Music Sunday

I have, as of yesterday's eMusic download fest, 2,406 songs in iTunes. And as I finished downloading, it occurred to me, with a small wow, that I really like almost all of the music I have right now. The lone benefit of losing all my CD's in the move to Chicago, and then my MP3s in two separate hard drive crashes, is that I have no dross--no embarassing choices left over from my adolescence, no random songs downloaded while writing the annual GSB follies. Also, because the collection is relatively small, there's nothing of which I could say "I really like that, but I haven't listened to it in a while."

As the collection grows, obviously that will change. And it will, for I'm now a backup obsessive. I will never again lose more than a few days worth of music.

So discussion question of the day, for this fine, lazy Sunday: how many songs do you have in your iTunes*? And is it too many, too few, or just right?

* Or other MP3 player--or CD collection, if you're still living in the paleolithic.

Comments

This commenter's comment has been deleted for profanity and trolling

Posted by Daddy Bought Me My Music | September 30, 2007 11:55 AM

Is there a prize associated with this quiz? My iTunes is on a peripheral hard drive, since it won't fit on the laptop any more. (Unfortunately, the hard drive runs 'autoplay' every hour or so, which is very annoying.)

Total: 21,590 "songs" (half of them classical pieces or movements), adding up to 102.66 GB and 53 days of continuous listening, with plenty more still to be ripped. (Apparently once you go over 50, they don't list the hours, minutes, and seconds any more.)

The second half of this post tells why I like having the classical as well as the popular stuff on iTunes, though I still have just about all the CDs. (I've never been to the iTunes store.)

Posted by Dr. Weevil | September 30, 2007 12:10 PM

Download-only music collections have all the charm and appeal of a saltless Saltine cracker.

Posted by MoeLarryAndJesus | September 30, 2007 12:29 PM

1,746

I listen to lots of music that I am very unfamiliar with trying to find something I really like. Lots of different kinds of music. I don't like it all and am constantly deleting selections.

Posted by Troy | September 30, 2007 12:35 PM

I have about 16 gigs, for whatever it's worth. I knew a guy who used to brag about his 275 gigs of music... I never really understood why precisely that's supposed to be impressive or cool. If you have over a certain amount of music, it just means there's lots you never listen to. I mean more power to you, if it makes you happy. I just never saw the use.

Posted by Freddie | September 30, 2007 1:18 PM

uhr, uhr, me gronk! me paleolithic music include 350 cd's and 50 fossilized vinyl albums.
*cough* man it's hard to do that impression for a long period...

so that's something like 5000 'songs' as a guess. The reason I think I haven't been a fan of conversion is that my memory for songs is based on the whole album. Some musicians do an album as a concept, but regardless, I hear it as a whole anyway. So buying music by the song wouldn't cut it for albums I know. Converting what I have really isn't worth the time, when I already have the CD anyway. And anything new, you definitely risk missing specific gems that you have never heard of. Like Romeo and Juliette by Indigo Girls. It's not their song, wasn't a single and and kicks Mark Knopfler's version to the curb.

I suppose I'd have a different take if I lost all my CD's... I have never replaced many of the cassettes that croaked a long time ago, unless I really want to hear a particular album. The vinyl on the other hand is mostly so rare that it is irreplaceable, and not available even on iTunes. What iTunes does spare you rom is the indignity of buying a whole album to find that only one tune on it is any good...

I guess music isn't just something I listen to... it's memory.

Posted by D | September 30, 2007 1:49 PM

Right now I have just under 16,000 (62+ Gigs). It's too much and too little. I have always been like this. When I worked at a record store in college, there were weeks when I owed my boss money (and we got everything at wholesale).

I just moved from Chicago to SF, and, as I don't have a job yet, I'm working my way through the 5,000 or so downloads I've yet to listen to and add to the iTunes. I also plan to rip all my girlfriend's (good) CDs. As I work my way through this process, I find other artists and songs I'm missing, so I will be downloading more as soon as I clear this stuff out.

I love the age of piracy, because people allow themselves so many guilty pleasures for free. I love looking at friends' mp3s, because there's always some horrible accident in there to point out and have a laugh over.

Posted by Graeme | September 30, 2007 1:54 PM

no random songs downloaded while writing the annual GSB follies

Ugh. I know what you mean. And don't they always seem find their way to the top of the shuffle lists?

Posted by Trevor | September 30, 2007 2:46 PM

I've never downloaded anything, but Bremner wafers are essentially saltless Saltines, and they're the best possible cracker to put under cheese if you really want to taste the cheese.

Posted by Dr. Weevil | September 30, 2007 3:30 PM

This comment has been deleted for gratuitous sexual innuendo.

Posted by MoeLarryAndJesus | September 30, 2007 3:38 PM

5,854, but making sure I never lose them all (two different backups in two cities) there are plenty of songs I hae no intention of listening to. I'd say there are about 3,500 essentials and another 1,000 that I probably will like eventually, although I don't know what they are now...

Posted by jfalk | September 30, 2007 3:44 PM

This comment has been deleted because it responds to an earlier, deleted comment.

Posted by Dr. Weevil | September 30, 2007 4:35 PM

I come in at around 8079 songs (roughly 35 GBs) which has treated me right and is a manageable amount.

The collection includes a fair amount of dross, though only through the letter M. When I first made the transition to iTunes, I made a concentrated effort to rip every CD I owned, an effort I gave up on after M, and thus the only N-Z music I have in here is stuff I have said "oh I forgot to digitize that, I should rip it right now," a thought that tends not to pop into my head with the drossish ish.

And that is why Bel Biv Devoe - Poison make the cut, but not Jill Sobule.

Posted by Dave White | September 30, 2007 5:15 PM

This comment has been deleted for gratuitous sexual innuendo, and its author is being warned to knock it off.

Posted by MoeLarryAndJesus | September 30, 2007 5:16 PM

I have a bit less than 130 GB, which is obviously too little.

Posted by Petey | September 30, 2007 5:16 PM

I only have 1144 songs. I feel so inadequate! I think I'll fire up BitTorrent and steal some more music right now.

Posted by Michael | September 30, 2007 5:37 PM

Please more posts about music and less posts about fiscal policy.

Posted by Pete | September 30, 2007 5:50 PM

So discussion question of the day, for this fine, lazy Sunday: how many songs do you have in your iTunes*? And is it too many, too few, or just right?

* Or other MP3 player--or CD collection, if you're still living in the paleolithic.

Just under 5,000 songs. I've never had a disastrous disc crash and even 'ripped' a bunch of old vinyl at one point, so I have lots of ancient stuff I listen to rarely, but storage is cheap -- why throw it out?

The music is not 'in' any particular mp3 library -- rather iTunes, Windows Media Player (and even Winamp is still installed, I guess), point to the same folders on the disc. When I'm playing music on the computer, I've come to prefer Media Player 11, actually, over iTunes. Surprisingly for Microsoft, MP11 is aesthetically nicer than iTunes (I like the 'stack of records' UI).

But my 20G MP3 player really is 'paleolithic' -- it's more than 5 years old but just won't die. Once I even plugged it into the wrong voltage and it got hot enough to melt the case a little, but still works perfectly (how can you retire an electronic device that tough?) When I do upgrade, it probably won't be an iPod though. What I want is an internet tablet/personal media player with at least a 4" screen, a nice large hard disk, a still and video camera, GPS and mapping, and wifi (with a browser and the ability to install various other apps). The iPod Touch has some of this, but not nearly enough. And I want it to cost $200 or less. And yes, I'm willing to wait...

Posted by Slocum | September 30, 2007 5:53 PM

"But my 20G MP3 player really is 'paleolithic' -- it's more than 5 years old but just won't die. Once I even plugged it into the wrong voltage and it got hot enough to melt the case a little, but still works perfectly"

I have a pre-iPod era Neo 20G player that also just won't die.

I basically use it as a paperweight, however, as the iPod interface provides enough additional value to have justified buying one to replace a still working player.

Posted by Petey | September 30, 2007 6:26 PM

I have 9444 songs and yet I can still never find anything I want to listen to.

Posted by Jeff Westcott | September 30, 2007 6:37 PM

Megan writes: "This comment has been deleted for gratuitous sexual innuendo, and its author is being warned to knock it off."

There was no sexual innuendo, actually, but I (of course) knew it could be taken that way if someone tried hard enough.

The cheese stands alone - does anyone have that song on an mp3?

Posted by MoeLarryAndJesus | September 30, 2007 7:01 PM

ML&J pretends to be unaware of meaning #6 of the word in question on Dictionary.com.

Posted by Dr. Weevil | September 30, 2007 7:04 PM

"This comment has been deleted for gratuitous sexual innuendo"

Wow. I respect your willingness to manually prune the comments section, Megan, but I read that particular comment, and that's crazy Standards & Practices you're got going.

Civilized society encourages gratuitous sexual innuendo. The very obliqueness of innuendo renders it polite. And talkin' cheese is pretty damn oblique.

The target didn't like it, and it wasn't exactly elevating the tone of the thread, or producing enjoyable discussion. Nice gratuitous sexual innuendo is, of course, always welcome. Provided you remember that my father reads this blog. --MM

Posted by Petey | September 30, 2007 7:38 PM

If I eliminate all the 'spoken' items, I end up with 7979 entries on my iTunes/iPod. The majority of these come from my CDs; a relatively small minority (probably less than 5%) represent on-line purchases, mostly from iTunes.

And, no, there are no illegal downloads because I periodically serve as an expert witness in IT-related intellectual property cases (I'm typing this from the Admiral's Club at Denver International on my way to Chicago for an on-going patent trial).

The spoken items, by the way, account for another 1961 items. They include the entire Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy radio shows (both the originals and the newer series -- all the way through Fit The Twentyfirst), Peter Beagle reading "The Last Unicorn", some Firesign Theater, some Monty Python, and the complete set of LDS scriptures (Old and New Testament (KJV), Book of Mormon, Doctrine & Coventants, Pearl of Great Price), as well as a few other odds and ends. ..bruce..

Posted by bfwebster | September 30, 2007 8:07 PM

Weevil writes: "ML&J pretends to be unaware of meaning #6 of the word in question on Dictionary.com."

If you need to go down to meaning #6 in order to pretend that you're offended I suggest you have too much time on your hands.

And in any case, it was a word you introduced to the conversation.

I look forward to the McArdleized version of "Richard III" which deletes mentions of "daggers" and so forth.

Posted by MoeLarryAndJesus | September 30, 2007 8:09 PM

Note to self:

Self, try to remember that this blog is lactose intolerant.

Posted by MoeLarryAndJesus | September 30, 2007 8:12 PM

ML&J:

Try to get over yourself, and realize that anyone else would get the benefit of the doubt, but you have forfeited it by your filthy, untrue, and far more blatant suggestions on a recent thread.

Now can we please get back to iTunes?

Posted by Dr. Weevil | September 30, 2007 8:37 PM

I have to say that the fact that I couldn't puzzle out what precisely the innuendo in question was suggests that it wasn't quite so blatant.

Posted by Freddie | September 30, 2007 8:52 PM

Whether it was blatant or subtle or even accidental or imaginary, it wasn't adding to the discussion; it's just derailed what was an enjoyable thread into a spat. ML&J, you are not six years old. Stop trolling, or I'll delete your comments, okay? Dr. Weevil, please don't feed the trolls. Thanks.

Posted by Megan McArdle | September 30, 2007 9:00 PM

...and then my MP3s in two separate hard drive crashes...

Thanks for reminding me that I reeeealy need to get around to backing up my hard drive.

Posted by nate | September 30, 2007 9:07 PM

I have 30+ gigs of music and that is probably too much, especially since I'm discovering a lot of good music worth listening to on youtube.

Posted by nate | September 30, 2007 9:11 PM

This comment has been deleted because its author exhibits a strange compulsion for beating horses that have long sense dropped dead from exhaustion.

Posted by MoeLarryAndJesus | September 30, 2007 9:47 PM

5500 or so and 30 gigs.

Posted by DPT | September 30, 2007 10:14 PM

Oh, and the Tom Petty catalog.

Posted by MoeLarryAndJesus | September 30, 2007 10:15 PM

Wait... That wasn't my whole comment. Grr.

But yeah, too little there. I have lots of jazz artists but not as much depth (with the exception of Mingus and Davis) as I'd like. Sometime I'll get around to dealing with that.

I have to say getting the 60 gig iPod was a wise decision. At first I thought, 'oh, I can't possibly need more than 30 gigs of music'. Then I started ripping CDs and realized how utterly wrong I was.

Posted by DPT | September 30, 2007 10:18 PM

I use a beat up little Sandisk 512 mp3 player (that has a radio). I dislike too much choice and don't mind rotating songs on and off. I like having the radio also.

I've got about 7 gigs of music on my desktop, with about 1500 songs in the main folder, and then some subfolders for Classical, Christian (Keith Green, Petra, Phil Keaggy, Dion Dimucci), Full Albums, and Classic Tunes (Nat King, Sinatra, etc).

When I was younger and had GI Joe dolls, I would purposely injure the older ones so that I wouldn't be conflicted about showing more attention to the new ones. I didn't like the choice of having seven action figures to play with, while having only two hands. (Which is also why I don't want twins).

I am the same way with my music.

I don't think I will let it rise above 10 gigs. I do need a new player though before my hard drive crashes. But it will primarily store my essential 2 gigs of music: Dire Straits, Leonard Cohen, Coldplay, Tom Waits, Peter Gabriel, Enya, Emmylou Harris, Crowded House. The rest of the music will be on its own during a crash, hoping for metamusical Bernanke.

I use winamp as my music player.

A friend of mine (who is not me) has used Limewire of late.

Posted by Finn | October 1, 2007 4:11 AM

Upwards of 100,000 songs, spoken word programs, radio shows, and Lord knows what else. Never paid a dime for any of them.

Posted by RMc | October 1, 2007 8:03 AM

As of yesterday, 7019 songs on the hard drive. That's right at 600 albums, and I think we have about 100 or so CDs that haven't been ripped. I'm trying to get the database of CDs updated, but a lot of CDs are in storage right now while the house is on the market. There's also a back collection of vinyl that I'm looking into digitizing if I can get a decent turntable.

I don't get people who say they never listen to certain things. I use a Squeezebox at the house and it stays on random. The stereo is on unless the TV is or we're asleep. Sooner or later, it'll cycle through everything.

Posted by T | October 1, 2007 9:58 AM

I have 7,066 songs on my iTunes, which represents all the stuff on CDs that I thought worth putting on there, plus 758 songs that I've bought in (on?) the iTunes store.

It's too much in the sense that I could still trim songs I don't like that much -- my goal is to get it to the point where the shuffle function couldn't come up with something I'd forward past (except if it conflicted badly with a mood, etc.)

It's not enough in the sense that there's plenty of stuff I want that I don't have, especially in the jazz and classical categories.

Posted by JMW | October 1, 2007 3:04 PM

Last year, I asked people to name the most embarrassing tracks they'd ever downloaded/bought: enjoy

Posted by Mad Mix | October 3, 2007 3:19 PM

4,000 "songs" = 13 days, on the computer. 450 LPs; 50 45s; 300 +/- CDs. I'm always adding more to the CD & I-tunes. (Jimi Hendrix live bootleg, Turandot; Lefty Frizzel are the three latest) The local library is a good source, plus bit torrent, plus buying CDs from the artists websites.

Posted by Peter VE | October 3, 2007 8:40 PM