How do you guys rotate your music?

I'm in the process of putting my collection into Discogs, so I'm constantly amazed at what I've purchased in the last few years and played once and then shelved. Gives me a chance a to reevaluate material that I've overlooked.

I wonder how many forum folks here just browse their collection and find new 'forgotten' discoveries.

 

I love music autobiographies and biographies. So it is fun to read the book and listen to the music while they talk about how it was made.

I've been collating music since the late sixties, so my listening moves around. Talk in this forum will get me to dig out old faves. Maybe the obit of an artists, gets me to dig out different music. Allen Toussaint just passed, so I've been digging out every thing he touched from his records, production is song writing.

 

I mostly just go by free association: I see what I'm in the mood for or put on something after someone here mentions it or listen to a record because the previous one inexplicably reminded me of it or the artist, etc. But I do have dedicated New Acquisitions areas for CDs and LPs and try to listen to at least a couple things from there every day. Then after the first listen, they go to the Need to Be Shelved area since it's more efficient to add new things into the shelves in bunches now and then rather than constantly, ugh.

I don't consciously rotate or cycle through old stuff; there's just too much of it -- but if I'm looking for something to play and can't think of a definite choice within a few minutes, then I do make a point of browsing the less easily scanned portions of the shelves looking for something I haven't heard in a while.

I usually throw on the Shuffle All Songs when I walk my dogs every day (that's the only time when I use my porta-player), and it brings up all sorts of delightful semi-forgotten tunes. This morning's selections included The Mountain Goats' "The Only Thing I Know" and this gem:

 

I tend to play a lot of my music on shuffle, as the collection is so huge that it's hard to pick something to play.

Then again, the last few days, I've been a decisively Dylan/Van Morrison kind of mood, so when those things happen, I just roll with them.

 

I have a collection of 3000 mp3s that I assembled over the last ten years. I like all kinds of music from rap to country to classic rock to jazz. Mostly classic rock, heavy on the Beatles. I have my collection online, on my phone, on my car stereo, on my home stereo, on my laptop, on my Chromebook and backed up to several flash drives. Any where I am I can listen to the collection on random. It is like my own personal radio station without the djs or commercials.

 

It's an ever spreading web with one thing leading to another.
Reading posts here or references elsewhere to something helps push LPs closer to the front of the "to be listened to soon" box.

Once I finish cataloging my collection on Discogs and get everything organised properly I think my listening rate will speed up.
At the moment finding a particular album I know I have is involving some serious digging.

 

I let myself be swept away on whims, even if that whim means I play the same things multiple times in a row. A few things I would like to suggest:

1. Engage with your collection often. Whether it be to reorganize, clean cases, look at liner notes... Engaging will make those albums that seem to "disappear" during your ritual spine scanning more noticeable.
2. Don't develop a sense of guilt by "neglecting" albums (or even whole genres) for a while. Remember there was a headspace you were in when you really enjoyed listening to it often, and you will probably be in that headspace again. For me, I will binge on specific genres for weeks then move on and come back to them eventually. I don't rent my music on a service, I own it, so it is not going anywhere and will be waiting for me when I return to it.
3. Consistently add to your listening choices. Dig in used bins, borrow from friends, explore on streaming services, support your local record store, etc. Even if you don't end up holding on to all of your finds, the adventure will certainly be rewarding enough, and your rotation will constantly change.

 

No, a focus would be a certain genre or even a certain period of music, but not exclusively listening to music up to a certain year. OP clarified this though, so I'm not attacking him.

I'd like to point out that I'm somewhat of a hypocrite, I rarely listen to anything made after 1994. But music went downhill real quick anyway after that so I'm fine with that. I wouldn't call that a focus, by any means though.

 

by expiration date...

 

Randomly really...but generally i wont play the same album more about once or twice in a year. I like to build a decent sized collection so i can rotate easily and keep things 'fresh'...

 

I've catalogued my collection on Discogs - and the site has a 'Random' button.
I'll 'Random' my way thru about 10 albums, then put them in some semblance of musical order, and listen to 10 album sides for the night.
It's a great way to stay in touch with all of the collection without falling into patterns.

 

Lately I've kind of been cycling through artists and wearing out their catalog for a multiple weeks a pop, like cycling through whole thing, and some portions multiple times.

 

Put me down for the "whatever floats my boat at the time" room.
Never even thought about a rotation.

 

On a turntable or CD player. (Sorry ... couldn't resist.)

 

I think most people here go John, Paul, George, Ringo...

 

Method ? That's so OCD. What you do is perfectly fine; you listen to whatever you fell like listening and suits your mood, tastes, and occasion. Any ¨methods¨are BS. You aren't missing out on anything by listening the way you do.

 

have no set rotation...whenever the mood strikes me I play something.

 

yup...for me as said.

 

Most do maybe, but for me it's a bunch of other stuff, George, a bunch of other stuff, John, a bunch of other stuff.

 

Remember, life is short.

Just enjoy your music.

 

I checked my collection. 30% of my rock music is after 1994. Since then represents 40% of the total time span of my rock music. So you might be on to something

 

Put a few albums or artists on a Playlist and go about listening!

 

I go Karen, Richard, Gilbert, Barry, Agnetha, Frida, Benny, Bjorn, Weird Al, Allan, Stan, Brian, Al, Mike, Carl, Dennis, Glen, Ringo, George, John, Paul, Barry (Gibb), Robin, Maurice, Beverley, Beverly, Del, Gary and Nanci.

 

I strongly agree. I've spent so much time working with my music rather than just listening to it. Sometimes I miss the old days before digital audio players when I just put a disc in my CD player, hit play and listen in a darkened room without distractions.

 

I usually just play a band or artist until I'm burned out. Just a bad habit of mine.