Listening habits with distributed audio source

Posted by: Gary S. on 16 November 2008

Since buying my Linn Accurate DS it is fair to say my listening habits have changed considerably and I wondered if anybody else had noticed the same?

For one, I find I have been listening to far less vinyl, this is probably due to the honeymoon period and something which I intend to change. The other thing I find is lately I rarely listen to a whole album and tend to make a play list comprising my favorite two or three tracks from a variety of albums.

Tonight, due to haing misfortunately misplaced the pick from my Nokia 810 media tablet, I have been listening to vinyl again and have thouroughly enjoyed myself. Since you can't skip tracks or set up a playlist, you tend to just listen to the whole album and I have to say I've been listening to stuff I would have otherwise skipped over and enjoying it to boot.

Gary
Posted on: 16 November 2008 by u5227470736789454
Hi Gary,
I have a similar experience, I have a cd5x and a mac - when we have friends over, and we are sitting around or dining then I tend to leave the iTouch control out. It really is supprising how people like to "flick" through looking at the albums and contents - rather like the old Vinyl days, or alternatively via singer, genre etc, but they tend to butterfly - playing a variety of tracks, great for getting conversations about music going too.
When I want to listen to music I still go for the CD5X with a CD - somehow it is a different listening experience you settle into your chair, get the listening position right and close your eyes and relax. Both methods have their place and both deliver (to me) in different ways, it's rather like listening to a compilation album (ie best of the 1970's etc) compared to an album from a single composer, singer
It's nice to have the choice
Roll on getting an HDX.
Barrie
Posted on: 17 November 2008 by gary1 (US)
Gary, I've been taking a slightly different approach with the HDX. For the most part I've been choosing 2 to 4 Cds and loading them into a playlist and shuffling them. Sometimes there is a theme, like jazz, and other times just a few different types of music. I've been staying away from individual song playlists. If there are any tracks that I don't like then I just delete them later.

The beauty is that I can save the "current playlist" as a "playlist" so I don't forget the combo if it really works well in album order and then if I want to listen to the playlist again I can just hit shuffle and get a completely different random order.

Aside from having put away the cds, this is what I love about the DA concept.

PS: The HDX has really shown itself to be an impressive bit of kit.
Posted on: 17 November 2008 by james n
I normally play individual tracks depending on mood so the ease of access is a big bonus to me. Adding the 282 in has made such a huge improvement that i find myself listening to whole albums instead - a real rarity for me.

James
Posted on: 17 November 2008 by DMC
quote:
Originally posted by gary1 (US):
For the most part I've been choosing 2 to 4 Cds and loading them into a playlist and shuffling them.


This is much better than the old days when you could hear the CD carousel gars changing and it took forever to get from one CD to the next.

DMC
Posted on: 17 November 2008 by winkyincanada
I still tend to listen to whole albums, selected individually. What happens for me, though is that I often end up listening to the one that comes right afterwards. This is often by the same artist if I have iTunes set that way, or otherwise, the album that is next in alphabetical order. The latter can get me listening to stuff I might not have otherwise thought of. For example I am now listening to NIN "The Fragile" which queued straight after Patricia Barber "A Fortnight in Paris". Hmmm. A change of pace.
Posted on: 17 November 2008 by Alco
I rarely listen(ed) to a whole album, even when CD was my main source.

From my collection of 670 CD's I guess there are probably about <50 that I like from beginning to the last song.

I might gain some more weigth now though, as I don't have to get up from my couch anymore, to walk to my CD-racks Big Grin Winker
Posted on: 18 November 2008 by Gary S.
quote:
Originally posted by gary1 (US):
PS: The HDX has really shown itself to be an impressive bit of kit.


So's the Linn Accurate Winker
Posted on: 18 November 2008 by Claus-Thoegersen
[QUOTE]Originally posted by gary1 (US):
Gary, I've been taking a slightly different approach with the HDX. For the most part I've been choosing 2 to 4 Cds and loading them into a playlist and shuffling them. Sometimes there is a theme, like jazz, and other times just a few different types of music. I've been staying away from individual song playlists. If there are any tracks that I don't like then I just delete them later.

In the 4 weeks I had the HDX I did as usual meaning start out with an album and using the HDX remote to choose the tracks on the album if I did not want to play all of it. I did not get into playlists at all, wich I should have done just to check if I could create playlists from the DTC. So the new thing about streaming audio was the way I could browse my albums and choose albums that I maybe would not have taken out from the cd storage before. Finally the fact that no album can disappear in the HD based collection is nice. I am good at keeping order in my collection but it fails sometimes and can be a serious anoyance!

Claus
Posted on: 18 November 2008 by Gary S.
Claus

That's the lovely thing about having your music on a hard disk, you can play just a few tracks from a CD without the effort of having to keep getting up and change the CD.

I'm sure like me everybody has a few of those albums that they've bought on the basis of hearing one or two tracks, only to find those are the only ones they like! I can now listen to a playlist of tracks that I wouldn't have previously bothered putting on
Posted on: 18 November 2008 by gary1 (US)
Claus, if you decide to start making playlists or more importantly a "current playlist" and shuffle, make sure you do your shuffling from the DTC button at the top of the "now playing window" and not through the "shuffle mode" on the "Now Playing" screen on the IPUI.
Posted on: 18 November 2008 by glevethan
quote:
Originally posted by Gary S.:
quote:
Originally posted by gary1 (US):
PS: The HDX has really shown itself to be an impressive bit of kit.


So's the Linn Accurate Winker


As is the Klimax Big Grin
Posted on: 18 November 2008 by Gary S.
quote:
Originally posted by glevethan:
As is the Klimax Big Grin


So I'm told, I didn't dare listen Winker Have you got one yet?

Gary
Posted on: 18 November 2008 by pcstockton
Oh yes, the FLAC/DAC aspect has certainly changed my listening habits.

It is a double edged sword.

It is nice to have an entire collection of thousands of works at the click of a button. But impatience sometimes sets in and you start jumping all over the place.

It is nice though to be able to go "wikipedia" on your music... Following the relationships between artists and discovering connections.
Posted on: 18 November 2008 by Claus-Thoegersen
quote:
Originally posted by gary1 (US):
Claus, if you decide to start making playlists or more importantly a "current playlist" and shuffle, make sure you do your shuffling from the DTC button at the top of the "now playing window" and not through the "shuffle mode" on the "Now Playing" screen on the IPUI.


Gary I am not sure I understand this. When I had the HDX, I only found the playlist as a tab, like the music library andthe second tab wich I cannot remember the name of. These tabs I could use with Windows standard keyboard shortcuts, control+tab to move among tabs, and tab to move through controls in the tab. Then there was the buttons for play, pause, rip onand so on, wich you in that version of the dTC could only use with a mouse or mouse emulation. I had to label the graphics since the buttons did not have text labels on them, so maybe I missed the button you are talking about?
Posted on: 18 November 2008 by Guido Fawkes
quote:
That will all change soon though as i have just ordered a Keel and new arm for my main source.
New arm?

I can't imagine I'd ever use playlists or shuffle - SF Sorrow starts saying he's the loneliest person in the world before he's born - just doesn't work for me.
Posted on: 18 November 2008 by gary1 (US)
quote:
Originally posted by Claus-thoeg:
quote:
Originally posted by gary1 (US):
Claus, if you decide to start making playlists or more importantly a "current playlist" and shuffle, make sure you do your shuffling from the DTC button at the top of the "now playing window" and not through the "shuffle mode" on the "Now Playing" screen on the IPUI.


Gary I am not sure I understand this. When I had the HDX, I only found the playlist as a tab, like the music library andthe second tab wich I cannot remember the name of. These tabs I could use with Windows standard keyboard shortcuts, control+tab to move among tabs, and tab to move through controls in the tab. Then there was the buttons for play, pause, rip onand so on, wich you in that version of the dTC could only use with a mouse or mouse emulation. I had to label the graphics since the buttons did not have text labels on them, so maybe I missed the button you are talking about?


Hard for me to explain Claus as I don't know how you use the software. In the DTC when you open "Player and Maintenance mode" there are 3 tabs which say music library, tools, now playing. If you click on now playing it shows you what's on your "current playlist" on the right side of the screen. Above this are two tabs one of which says shuffle playlist which if you click this will reshuffle the tracks as seen on the "now playing screen" it takes a few seconds, but the tracks will re-order themselves. I do believe you can also shuffle from the software commands at the top under "actions". I have not done this, but have only used the tab button as described above.
Posted on: 18 November 2008 by Claus-Thoegersen
Hard for me to explain Claus as I don't know how you use the software. In the DTC when you open "Player and Maintenance mode" there are 3 tabs which say music library, tools, now playing. If you click on now playing it shows you what's on your "current playlist" on the right side of the screen. Above this are two tabs one of which says shuffle playlist which if you click this will reshuffle the tracks as seen on the "now playing screen" it takes a few seconds, but the tracks will re-order themselves. I do believe you can also shuffle from the software commands at the top under "actions". I have not done this, but have only used the tab button as described above.[/QUOTE]

I remember I saw the shuffle button, but never used it since I selected an album at a time, and for me it makes little sense to shuffle an album, but more if you select more than 1 album on a playlist. But I never really changed habbit while I had the HDX my mind was still thinking in one album at a time.

Claus
Posted on: 18 November 2008 by gary1 (US)
Claus, no problem. I was just pointing that out since we are discussing listening habits and this is what I found with the software as I was experimenting/learning.