shuffle vs. whole albums
ako
https://soundcloud.com/a-ko 3,413 Posts
when youre on a computer or mp3 player or whatever, do you prefer shuffle over just listening to albums straight? i used to think shuffle was great but lately i really prefer listening to entire albums back to back, the way they were meant to be heard.
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i think funk is a good shuffle genre, but that might be just because half the stuff on my computer is funk 45s anyway...no real way to hear an artist back to back when they only released one two-song record. haha
Even though I'm too young to remember when mainstream radio DJs had thought-out set lists, that's exactly the mentality I'm into. I'm not into random chance when it comes to my music.
i broke my fullass 60gig last month and have been operating on a borrowed 4 gig nano till christmas. my day to day life isn't the same without those other 56 gigs.
You are like, the thread starting guy.
I'd have to say shuffle. I generally have so much music at my disposal that if I try and pick something I can go through hundreds of albums and nothing looks interesting. Yet if I put a thousand albums on shuffle I'm always impressed by what comes up at random and it's the only way I would probably ever hear all the variety in the collection.
I've transported the same idea to the car and records too. I will burn a CD with random mp3's for the car. Nothing worse than being in the car and not wanting to listen to anything that's in there.
With the records, and bear in mind this is quite geeky, we pick numbers that pick the expedit cube and then 2 more numbers to multiply and then listen to that record. Again, if I picked what I wanted to listen to at a given time, I'd probably pick the same 10 records over and over.
On occasion I do go hybrid with winamp though.. I'll play on random until I get to something that I like and then listen to that album.
That said...I don't really use the shuffle option. When I'm digging my iTunes, I usually have it playing in a different kind of order, say, songs arranged alphabetically, or songs arranged by timing. I kinda like the random-chance thing, hearing a Desmond Dekker reggae track followed by a Webb Pierce country song. Distracting, yes, but that's what makes it so cool.
When I wrote this back in November, I did all of my iTunes listening on the computer at my then-job.
Since then, I've started using the personal iPod more and more, and I now use the shuffle option on a regular basis. But I still like the random selection, like a real-life version of all these Jack FM radio stations that have sprung up, claiming to simulate an iPod.
But one thing I've noticed, and I don't know if any other iPod user has gone through this, but my shuffle option is fairly tasteful as far as segways. Just recently I heard two mindbending psych tracks (by the Mothers of Invention, from their first LP, and Crystal Chandelier) back to back with these pop-country cuts by Ray Price and Charlie Rich. Now, it's not so much the fact that it played psych and country crossover back to back, it's just the fact that it knew enough to do two of each. And I wasn't playing specific albums or songs, I just clicked on "shuffle," shook it up and let it roll...
There are still a few albums, however, that I like enough to hear every track. With these, I record continuous sides. This was a lazy move at first, but I like how it turns out. I get mostly random songs with an occasional album side.
i've got rza, pete rock, kanye, dilla, neptunes, premo, diamond, buckwild, nottz, bink, finesse, showbiz, alchemist, dre, hi-tek, large pro, just blaze, no id, and timbo playlists. then i've got genre playlists,(rock, soul, folkychillness, marina, etc.) and playlists of songs i like at the moment.
pretty cool concept, but again, it's overwhelming when you get in the car and try to pick something. i'll usually just end up shuffling the whole ipod, cuz i dont know what the fukk tp listen to!! it's like listening to a radio station that you programmed yourself. as a kid i never could have imagined all the music i now have at my fingertips.
and the crazy thing is, according to my itunes, i havent even played 3/4 of the songs on it.
I still use that feature, but recently I've just been playing songs in alphabetical order so I can actually hear most of the tunes on my ipod.
example of me listening to my mp3 player on the subway on the way to work.
listening to the beginning of capone and norega's "invincible", I'l just listen up to the part "and i ain't wanna make music my pops just died" and then skip to the next track...
..."welcome to the teacher's library, lesson 2 in economics" (phuck! an audio book file) skip
...perfect angel by minnie...nice! (god i'm tired, i didnt have coffee this morning, need something fast tempo, i'm gonna skip a few tracks, i hope i get something like rakim's "know the ledge" skip..."
...some tepid funk, damn i must have downloaded this off divshare on some soulstrut posts without listening to it first skip...
...one of the tracks off prince pauls prince among theives...(phuck i can't listen to this midway, good tune, and its breezly, but i gotta pass, cmon, something to wake me up godamnit
...madonna "cherish"... at times like this, i'm glad no one next to me knows what i'm listening too...um, my sister must have uploaded this when she used my player..ya..
...uptown anthem naughty by nature...perfect...phuck, i'm at my stop already. i should have just selected the damn song, stupid shuffle shit
...time for one more track before stepping to my building..."Lesson 3 of Pimsleurs Learn to Speak Spanish Volume 2...PHUCK PHUCK PHUCK PHUCK!
- spidey
straight through with good albums
I think he was talking about 8-track tapes, and nothing wrong with you appreciating a record more after giving it a straight-through listen, but what if it happens to be a tepid three-tracker? out of, say, 12 songs?