How do you guys rotate your music?

I recently became more involved with my music gear, and signed up for this site today. I have been a long time user of these forums. I started putting together a decent (I think!) set up using vintage equipment.

Since becoming serious I've found that many of the users here mentioning their "album rotations". That made me super curious of how you guys rotate your music. I'm 27 years old, but 90% of what I listen to was made before 1980. I am a huge classic rock/metal/prog, jazz, classical, and blues fan. The downside of liking all these genres is I go through "phases" of listening to different artists, which isn't terrible but it gets a little haphazard.

For example, one night I'll listen to T. Monk and get super into him, listen to a few albums, but then I'll feel like listening to Beethoven's 7th and then a little Jethro Tull. Then the next week I'll binge on prog and then Billy Joel or Black Sabbath. It's a bunch of randomness, and the problem is that I feel like I am not appreciating this good music as much as I could be!

Before I make this too long I'll pop the question: what is your method to your rotation? How do you listen to music to increase your appreciation without it getting old?

I put together this setup for approx $150 as a newbie
Adcom GTK-500 Preamp
Mcintosh 2100 Tube Amp
Technics DD Turntable with Pickering XV-15 Cart
Klipsch KG-2
Sony 5 Disc CD Player

 

Welcome to the forum.

You got all that equipment together for $150? Is that what it cost to have someone steal it for you?

As far as music rotation goes, I generally just read the "listing to" threads on this forum and go home with a list I want to put on as a result.

My rotation is also influenced by whether or not I'm drinking bourbon.

 

I have no answer to your question, unless "I just listen to whatever strikes my fancy" answers it. But I'm curious how you were able to put together a system like that for only $150?

 

Welcome to the forum and the audio habit (crap...I mean hobby)! You have done exactly what I believe most newbies should do. Assemble a decent system on-the-cheap and head to the used CD bins to build their libraries (LPs okay, too...just not my medium of choice). You have done a bang-up job if all that costs only $150

Back to your original question...I like to rotate each CD out of the collection after a good listening session or two. I simply place it on another level of the shelf. I keep doing this until all albums are enjoyed. Then I simply start over. This forces me to use every album in my collection. If I get down to the last few and they don't excite me...then I consider letting them go. Think if it as a iTunes playlist for "play count = 0". I only have abut 420 discs so this is easy for me to do. Ideally, I want to listen to each album at least once a year.

Goo luck and remember to enjoy the music first and not get so caught-up in the hardware!

 

Forget your system, not important, music is pure emotion moving from one genre to another is based on how you feel.

 

This year I've made much more of an effort to give new CDs a "fair hearing" rather than 1 play and move on to the next if it doesn't immediately grab me.

I've done this mainly by just having a particular playlist that I put new acquisitions in to, and it stays in there until it's had several plays at least, then I remove it if it's not grabbing me, or leave it in there if I'm enjoying it, in which case it might stay several weeks and get a really good run out.

Newer (to me) stuff goes up near the top of the playlist, and the more familiar stuff near the end, so I'm likely to go to the newer stuff more often.

I don't have any rules about genres, I throw it all in, so at the moment the playlist, from top (newest) to bottom (most played) has got among other things-

The Strypes
Level 42
The Monkees
Dave Brubeck
Foo Fighters
Oscar Peterson Trio
Captain Beefheart
U2
Duke Ellington
Louvin Brothers
Bob Marley
Noel Gallagher


It keeps you on your toes listening to that mixture!

 

Personally, I know of no other way. Music is for pleasure; if you start making it a "program" or "regimen," it becomes just another job.

 

For the most part, I listen to my music through my digital audio player (a Sony Walkman NWZ-A17) and use the following methods to rotate my music when listening to it on my player:

• Shuffle within various other criteria (such as genre, artist, year and playlists).
• SenseMe Channels: My player places the music on my player into the channels based on musical similarity (such as Lounge, Energetic, Relax, Upbeat, Mellow, Emotional).

The above methods prevent me from getting bored with my music and also allow me to find some gems I hadn't yet discovered.

 

Whatever tickles my fancy in the moment. Mostly pure randomness. If I buy new music I'll play it 2 or 3 times, put it away and then listen to it again in about 2 weeks to see if my opinion (good or bad) has changed.

 

Thanks for the speedy replies! I am looking forward to delving deeper into what you guys wrote about rotating albums.

So here's what I did to acquire my set up. The KG-2's and Mac Amp were given to me by my dad. Found them collecting dust in the garage and he wouldn't take any cash (i'll buy him a fancy dinner with all he can drink Macallan soon). The Adcom preamp was found on eBay for $70. The Technics TT was sold to me by an old friend of mine, hes 78 and a ham radio guy and fixed it up for me nicely for $100.

Okay so I spent a little more than $150, but still not bad for enjoying all my CDs and records!

 

I find entering my collection into Discogs to be very helpful. I mostly listen to LP's and the small printing on the spines doesn't always inspire me to pull it off the shelf. Being able to brows the album artwork on the computer and them pulling it of the shelf helps to keep me from forgetting what I have shelved.

 

I may buy 10 or more CDs in a given week, so I keep my "new arrivals" separate from the rest of my collection until I have a chance to play them at least once. After that they generally get filed away until I want to here them again.

 

Oh so the truth comes out...more than $150! Anyway, great acquisitions regardless.

 

Before 1980? That's a shame, that was the greatest year of all time for hard rock music.

The number of different bands and Rock genres I have listened to grew exponentially around early 2013. Nowadays, I find myself playing certain bands I once played daily, maybe every two weeks. I vary it as much as possible, and that's what happens and I don't even notice until I'm actually playing those bands I used to constantly rotate.

 

Just do.

 

yep, the never ending play pile of new arrivals keeps me from have to think very long about what to listen to.

 

I just put my music in the cd player, it rotates all by itself.

Seriously though, I just play whatever I'm in the mood for.

 

Not at the magical 33 and a third though.

 

My approach only works with a purely digital music collection, but I offer it with obvious caveats.

I define the following playlists:
-last listen was greater than one year ago
-less than two total listens (useful for auditioning new content)
-24 random selections that aren't Christmas music

These get summed into my !Play Now playlist.

This ensures that I listen to every song in my library at least once per year.

 

Great point! Heaven and Hell by Black Sabbath is one of my favorite albums, I am also a huge Iron Maiden and Judas Priest fan. Also a fan of what Yes, Rush and Genesis did in the 80's and beyond. I guess my point was that I listen to a lot of older music

 

That's not necessarily a shame...it is "focus". That was another piece of advice I heard from a wise collector...give your collection some focus to make it special.

 

I just play what I play when I play it.

 

Absolutely no structure to my music rotation, and that's the way I like it.

 

New music is cleaned and played as it comes in, which usually inspires additional albums based on either the artist, genre, time period etc. If you've bothered to put your collection into Discogs, they have a "Random" button which allows you to display a random selection from your library.... I still try to listen to a full album, if not that, at least one complete side....