How Do You Listen To Yours?

[Alphableat]

I mostly listen to music in the car, while running, or on the Sonos my flatmate has (it makes up for his untidiness).

I wish I could listen to music at work, but it distracts me.

 

[Full_Circle]

I really dislike the fetishizing of collecting physical things. I'm completely in favor of storing music and other data in strictly digital means. I have eliminated the crushing majority of my CDs (basically all the ones that someone on discogs hasn't bought yet), same for books (I fucking LOVE my kindle).


I enjoy music more than ever now that I'm not attached to hoarding CDs / vinyls because it's rare / because it's pretty / etc, I only keep what I actually LIKE to listen to.

All the bullshit about looking at album art (hang a painting on your wall or look at the landscape?), holding something in your hand (maybe try your genitalia instead?), vinyl's sound quality (it's 99% delusional placebo bullshit.) is just that, bullshit.


Okay I got a bit carried away there.

Carried away is good. It sparks debate! But I wasn't really posing a question on what formats people use, more so their listening habits (although formats will factor into that in a way). Although, hearing peoples passionate love/hate for formats is always fun too.

Still, you didn't actually say how you mostly consume your music (apart from it being of the digital variety).

And not to drag this off topic, but I too made the leap from physical to digital books and couldn't be without my Kindle now. It is a magical device bestowed upon us by the gods!

 

[Eric Generic]

For me it's been C90s to iTunes Playlists - I suppose it's just the new way to do an old thing.....overlong CDs full of filler in the 90s, and mastered to buggery for the loudness wars - kind of killed my appetite for whole albums.

 

[Raisin Hell]

Well it's nothing too out there: I have Sennheiser HD 25's, Sennheiser CX 300's, and I usually listen to an iPod. I try to avoid listening while exercising or in transit (without that much success.) I keep about 3TB of music carefully stored in hard drives.

I wanna buy an expensive system soon but I haven't looked into it that much so far.

 

[kaushik]

I used to spend a lot more time with music as a kid. Now its mostly when I'm working, working out or on the move..

When I'm working, I play my music on my laptop, plug in my Bose headphones, and listen through iTunes
When I go running, I listen to music on my iPod.
When I'm in transit, I listen to it on my WP.
I don't remember when was the last time I turned on the radio.

I do like buying CDs but I don't buy CDs of every artist. Just the ones I'm obsessed with.
Otherwise, its mostly digital music since the iPod revolution.

 

[aaronhansome]

At work: Off of my phone speakers, I don't have good headphones for work.

At home: through some pretty good speakers in my room off of my computer. CDs are the preferred medium but if Google Play has a good sale, then the music gets bought through there. Streaming services aren't my cup of tea.

 

[ValCherish]

I really dislike the fetishizing of collecting physical things. I'm completely in favor of storing music and other data in strictly digital means. I have eliminated the crushing majority of my CDs (basically all the ones that someone on discogs hasn't bought yet), same for books (I fucking LOVE my kindle).


I enjoy music more than ever now that I'm not attached to hoarding CDs / vinyls because it's rare / because it's pretty / etc, I only keep what I actually LIKE to listen to.

All the bullshit about looking at album art (hang a painting on your wall or look at the landscape?), holding something in your hand (maybe try your genitalia instead?), vinyl's sound quality (it's 99% delusional placebo bullshit.) is just that, bullshit.


Okay I got a bit carried away there.

This post is "bullshit". You're entitled to your own opinion, and I don't know how old you are, but a lot of us who grew up in the 80's and 90's still like "hoarding" albums. It's just traditional. A file is just a file...it can be lost, erased, corrupted...and I refuse to pay for something that costs no money to make. An actual album has:

A. Better sound quality than what iTunes and the like have to offer
B. Can be uploaded to your computer into files anyway
C. Yes, it is nice to have album artwork as it's part of the whole album package. The star will always be the music, of course, but I honestly feel bad for you if you can't see the pleasure of looking through an album booklet and enjoying the photos and linear notes.

I'm a collector at heart, though. *shrug*

 

[mattieh]

I tend to buy the physical CD for albums and then download singles and very occasionally I stream too.

Around the house I have a Sonos system set up in most rooms, then at the gym or when I'm travelling about I have some Dr Beats headphones.

 

[drock689]

How are the Beats by dre headphones? I've heard some rave reviews, but the pricetag makes me cautious...

 

[Pop Gaz]

I used to love sitting in my flat (ne bachelor pad) listening to my cds on the B&O (which I saved for ages for and had wanted since I'd first clapped eyes on it only to be massively disappointed at the actual chunkiness of it), sometimes sitting on the floor actually looking through the booklets, enjoying the beauty of some of them.

Flash forward 14 years, this married man just doesn't seem to have the time to do that anymore, so all the music is digital (but not streamed) and helps me through the commute or to block out knob-heads at work.

Can't part with the old cds though, the discs and sleeves are in CD storage books (to save on space) and the jewel cases and rear artwork in the loft. The husband just can't understand how I can't throw them away though, philistine!

 

[mattieh]

How are the Beats by dre headphones? I've heard some rave reviews, but the pricetag makes me cautious...

They are better than the Apple ones of course, but they aren't spectacular, and I you do get some keep the reciept, I'm on my fourth pair in about 6 months (thank God for the warranty!)

 

[InkedDoll]

I listen to my mp3 player when I'm commuting or otherwise out and about, on my PC when I'm upstairs getting ready to go out or using the PC, and on CDs in the living room. I do have a CD player upstairs too but I've actually never used it since we moved in just over a year ago. My fiance has a car and when we go out in it we listen to CDs or his mp3 player hooked up to the stereo. I have a full stereo set-up including a record player, twin cassette deck and an 8-track, but rarely use any of it these days. Most of it was inherited from my dad or uncle - the Wharfedale speakers are older than I am!

 

[Lander]

This post is "bullshit".

Yep, definitely makes sense now.

 

[silkelectric]

I listen to music on Sennheiser HD650 headphones, which are connected to a Magni headphone amp, which in turn is connected to a Modi USB DAC, which is connected to my desktop PC. I organize all of my music through MediaMonkey, which can handle very large collections of audio files.

I also have plenty of vinyl which I listen to through the line-in port on my computer's audio card. I tend to rip CDs for listening, rather than playing the CDs directly.

 

[Full_Circle]

I organize all of my music through MediaMonkey, which can handle very large collections of audio files.

Do you use MediaMonkey to play your files too?
I used to be a big supporter of it, but last year made the move to MusicBee, as it's just as fast with large collections, but looks far slicker and modern (it's skins and layouts are to die for). I feel like the development community for the Monkey has stagnated.

 

[Blayke]

iTunes to manage and play when I'm on the laptop.
iPhone to listen with earphones all the time - like ALL the time.

 

[silkelectric]

Do you use MediaMonkey to play your files too?
I used to be a big supporter of it, but last year made the move to MusicBee, as it's just as fast with large collections, but looks far slicker and modern (it's skins and layouts are to die for). I feel like the development community for the Monkey has stagnated.

Interesting, I will check out MusicBee. MediaMonkey does seem a bit dead at the moment. I used to use J. River back in the days before I discovered MediaMonkey. For playing one-off files, I use a really nice program called AIMP. I've found it much better than Winamp.

 

[Full_Circle]

Interesting, I will check out MusicBee. MediaMonkey does seem a bit dead at the moment. I used to use J. River back in the days before I discovered MediaMonkey. For playing one-off files, I use a really nice program called AIMP. I've found it much better than Winamp.

Oh snap! I used to use J. River back in the day. One feature I loved was that if you chose to shuffle your tracks, it would show your entire library of tracks completely randomised, so you could still tell what was coming up next.
I tried AIMP a long time ago, but for one-off files I actually just use VLC media player now, as it handles audio files just as easily as it does video files.
But rather than going off on a tangent with the thread, I'll just PM you to gush about MusicBee :)

 

[Anastasia Beaverhaus]

Intalled speakers in the bathroom ceiling became the best way for me to perceive music. The second one is my speakers in the car. Sadly barely use speakers for music in my living room, though they are nice and the receiver is very big.
Never use headphones, probably because I rarely use public transport. But even then, I'd use phone for games.

I like to take baths.