look at it, and drop it into another "discard" mug. (This way each slip of paper is only pulled once until the "draw" mug is empty and the "discard" mug is full. Once the "discard" mug becomes full, it becomes the new "draw" mug.) Today was "P". So, I picked the 6 "Ps" on the top of the "P" stack. Today's were Paramaecium, Pharaoh, Pearl Jam, Pink Cream 69, Petra, and Punk-O-Rama Vol-2.

#8 - I'll listen to all 6, then return them to the bottom of their stack.

#9 - I'll pick a new letter, see what the new six is, and repeat this process.

If I feel like rejecting a CD if it's in the next six, that's an indicator that I might need to trade or sell it.

I LOVE this system because it's a surprise each time. I love the surprise. It's controlled randomness.

***New CDs have their own pile and have preferential treatment until I've listened to them "enough". The new CD pile is mixed alphabetically, but if I pull an "A" I'll check the new pile for "A" cds and they'll go first, before I check the regular stacks.

I was waiting for the punchline..........it never came.

LeMorte d'Arthur wrote:

I was waiting for the punchline..........it never came.

It was starting to remind me of the rules to that classic Mad Magazine sporting parody, "43 Man Squamish"

(for those of you who have no idea what I'm talking about, those 'rules' can be found here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/43_Man_Squamish )

I try to read reviews, of new albums but also of old albums i own for a long time. Then i look for the cd/lp or tape and i just play it. Also it depends of my mood, because i like to listen to black or death metal when its raining or cold, and hard rock/glam/heavy metal when its nice weather.
When i buy a new album i always play it two or three times and put it together with the 2011 releases. Sometimes i go back to the cds from 2011 and play them.

If I just got it, I listen to it. All my music is on my ipod, so it's whatever mood I am in, unless I read something about a band (like Manny) I will play it or I see a post about a group or album in HoM and I feel like listening to it

This week at my house Iron Maiden has playing alot on rotation, inspired by the kick ass show, sadly Black Tide did not inspire me enough to revisit the only disc I have by them.

Usually on Friday, I'll start looking over my spreadsheet (NERD!) and checking for stuff I haven't heard in awhile or whatever mood I'm feeling. Sometimes I'll write down a list, sometimes I just make a mental note. New additions always go into the rotation for at least 1 week.

Then at some point on Sunday, I'll start pulling cd's to load into my case of 24 that I take in the car and work for the week. Sometimes I clear out all 24 spots and start from scratch, sometimes I'll just pull a handfull and keep others in the rotation, depending on how good they are.

I make an effort to give everything I pull for the week 1 full play from beginning to end. If I can't make it to the end in one sitting, it gets put in the sell/trade pile.

I don't pick them...they pick me.

I have a good chunk of my collection digitized on external hard drives (lossless files of course, I want the full quality).

About 90% of the time I use iTunes, having tweaked various things till it operates more like a database. I created smart playlists in iTunes for various categories of my own devising. That way I can hear jazz then death metal then progressive rock then doom but have it match my own twisted brain. They don't call me Abby Normal for nothing....

I use the default playlists as well, stuff like "recently added", "never played", "most played", etc.

I also still own a really nice Sony 5-disc changer, so when the mood to touch physical discs arises, I'll grab 5 discs off the shelf and put em on random.

But at the core, it's all about mood and frame of mind.