Do you ever wonder how people can listen to so much music?

Question

This is so Chunga's Revenge inspired.

I love music. And I listen to alot, but it makes you wonder how some people do it.... Some people on this site probably listen to more artist/bands that i have songs. I try really hard to get as much music as possible, but I've covered so little ground over the last 6 years.

So this this is a question for people who have more albums then there are stars... how do you do it? How do you have the time and money to have so many albums and listn to them all?

squishy: LOL, I'm not much of a "smoker" :0)

Dani G: Is that how you do it? Through friends? I got to get some friends that listen to rock.....

Fonzie T: How did you like it? Did Echoes blow your mind? Wasn't One of These Days simply amazing? Wasn't Fearless beatuiful? Yes, I'm bubbling with questions. :0)

How Soon Is Now?: That's a pretty good idea....

Answer 1

I've always had a pretty diverse music appreciation, even by the age of 14 (I'm 49 now) I already had at least a couple of albums by Ravi Shankar. Airto Moreira, Mozart & Beethoven (courtesy of my Music Appreciation classes in HS), Firesign Theatre, Frank Zappa along with the rest of the early Metal and Rock of the day took up space in my ever-growing album collection. By the time I started on CD's (mid 80's) I had amassed over 3000 LP albums not including several hunderd 7" 45's. My newer CD collection has surpassed my old LP collection!

The key for me is that I don't like to hear the same songs over and over again which is the main reason I hate radio. I've got to have a huge base of music to listen to or I'd go nuts! Currently on a 1tb external-HD I have over 160gb's of rips, some of my own and some not.

Don't worry if you don't think you've heard enough in just a few years, you have your whole lifetime for that. Even as much as I love discovering new music and artists I know I haven't heard a hundredth or even a thousandth of what's out there around the world. The sheer volume is staggering!

Haha, I love the naysayers, I'll bet they think that all the music in the world is at Best Buy. lol!

Answer 2

I try to play as much music as possible whenever I can. As I don't yet have an MP3 player, that means CDs and whatever I've ripped to the computer. I listen before I go to sleep at night, sometimes on the bus, whenever I'm in the car, etc. I'm between jobs right now, so while I'm at the PC I have music on.

Someone actually asked me how many CDs I have. Because I've ripped and burnt my own compilations, I currently have about 240 discs!

This is both because I have every album by 5 or 6 certain artists, and a single album or a select few tracks by others, and also because I like so many genres.

I have bought a lot of music ~ mostly in the last 3 years ~ but a majority of it came from :~

1) I always asked for CDs {or money to buy them} for birthdays and Christmas.
2) I borrow my family's {dad's!} CDs and rip them. Until last year, that meant endless copying to cassette tapes!
3) I got some Classical CDs free with my newspaper.

Right now I have 7 new albums ripped to my PC, waiting for me to go through and pick the tracks I like, and I've already done 2 others this week, and I'm waiting for a new CD to arrive.
I'm waiting for Focus, 6 already on there are by Blackmore's Night, and the one I'm listening to right now is the very hard-to-find {expensive!} soundtrack to the film Ladyhawke.
The music is by Andrew Powell & Alan Parsons ~ I think it classes as Prog?

Answer 3

I listen to about 8 hours of music a day. This includes at work, during my lunch, during the commute, and at home. I get to listen to so much since I don't watch T.V. and I can't stand listening to my coworker's b.s. all day. So I need a lot of music to keep me satisfied.
As for the money issue. Well I could have bought a house with the amount of money I've spent on music, if I wanted a house. I don't spend money on the same things most other people my age do. I pay bills and stuff- but I don't like expensive cars or clothing and I don't have or want children.
My methods of obtaining music is through the internet- I buy music off the internet (ebay, amazon, band's sites,etc..) and at stores. Also I belong to subscription download sites too.

Answer 4

I actually have spent very little in the past 3 years myself...I bought a ton of my music while I delivered pizza for about 3 1/2 years and I listened to it while I was driving around.....I also spent a good portion of those years 'smoking' alot, and I always loved to drive, 'smoke', and listen to my tunes for a couple of hours each night after work......I do try to buy a new album at least every few months or so just so I can keep adding to my collection.....lately I just pop those that I have in the puter and listen to them while I'm online. Pink Floyd was my fave to drive around and 'smoke' to :)

Answer 5

I'm always tuned in to music wherever I am. Even TV. I'll hear background music and I'll think, "Wow, who is that?" Then I turn to the internet to research it. My tastes run all over the place but there is stuff I can't stand. I won't name any here. I subscribe to two great magazines, both of which include a full length CD of music. They are Paste and Relix. The free CDs are well worth the price of the subscriptions.
Because I always have music on, my kids have a wide taste in music as well. They listen to a lot of the stuff I listened to when I was their age. I've also turned them on to current bands. A few years ago, I 'discovered' String Cheese Incident and turned my college age daughter on to them. She was playing them one day and a co-worker asked how she came to like SCI. My daughter told her that her Dad (me) listens to them. The co-worker couldn't believe that an 'old man' was that cool.

My advice to you is just keep your ears open. Music is everywhere.

I have over 1000 CDs, 500+ LPs and countless cassette tapes. Are there some I haven't listened to for a while (years.) Sure. But it depends on my mood and when I listen to something that I haven't for a while...It's almost like discovering then all over again.

As for Pink Floyd...If you can find it, get the video of Meddle...it's awesome.

Answer 6

I don't think I am like you describe but I consider myself fairly diverse in music taste and I am open to new stuff.

It is really a matter of finding something you like and reading about it and really getting into it until you find similar bands and it eventually cycles out of that genre and into others.

The message in music is universal, the way it is transfered is just different, it takes time to get used to certain music styles, but all have their own unique flavor and beauty, even stuff you wouldn't expect to at first, like rap or hard metal.

It takes time and patience but I think everyone has different musical "phases" where they get really into one certain band or genre, and when they leave that phase they carry that music with them into the next.

Of 'course there are always people who wanna be showy and "artsy" and say they like all this different music when really they know nothing about what they are talking about, but the older, and more importantly, the wiser you get, the more open you will be to other music you wouldn't have dreamed of even listening to before.

Long story short: Music builds on itself and the more you listen the more your music tastes will spread

Answer 7

The amazingness of the Public library system keeps me alive.
I can order any album from across the state and listen to it, totally legal

don't you just love that! that and old record stores. I live fairly close to this huge one that looks like a warehous- literally thousands of records- most high quality- sold for only about 4 bucks a piece. 8 for doubles.

Answer 8

I listen to music a lot.....I can barely function without listening to something, so I hear a lot. A place where you can get a lot of new music is www.pandora.com. It's an internet radio where you create the stations, and is my favorite site ever.

I wonder about people's long lists too....I wonder how many of them have actually ever listened to ALL of their lists.

Answer 9

you know as for me i have all my favorite singer i never miss any albums i make sure i get all my singer song the same week or 2 weeks later after it come out and i am telling you for the past 7 years i have almost 800 albums now and some of them i don't listen to it now but when i am bored i listen to most of them.

Answer 10

With all the music that's SO easily available more than any othe rtime before, it is a wonder how some do it. My conclusion- it's impossible to get to EVERYthing people recommend. There's simply not enough time in your *life*, really.

However, I *did* just get my copy of "Meddle" in the mail today! :)