No Time for Crap songs

Mag · « **on:** 10 Oct 2006, 06:38 am »

I find myself playing the same favorite cd's over and over again. So I decided to go through my entire collection again. Last time it took like 4 months, one or two discs everyday during the week and several on the weekend.
Last time I had to play each and every song this time the rules are different. I am permitting myself to skip over crap songs. Nothing worse than listening to songs you can't stand on your Hi-Fi rig, might as well not have it.
Music is very subjective, its hard to explain to someone why you like or hate a song. I've been subjected to my girlfriends music and pretty much the majority of it sucks. But I did discover a few good tunes. She thinks my music sucks and we have very little common ground. But this is true of just about everyone else I know. Everyone has their own taste. We tend to agree somewhat on hit songs but then again we like the song for different reasons.
I suppose what influences are individual tastes the most is the music environment we grew up in. For me my dad played the button accordion and played waltzes and polkas with his brothers whenever our families got together. As well I can remember listening to children's songs like 'How much is that Doggie in the Window'. And my mother listening to old time country songs on the radio.
So the foundation for music began at an early age for me. And I would guess that this is true for everyone and these early experiences shape to a great degree what we will find enjoyable later as we grow.

Any thought's ?

rockadanny · « **Reply #1 on:** 11 Oct 2006, 05:36 pm »

I agree ... Death to crap songs!! I banish thee to Hades!!
I've made the effort to copy my CDs sans tracks that (I think) suck. Although this also includes almost all "bonus tracks" and "alternate takes". I find most bonus tracks to either suck, have no coherence with the rest of the cd, or just too ho-hum to include. I will listen to alternate takes to decide which I like better, the originally released or alternate take, then include the preferred one (almost always the original) on my final copy of the cd. I've also combined two (or more) cds to exclude the several tracks I dislike on each. This also reduces storage space.

R_burke · « **Reply #2 on:** 11 Oct 2006, 07:14 pm »

I find "crap" songs to be a matter of timing for me. What I like today differs from what I liked yesterday, but I might go back to yesterday tomorrow and like it then. It's only after I listened to something several times over an extended period of time do I truly give it the "crap" label and then I put it in my trade/sell pile.

I consider myself a good judge of music

so if I bought it, there was a reason. Of course sometimes something really crappy gets through my good judgement

hmen · « **Reply #3 on:** 11 Oct 2006, 09:18 pm »

It's usually pretty obvious why "bonus" tracks weren't on the originl album.

nathanm · « **Reply #4 on:** 11 Oct 2006, 10:59 pm »

Quote from: Mag

I find myself playing the same favorite cd's over and over again. So I decided to go through my entire collection again. Last time it took like 4 months, one or two discs everyday during the week and several on the weekend.

Wow, I dunno if that's disciplined and methodical or just plain loony!

Did you go in alphabetical order? You are a very patient person! I know I couldn't do it. How many albums do you have?

jqp · « **Reply #5 on:** 12 Oct 2006, 01:28 am »

I come up with a guess of 936 CDs based on your playing plan.

I have far fewer, and I wonder if I could ever listen to them all in a year. But I would also like to listen to them all, list the good tracks vs. the bad and put the good on new CDRs, and on hard drives for future playability.

JohninCR · « **Reply #6 on:** 12 Oct 2006, 02:50 am »

Oh the beauty of serving your music via PC and hard drive. I refuse to listen to crappy songs. If I catch myself listening to favorites too much, I just tell Media Monkey, for example, "serve me up 10 hours of rock+blues I haven't heard in 6 months and that I have rated 3.5 stars or higher (out of 5)". Once you get used to that kind of convenience, you'll never go back to disks, just rip em and put them in the closet as a worst case backup. Time to get into the 21st century guys.

jqp · « **Reply #7 on:** 12 Oct 2006, 02:58 am »

I'm not ready to play audio from my computer yet. Many issues to look into before spending money on sound cards, DACS, etc

Mag · « **Reply #8 on:** 12 Oct 2006, 07:54 am »

Quote from: jqp on 12 Oct 2006, 01:28 am

I come up with a guess of 936 CDs based on your playing plan.

I have far fewer, and I wonder if I could ever listen to them all in a year. But I would also like to listen to them all, list the good tracks vs. the bad and put the good on new CDRs, and on hard drives for future playability.

I don't know how you arrived at that number? I did a count of what I have, which is 700 cds,sacd and concert dvds altogther. Of that number I had previously screened about 175 cds into the dislike binder. And I estimate I have purchased about 50 some discs since then. So the actual numbers of discs that I listened to was around 450. I also had more leisure time as I forgot I was working a different job back then.

Even with cd's that made it into my collection binders there are still plenty of songs that I find difficult to listen to.

launche · « **Reply #9 on:** 12 Oct 2006, 08:58 am »

I've always looked at music as a soundtrack for life. Thus, as mentioned before I felt that most music had a moment to be enjoyable or appropriate for my mood or the events of my life.

I will have to agree that PC and MP3 music play has changed things for me. I've been listening this way in a non-critical low to mid-fi manner for years now. Transitioning from several 400 disc megachangers. Several years ago I became a big fan of shuffle/random play (as I found I was being to critical of most music.) Thus, I would by most CD's put them in the mega-changer and play all discs on shuffle.

Many times I wouldn't here certain cd's for months (forgeting I even owned the cd) for me that helped strip away the expectations and help allow me to enjoy the music. Things would play at surprise me and I would see who it was. Also, tracks would play and just "fit the moment" and I found this to be immmensly enjoyable for 75% of my listening habits. Thus, I noticed alot less "bad songs" as the expectations and were lessened and music just flowed in the house.

I have found a good song is a good song no matter what system it's played through. I've found that a bad song can be enjoyable when one is not being too critical of their preferred sound etc... Last night Duran Duran's "A View To A Kill" played through shuffle mode and it was smokin', I enjoyed it as much as any song. Now how well it's recorded etc... I have no idea but its musical message was communicated to me. So I've learned to listen critically to the stuff that warrants it and to enjoy everything else for what it is... music, not always a lab experiment to be dissected and analysed to reveal the complexities of musical structure, life etc... And I surely understand about crappy songs but they become less crappy with less attention paid to their crappiness, if that makes sense to you.

BTW, anyone who doesn't want the stuff in the crap bin, Pm me I'll take em off your hands

Wayner · « **Reply #10 on:** 12 Oct 2006, 01:52 pm »

Over the years, I have made a rule: If I don't like 90-95% of the songs on a CD or album, out it goes. However, I have also found that if you like the artist, you generally like all the music by the artist. That is why most collections feature many albums by the same artist.

Yes, I keep all of my music is alpha order, I don't know how to find the stuff in quick order when the desire to listen to a certain album pops into my head. I don't think that's being anal, it's being practical.

W

nathanm · « **Reply #11 on:** 12 Oct 2006, 03:15 pm »

Quote from: Wayner

Yes, I keep all of my music is alpha order, I don't know how to find the stuff in quick order when the desire to listen to a certain album pops into my head. I don't think that's being anal, it's being practical. :icon_lol:W

No, I meant if you listened to them in alphabetical order, not stored them in alphabetical order, which is of course completely sensical!

Wayner · « **Reply #12 on:** 12 Oct 2006, 11:39 pm »

nathanm,

Yes, you are right

. There is no way I'm going to listen to my music is alpha order! I have my favorites and I must listen to them within certain intervals. I play the music that suits my mood and beer. Right now it's the FIXX, Walkabout LP on the good old AR.

timind · « **Reply #13 on:** 14 Oct 2006, 01:50 am »

Probably a third of my cds have been listened to no more than once or twice. I really should get rid of them.

Soundbitten · « **Reply #14 on:** 14 Oct 2006, 02:02 am »

Quote

No Time for Crap songs

That's what the " skip " button on the remote is for . If the whole cd is crap I get just rid of it .

Wayner · « **Reply #15 on:** 14 Oct 2006, 12:09 pm »

Turntables don't have skip buttons.

W

boead · « **Reply #16 on:** 14 Oct 2006, 01:39 pm »

Humm, its sort of funny.

In the past, fewer tracks on a vinyl made for better sound and simply put, the model for an artist ‘album’ was less then 10 tracks. Bonus and alternatives were kept for the flip side of a 45 single.

The CD gave birth to extended albums, now artists were packing albums with at least 16 tracks or more and the single release failed besides having no flip side.

Today, we have individual song downloads.

The recording industry is seeing consistent losses, each 6-months. Why? Well, there are lots of reasons but simply stated, people are buying less CD’s and although downloads are strong they are not making up for the losses in lost CD sales. A CD cost $15 +/- and you get 16 tracks regardless if you wanted just one or two. However, iTunes makes it possible for you to get just the one or two tracks you actually want for a buck or two. That’s good for you, the consumer but not good for the record industry. Unfortunately the recording industry is frightened about not being able to control or curb illegal copying and distribution so are willing to ‘take what they can get’ and ‘a buck or two is better then nothing’ as their industry shrinks!

This is also not good for the artist who is NOW faced with the need to make that HIT song or starve! No room for a hit or two to sell the album and the rest of the space for artistic freedom. With the iTunes model each song is its own entity and if its not a hit, it won’t be heard and worst yet, it wont be paid for!

I have over 15,000 MP3 tracks in my iTunes right now (about 100GB). Since my pod only had about 30GB of space, I had to deem song tracks as “iPod worthy” or not. I selectively choose the tracks from an album I want and sync to the pod. What’s interesting too is that iTunes will ONLY play the ‘checked’ songs so in essence I’ve removed about 3/4’s of the song tracks from my listening and I don’t necessarily miss the ones I don’t hear. Granted, I can likely add another 20 GB to my ‘Worthy” list but that’s about it. The rest can actually be deleted for all I care, just wasted space really.

Wayner · « **Reply #17 on:** 14 Oct 2006, 02:48 pm »

Almost every album or CD I have, IHO, is made to be played through. Many of the artists I like have done Rock Operas. Examples would be Kansas-Leftoverture, or Yes's Close to the Edge. My home isn't a radio station and I don't like jumping up and playing just one song from an album or CD. I don't own an iPod nor will I ever buy one.

BTW, I have bought fantastic albums, locally, (used), for about 3 dollars. For the price of one CD, I can buy 5 albums.

W

Soundbitten · « **Reply #18 on:** 14 Oct 2006, 03:56 pm »

I've bought fantastic cds ( used ) for $3-$4 . I don't have to lay out any expenses for albums .

Soundbitten · « **Reply #19 on:** 14 Oct 2006, 03:57 pm »

Quote from: Wayner on 14 Oct 2006, 12:09 pm

Turntables don't have skip buttons.

W

turntables aren't built for convenience