I decided to host a music party with my friends. A friend and I have been discussing this on and off for a year. I picked a date and did it.
All about the album. I told my musically inclined friends [non-audiophilistas]....
"Most of the time we often listen to iTunes playlists, random mp3s, online streaming or even the radio--a bunch of individual songs. Albums seem to losing the battle to the playlist. There's lots of amazing music but sometimes the whole album doesn't hold together. Then, there are those albums, which, as a whole, are amazing.
The idea: choose the top favorite album (or two) in your collection that you enjoy from start to finish--doesn't matter if it's new or decades old, a hidden gem or well known. Any genre."
That was the seed. Friends showed up with CDs in hand. Some obscure bands from friends, some classic albums. we listened to the selections (3 to 4 songs per album) and ate and talked. Great fun. I recommend it.
Only two questions about the 'system' the whole day: what are those speakers? what is the black box under the TV? (the powered off center speaker)
....all about the music. Fun Sunday afternoon.