How do you listen to music

[Spiritinthesky]

How do you listen to music? MP3 player, iPhone, radio, internet, vinyl?

If the 50’s and 60's were the era of the record, in the 70's we had tape, (lovely 8-tracks and cassettes!), and the Sony Walkman, then CD's in the 80’s and now MP3's.

This Day in Music is running a poll to find out how you listen to your music.

If you fancy having a vote http://#######.com/tdimpoll

[Mandolin Mick]

I listen to music with a mandolin in my hands! :mandosmiley:

I'm one of those weird musicians who rarely listens to music for the enjoyment of listening to music. I listen to music to learn how to play songs. But, I'm trying to get out of that mode of thinking. For instance, put on Bluegrass for mood music to make me happy ... :)

Having said that, I listen to CDs at home and in my car (for long trips).

[Bertram Henze]

Your list is missing "self-played instrument".
Your hyperlink ain't no part of no valid URL... :confused:

[KristinEliza]

Most of the music I listen to is live...being a music teacher.

But I tend to listen to more CD's than I do my ipod. I have too many CD's and not enough space on my ipod (and not enough time to put them all on my ipod!)

[Andrew DeMarco]

Usually on the go with iPhone earbuds. However if it's something I'm really stoked about or listening to something closely or for the first time I'll concentrate with my Sennheiser 555's:)

I discover new music through last.fm (http://www.last.fm) which is similar to Pandora except it will keep track of what you listen to on any device (computer, iPod, etc) and give you recommendations based on them.

[mandofarmdog]

CDs, MP3s, Radio and Pandora Internet Radio. I've discovered a lot of artists I never knew existed through Pandora. I have it on my phone and plug it in my car's sound system.

[AlanN]

The majority of my listening is done on the daily run, sansa mp3 player with SD micro slot, now have a 16gb card in there. Call me old school, but I am still flabbergasted that I can get 5000 songs on something no bigger than a matchbox (for my clothes...)

[JEStanek]

Majority by iTunes and decent headphones at work, then iPod in car, radio NPR and WXPN for new music). Very little if any via internet. I don't like the iPod earbuds as the bass is so weak and I'm too cheap to drop $100+ on earbuds.

Jamie

[Steve Ostrander]

With my ears!

Serious answer: mostly from CDs. I'm not sure these Ipod thingies are going to catch on...

[bobby bill]

Mostly CD's although I still have about 500 records that I will occasionally plop on the turntable. I wasn't sure those CD thingies were going to catch on . . .

[Rick Schmidlin]

Movies, CDs , Records, Concerts, Fest's, Street Performers, Clubs and performormed at home for the cat and dog.

[Bertram Henze]

With my ears!

Seriously... I was considering to say something in that direction and now I say it:

Everybody talked about how to generate the noise in the air. But only when the noise hits the ear, that's where the real listening begins, independent from the source.
It goes on with
- do you concentrate or let it wash over you doing something different?
- do you imagine playing along?
- do you think about what accompaniment you could play?
- is some associative "video" playing in your head, along with the music?
- ...

The thread title led me to believe that's what's being discussed. Sorry if my reaction looked disappointed.

[Denny Gies]

Being an old geezer, I listen to CD's only.

[KristinEliza]

Seriously... I was considering to say something in that direction and now I say it:

Everybody talked about how to generate the noise in the air. But only when the noise hits the ear, that's where the real listening begins, independent from the source.
It goes on with
- do you concentrate or let it wash over you doing something different?
- do you imagine playing along?
- do you think about what accompaniment you could play?
- is some associative "video" playing in your head, along with the music?
- ...

The thread title led me to believe that's what's being discussed. Sorry if my reaction looked disappointed.

I thought the same thing.

A lot of times when I listen to music...especially 'pop' tunes on the radio...I listen to the structure of the music and how I could arrange it for another ensemble. I thought all that detailed listening in college would ruin my enjoyment of listening to music...but it has only made it more interesting.

[Mandolin Mick]

Gee ... I thought I was groovy because I listened to CDs ... ;)

I don't have an iPod or listen to headphones because I'm deaf in my right ear. Most of the music I like is stereo ... so I miss half the music. Really annoying!

[Rick Schmidlin]

Being an old geezer, I listen to CD's only.

No records?

[Ed Goist]

loudly.

(This is the Rock sub-forum, after all!)

[JeffD]

I have very few RnR albums. Perhaps a handfull of LPs. No CDs. No mp3.

The rest, well I have many many hundreds of CDs, perhaps a few thousand, about half? classical, and the rest a mix of Irish and Scottish traditional, tons of OT, some BG, folk, singer songwriter, and all kinds of Eastern European, Nordic, and mixed mostly western traditional.

All of my OT is ripped to mp3, where it takes up something like 8 gigs.

I listen on the radio too, and recently got XM so there's a ton of stuff available.

[TonyEarth]

ipod, computer, radio, internet, cd, rarely casettes. i'd love to listen to a good rock lp, but i've never had the chance. i've been told they sound amazing.

[Ed Goist]

Serious answer (I actual calculated this today):
* mp3 files played on computer that have been copied over from CDs: 75% (reduces to 60% in good weather/grass cutting months)
* mp3 player with headphones: 5% (increases to 20% in good weather/grass cutting months)
* Websites (Cafe mp3 player, MySpace, Pandora): 20%

[Santiago]

All of the above.

[Ivan Kelsall]

CD's 95% of the time for 'recorded' music & LP's 5% of the time. I also spend a great deal of time listening to the many Internet Bluegrass Radio stations out there. That's where i get to hear & 'hear of' bands unknown in the UK. I also use them as an on-line jam session ie. you never know what's coming up,you just have to dig in & get going ,
Ivan:mandosmiley:

[jim simpson]

I haven't seen any photos yet so here goes: I have a nice pair of restored Advents with re-foamed 12" woofers. I put new grill cloth on them, although not pictured. I have a Sansui AU-717 integrated power amp that I've had a long time. These are listened to in the music/family room.

[Jim MacDaniel]

Thanks to ADHD or some other undiagnosed condition, I don't need a music source since I always have a soundtrack playing in my head (over and over and over).

[Gwernen]

Very, very carefully.....lol I've got 80 gigs on an ipod classic, but for real listening its mostly vinyl. I convert analog to digital for a living, so I've got all the vinyl, reel to reel, cassettes and 8 tracks I ever owned converted over now, almost.... but still the magic of vinyl with a stereo that actually creates a true stereo separation in the room is the True Magic. I learned to listen that way, and I prefer it.

I was thinking the other day in car, actually, I wonder how many people in my generation remember putting the needle down for the very first time on "fill in the blank" lp. Magic.

By the by, if anyone would like a conversion done, I'll give any forum member a real price break and bulk deals. In fact, I'll do the shipping for free.

[Ed Goist]

...snip...
I was thinking the other day in car, actually, I wonder how many people in my generation remember putting the needle down for the very first time on "fill in the blank" lp. Magic.
...snip...

Christmas 1972 (age 12), and it was Alice Cooper's School's Out - Magic indeed.

[Gwernen]

As for the listening part - I listen for chord progressions, and try to imagine arpeggios pulled from them. Then the melody line, the voice of the song, how would I 'sing' that with my instrument? In that key, would my instrument's voice blend in, and if so where?
Would I have produced it the same way? Would I have simplified it more, in other words would I have cut out the clutter? Which part would I have brought to the foreground? Is there depth, or is the sound too flattened and lacking dimension? on and on.

The videos in my head that go with the songs I love are always there. I don't care for the videos the actual bands create to go with them, 90 percent of the time they have nothing to do with the lyric content of the song. I'm excessively visual, and I feel the lyrics, and the story is running through my mind clear as day. We've talked about this, my friends and I, off and on for years. We all seem to agree that the story we see in our minds that the music evokes should never be sullied by MTV, it robs us of a certain dimension of inner personal creativity. Its the Bardic element.

[Gwernen]

Oh yeah, School's Out was a good one. I vividly recall the first Boston lp, perhaps because it was on a 'quadraphonic' player in my friend's basement.

[JeffD]

The thing I like about the mp3 option is that I can go through the pile of tunes randomly. I have several thousands of tunes on that thing, and when I get a new OT CD, I dump it on there without listening.

Then I usually play randomly. Its like your own OT radio station. K-PIG or something. And as there is a lot of stuff on that MP3 that I haven't heard yet, or heard only once or twice, I am constantly delighted.

Its one of the best things I have ever done.

I have another mp3 I am loading up with classical, string quartets and chamber music in general being my latest passion. But those I can't do randomly, because each movement is a separate cut, and so I would not get how the first movement makes you need the second movement etc.

[Aisha]

Christmas 1972 (age 12), and it was Alice Cooper's School's Out - Magic indeed.

I discovered it in 1985 (age 12 too). Memories... My parents didn't exactly approve the fact that I liked this (and Mötley Crüe, Iron Maiden and the likes). I didn't have the LP but there was a hard rock program broadcast quite late, and I had this very old radio so I pretended to sleep but I was actually listening to this program until past midnight, at very low volume so my parents wouldn't find out (how frustrating though). Then the walkman improved a bit my condition, also CDs along with the end of my teenage years. Now music (various styles) is still very present in the bedroom on CD, iPod, occasionally the mandolin itself... but at least I try to listen to only soft music genres in late evening ;).

[Brent Hutto]

http://brenthutto.com/AsgardHD650Zdock1.jpg

Sennheiser HD650, Schiit Asgard , iPod Classic 160GB, Sieben AV{DOCK} and a comfy chair.

[JEStanek]

I got this (http://www.slate.com/id/2289177/?from=rss)from Steve V Johnson. An interesting read.