Challenging myself to listen to every song I own

that is quite a musical journey.
I do the same type of thing but on a much smaller scale.
I am a sales guy...on the road all day.
I put a decent CD player in my car and try to take titles
with me every day that I haven't listened to for a while.

 

Very cool! I've been doing something similar for a couple of years I call "album of the day". It's really quite simple in that I commit to listening at an entire album (listening in the order of tracks 1 to .....) in a day. The goal is to do it in one sitting but sometimes I do need to break into segments.

I've done well so far not missing a day in over 1 1/2 years. The only downfall is because I'm listening across music formats (vinyl, CD, MP3) I haven't kept track of what I've listened to. One thing that's made it really fun is that on days when I really have time to listen I try to listen to something "new" that I've discovered from net surfing or talking to others.

It's a great relaxation tool as well lol

 

Sorry if it came across bad, I was being sarcastic.
I meant I thought I read about and listened to way too much music, I'm no match for you, I've been bitten hard by the music bug but you've been entirely swallowed.

 

Okay, here is my nerdy process.

• All my albums are in iTunes (540-ish)
• I have an iPhone-sized playlist of about 20 randomly-selected albums that "have not been played"
• That playlist is synched to my phone in lossless quality and used on-the-go
• That playlist is also wirelessly synched to an old iPad mini in the man cave (lowest resolution)
• I use that playlist to choose a CD to play downstairs from a subset of albums
• The iPad comes in handy when there are no lyrics in the CD booklet (or too darn small to see)
• When I get tired of the playlist, I move the contents to a "played" playlist (this could be a few weeks if I am really into something)
• Rinse-and-repeat with a new set of "unplayed" albums (not in the "played" playlist that is)

I am just about through all the albums. So I will delete the contents in the "played" list and start over.

I also use the iTunes star ratings as a "familiarity level" for the album. This will allow me to generate sets of lesser known albums or bulk-up on my favorites.

 

After my wife and I got married, we listened to one album a day until we got through all the music we owned. It took a couple years but it was fun. Now it would take me almost ten years to listen to all the music I have. I have ripped almost everything (except LPs) to a harddrive and lately listen using the random feature on my OPPO player. Almost 26,000 songs. A different listening experience every time.

 

Ha ha ha VERY funny indeed...

 

A couple of years ago or more when I switched my music libraries to new hard drives I lost my play counts in iTunes and JRiver. When I decided to go on a "mission" to make sure everything in my library was listened to (although most certainly had been) 19,000 songs out of 25,000 (near 2,300 albums) had a zero play count. I created a smartlist based on the zero play count. I finished my labor of love about two months ago.

 

For vinyl I keep the LPs in order of last played. So every LP gets a shot in the rotation.

When I used to alphabetically keep my CDs (all sold off now) I found I'd be listening to the same 5-10% of the collection.

The rotation method works for me nicely.

 

Has the disadvantage that you listen to same track twice if 2 albums contain same song/same version (e.g. Grestest hits and Best ofs). In my case it would be significant.

 

I own like 4,000 LPs and probably something close to that same number of CDs, and then some singles, 78s, downloads, etc. I don't have enough years left to live to listen to every song on all of 'em, almost certainly a sign that it's time to get rid of most of 'em.

 

Or insane. Time is too valuable to waste listening to songs again that you didn't care for in the first place. AIMHO

This assumes the OP does not like every song in his collection.

 

If I were to listen to every song I owned, I would take that opportunity to rate every song. The "best" would go to a playlist, or be archived as such.
Otherwise, what is constructive about doing something like this? Don't waste an opportunity to actually do something, you know?

 

i am trying to listen to all my cds and albums before i spin off this mortal coil. Finding time is not easy and i still buy new music. I fear i may never achieve my goal!! I still have albums that i have not listened to all the way through. I listened to Snow by Kate Bush for the first time today. I have had it for years. Onward and upward!

 

I agree and this is what I have done. Top of my list with 100/100 are Stawberry fields forever, Penny lane, Desolation row, Itchycoo Park, Days by the Kinks, Calvary by Quicksilver Messenger Service, Darkness 11/11 by Van der Graaf Generator and a handful others.

 

I will be RIP before I get there

I have been in cd rip mode to fill up a 2 tb hard drive - flac files

Probably have 2,00albums and 3,000 cds


I did take my car ipod and set it to song alphabetical
Took months to get to Hs and I could skip as I saw fit

Fun way to play something you normally wouldn't play

 

When I was laid up with my back issue I tried to listen to all the artists A to Z in my CD collection. Not every song or even every album mind you, just artists. I don't think I got to the Bs.

 

Would it make sense to purge those albums from the collection?

I've got a bunch of stuff my wife purchased I wouldn't care to listen to, but I could see it staying on the list (and in the collection) with some sort of snarky comment (Over my dead body, or such).

 

I am inspired to make the effort. I am certain that I own music that I have never heard. It used to drive my wife nuts... "Why so many?" Really? I don't know.

 

Does that include Lou Reed's 'Metal Machine Music' ?

 

That is indeed exactly what I'm doing.

 

On the other hand for myself it was certainly a trip of rediscovery and for each song that may have popped up that I didn't particularly care for there were ten I had forgotten how good they were.

 

Constructive? I'm not sure. Thoroughly enjoyable? Very much so. A Journey of rediscovery. I almost always played on random play. Every day a different day of unexpected listening. It was a long process and took a lot of time but worth every minute.

I did listen to other things during this time so new albums I had obtained got at least a full listen if not more or certain titles I just wished to hear when I was in the mood.

 

I like going back to an old album I hadn't listened to since initial release and had only listened once or twice and then put it away until years later. When you do that, it's like you are listening to a brand new album all over again since you don't remember the songs. Most of the time, after listening to it, you remember why you hadn't listened to it since initial release. But there is that rare occasion you tell yourself you should've been listening to this great album all along (maybe taste changed over the years and you really did hate it initially but love it now.)

 

Ya, this is why I would never make it a "mission" to play this or that. I have a collection (cds and vinyl) and it is stored neatly, but not in any order. This ensures I look through it whenever
I want to play something. Oddly, I never have much trouble finding what I'm looking for, and if I do, I usually find some other things I forgot about also...

 

Enjoy the journey, Alan!

On a side note, it's nice to see someone with as much Smashing Pumpkins in their collection as me. Love them! Cheers!