[Carolina Pitbull]

I was having a discussion with my brother in law today about how we listen to music. He uses Spotify to listen to music and he simply picks an artist and hits play... and then goes about his merry way. I also use Spotify but I have a hard time not listening to an entire album from start to finish as it was recorded. I may not always finish the album but when I go back to listen again, I pick up from the same point that I left off. I listen the same way when using a DAP, entire albums. Perhaps it is because that is how I began consuming music all those years ago on both vinyl and cassette tape.

How do you listen to music?

 

[ADUHF]

Interested to see the results of this poll.

I rarely listen to whole albums anymore. Though sometimes I'll sample them to find other tunes by an artist I like. So I voted random tracks.

I assume most audiophiles still prefer albums. I'd be curious to know what media the album listeners prefer though, ie vinyl, digital, HR...?

 

[Carolina Pitbull]

I prefer to listen to albums and exclusively listen digitally. I listen to Spotify around 80% of the time and a DAP 20%. I listen to 320 Kbps MP3 files on Spotify and usually (maybe 75% of the time) FLAC when using the DAP. I keep trying to hear a difference between the file formats but I know in a blind test I would score abysmally.

 

[serman005]

I mostly just roam around, grabbing tracks here and there. Some albums I will listen all the way through, but mostly I just listen to digital formats. I, too, have a hard time distinguishing the different formats.

 

[kid vic]

I like to sit down with an album if I can and I know the quality is good, but if I'm just discovering an artist I'll just hit random on Google play

 

[Southeastern]

I prefer full albums, but with the whole MP3 library/streaming, I have to admit I dip into random tracks, but it feels a bit soul destroying. Then I have to put on a record just so I can reaffirm my appreciation for listening to the journey that is an album.

 

[Nik74]

Rarely listen to whole albums as there s always tracks that I find uninteresting and my listening time often is limited. The only album I ve listened back to back in the last few months was Cowboy Junkies- The Trinity Session

 

[bunsenburner156]

I feel this actually depends on the album for me and maybe my mood. I've purchased some compilations just for specific tracks and am likely to just listen to those, but other albums I'll pick tracks from, or listen to them fully if I have time or want to hear that one particularly.

Maybe others here are like me but I don't see this as purely black and white. There are some gray areas in my view of this.

 

[blackdragon87]

full albums usually. anything from bob dylan

 

[SilverEars]

I love to explore, so sometimes I just check out a playlist on Tidal. And then as a result, Tidal would recommend certain artists, and I check them out.

I think music exploring is an area AI can help people explore new music.

Ever since I got streaming service I've been exploring music alot. There are so many artists out there, all kinds that are really worth listening to and also many different and new type of sounds. I love exploring music!

I find this random list pushes me to try new artists that I may not ottherwise try. When I used to listen to music file collections on my computer, I'd limit myself to those artists, but with streaming, I can explore very easily, and discover.

It's like trying new dishes Eating the same thing over and over again, the taste gets dull. Same for music.

 

[Whitetriton]

When listening for pleasure, I'll load up my music library and play random songs. I never had a record player and have very limited experience with cassettes, so I have no nostalgia for listening to an entire album. In fact, I doubt I could even name five albums on which I like every track enough to actually spend time listening to. I also like the idea of not knowing what song is coming next. If I don't like a song, I'll delete it from my library. If I'm just not in the mood at that day/time, I'll skip it.

 

[Carolina Pitbull]

I find this random list pushes me to try new artists that I may not ottherwise try. When I used to listen to music file collections on my computer, I'd limit myself to those artists, but with streaming, I can explore very easily, and discover.

It's like trying new dishes Eating the same thing over and over again, the taste gets dull. Same for music.

I agree that the random lists at streaming services certainly help you to branch out a bit with your musical taste. I do think that after a few months of listening though that the algorithms reach a point where they have outlived their intent. It begins to become somewhat circular in the recommendations are offered.

Since I have been into head-fi I have found that most new to me music I have discovered has come from the Rolling Stone top 500 albums of all time list. I have been working my way through those albums and have listened to a ton of stuff that I would have never found in any algorithm on Spotify. I listen to a ton of heavy metal, hard rock and the like so things like Miles Davis, Muddy Waters, Steve Earl and multiple others would likely never show on my random lists. Obviously no one will agree with any top XXX list of albums because some of your own personal favorites are inevitably left off, but I have found this particular list to be quite good.

 

[Carolina Pitbull]

When listening for pleasure, I'll load up my music library and play random songs. I never had a record player and have very limited experience with cassettes, so I have no nostalgia for listening to an entire album. In fact, I doubt I could even name five albums on which I like every track enough to actually spend time listening to. I also like the idea of not knowing what song is coming next. If I don't like a song, I'll delete it from my library. If I'm just not in the mood at that day/time, I'll skip it.

I agree that there are not many, if any, albums that I like every track from. That said, I still like to experience the albums at least once played from front to finish as the artist intended it to be heard. I guess I am assuming the artist gives a rip about which track goes where on an album.

 

[flareburst]

I feel like it really depends on the situation. If it's an artist that I know and they came out with a new album, I tend to listen to the whole album. However, if I'm in a mood for certain types of songs, then I'll just play random tracks from the artist that fit the mood.

 

[kid vic]

New albums don't always have the same front-to-back quality as those from yesteryear. I think a lot of new albums suffer from being made in a time when a hot ALBUM is not as important as hot singles.
That's more true for music important to pop culture than other genres though. A band like Badbadnotgood for instance has put out 2 excellent albums worthy of full replays, but that doesn't hold true for other artists in other genres imo.