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iPod too much of a good thing?(too much music)

luffytubby

luffytubby

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Jan 22, 2008
684
0
do you guys add ALL your music, or only the music you like...


I got acces to like 200 ripped CDs but I dont know 10% of it...


the question is; is it all about getting as much music as possible or just the music you like?


there is a hairfine balance between the music that grows on your, wears out aswell...


how do you balance that, if you got like 200-300 GB of music...!?
 
I've actually been wondering the same thing. Anyone? I have more music imported into iTunes than what I really listen to. I've been thinking about cleaning it out, too. I'm nowhere close to the 200 GB range, though.
 
I've got 4-5gigs of music, I only buy what I like, I don't buy full albums from artists I don't care for too much, just the singles I like, but also I buy full albums from artists I really like, and whose music I feel is more than just short term radio hits designed to grab a few quick bucks.
 
Burnsey said:
I've got 4-5gigs of music, I only buy what I like, I don't buy full albums from artists I don't care for too much, just the singles I like, but also I buy full albums from artists I really like, and whose music I feel is more than just short term radio hits designed to grab a few quick bucks.
Click to expand...

yeah, when I buy music from Itunes(have bought overall around 200 songs) I also buy music I like. THe only album I have bought on youtube is Coldplays Viva La Vida!


but I got tons of CDs at home that I could import into Itunes, so I would have 200-250 GB of music... I actually dont know what to do. its actually kind of a problem.

I am 21 years old, and the way I have grown up and the way I have learned to listen to music is through music videos on MTV. I didnt grew up with Radio, and I am not good at listening to indie music or appreciating small things. I never listen to full albums. I just hear the hit singles and move on.


thats why I feel like that I am in a pinch. I suck. I dont know how to listen to music, so to speak.
 
I have just over 150GB of music.... over 30,000 songs.... and yes, I listen to all of it. I only keep music I like in my collection. It's not about trying to have the biggest collection... someone will always have more. It's about enjoying music you love and having only as much as you want, not what anyone else expects you to have. It's not a competition!
 
I imported just about all the CD's I have. Playlists are for sorting out what you like =] I use this system I spotted in the comments of Lifehacker some time ago; if I ever run short of space I can do a cull, although it wouldn't free up that much space.

Songs that you don't play? There is such a thing? Man!

Here is my needlessly complicated playlisting scheme that I am secretly quite proud of. I very rarely fiddle with my tunes except for once in awhile when I get a song in my head and *have* to hear it -- other than that, this scheme keeps me in a good mix. And no pesky ignored tunes! Eventually, they all cycle through.

My insanity:

1. Any songs that are better than the general population get four stars. (Originally these were the songs I had dubbed mix-cd-worthy.)
2. Any songs that I love so much I'd gladly listen to again regardless of when I listened to them last get five stars.
3. Everything else stays unrated.
4. Create a new smart playlist called "Recently Unplayed." Set it to contain anything that has not been played in the last three months.
5. Create another smart playlist called "Recently Unplayed Better Songs." Set it to contain anything that is rated four stars and has not been played in the last six weeks.
6. Create another smart playlist called "Best Songs Not Played This Week." Set it to contain anything that is rated five stars and hasn't been played in the last week.
7. Create a final smart playlist called "Playlist of Record." Set it to contain songs that are in ANY of the last three playlists. This is the playlist I nearly exclusively listen to (actually, I point Party Shuffle at it).

I occasionally fiddle the date limits on the various playlists so that there's usually 600-700 songs in the final playlist with about a third of them higher-rated.

Bonus complications:
8. Create a regular playlist and name it "On Notice." As you listen to your music, dump in all of the songs you realize you can no longer stand.
9. Create a smart playlist and name it "Recently Unplayed and Allowable." Set it to contain songs that ARE in "Recently Unplayed" and are NOT in "On Notice."
10. Use "Recently Unplayed and Allowable" in step 7 instead of the original "Recently Unplayed" list.

Even more complicated:
11. Create a regular playlist and name it "Do Not Open Until Xmas." Dump in all of your Christmas music.
12. Add a rule to "Recently Unplayed and Allowable" stating that it cannot contain songs in "Do Not Open Until Xmas."
13. Around November, or whenever you can stand to hear Christmas music again, remove the rule. (This is my lame workaround for the lack of an iTunes rule like "if today's date is...".) Christmas music will now percolate through your main playlist again, but it won't rule the day.

I recently added another few rules to segregate a couple hundred songs to play exclusively on the iPod in the car, but I'll leave that as an exercise for the reader.

Also, although I fully expect most people think this is utterly insane, I just know there is at least one person out there who read this whole thing and found it unbearably hot
Click to expand...
 
I'm in my own dilemma of sorts. I have about 70GB of music in my Library, however, I probably listen to maybe 15 of that. I have a ton of hip hop and rap music going back to the 80s that I just, for whatever reason, do not want to get rid of even though I hardly ever listen to that genre anymore. I find myself listening exclusively to my 'Purchased' playlist lately, which is strange. So I'm either going to bite the bullet and get rid of stuff or just get an external hard drive and store my Library on there.

Still unsure of what to do.
 
reclusive monkey - that is actually a really freaking good idea. THANK YOU!
 
KingYaba said:
I have a revolving door, so to speak. Only fifteen gigabytes of music on my drive.
Click to expand...

ditto. this is for 20gb ipod.

but then there are other considerations like, quality versus quantity & other files on-board.

when i had minidisc that was enough. i'd just sync the most relevant to me at the time (newest purchases usually, as i would play those to death).

i wouldn't like to go higher on ipod space for this one simple reason - i'd spend more time scrolling through music i already have, trying to find something that suits my mood/situation, & therefor spend less cash (or none) on new music.

don't get me wrong, i like digging & will swap stuff around, just that there's a pecking order which has to have new / fresh up top.

oh &, only so much music you can listen to at any one time
 
ggjstudios said:
I only keep music I like in my collection. It's not about trying to have the biggest collection... someone will always have more. It's about enjoying music you love and having only as much as you want, not what anyone else expects you to have. It's not a competition!
Click to expand...

Roger that. I've been trimming my collection over the past two months, and currently have around two weeks of music.

At one point, it was much larger, but I realized I'd much rather have a smaller collection filled with music
I truly enjoyed than a larger one replete with songs I'd never listen to.

It's more satisfying this way, developing an intimate connection with the parts of your catalogue that
truly resonate with you.

Currently, only about 5% of my music is unplayed, and I'm constantly whittling that down.

I figure I'd rather have an in-depth collection of a comparitively small number of artists than
a shallow collection of a large number of random artists.

To the OP, my advice would be to make a smart playlist of unplayed music, and spend
the majority of time listening to (and deleting) things inside it.

With regards to listening to albums vs. individual songs, you don't have to choose the latter over the former.

I'm your age, and I'm an album listener.

It's really about taking the time to appreciate the ebb and flow of a record, rather than constantly hopping from this to that.

I imagine it also helps increase one's focus. Give it a try sometime. And for your own sake, stop watching television.
The overwhelming percentage of good music out there will never appear on TV.
 
I've got about 13 GB of music from all the CDs I've bought for the last 20 years or so. Most of the stuff is 70s and 80s music I haven't had time to listen to since college. It's been ages since I just sat down and popped a CD in to listen to it. Now, thanks to the iPod, I just shuffle the whole list and set up a smart playlist to exclude anything played in the last 4 months. So now in my car, I can appreciate all my old music all over again. It's great!
 
My balancing solution:

I have nearly 10 gigs of music, and I know every song (2500?)

I still have quite a few CDs and records to burn, but I only burn them after I wear the previous album out.

I do believe in only having music you like. otherwise, it's no longer enjoyable :p
 
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