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April 20, 2005 7:35 PM   RSS feed for this thread Subscribe

Whats on your ipid play list? You are what's on your playlist Experts say digital music library reflects listener's personality
posted by halekon (84 comments total)

Hmmm what does this cross section of my music say about me?

Pink Floyd's 'Comfortably Numb'
Metallica's 'Until it Sleeps'
Statler Brothers 'Elizabeth'
Johnny Cash 'Hurt'
Bee Gee's 'Staying Alive'
George Jones 'He Stopped Loving Her Today'
posted by UseyurBrain at 7:40 PM on April 20, 2005


I don't own an "ipid", but if I did, I would avoid telling you my playlist. I've seen recently that playlists that are leaked online cause people to mention your name to the RIAA.
posted by graventy at 7:40 PM on April 20, 2005


Why does everyone want a short-cut?
posted by clockzero at 7:42 PM on April 20, 2005


I think you meant ipod but we get the idea
Ones music choices have always reflected ones personality
but the anonymity of the ipod is an interesting area to look into.
posted by robbyrobs at 7:42 PM on April 20, 2005


I think my playlist would confound even these so-called experts.
posted by jonmc at 7:42 PM on April 20, 2005


If I had an ipid, would its contents tell a different story from my cd collection?
posted by pieisexactlythree at 7:43 PM on April 20, 2005


Peer-pressured playlists?

We need a new tag: "the saddest thing I ever read".

It used to be bad enough that people blared music they thought was cool from their car windows in the high school parking lot. I guess some things never change.
posted by BoringPostcards at 7:45 PM on April 20, 2005


I don't listen to music. At all. I've never purchased a CD (for myself) and have only downloaded music when something else made me want to hear it (to understand a reference or something).

I once ripped a random half dozen of my wife's CDs to put on my work computer so that I could listen to them and drown out the sounds of my coworkers. I had the same 83 songs on my playlist for four years, listened to them constantly (or had them on as white noise) and after that still couldn't sing along to more than 5 of them.

To me, music is just noise.

I assume this says something pretty bad about me, but I'm happy so I'm ok with it.
posted by obfusciatrist at 7:53 PM on April 20, 2005


What music you listen to says something about your personality? Boy am I glad we have experts to discover these brilliant insights.
posted by effwerd at 8:06 PM on April 20, 2005


What music you listen to says something about your personality?

No no no, effwerd, you misunderstand. It's not what music you listen to that says something about your personality. It's what music you listen to on your Apple iPod ® that says something about your personality. The contents of my Winamp playlist are inconsequential.
posted by Jimbob at 8:09 PM on April 20, 2005


Ah, that makes it much clearer. Thanks, Jimbob. I should go out and buy an iPod so I can figure out what kind of personality I've got. ;)
posted by effwerd at 8:22 PM on April 20, 2005


Me I'm jamming to some punctuation It's great
posted by moonbird at 8:23 PM on April 20, 2005


One morning I was driving to work and had the iPod strapped on with Supertramp blaring in my ears. The previous evening I eaten a bunch of Taco Bell. Suddenly without warning, I let the most gut-wrenching, clock-stopping, eye watering fart ever. I had to pull over and air out the car and it made me late for work.

My point?

I cannot vouch for my iPod playlist's ability to reveal my personality but I can attest to the power of aversion therapy. Whenever I hear Supertramp now, I get sick to my stomach.
posted by KevinSkomsvold at 8:31 PM on April 20, 2005


Ok that is almost too good of a setup: Whenever I hear Supertramp now, I get sick to my stomach.. I don't think I can bring myself to deliver the punchline, so I'll leave it for the next person
posted by edgeways at 8:42 PM on April 20, 2005


Whenever I hear Supertramp now, I get sick to my stomach.

That's what you get for taking the long way home.
posted by jonmc at 8:47 PM on April 20, 2005


I like it all -- 60s folk, Motown, Sinatra, Ella, Led Zep, Disco, Country, Evanescence, Destiny's Child, 50 Cent, and lately, Tom Jones (I guess that's from the Hummer commercial) -- so what does this say about my personality?
posted by terrier319 at 8:49 PM on April 20, 2005


The most disturbing thing about the iPod is the way it's eroding the attention paid to "albums." More and more people collect individual songs. I'd hate to think we're headed towards a music industry that caters to a generation of kids with their thumbs glued to the skip button.

No single song can match the experience of listening to "Astral Weeks" start to finish. The flow, pace and cohesion of all the songs is what makes it great art.
posted by davebush at 8:50 PM on April 20, 2005


"iPid"? Is the OP trying to express primitive urges of sexuality through his playlist? Maybe he wants to satisfy his pleasure principle in front of all MeFi users, or is seeking instant release and gratification at our expense. For your ego's sake, down boy down!
posted by reflection at 8:50 PM on April 20, 2005


I'm with davebush. I love my iPod, but I never use playlists. Everything I listen to, I listen to in album format. I guess I have a long attention span.

I fear we're becoming relics, dave.
posted by mr_roboto at 8:54 PM on April 20, 2005


This is, without a doubt, one of the dumbest threads, discourse-wise, I have ever read on metafilter.

Is this a joke I'm not in on? All of these semi-coherent posts and nobody to call them out? I am outraged at the lack of outrage!
posted by davey_darling at 8:58 PM on April 20, 2005


No single song can match the experience of listening to "Astral Weeks" start to finish.

It's OK, but it's no Rock Me Amadeus.
posted by Armitage Shanks at 9:00 PM on April 20, 2005


Davey -- it's late on the east coast, let us have a mindless romp will ya.
posted by terrier319 at 9:02 PM on April 20, 2005


Ok that is almost too good of a setup: Whenever I hear Supertramp now, I get sick to my stomach.. I don't think I can bring myself to deliver the punchline, so I'll leave it for the next person

Heh, heh, go for it.

"Hey look! We're sixty and still rockin!" Man, when The Logical Song came out, I was enamoured with it for about 17 seconds. Something about that keyboard intro.
posted by KevinSkomsvold at 9:10 PM on April 20, 2005


Domo oregato, my roboto friend (davebush, too). I've been a faithful iPod user since the first generation iPod hit the stores. While I still have some favourite albums (and I'm old enough to use that word) that I play in their entirety, this seems to be less so of newer music. Maybe it's that the "shuffle songs" feature is too convenient to pass up, but the real trouble, I think, is that most newer records are hammered together with the sole ambition of getting hit singles on the charts. The rest is filler. There are exceptions, of course.

As for my playlist, I share it with friends via audioscrobbler, which is about the thing since corn was put in a can.
posted by runningdogofcapitalism at 9:15 PM on April 20, 2005


insipid ipid.
posted by fionab at 9:54 PM on April 20, 2005


Here's what came up in a shuffle:

"Sugar free jazz" - Soul Coughing
"Dancing Nancies" - Dave Matthews Band
"Saturday Night" - Ozomatli
"St. Stephen" - Grateful Dead
"Garab" - Rachid Taha
"Psycho Killer" - Talking Heads
"Junco Partner" - The Clash
"King of Ska" - Desmond Dekker
"Sick Bed Of Cuchuliann" - The Pogues
"7 Seconds" - Youssou N'dour
posted by mike3k at 9:54 PM on April 20, 2005


This is, without a doubt, one of the dumbest threads, discourse-wise, I have ever read on metafilter.

Oh, come on! It could have been *much* worse - imagine endless inventories of everybody's (current) favourite songs!

Coincidentally, a friend found an ipod in a taxi the other week, and one of the first things I did was to flick through the playlists in order to try to guess the personality of the erstwhile owner.

(ps - anybody lose an ipod in Sydney a week or two back? Name the first track in the Radiohead playlist and we can take it from there...)
posted by UbuRoivas at 10:18 PM on April 20, 2005


Best puff-pieces of the web | MetaFilter

This just in!
You are what's in your MetaFilter submission history. Experts say online forum posts reflect listener's personality

/kidding

Now with that out of the way, let's see what a good old Party Shuffle reveals...

Humility (Covenant - United States of Mind)
PLEEN 1930S (Chris Clark - Clarence Park)
Scenario 2 Opening (Motoi Sakuraba - Shining Force 3 Original Soundtrack)
Given To Fly (Pearl Jam - Yield)
Bitch (Apoptygma Berzerk - APBL 2000)
Film Me & Finish Me Off (Apollo 440 - Millennium Fever)
It's A Raggy Waltz (Dave Brubeck - Dave Brubeck's Greatest Hits)
Fearless (live) (VNV Nation - Honour 2003)
High Noon (Kruder & Dorfmeister - Saint–Germain–Des–Pre´s Cafe´ IV)
Sins (Funker Vogt - Maschine Zeit)

Survey says! I'm an attention whore. "Hey everybody, here's a list of tunes that prove that I'm hipper than thou!" ;-)

Just finished listening to Matter+Form, VNV Nation's new albumn. Kinda mediocre. I was anticipating... I dunno, something more lyrical. The tunes aren't bad, but they're more electronica than the industrial/electro/ebm/synth-pop/whatever that I've come expect. *** 3/5 stars
posted by C.Batt at 10:27 PM on April 20, 2005


This is, without a doubt, one of the dumbest threads, discourse-wise, I have ever read on metafilter

All it needs is:Seriously, why isn't everything phpBB?
posted by George_Spiggott at 10:35 PM on April 20, 2005


This just in:

The number of articles, surveys and questionnaires you read that claim to reveal your personality reveals the extent to which you are a self-obsessed attention whore, a new study reveals.

Just a joke, kids...
posted by Meatbomb at 11:17 PM on April 20, 2005


Am I the only person who doesn't use playlists? If I want to listen to a specific song or album, I'll browse to it. Otherwise I leave it to shuffle.
posted by gyc at 11:18 PM on April 20, 2005


The music people listen to has been indicative of their personality forever... all of a sudden people start asking "what's on your ipod" instead of "what are you listening to lately" and it becomes some kind of trend. What's next, an apple-designed closet with a top-worn list? Whats on your iMoire?

Heh, I like that, iMoire, I just came up with it right then. God! I'm clever.
posted by BlackLeotardFront at 11:27 PM on April 20, 2005


I've moved from using my ipod for music to using it for longer pieces of audio I wouldn't fit on one CD. It used to be audiobooks, but now it's recorded radio shows (This American Life, Radiolab, etc.) and podcasts. It's wonderful for my lengthy commute.
posted by unsupervised at 11:31 PM on April 20, 2005


ultimately, i find that people's character is better summarized by knowing who their favorite comedians are and what type of porn they like.
posted by joedan at 12:24 AM on April 21, 2005


The most disturbing thing about the iPod is the way it's eroding the attention paid to "albums." More and more people collect individual songs. I'd hate to think we're headed towards a music industry that caters to a generation of kids with their thumbs glued to the skip button.


I agree. One of my pet peeves about the ipod (and itunes, I suppose) is the whole "only listen to five-star songs" option. Seriously, I like listening to songs that aren't the best. I like the variety. If I only listened to the best of the best songs in my CD collection, I would get sick of them. And there are those songs that hearing time and again is what makes you appreciate them, too. If you rate songs only so-so once and never listen to it again, you're going to miss a lot of good songs.
posted by vernondalhart at 12:27 AM on April 21, 2005


Freudian Slip! You said it! insipid!
posted by Satapher at 12:55 AM on April 21, 2005


ah, touche fionab!
posted by Satapher at 12:58 AM on April 21, 2005


I also don't use playlists. I've got about 3500 songs ripped at the moment (including quite a few from Metatilter swaps) and I want to listen to all of them. I find random play is perfect for reminding me of tracks I haven't listened to in a long time. With playlists, I'd just listen to the same 200 subset of my collection. I haven't abandoned the album play mode just yet either.
posted by salmacis at 1:18 AM on April 21, 2005


Ah, that makes it much clearer. Thanks, Jimbob. I should go out and buy an iPod so I can figure out what kind of personality I've got. ;)
posted by effwerd at 4:22 AM GMT on April 21 [!]


Nononono - you don't even *have* a personality unless you have an iPod (or perhaps an iP "id"...) :-)
posted by Chunder at 2:32 AM on April 21, 2005


"Hey, you've got an Ipod" he said, "mind if I take a look?

"Sure", I think, what harm can it possibly do?

"What's with all these Gay albums, got them from a friend, right? "

"Ahem, err, my parents actually ...."

Outed by my Ipod!
Careful!
posted by grahamwell at 4:25 AM on April 21, 2005


Of course, since I use an Archos Gmini 400 (onto which I have been known to time-shift video -- beat that, iPeople!), I have neither a personality nor an Id. But that just means that I don't have to worry about the monsters.

I only do playlists when I'm on a car trip; otherwise I can't be bothered. Albums are simpler. The last thing I listened to was Whiskey Hotel Foxtrot and "resume" will currently dump me into the third song on Tillbrook's latest album. Since I mostly listen in the gym, it's an up-tempo list: Garbage, Bruðarbandið, Sahara Hotnights, the first Nordic Roots collection, Cardigans, John wesley Harding, the June '04 Believer music issue disc, and time-shifted episodes of "Bad Cop, No Donut!" have been on the menu in the past couple of weeks.
posted by lodurr at 4:34 AM on April 21, 2005


... you know, kidding aside, after actually reading the article I have two considered reactions:

1 - Um, duh. And why should having a bunch of Jam, Kinks, and Carter Family stuff contradict a "buttoned-down" assessment? Nothing very adventurous there. (Not in 2005, at least. Would have netted you a few superior smirks back in '82 or so, though.)

2 - Apple has really done a number on people in brainwashing them to like iTunes. I've tried out a bunch of music players (on Windows and Linux), and iTunes is at best in the middle fo the pack on a feature and UI basis. Musicmatch (when it's not in an x.0 version) is the best: It allows brain-dead simple sorting, filtering and tagging that hasn't been tortured into axiomatic compliance with some sterile "usability" rule. But I can't get anything as good as Musicmatch on a Mac. Winamp and its assorted Linux clones were a pretty good compromise, in that they gave you an easy way to drag and drop based on directory structure. Sure, you lost some of your sorting and filtering, but at least you didn't have bizarro behaviors like the music player physically copying your file into the "music library" every you double-click to play a tune.

But hey, it's an apple product, so it's good by definition. I guess.
posted by lodurr at 4:45 AM on April 21, 2005


There's a weird thing about having an MP3 player. Because I only listen to it when I'm on the move, there's certain types of music I don't put on because I find they just don't sound good when you're walking about. Pretty much everything by The Rolling Stones, Pet Sounds, certain types of jazz just don't seem to sound right when I'm walking or on the bus - it's really weird.

OK, I guess it's just me then.
posted by dodgygeezer at 5:15 AM on April 21, 2005


Please help me decide which condition is worse:

1. Being so self-important that you think other people should care about your playlist

2. Being shallow enough to care about someone else's musical preferences and think that you can learn something about the person from them
posted by Mayor Curley at 5:51 AM on April 21, 2005


lodurr, fyi you can actually tell itunes not to do that. many applications have a menu selection called "preferences" - it is generally in one's best interests to check these out. and itunes also let's you drag and drop based on directory structure (in a manner of speaking - you can drag and drop artists, albums, and other playlists into new playlists), as well as tagging and sorting (i.e. smart playlists based on fairly robust ID3 tag criteria). ymmv of course - different people are used to different things, and value certain features more than others, but i think itunes is a mighty fine piece of freeware.

i think it's so great how a some windows/linux users get it in their heads that apple users are by and large brainwashed, use this as a basis for prematurely writing off apple products, and then on the basis of their low opinion of apple products conclude that people who use them only like them because of brand loyalty or image or something.

as it happens, my college campus has a ubiquitous wireless network and a predominantly mac-using community, so there's normally tons of different libraries to peek at. i have often deduced (or in some cases abduced) the identities of my friends based on their libraries. it's also an interesting source of demographic information - i am, for instance, constantly astounded by the sheer number of people who have ABBA in their libraries. using certain programs, one can use itunes' streaming capabilities to download music from people's libraries, which has afforded a limited degree of free exchange here, with a convenient 'try before you buy' element that doesn't normally come with the filesharing territory.

and using one's playlist as a basis for inferences about their personality is only shallow when it's taken to be somehow definitive or otherwise strongly personality-defining. i agree the armchair analysis of bush's playlist was a bit much depending on how much you read into it, but really, there is a non-accidental reason why people like him don't have experimental drone music, classical indian ragas, japanese noise-rock, or minimalist sine-wave compositions on their playlists. you can't say that your playlist has nothing to do with your personality.
posted by apiratto at 6:10 AM on April 21, 2005


Mayor Curley: Both one and two are worse.
posted by KevinSkomsvold at 6:33 AM on April 21, 2005


Interesting... specific question "what's on your playlist"..

45 comments

only 3 actually noted a play list.

maybe it was that whole "ipid" thing that derailed it..
posted by HuronBob at 6:38 AM on April 21, 2005


dodgygeezer, it's not just you. I just recently pulled all my Boards of Canada stuff off my MP3 player because, while they're one of my favorites, they just aren't "walking to work" music for me.

Pet Sounds, on the other hand, definitely is.
posted by BoringPostcards at 6:51 AM on April 21, 2005


I suspect the fact that I detest iPods and the noticeably inferior quality of the compressed, digitised music they reproduce says at least as much about my personality as what I'd choose to put on one of the damned things.
posted by Decani at 6:53 AM on April 21, 2005


I think my personality can best be defined by the fact that I'm the type of person who had an iPod... and lost it.

(I'm not in Sydney, I lost my iPod in the privacy of my own home.)
posted by grapefruitmoon at 7:02 AM on April 21, 2005


Decani, when I'm at home, I prefer the rich, warm tones of classic vinyl LPs turning away on the ol' hi-fi. However, try as I might, I can't take my record player with me in the car or when I go for a jog. That's where the iPod comes in. What I lose in sound quality is offset by the much-welcomed ability to listen to my music on the go. Why does it have to be one or the other?
posted by The Dryyyyy Cracker at 7:07 AM on April 21, 2005


I'm interested in other people's playlists to see if we have similar tastes, and if we do, to find out what else they like that I don't know about and might would possibly maybe enjoy.
posted by papercake at 7:23 AM on April 21, 2005


vernondalhart: One of my pet peeves about the ipod (and itunes, I suppose) is the whole "only listen to five-star songs" option. Seriously, I like listening to songs that aren't the best.

iTunes can easily show you those songs, too. A smart playlist based on "2-4 star songs sorted by least recently played" will find rated songs you haven't played recently; or try "2-3 star songs played more than 5 times" to find songs you actually like but may have misrated. Or "5 star songs with year=2005 limited to 10 songs sorted by most often played" to find your personal top 10 for 2005.

The Smart Playlists are the best part of iTunes & the iPod, and it gives you way more options than it limits options. There are lots of tips on smartplaylists.com. Here's a post about using nested playlists, for example...
posted by drstupid at 7:38 AM on April 21, 2005


To me, music is just noise.

I assume this says something pretty bad about me...

I don't know about it being bad, but it seems like a brain malfunction on some level. People like food, they like sex, and they like music.

Anyway, I love threads like this. People always proudly proclaim their "eclectic" tastes (though no one has used the actual word yet) and then list a bunch of stuff they got through the usual music mill. Also, there is eclectic and there is indiscriminate. It would be a lot more interesting to hear that someone listens only to khoomi she records on trips to Mongolia.
posted by pracowity at 7:43 AM on April 21, 2005


Despite those people who believe they are somehow better than others because of what they listen to--or more accurately what they shun--taste in music is relative.

Portable devices can change how and what people listen to. I am an example myself. I love music of all kinds, but prior to getting a portable device, I would sometimes fall into the rut of listening to either what CDs I left in the car or the disc changer in the house. In the car I would listen to CDs in their entirety, in order. At home I would frequently find myself looking for 5 discs to create a mix I thought might work for whatever I was doing (cleaning, working, exercising, fucking, etc). What was consistent was that I found myself listening to many of the same things over and over.

Now that I have a portable device--something I never thought I would want--I listen in different places in different ways. At the office I plug into a pair of computer speakers and put the device on some sort of shuffle (usually a playlist like "unlistened to" or "unrated"). In the car, I connect via an adaptor and pick a playlist for driving, or listen to an album or artist. At home, I plug the device into the stereo and listen to a mix, but this time not limited to 5 discs. Rarely, if ever, do I put a pair of headphones on though. *shrug*

The point, and I do have one, is that I ripped a bunch of my CDs (and my wife's) that I hadn't listened to in a while (or not at all) and am starting to appreciate the music more. Bands I had lost interest in, suddenly have a new place in my music listening, but mostly because they are more easily accessible to me in the portable format. (I still listen to my vinyl too, and love the warm sounds, but hate having to flip the damn album.)

Someone can try and guess who I am by my listening habits, but they are likely to be wrong.

I fucking hate these threads, because inevitably someone (usually more than one) is going to get on their high horse about having better tastes, better equipment, bash digital, bash vinyl, or the whole spectrum.

On preview, what a ramble. Sorry. I got a bee in my bonnet when someone made a comment about having a longer attention span simply because they listen to albums in the entirety. Rubbish that.
posted by terrapin at 7:47 AM on April 21, 2005


many applications have a menu selection called "preferences" - it is generally in one's best interests to check these out.

....

i think it's so great how a some windows/linux users get it in their heads that apple users are by and large brainwashed, use this as a basis for prematurely writing off apple products, and then on the basis of their low opinion of apple products conclude that people who use them only like them because of brand loyalty or image or something.

So, you caught the part where I'm a Mac user, right? What you might not also know is that i've been a mac user, off and on, since 1987. I've supported Macs and taught Mac software. I use a Mac more or less exclusively now, except for a few hours a week when I'm using Qtopia on my handheld or Win2K on my laptop.

Spare me your patronizing and reflexive put downs, btw. As a former tech support person, software instructor, documentation author and courseware developer, I do occasionally look at the preferences for applications. If there's a setting in iTunes that stops it from copying files into its library when you double click to play them, then I don't know what it is.

Oh, wait: Maybe it's that checkbox labeled "Copy tunes to the iTunes music folder when adding to the library" in the general panel. Golly: So I have a choice of physically moving the file, or not physically moving the file, but I don't have a choice about whether to add it to my library. Not much of an improvement, and a poor effort at describing the feature. In any case, it should be possible to play a tune without adding it to the library. I don't see how that's an option here.

As for my assumption that apple users are "brainwashed", it's been my experience that "usability" is a very uncritically deployed concept in the Mac community. As an example, I'll cite the current obsession with "Fittization": The remaking of virtually everything to make it better exploit the trivial fact that it's easier to hit targets when they're big or against the wall, without regard for any cognitive considerations. That's what I call "usaiblity by axiom": Design that leaves common sense at the door and constructs its user tests to support its conclusions.

When all is said and done, iTunes leaves much to be desired as a desktop player. It's just plain annoying to use, and difficult to learn.

To queue any bunch of arbitrary selected songs in order, you must create a named playlist -- there is no basic FIFO queue of songs. (I wasted a lot of time looking for one, assuming it must be there, because not having one is a really stupid design. When I decided I wasn't crazy and it really wasn't there, I just created a playlist folder called "Current Non-Random Stupid Playlist", into which I drop and from which I delete when I want to just queue up a bunch of tunes. I shouldn't have had to do that. But Apple seems pathologically averse to the idea of a default queue -- QuickTime has never had one, either....)

The lack of tree-based browsing is really irritating for me, too. I found the five-pane interface to be really confusing; why not just make a tree? Everybody understands tree views -- they're just outlines. Finder uses them all over the place. Why not iTunes? (Did they perhaps buy it from someone? Maybe DataBecker? It reminds me a lot of their jukebox...that's not a compliment.)

Thing is, iTunes is basically the only game in town on a Mac, so it doesn't have to be good. But since it is on a Mac, the designers have to be able to make an argument that it is good. Those aren't the same things, at all.

(BTW, I'm well aware that MS's media player commits some of the same sins -- especially the sin of adding everything you ever play to your "library". [Memo to the interaction designers: That's not a library, it's a history.] I don't use that, either, except for video.)
posted by lodurr at 8:24 AM on April 21, 2005


In any case, it should be possible to play a tune without adding it to the library. I don't see how that's an option here.

Just hit command-I on the file from the Finder, and play it from its info box. Done.
posted by Robot Johnny at 8:31 AM on April 21, 2005


http://www.youhavebadtasteinmusic.com/
posted by ludwig_van at 8:33 AM on April 21, 2005


The most disturbing thing about the iPod is the way it's eroding the attention paid to "albums."

I also agree with this. Not necessarily that it's the "most disturbing thing," but I don't like the trend.

And while I'm here, I need to say that I really hate statements like this:

I like it all -- 60s folk, Motown, Sinatra, Ella, Led Zep, Disco, Country, Evanescence, Destiny's Child, 50 Cent, and lately, Tom Jones (I guess that's from the Hummer commercial) -- so what does this say about my personality?

Not to pick on you, in particular, terrier; you may not have meant that literally, but I hate it when people say "I listen to a little bit of everything" because they like rock AND hip-hop (gasp), or what have you. My friend, you do not "like it all" or "listen to a little bit of everything." Maybe there are some full-time musicologists who could say that without sounding like a douchebag, but I'm not so sure.
posted by ludwig_van at 8:39 AM on April 21, 2005


I can't afford an Ipid or an Ipod and I frankly am amazed at how many people can. :(
posted by DieHipsterDie at 8:42 AM on April 21, 2005


Looking at my cd collection could be very misleading because my music and that of my significant other are mingled and we have very different tastes in music. He sticks to his Metallica / Faith No More / Johnny Cash / Godsmack / Run DMC / Ludakris and I stick to my Ani Difranco / Sarah McLachlan / Tragically Hip / Benjamin Britten / Ella Fitzgerald / Holly Cole. We tolerate each others' choices, but pretty much only to earn ourselves the right to control the stereo.

We are so not hipsters.
posted by raedyn at 9:00 AM on April 21, 2005


So I have a choice of physically moving the file, or not physically moving the file, but I don't have a choice about whether to add it to my library.

iTunes only plays music from its library. It's a good program for what it does, but only if you bend to its will - tag your music, put it in its final location, and import into iTunes when you're done. It took me a long time to decide it was worthwhile, but if you listen to a lot of music it can help you keep it straight. This way the computer tells you what you haven't yet heard, rather than you having to remember what is new.

I just use another player to play single songs. iTunes is only worth it (to me) for the library, metadata (rating, play count, last played date), smart playlists, and iPod feeding.

Version Tracker lists many other MP3 players for OS X, including XMMS if that interests you.
posted by drstupid at 9:00 AM on April 21, 2005


I'm with davebush on this one - playlists are for cretins... I don't listen to songs, or read chapters - I listen to albums, and read books. And yes, I hate the radio - everything on it is out of context.
posted by runkelfinker at 10:13 AM on April 21, 2005


I don't give a crap about the "downfall of the album as an art form". It kind of strikes me the same way that the "sanctity of marriage" one does. If people only like a few tracks, they're clearly uncultured assholes, right? Screwing it up for everyone. It's those people only listening to tracks 2, 3, and 7 on their Destiny's Child CD that are just screwing up the sanctity of the album for people who really appreciate it. Like me for example.

As far as music in general is concerned, the artistic cohesive album is catering to a niche market anyway. Not that it's going away though. As long as people read pitchfork media, there always be some demand for the album. Not that people would even stop making them anyway. A lot of people make music without getting paid, and a lot of them probably make cohesive albums too.

Furthermore, it's not even the ipod's fault. Unbundle your panties and listen to whatever you want. Don't like the "Only listen to 5star" option? That's why it's an option.
posted by recursive at 10:17 AM on April 21, 2005


I can understand being upset that (many) artists aren't making albums worth listening to from tracks one to twelve, but coming down on people for skipping the filler tracks and listening to the killer tracks is pretty shrill and unnecessary.
posted by papercake at 10:34 AM on April 21, 2005


Just hit command-I on the file from the Finder, and play it from its info box. Done.

Ah, yes, I should have known it would be that intuitive -- I want to play the tune, so I get info about it...
posted by lodurr at 10:35 AM on April 21, 2005


Just hit command-I on the file from the Finder, and play it from its info box. Done.

Ah, yes, I should have known it would be that intuitive -- I want to play the tune, so I get info about it...

Whine whine whine...
The info box for every file on the Mac has a preview section if that file has something preview-able (music, images, video). If you don't want to hit Command-I, then you can still hear/see the previews in the Finder using column-view (which, if you're experienced using a Mac at all, is rather intuitive) which is the same thing. My point is, there's no need to complain about having to use a separate piece of software to do something that's built in to the operating system
posted by Robot Johnny at 11:10 AM on April 21, 2005


lodurr,

Something is messed up with your preferences- I have never had the problem you describe.
posted by eustacescrubb at 11:19 AM on April 21, 2005


There are a few albums I listen to from start to finish, but the majority have songs that suck that i will skip.

I don't have an iPid, but i have a generic mp3 player...coupled with more than a third of a terrabyte of music (mostly live, legal) at home, makes for a too long and confusing playlist.

I have been listening to a lot of '68-'69 Grateful Dead DarkStar Suites. I'm also very into Rotten Cheese, a compilation of the best of Ween's '94-'95 tour soundboard recordings. I just took a '79 Television show out of the rotation...replaced it with Pink Floyd "Obscured by Clouds." In the number one favorite slot goes my '77 DEVO boot opener...Society Fool.
posted by schyler523 at 11:31 AM on April 21, 2005


My wife and I love music but our playlists are something that I seriously doubt we would discuss, much less share with others unless directly requested.
At the risk of sounding daft or unhip...
I've owned iPods before and find them cool enough but too pricey. There are other good alternatives (and better values) but I have yet to buy one. I find the iTunes program to be rather unremarkable in itself. I use it only to buy iTunes exclusives once in a while or songs that my wife wants but doesn't want the whole album. She loves music but doesn't claim to have a critical ear for the quality. She just enjoys the music. The things she listens to most are these horribly noisy cassettes (gasp!) of old punk music in her car. What does this say about her personality? On the whole I find iTunes rather akin to a pencil or pen; it's just a tool to get a job done. Given, there are pens and pencils that are better than others. I just don't find iTunes to really be a better/cooler/easier/neater/(insert positive adjective here) tool. I also have issues with DRM but that's another oft discussed story here.
posted by horseblind at 12:34 PM on April 21, 2005


Oh, here's my real iPod pet peeve: there's no control over transitions between tracks. I'm sure that this is an artifact of the hardware design, but it's a pretty awful one. Every track is followed by a breif gap of silence, whether you want it there or not.

This is really jarring for those of us who prefer to listen to music in long-form formats. It's awful on some pop albums, but it's really unacceptible for some of my favorite classical music. The Goldberg Variations and the Carmina Burana (the pause just before Floret Silva is horrid) are almost (almost!) rendered unlistenable by it.
posted by mr_roboto at 1:00 PM on April 21, 2005


Every track is followed by a breif gap of silence, whether you want it there or not.

This drives me nuts and it's the reason I stopped using iTunes and Winamp. Unless there's something I've overlooked, Windows Media Player seems to be the only device that allows gapless playback of a CD.
posted by davebush at 1:24 PM on April 21, 2005


Oh, here's my real iPod pet peeve

Oh, would you people stop with your complaints about iPod, iTunes and Apple in general? Apple is perfect. Anyone who doesn't think so is a clone/drone who is afraid to think different. Apple is going to save your soul through nicer-looking plastic and bigger markups. Oh, and being an underdog.
posted by Mayor Curley at 1:24 PM on April 21, 2005


My friend, you do not "like it all" or "listen to a little bit of everything."

thank you, Ludwig_Van, I was planning on saying the same thing. Anytime someone says this I get the feeling I'm supposed to have this response like "wow, you are really open minded, aren't you?", and I'm immediately reminded of the bartender in The Blues Brothers - "oh we've got both kinds of music - country and western!"

mr roboto - wouldn't classical music in general be a bad choice for mp3? Seems like the one form of music where you'd really notice the compression deterioration.
posted by hellbient at 1:26 PM on April 21, 2005


I'm sure that this is an artifact of the hardware design

Actually, everything I have read indicates it is a "feature" put in place to appease the folks allowing access to their music catalogs for iTMS.

While I agree that while it sucks, there are a couple workarounds, but none that are really worth the effort. The easiest being to combine tracks. If you are one of the album-only types, then this shouldn't bother you. Simply join all the tracks.

I use Toast to burn CDs without gaps between songs, but this isn't a solution for portable device listening.
posted by terrapin at 1:30 PM on April 21, 2005


Actually it is an artifact of hardware design - for some reason the iPod cannot write to and read from its playback memory at the same time. This means that, every so often, it has to pause playback to read some more HD into memory; the most sensible time to do this is obviously between tracks.

If you don't believe me, listen to a single-track mix album, recorded at 128kbs. About 16 minutes into it, you'll get a pause in the music; this is the iPod realising that it's all out of music in memory, and having to stop playback to load the next 16 minutes.

Crazy, but true.
posted by runkelfinker at 4:43 PM on April 21, 2005


The Smart Playlists are the best part of iTunes & the iPod

This is not restricted to the iPod and iTunes. Many programs will let you keep "smart" or dynamic playlists. Media Monkey is one of them.

I like it all -- 60s folk, Motown, Sinatra, Ella, Led Zep, Disco, Country, Evanescence, Destiny's Child, 50 Cent, and lately, Tom Jones (I guess that's from the Hummer commercial) -- so what does this say about my personality?

That your definition of "all" only includes "pop" music. Or that you like to watch a lot of TV. Or maybe you just forgot to include Aura Noir. (Ludwig_Van beat me to it.)

I don't have an ipid, and I don't use just one playlist (I don't understand the "what's on your playlist" question), but here's a sampling of a recent mix I made:

Fred Firth
Bloc Party (duh. I still can't turn it off, though.)
Minor Threat
Gorillaz (Demon Days is pretty good)
Whitey Houston

All that list really shows is that I like to download music for free. I'll take what I can get rather than pay for anything.

The lack of tree-based browsing is really irritating for me, too.

Agreed. That (and the inability to use it on both Mac and Windows machines) was one of the big reasons I opted against the ipid.

Also, am I the only one who doesn't like the wheel, at least for volume? I keep my MP3 player in my pants pocket when I'm biking, and I like to tweak the volume up and down depending on the song. Can't do that as easily with the ipid ...

jonmc, I'm glad to see somebody else is listening to the 1910 Fruitgum Co. ... Indian giver, Indian giver...
posted by mrgrimm at 4:53 PM on April 21, 2005


In any case, it should be possible to play a tune without adding it to the library. I don't see how that's an option here.

Just hit command-I on the file from the Finder, and play it from its info box. Done.

Or if you have Windows, use QCD. That's my default app for playing all music files, and I use MediaMonkey for my "library." Works great.
posted by mrgrimm at 5:09 PM on April 21, 2005


Don't have an IPid myself, and the Sandisk I do have only gets albums, but here's a playlist I'm working on:

Pink Floyd - Wish You Were Here
The Beatles - Happiness is a Warm Gun
Brian Eno/David Byrne - America is Waiting
Talking Heads - Born Under Punches
Modern Lovers - Pablo Picasso
Patti Smith - Lo and Beholden
Jonathan Richman - True Love is Not Nice
Chuck Berry - Memphis
Michael Jackson - Lady in My Life
Brian Eno - Golden Hours

I don't get the point, though. A playlist is a set of songs that sound good in order and evoke whatever mood or emotions you're aiming for. Terrible songs can be perfect on the right playlist.

Desperately rationalizes buying and enjoying Gung Ho by Patti Smith
posted by Ptrin at 6:59 PM on April 21, 2005


The Dryyyyy Cracker: it doesn't have to be one or the other. Unless you have taste and musical sensitivity, that is.

What? Snobbery, you say? Hell yes.
posted by Decani at 7:03 PM on April 21, 2005


I haves a Ipod allready preprogramed in my body. Its called music memory. It has all the siongs Ive heard in my life stored and guess whgat? its free!! Get yours today. Or if u wanna be retro get Cds remember those or oh oh records? Bet nobody here remembers those!!

/ worst troll ever
posted by wheelieman at 8:13 PM on April 21, 2005


also worst proofreadin ever
posted by wheelieman at 8:15 PM on April 21, 2005


Decani: Ah, yes, yes. Anything less would be...uncivilized.

*adjusts monacle, swirls glass of 150 year-old brandy*
posted by The Dryyyyy Cracker at 5:43 AM on April 22, 2005


for some reason the iPod cannot write to and read from its playback memory at the same time. This means that, every so often, it has to pause playback to read some more HD into memory

I hadn't noticed that, so I just checked on my 4G iPod, and I can confirm that this does not happen on mine. This may have been fixed with a generational update.

I was listening to a 30+ minute MP3 mix (single file) and it rebuffered around 14 minutes. I was holding the iPod at the time, so I felt it rebuffer, and the music was not interrupted. The gap between songs IS real, and does still exist, but it is very minor on new iPods. But it IS still there, much to my consternation. (I've been living with gaps between MP3s for a while, from other MP3 players, and the iPod is the best I've used barring the RioVolt SP-100, which was gapless completely. Even on random. I listen to lots of DJ mixed CDs and the iPod gap is slight and doesn't bother me much.)

Thanks for the MediaMonkey tip, mrgrimm. It looks very nice... I do wish more Tag & Rename type features were available in iTunes, and it looks like MediaMonkey does exactly that.
posted by drstupid at 10:18 AM on April 22, 2005


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