# your music collection



## jonathanmoeller (Apr 19, 2011)

I've been collecting digital music for 10 years, and I've got nine days, hour hours, fifty-five minutes, and thirty-four seconds of music in iTunes (for a total of 16.13 GB). But that's chump change - I've encountered people with 200 gigabytes or more.

How big is your music collection?


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## NogDog (May 1, 2009)

My digital music collection is relatively small. I've only downloaded a few things, and "ripped" some of my CDs for listening while traveling or at work. The vast majority of my music collection is in plastic of one sort or another: maybe 300 or so CDs and about 100 vinyl LPs (and maybe a couple dozen concert DVDs, too).

I'm enough of a music snob that, at least for serious listening, MP3s don't cut it, and I find them fatiguing to listen to for an extended amount of time -- worse than standard CDs, which unfortunately are themselves deficient compared to the good old LP (though it certainly has its downside in terms of its high maintenance requirements).


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## jonathanmoeller (Apr 19, 2011)

> I'm enough of a music snob that, at least for serious listening, MP3s don't cut it, and I find them fatiguing to listen to for an extended amount of time -- worse than standard CDs, which unfortunately are themselves deficient compared to the good old LP (though it certainly has its downside in terms of its high maintenance requirements).


In all candor, I've never really been able to tell the difference between the formats in terms of audio quality. (I'm aware that it exists, of course, I just can't pick it up.) Which does make enjoying music cheaper, though perhaps I'm like the man enjoying a McDonald's cheeseburger when prime rib is available.


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## 1131 (Dec 18, 2008)

My Itunes library is relatively small.  Mostly from my CDs with a few purchases and freebies from Itunes and Amazon.  I gave up vinyl because I had a cat that would jump on the record player everytime I turned it on.  She ruined many records.  My Itunes library is currently at 26.1 GB or 16.5 days or 5176 songs.  I have about a dozen CDs to add and will be adding my holiday music soon.  My holiday music is just under 9 GB.  How am I going to get all that on my 32 GB touch?  Until right now I didn't think I would have a problem.


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## luvmy4brats (Nov 9, 2008)

I have tinnitus and all music formats sound the same to me. 

I have about 21 GB of music in iTunes. It says 3,631 tracks and 9.6 days. 

I also have several hundred audio books that I've collected over the years. That's what I really enjoy listening to.


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## jonathanmoeller (Apr 19, 2011)

> I also have several hundred audio books that I've collected over the years.


Now those are fun, especially on long car trips.


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## NogDog (May 1, 2009)

jonathanmoeller said:


> In all candor, I've never really been able to tell the difference between the formats in terms of audio quality. (I'm aware that it exists, of course, I just can't pick it up.) Which does make enjoying music cheaper, though perhaps I'm like the man enjoying a McDonald's cheeseburger when prime rib is available.


Certainly there's a difference in what each of us physically can hear, and also in what we've been trained to hear, so to speak. Many people today have never heard music reproduced accurately on a good system properly set up in a decent listening room. They do not know what they are missing in terms of timbre accuracy, imaging, pacing and timing, accurate bass response (not simply lots of bass, but bass that is tuneful and accurate, not simply false bass at one pitch achieved via speakers intentionally designed to resonate artificially at one frequency).

If you ever get a chance to hear a really good system (the sort that costs 3 or 4 times what mine does) that has been properly set up to play LPs, then listen for awhile, I'll bet you'd be amazed at how much more compelling the music sounds. (Well, maybe not if you just listen to certain types of pop music that have very little musical content.  ) On second thought, you might not want to do that, as it can get you hooked in a hurry and leave you spending money you should be using for more important things -- not that I can think of many things more important than music.


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## jonathanmoeller (Apr 19, 2011)

> On second thought, you might not want to do that, as it can get you hooked in a hurry and leave you spending money you should be using for more important things


Like ebooks, for one.


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## luvmy4brats (Nov 9, 2008)

NogDog said:


> Certainly there's a difference in what each of us physically can hear, and also in what we've been trained to hear, so to speak. Many people today have never heard music reproduced accurately on a good system properly set up in a decent listening room. They do not know what they are missing in terms of timbre accuracy, imaging, pacing and timing, accurate bass response (not simply lots of bass, but bass that is tuneful and accurate, not simply false bass at one pitch achieved via speakers intentionally designed to resonate artificially at one frequency).
> 
> If you ever get a chance to hear a really good system (the sort that costs 3 or 4 times what mine does) that has been properly set up to play LPs, then listen for awhile, I'll bet you'd be amazed at how much more compelling the music sounds. (Well, maybe not if you just listen to certain types of pop music that have very little musical content.  ) On second thought, you might not want to do that, as it can get you hooked in a hurry and leave you spending money you should be using for more important things -- not that I can think of many things more important than music.


I've thought of looking into that... But all I'd hear is the ringing in my ears over the music. I also have some high frequency loss in both ears due to my job in the Navy some years back


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## derek alvah (Jul 2, 2010)

My music library is 13.65 GB, that's 2,150 songs. Only 2 of those song are country music. Johnny Cash.


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## DYB (Aug 8, 2009)

Amateurs!  My collection is at the moment 758 GBs clocking in at 131:03:09:24 hours.  I do have a lot of Apple Lossless recordings of classical music (yes, you really can tell the difference between an MP3 and a Lossless format, especially in classical music), so that will account for the high GB number.


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## NapCat (retired) (Jan 17, 2011)

One piano and a stack of sheet music !!


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## Vegas_Asian (Nov 2, 2008)

My family has the top hundred songs for every year dating back to 1960. I don't know how much I have

Sent from my HTC Inspire via Tapatalk


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## jonathanmoeller (Apr 19, 2011)

> My collection is at the moment 758 GBs clocking in at 131:03:09:24 hours.


Wowza.



> Only 2 of those song are country music. Johnny Cash.


Bet one of them is Ring of Fire.


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## bnapier (Apr 26, 2010)

derek alvah said:


> My music library is 13.65 GB, that's 2,150 songs. Only 2 of those song are country music. Johnny Cash.


Sounds like mine. And hell, I'd hesitate to call Cash's more recent stuff country. Cash is the only "country" artist on my iTunes.


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## Alle Meine Entchen (Dec 6, 2009)

I don't know how big my music collection is, but I know it's a lot.  I share it w/ DH, so I have more country than I really want in it.  Of course, he can complain about the fact that a lot of my music isn't in english (J-Pop, Schlager, I think I even have some scandinavian pop music, plus tons of German pop).  

As for fitting it all on my 32 gb, I don't try.  I just mix, match and redo every so often.


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## Hadou (Jun 1, 2011)

I wish I could give an accurate tally.  I know it's somewhere in the hundreds of GBs, though.  I took the time to rip every single one of the family's CDs one month, and wound up filling up a couple hard drives.


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## DYB (Aug 8, 2009)

Hadou said:


> I wish I could give an accurate tally. I know it's somewhere in the hundreds of GBs, though. I took the time to rip every single one of the family's CDs one month, and wound up filling up a couple hard drives.


My CD collection is a few times bigger than my digital music. Years of collecting CDs. One of these days I should rip them and make some space in my NYC apartment!


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## jonathanmoeller (Apr 19, 2011)

> I wish I could give an accurate tally. I know it's somewhere in the hundreds of GBs, though. I took the time to rip every single one of the family's CDs one month, and wound up filling up a couple hard drives.


Especially a few years ago. The first hard drive I ever owned was 25 megabytes (of course, this was before the Internet, and long before iTunes).


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## The Hooded Claw (Oct 12, 2009)

Like luvmy4brats, I have ringing tin ears, so mp3 music sounds fine to me. I have just short of 31 gig of music. Perhaps five percent is country, notably from C. W.  McCall, though I also have some Johnny Cash, some Charlie Daniels, and even one Glenn Campbell album. 

Probably my most unusual albums are collections of Civil War music. I have several albums of it, been on a fad for it lately.


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## jonathanmoeller (Apr 19, 2011)

> Like luvmy4brats, I have ringing tin ears, so mp3 music sounds fine to me. I have just short of 31 gig of music. Perhaps five percent is country, notably from C. W. McCall, though I also have some Johnny Cash, some Charlie Daniels, and even one Glenn Campbell album.


About half of mine is computer game soundtracks, actually. I like music I can write to, and computer game soundtrack are _great _for that.

Classical and symphonic metal rounds out the other half.


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## spotsmom (Jan 20, 2011)

A few years ago several of my friends and I went in on buying one of those machines that converts LP's to mp3's.  Instead of recording entire albums that I had, I was very selective in choosing only the songs I wanted.  So I converted all my LPs, cassettes, and CD's.  I only have 2500 songs, but it's plenty for me!

Unfortunately, the stereo system (i.e., turntable, amp, etc) I had wasn't the best so I didn't lose much in converting it all to digital.  However, like some others I have kept lots of it in the longer format. I once bought a 16 gb ipod thinking it would hold everything, but the long format put me over (and I was too lazy to convert)!

I did buy a Bose iPod player (the desktop kind) and must say I have been unimpressed with it.  I was expecting something spectacular for the price, and it ain't got it!

If you had told me 25 yrs ago (when I was carting cassettes around) that someday I'd hold all my music in something I held in my hand I would have been stunned.


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## Carol (was Dara) (Feb 19, 2011)

NapCat said:


> One piano and a stack of sheet music !!


Awwwww!!!


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## Steven L. Hawk (Jul 10, 2010)

I keep my collection on a removable hard drive.  

293 GB
67,604 songs

All but two of those songs are Johnny Cash.  And I know the words to all of them.  

(Okay, I made up those last two data points.)


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## jonathanmoeller (Apr 19, 2011)

> I did buy a Bose iPod player (the desktop kind) and must say I have been unimpressed with it. I was expecting something spectacular for the price, and it ain't got it!


Yes. I highly suspect that Bose products are overrated, but I might not have the hearing range to appreciate them.


> If you had told me 25 yrs ago (when I was carting cassettes around) that someday I'd hold all my music in something I held in my hand I would have been stunned.


Ditto, ditto, a thousand times ditto. Or that you could fit a mid-sized public library onto a Kindle.


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## luvmy4brats (Nov 9, 2008)

I use Bose earphones and love them... But I think that's because of the design of the earbuds more than the sound quality. I've thought about getting one too, but probably wouldn't notice a difference.


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## WestofMars (Sep 16, 2009)

How big is my music collection? Not. Big. Enough.


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## jonathanmoeller (Apr 19, 2011)

> How big is my music collection? Not. Big. Enough.


Yeah. It's like book sales. How many is enough? Just. One. _More_.


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## WestofMars (Sep 16, 2009)

One? Your discipline is inspiring.

Or else you're just nuts. Music (and, okay, book sales -- since you went there!) is like potato chips. Can't stop at just one. Thankfully, music (and book sales) aren't as bad for the waist as potato chips.


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## derek alvah (Jul 2, 2010)

jonathanmoeller said:


> Bet one of them is Ring of Fire.


Oddly no. The two Johnny Cash songs are "The Man Comes Around" and "Hurt".


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## jonathanmoeller (Apr 19, 2011)

> Or else you're just nuts.


Alas, I cannot find any evidence to refute you.


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## spotsmom (Jan 20, 2011)

Oh what I would give for a pair of Bose earphones!!!  Sigh... Just can't justify the $$$.  Hope you enjoy yours!!!


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## Steven L. Hawk (Jul 10, 2010)

Luvmy4brats said:


> I use Bose earphones and love them... But I think that's because of the design of the earbuds more than the sound quality. I've thought about getting one too, but probably wouldn't notice a difference.


I have a pair of Bose QuietComfort 15 headphones and absolutely love them! I had a difficult time getting past the price tag, but when I tried them on in the local Best Buy I was floored. All outside noise disappeared. I fly a lot and they have proven themselves well worth the cost.


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## spotsmom (Jan 20, 2011)

I live in a small house with a husband that listens to one-sided politics for about 4 hrs each night.  I crave Bose headphones.  I check them periodically on eBay.  Of course, there's always Christmas!!  I should tell him it's the least he can do...


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## jonathanmoeller (Apr 19, 2011)

> I have a pair of Bose QuietComfort 15 headphones and absolutely love them! I had a difficult time getting past the price tag, but when I tried them on in the local Best Buy I was floored. All outside noise disappeared. I fly a lot and they have proven themselves well worth the cost.


I've heard the Bose headphones are a lot better than the Bose earbuds, but that could just be (forgive the pun) hearsay.


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## luvmy4brats (Nov 9, 2008)

I haven't used the headphones, only the earbuds. I use them day in and day out. Even in bed at night. I couldn't handle the headphones that way. I have the kind that work with the iPhone.


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## jonathanmoeller (Apr 19, 2011)

> I haven't used the headphones, only the earbuds. I use them day in and day out. Even in bed at night. I couldn't handle the headphones that way. I have the kind that work with the iPhone.


The tricky thing about earbuds is you can't test them before you buy. I mean, earbuds are _really _the sort of thing you don't want to share with other people...


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## DYB (Aug 8, 2009)

There's only one Johnny Cash song in my collection; the one he recorded with U2 on their "Zooropa" album.


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## jonathanmoeller (Apr 19, 2011)

> There's only one Johnny Cash song in my collection; the one he recorded with U2 on their "Zooropa" album.


Never heard that one, though I do have a soft spot for "Ring of Fire."


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## The Hooded Claw (Oct 12, 2009)

I bought Bose headphones last year after balking at the price for years, and I'm glad I did it every time I fly.


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## DYB (Aug 8, 2009)

jonathanmoeller said:


> Never heard that one, though I do have a soft spot for "Ring of Fire."


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## NogDog (May 1, 2009)

You might want to check out the Audio Technica noise-cancelling headphones, as they are getting good reviews while running at about half the price of Bose. (No big surprise, as Bose has great name recognition in spite of putting out only mid-fi equipment at best for the last 2-3 decades. I wonder if their current implementation of the Bose 901 speaker -- the product that got them started -- can even hold a candle to the original product?) I'm trying to decide right now which one I want to order. 

$80:


$118:


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## derek alvah (Jul 2, 2010)

DYB said:


>


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## Holly A Hook (Sep 19, 2010)

My digital songs add up to 19 hours if they were played straight through, but I only keep my top favorites in my external hard drive.  I think I have somewhere around 2,500 physical CD's, though a good portion of them are burned from friends, music downloads (legalsounds is a great way of getting lots of music cheap) and freebies from Amazon/Jamendo.  I also find a lot of used CD's for less than three bucks.


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## The Hooded Claw (Oct 12, 2009)

My favorite Cash song is "one Piece at a Time"

Not easy to post a YouTube link on this iPad, but it is worth looking up and listening to the lyrics if you don't know it.


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## Geemont (Nov 18, 2008)

Audiobooks: 121 days
Classical: 18.6b days
Books and Spoken: 8.9 days
Rock: 7.4 hours
Alternative and Punk:	6 hours
Jazz:	4.1 hours
Medieval:	2.2 hours
Folk:	2.1 days
Gospel and Religious:	1.1 hours


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## jonathanmoeller (Apr 19, 2011)

> I think I have somewhere around 2,500 physical CD's,


Wow! You could literally construct your own housing out of CDs.


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## spotsmom (Jan 20, 2011)

Thanks, NogDog, for the suggestion on the earphones.  I'll check them out for sure!  I can justify $80 (somehow).


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## DYB (Aug 8, 2009)

spotsmom said:


> Thanks, NogDog, for the suggestion on the earphones. I'll check them out for sure! I can justify $80 (somehow).


I have these Audio Technica headphones; they're excellent and are $38.69.


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## SheenahFreitas (Oct 7, 2011)

I currently have enough songs to last me 6.4 days downloaded (2755 songs) and a few CDs that I still have yet to rip. I think I have almost every single genre of music, too.


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## jonathanmoeller (Apr 19, 2011)

> I have these Audio Technica headphones; they're excellent and are $38.69.


I know a piano lab teacher who swears by that brand.


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## balaspa (Dec 27, 2009)

A lot less, that's for sure.  I have about 156 songs on my iPod these days, at last count.


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## Victoria J (Jul 5, 2011)

I have 38 gigs of digital music (mostly mp3s but also some FLAC files) and about 150 CDs. I still love CDs. I even have a few cassette tapes floating around here somewhere.


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## jonathanmoeller (Apr 19, 2011)

> I even have a few cassette tapes floating around here somewhere.


I don't have any tapes - I only developed a taste for listening to music after the CD came along. (Before that I preferred absolute silence, but that gets old after a few years.)


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## 4Katie (Jun 27, 2009)

I have 4,036 songs - 19 gb and about 10 days worth. It's mostly popular music (seven decades worth!), with some classical and Christmas music. In addition to that, I also have a lot of comedy tracks. 

It's definitly a work in progress... just today I downloaded five songs I couldn't believe I didn't have.

I love listenng on shuffle. Yesterday I heard Nirvana and The Osmond Brothers back-to-back. Sometimes I think my head's gonna explode!


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## William G. Jones (Sep 6, 2011)

I'm not currently on my laptop, so I'm not 100% sure... I've got 42 gigs on the laptop, another 30 gigs on my desktop PC, my 80 GB iPod is about 95% full, and I still have stacks of CDs that I never listen to anymore and I never bothered to rip (and I really should get rid of...).


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## jonathanmoeller (Apr 19, 2011)

> I have 4,036 songs - 19 gb and about 10 days worth. It's mostly popular music (seven decades worth!), with some classical and Christmas music. In addition to that, I also have a lot of comedy tracks.


I've got 4,018, myself, but mine comes to only 16 BG.


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## spotsmom (Jan 20, 2011)

You people are so much wiser than I.  Does anyone know how to rip a song from a DVD (theme song to a movie) to mp3?  There's a thread here on how to get a YouTube song to mp3, but my problem is different.


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## 4Katie (Jun 27, 2009)

spotsmom said:


> You people are so much wiser than I. Does anyone know how to rip a song from a DVD (theme song to a movie) to mp3? There's a thread here on how to get a YouTube song to mp3, but my problem is different.


Maybe you can get it from iTunes.


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## DYB (Aug 8, 2009)

spotsmom said:


> You people are so much wiser than I. Does anyone know how to rip a song from a DVD (theme song to a movie) to mp3? There's a thread here on how to get a YouTube song to mp3, but my problem is different.


I'd say try Amazon music store or iTunes. There is software that can do it, I'm sure. What I have is not free because I need some conversions for work. It's called Wondershare. But there's gotta be free software on the web that would do it.


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## StaceyHH (Sep 13, 2010)

40G music 25G audiobooks. 

I definitely notice the difference with a good audio system, but I'm not picky. As long as there's no static or hissing, and I have stereo sound, I'm okay with it. We have a pretty fancy Paradigm system (including my good turntable) wired into our family room, and it sounds fantastic, but I listen to more music on my computer speakers, and my iPod with headphones, than I do in there.


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## jonathanmoeller (Apr 19, 2011)

> We have a pretty fancy Paradigm system (including my good turntable) wired into our family room, and it sounds fantastic, but I listen to more music on my computer speakers, and my iPod with headphones, than I do in there.


I suspect that headphones have kept the peace in _many _a family.


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## SheenahFreitas (Oct 7, 2011)

4Katie said:


> I have 4,036 songs - 19 gb and about 10 days worth. It's mostly popular music (seven decades worth!), with some classical and Christmas music. In addition to that, I also have a lot of comedy tracks.
> 
> It's definitly a work in progress... just today I downloaded five songs I couldn't believe I didn't have.
> 
> I love listenng on shuffle. Yesterday I heard Nirvana and The Osmond Brothers back-to-back. Sometimes I think my head's gonna explode!


Shuffle is a great way to listen to music. I've heard something by Mozart and the next song would be something from Rob Zombie followed by a country song. It keeps you on your toes.


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## jonathanmoeller (Apr 19, 2011)

> Shuffle is a great way to listen to music. I've heard something by Mozart and the next song would be something from Rob Zombie followed by a country song. It keeps you on your toes.


The danger of that, of course, is that I'll sit there hitting the next button over and over again until I find a song I like...


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## Seanathin23 (Jul 24, 2011)

I didn't even come close to filling my 32Gig iPod touch with my entire collection, but I'm one of those people that can listen to the same CD endlessly.


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## jonathanmoeller (Apr 19, 2011)

> I didn't even come close to filling my 32Gig iPod touch with my entire collection, but I'm one of those people that can listen to the same CD endlessly.


I'll usually listen to a new album 15 or 20 times in a row before I switch back to other things.


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## David D Sharp (Aug 25, 2011)

I have around 45GB of music crossing all sorts of genres.

However the past year or so I've been becoming more and used to using Spotify - so much so that I rarely any new albums, just stream them. Even music I already own and have sitting on my computer, I've started listening to on Spotify instead now.

Wonder what would happen if Amazon were to launch a similar service for the Kindle? All-you-can-eat eBooks for a set fee every month?


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## mlewis78 (Apr 19, 2009)

I use the larger audio technical noise cancelling headphones Nog Dog showed us.  Had to get new ones.  The first pair lasted MUCH longer than the Bose (non noise canceling) over the ear headphones.  I use headphones all the time while out walking.  Usually don't use the noise cancel feature, but the physical barrier is great for me.  Can't use buds out there because the traffic noise and people on cellphones noise interferes.  Sometimes I turn on the noise cancellation when sirens or fire truck horns are nearby.


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## jonathanmoeller (Apr 19, 2011)

> However the past year or so I've been becoming more and used to using Spotify - so much so that I rarely any new albums, just stream them. Even music I already own and have sitting on my computer, I've started listening to on Spotify instead now.


Spotify is pretty cool, but it gets problematic when the Internet connection goes out.


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## SheenahFreitas (Oct 7, 2011)

jonathanmoeller said:


> The danger of that, of course, is that I'll sit there hitting the next button over and over again until I find a song I like...


Well hopefully everything that's in your music library are songs that you like, so you wouldn't be constantly pressing the next button.


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## David D Sharp (Aug 25, 2011)

jonathanmoeller said:


> Spotify is pretty cool, but it gets problematic when the Internet connection goes out.


I've never really had an issue with that - I believe Spotify caches everything you listen to locally so even if you do lose your internet connection then you can listen to older stuff. Having said, I gave up using it on my mobile phone.


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## PatrickWalts (Jul 22, 2011)

Digital?  About 300 gigs, I suppose.  As far as cd's go, I got my first cd player in 1990, at about the age of 14 and have been collecting them steadily since, so that adds up to...a lot.  Recently, though, I've just been buying mp3 albums off Amazon.  It bums me out to buy cd's, because I know it's a dying format, and it feels like a waste of space and energy.  Started collecting vinyl a couple years ago, though, have about 100 or so records.


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## jonathanmoeller (Apr 19, 2011)

> Recently, though, I've just been buying mp3 albums off Amazon.


I really like Amazon MP3, better than iTunes or any of the competitors. Convenient, and DRM free, which is nice.


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## PatrickWalts (Jul 22, 2011)

jonathanmoeller said:


> I really like Amazon MP3, better than iTunes or any of the competitors. Convenient, and DRM free, which is nice.


Yeah. If they weren't DRM-free I would refuse to buy them.


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## David D Sharp (Aug 25, 2011)

David D Sharp said:


> Wonder what would happen if Amazon were to launch a similar service for the Kindle? All-you-can-eat eBooks for a set fee every month?


And the dream becomes reality! http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html/?docId=1000739811&tag=gmgamzn-20


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## Rasputina (May 6, 2009)

jonathanmoeller said:


> I really like Amazon MP3, better than iTunes or any of the competitors. Convenient, and DRM free, which is nice.


itunes music has been arm free for awhile now.


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## jonathanmoeller (Apr 19, 2011)

> itunes music has been arm free for awhile now.


And thankfully, too - a few years ago I had many unpleasant mornings explaining to clients why their music would not play on their new computer.


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