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How Do You Decide What to Listen To?

As with most things audio related what should be simple ends up being somewhat complex (or stupid, depending upon your POV).

I have approximately 2,500 discs (90/10 in favor of vinyl). The CDs are stored in the listening room, but the vinyl is stored in an adjacent room. The records are stored on two separate 4 level racks and are arranged alphabetically by artist.

To listen to music I first have to decide on CD vs. vinyl. If I'm lazy, I'll simply press play and listen to whatever is already in the CD player (a 5 disc changer). Odds are that it will be a number of discs that I really like, but it ignores and eliminates from consideration the vast majority of music that I have available. If I take the time to start searching through either the CD or vinyl collection, then I run into another problem. To physically scan through 2000 records is time consuming. Typically it takes 5 or 10 minutes to pick out a half dozen or so records from which I'll actually listen to 3 or 4. Since I only have a limited amount of quality listening time, I tend to select only those records that I know I already really like. To an extent I'm still ignoring a large part of my music collection. While I'm enjoying what I do select, the problem is there's alot of really good music that I'm not listening to.

I guess my question really is - HOW DO YOU LISTEN TO ALL OF THE GOOD MUSIC YOU HAVE? To select one record means you have not selected another. With only a limited amount of time, do you end up listening to only a fraction of your collection? The same 100 or 200 hundred disc over and over again. I have a good size record collection, but I know from these Forums that others have double or quadruple of what I possess. I would assume that others have this problem and I'm interested in how you have addressed the issue.
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marakanetz
5,473 posts
 
Right now I've got close to 1000 records and 150 CDs. With CDs everything is pretty simple but so simple is with vinyls as well.
I've got the LP stand which is divided on equal 12x12x12" cubes. Each cube has either a particular artist or group with same style of music.
For example I certainly have to search Peter Hammill next to Van Der Graaf Generator since he was a lead vocal in that band. Or guess where I have to search for Robert Plant?...
Besides that I know that certain levels of my rack is occupied by rock, certain levels are occupied by jazz and certain levels are occupied by classical/easy-listened/new age stuff. To find among rock is more difficult than among any other levels since rock section occupies full three levels. Having used my vinyls for quite a long time, I certainly stack them onto an appropriate level and next to appropriate artist. I also remember all placements well since I play them quite often. If I want to listen to a number of records I have in my listening room a 12" wood bar screwed onto the floor next to the corner so I can stack a number of planned to listen records.

With CDs a bit simplier since they're not that much but still I have a jazz-tower that contains now close to 100 CDs sorted by groups of related styles.
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muzikat
929 posts
 
Sometimes I just reach into my collection and pull out something without looking at the title first.
tireguy
1,964 posts
 
Completely depends on my mood, or who is around :) -if you know what I mean. If I hear a song on the radio that I haven't heard in a long time I go home and dig it out, and enjoy it(I am strictly digital at the moment). I tend to listen to my latest purchases most frequent, but I tend to play to death things, meaning I will just listen to them over and over until I get bored(2-3 weeks) then it goes on the shelf until I am ready to take a trip down memory lane, different things bring me back to different points in my life, ie what was I listening to the day of september 11, REM "Automatic for the People" I think that will always have a very ironical rememberence in my life. At the moment I am listening to various Police/Sting music, last week was Greg Brown, its truly amazing the affect it has on me. I remember what I was listening to when I had my wisdom teeth removed(John Tesh- Avalon) and I hate that CD now! it always brings back the memories of pain! If I have a friend over I like to set them loose on the music collection and see what the come up with. For some reason I always tend to enjoy it, go figure ;)
cornfedboy
1,645 posts
 
for those of you who have not seen the movie or read the book, i highly recommend "high fidelity." the protagonist, played by john cusack in the movie, is the owner of a vinyl shop. he has a huge lp collection that he rearranges in some nutty ways, including chronologically, as it relates to him. he also has some great things to say about picking music for demo tapes that this thread brought to mind. (BTW, the book is by nick hornby.)

sarah's categorization"system" is remarkably similar to mine, tho i don't use quite as many genre (it's hard enuff for me with only 9 ): classical (alphabetical by composer); rock/pop (alphabetical by artist); grateful dead & gd artists(an entire 100 cd shelf and most of a 125 lp unit, arranged chronologically); folk (alpha by artist); blues (ditto); c & w (ditto ditto); soundtracks (alpha by movie/musical); jazz (alpha artist); and "gems", comprising some 40 or 50 cd's and around the same number of lp's that are extra special (kinda like hp's original dirty dozen list). i tend to play stuff "relationally." i start with a piece that's new or for which i'm in the mood and move on to the next lp/cd based upon what the earlier one brings to mind. that could mean something by the same artist, same genre, similar mood, whatever. i rarely have more than one recording in mind when i start my listening sessions, whether they are a half hour's or half day's duration. great thread, onhwy61. -cfb
cornfedboy
1,645 posts
 
tim: i can't believe you're a greg brown fan. you know he's another cornfedboy, still hangin' in iowa city? i have everything he's ever recorded. moreover, a signed photograph of mr. brown, taken by steve stone (former s'phile reviewer and "official" photographer for e-town), hangs on my "artist gallery wall" leading down the stairs to my sound room. FWIW, the other artists in the gallery (all original prints, signed by photographer), include eric clapton, ricki lee jones, john prine, jerry and bobby. gaps are filled with original fillmore west posters by muscoso and mouse. - kelly
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