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What do you put on your MP3 player - tracks or albums?

post #1 of 30
5/3/08 at 8:15am
Thread Starter 
Just curious - of those of you who use an MP3 player do you have individual tracks or entire albums? I tend to have only entire albums on mine and was just curious about others?
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post #2 of 30
5/3/08 at 11:08am

Re: What do you put on your MP3 player - tracks or albums?

For me, it's mostly albums. I don't have a huge range of bands that I'm really into, but for bands I do like, I try to collect at least most of the discography. But I do have some individual tracks (maybe 150 or so) that I have arrainged into 60s 70s 80s and 90s - 2000s
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post #3 of 30
5/3/08 at 12:08pm

Re: What do you put on your MP3 player - tracks or albums?

Albums.

CJ
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post #4 of 30
5/3/08 at 1:36pm

Re: What do you put on your MP3 player - tracks or albums?

Tracks, I guess. I can't remember the last time I bought an entire album. God bless the digital revolution.
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post #5 of 30
5/3/08 at 2:07pm

Re: What do you put on your MP3 player - tracks or albums?

Tracks. Around 2400 of them at last count.
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post #6 of 30
5/3/08 at 4:27pm

Re: What do you put on your MP3 player - tracks or albums?

Mostly albums, although I do have random tracks from albums I wasn't to fond of , but enjoyed a few songs.

Currently I have 3000 songs, 1 movie and 3 tv shows on my ipod.
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post #7 of 30
5/3/08 at 4:37pm

Re: What do you put on your MP3 player - tracks or albums?

Albums. For the most part, if I only like a track or two from a band, I don't need it. My favorites are guys who try to write strong for an entire disc, not just some good stuff and a lot of filler.

That doesn't mean I am an album listener in the car. When I have my ipod, I tend to jump around between different songs. I figure a car ride is not sufficient to do an album justice, so I just listen to different tracks.
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post #8 of 30
5/3/08 at 4:49pm

Re: What do you put on your MP3 player - tracks or albums?

Audio books too. Some libraries have them free!
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post #9 of 30
5/3/08 at 6:13pm

Re: What do you put on your MP3 player - tracks or albums?

Albums. I don't have any home made collections of tracks. I listened to the entire Rolling Stone top 500 albums on my mp3 player. Nearly took a year.

Now I find myself not knowing what to put on it. :S
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post #10 of 30
5/3/08 at 8:19pm

Re: What do you put on your MP3 player - tracks or albums?

When I get a new album, I will listen to the whole album for a few days, but normally my ipod is on shuffle.

Oh and DarkerProjects has some awesome audio to download.
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post #11 of 30
5/3/08 at 9:44pm

Re: What do you put on your MP3 player - tracks or albums?

I started putting tracks on my iPod, but it became time consuming keeping the selection fresh. So now I tend to take entire albums and throw them on. I can still skip around if there are tracks I don't want to hear.
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post #12 of 30
5/4/08 at 7:04am
Thread Starter 

Re: What do you put on your MP3 player - tracks or albums?

Lucia,

Thanks for the tip on DarkerProjects - looks cool.
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post #13 of 30
5/4/08 at 10:58am

Re: What do you put on your MP3 player - tracks or albums?

For my Ipod it's probably 80-85% individual tracks with the rest whole albums.
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post #14 of 30
5/4/08 at 5:55pm

Re: What do you put on your MP3 player - tracks or albums?

I owned a few hundred CDs before the digital revolution (mp3 players) and eventually ripped them all. So mostly albums, but I suspect if I were younger it would lean towards tracks.
Nowadays, I look at individual tracks as a try out and if I like them enough, I usually get the whole CD, unless its one of my favorites, then I just get the whole album.
Like Beck...when The Information came out, I didnt hesitate and got the album.
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post #15 of 30
5/5/08 at 6:35am

Re: What do you put on your MP3 player - tracks or albums?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Bryan X
Tracks, I guess. I can't remember the last time I bought an entire album. God bless the digital revolution.
Sorry gotta disagree. God curse the digital revolution. I feel the demise of the album in lieu of the one-off hit song is a sad thing indeed. I wrote the following on another site that is just as pertinent here:
Quote:
The genre of music that will still be considered noteworthy even 12 months from now has gone by the wayside. Because of the internet, the one-off hit single is the only way to go today. The careful crafting of an album worth of songs and the introspection that goes with it has been all but abandoned.

No one buys "albums" any more. It's all singles. The worst thing about singles is they are often the "flavor of the week/month" variety. There is no reward for following them up with a great collection of songs, some of which may not have a single's "hook", but may be far more durable over time. I can think of dozens of songs that were not hits but are my favorite tracks on an album, simply due to the lack of mass appeal. These types of songs are what takes an artist from "hit maker" to "classic".

To put it into context . . . , would Born to Run still be one of the greatest albums of all time if it didn't include 10th Avenue Freezeout, She's The One and/or Jungleland? Is the ultra-radio friendly Dancing in the Dark the best or the absolute worst song on Born in the USA?

Glad to see that at least in this thread, the album is something that is still appreciated by a few.
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post #16 of 30
5/5/08 at 7:50am

Re: What do you put on your MP3 player - tracks or albums?

Quote:
God curse the digital revolution. I feel the demise of the album in lieu of the one-off hit song is a sad thing indeed.

I agree. The music industry I believe has truly lost it's way. They're thier own worst enemy. I don't buy much music anymore but if I was going to buy an album, I definately would want to have a physical copy. Yes it is convienent to be able to only buy one track if that's all you want. However, I have always kind of thought you are cheating yourself if you do that. If you like a track from a band, shouldn't you be interested to hear what else they have on the album. Hell, even in the days of singles on 45s you got a B-Side track. In many cases the song that gets released on the radio it far from the best song on the album.
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post #17 of 30
5/5/08 at 8:36am

Re: What do you put on your MP3 player - tracks or albums?

Since my MP3 collection is almost exclusively ripped from my CD collection, I'd say 99% of the music in my iTunes library is album-based. Some of that is from multiple-artist greatest hit collections, though, like "Rolling Stones 25 Years of Rock & Roll" or a Motown collection, for example. So, I am not sure how you count that.

I do have some "greatest hit" playlists compiled from mulitple albums of an individual artist, though, that I may transfer to my iPod Nano for listening.
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post #18 of 30
5/5/08 at 8:43am

Re: What do you put on your MP3 player - tracks or albums?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Scott Merryfield
Since my MP3 collection is almost exclusively ripped from my CD collection, I'd say 99% of the music in my iTunes library is album-based. Some of that is from multiple-artist greatest hit collections, though, like "Rolling Stones 25 Years of Rock & Roll" or a Motown collection, for example. So, I am not sure how you count that.

I'd count them as albums. I got some boxsets on mine like Nuggets. I think of them as albums, not single tracks. Single tracks would be better catagorized as you creating a folder called "Dance" music, and then plunking in titles all willy nilly from albums.
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post #19 of 30
5/5/08 at 8:45am

Re: What do you put on your MP3 player - tracks or albums?

99% albums, 1% tracks.
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post #20 of 30
5/5/08 at 11:27am
Thread Starter 

Re: What do you put on your MP3 player - tracks or albums?

It is interesting that albums is the consensus here so far. I was expecting the opposite. The comments regarding the craftsmanship being lost in the making of albums today is probably true for the most part although you run across the occasional gem still, example latest output of the Foo Fighters - excellent album by one of the hardest working musicians out there, Dave Grohl. Music is still in the ear of the beholder so, what I may think is music for the ages, is quite different than what my 14 year old thinks - I have to admit I find myself enjoying some of the music she is buying, though. Panic at the Disco comes to mind.
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post #21 of 30
5/5/08 at 2:16pm

Re: What do you put on your MP3 player - tracks or albums?

While I agree that the craftsmanship in making an album is waning (and I do miss it), I'm not sure it's the fault of the "digital revolution". I think it could be equally argued that the "digital revolution" came about partly because album craftsmaship went in the tank. Chicken or egg?

Did the loss of great albums cause people to seek out singles, or did people wanting singles cause the art of album making to decrease. I'd argue the former.

It seems like everything reported regarding the drive towards mp3 singles was the fact that people didn't like buying an entire album when it turned out most of it was crap.
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post #22 of 30
5/5/08 at 2:47pm

Re: What do you put on your MP3 player - tracks or albums?

Of the 2,000 plus tracks I have, most are singles. There are only a few albums that I like to listen to complete. Dark Side of the Moon or Days of Future Past are examples. These album are meant to be listened start to finish. I do have other albums, but they are ripped as singles. I listen in the shuffle mode all the time.
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post #23 of 30
5/5/08 at 3:13pm

Re: What do you put on your MP3 player - tracks or albums?

I don't really agree that digital killed the album. All my life, I've been the only one I know to care about albums. If my sister bought a tape single or a CD single with other tracks, she wouldn't have listened to them. I know a lot of people like that. Someone will turn me on to an album, and I'll talk about the great album tracks and they won't know what I'm talking about. Digital has just made it more convenient to ignore the other tracks by never even having them.
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post #24 of 30
5/5/08 at 3:19pm

Re: What do you put on your MP3 player - tracks or albums?

Quote:
All my life, I've been the only one I know to care about albums
Yeah, there have always been people who just want the song they play on the radio and nothing else. And there has always been a singles market before digital. But, digital just makes it all that much easier for those types of people ignore the album as a whole.

Quote:
Dark Side of the Moon or Days of Future Past are examples. These album are meant to be listened start to finish.


If you like The Moody Blues, and have not done so already, I must recommend that you pick up "To Our Children's Children's Children" That album insists that you to listen from start to finish (especially with good headphones)
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post #25 of 30
5/5/08 at 6:14pm

Re: What do you put on your MP3 player - tracks or albums?

Quote:
If you like The Moody Blues, and have not done so already, I must recommend that you pick up "To Our Children's Children's Children" That album insists that you to listen from start to finish (especially with good headphones)
I will have to check that out.
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post #26 of 30
5/5/08 at 7:21pm

Re: What do you put on your MP3 player - tracks or albums?

Quote:
I will have to check that out

You won't be sorry. But, the first time you listen to it, don't have the volume cranked up too loud when you start it, especially if you are wearing headphones.
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post #27 of 30
5/5/08 at 10:50pm

Re: What do you put on your MP3 player - tracks or albums?

Thanks for the Darker Projects link, great stuff.

CJ
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post #28 of 30
5/6/08 at 7:58am

Re: What do you put on your MP3 player - tracks or albums?

For anything brand new that I haven't listened to I throw on the entire album to try it out. After a few weeks I remove any of the songs I don't like to make space for new stuff. It's a harsh, cruel world on my iPod.

I've never been an album guy and have always made my own mix tapes, CDs, and now playlists to avoid having to listen to filler.
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post #29 of 30
5/6/08 at 10:17am

Re: What do you put on your MP3 player - tracks or albums?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Michael Warner
I've never been an album guy and have always made my own mix tapes, CDs, and now playlists to avoid having to listen to filler.
Same here. Lots of tracks, few if any albums.
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post #30 of 30
5/8/08 at 4:08pm

Re: What do you put on your MP3 player - tracks or albums?

My mp3 automatically creates albums for me and it also lets me choose from a complete alphabetized song list so I guess you could say both.

Never cared for entire albums, either, only 2 or 3 (if i'm lucky) songs on it that I like and the rest I could do without.
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