I hope you don’t mind me addressing only the variety question.
In the recent thread-war between those arguing about whether streaming is better than cds, a comment was made by one of the streaming advocates that denigrated those who favor physical media for being content to listen to the same music, over and over again. The implication seems to be that we must be mentally deficient because we are somehow content without constantly being inundated with mass quantities of new music. We’re too dumb to recognize that more is better.
There have been, from time to time, guys who’ve reported they’ve abandoned streaming because over time, they became like people who never sit down to a full meal; who simply snack on this and that throughout the day. In other words, these guys claimed streaming had habituated them to listening to tracks, rather than albums, and in the process, listening had become much less satisfying.
There is a part of the brain that, given free reign, will obsessively seek out a quick fix, and will never be satisfied.
I’ve mentioned before that with age, I’m finding it harder and harder to find new music that really grabs me. I spend a couple hours each day on Spotify exploring unfamiliar artists and it’s rare that I encounter anything I like enough to buy. One reason for this is my demand like any album please me in its entirety. If I feel.ambivalent about two songs out of twelve but love the other tracks, that won’t keep me from buying it, but that’s actually pretty rare. I wouldn’t buy a book of art reproductions, a novel or a book of poetry if I didn’t like it in its entirety, either. Nor would I patronize a restaurant and order a plate of food if I only some or what was on the plate. Just the way I’m wired.