music format poll

[owlmoose]

This came from a discussion I was having with grue23 the other day. Just curious. I will summarize results later if people are interested. Feel free to invite others to participate.

[Poll #646378]

Comments

[luvmoose.livejournal.com]

Question 2 should have "shuffle" as an option.

[owlmoose.livejournal.com]

Don't you need to start with something to shuffle, though? Even if it's selected for you at random by iTunes, that would be a sort of playlist. That was my thinking, anyway.

[luvmoose.livejournal.com]

I don't consider my entire music library to be a "playlist". And the "Party Shuffle" in iTunes or the top menu "Shuffle Songs" options on the iPod are both the entire library.

So I didn't answer question #2.

[owlmoose.livejournal.com]

Fair enough. Although I would consider my library to be a playlist, so that's why I didn't think of making it a separate option. This is why I should remember always to including "Other" as an option in polls....

[luvmoose.livejournal.com]

So, technically, a list of all of your songs is a "playlist", but I always consider a "playlist" to be something that I've specifically created. And you sort of support that notion in your 3rd question. :)

[owlmoose.livejournal.com]

Hm, it occurs to me that my music library does not contain literally every song I own. It's not highly selective, but some selection has occured. So in my case, the library *is* something I specifically created. :)

[luvmoose.livejournal.com]

Well, if you want to get really picky, even if you ripped it into the computer or not, your whole music library could be a playlist by your definition because you selected what you bought. And okay, I own some stuff on vinyl that I do not have electronic versions of, so they're not in my iTunes. And hmm, maybe I haven't yet imported all of the concerts I've downloaded.

But I'm still sticking to a "playlist" being a personally created subset of all the material available to the player in question (i.e. iTunes or your iPod, even if your iPod couldn't hold all of your iTunes collection, grue23). So just because you didn't rip in that Spice Girls CD, doesn't mean that your iTunes library is a "playlist".

[grue23.livejournal.com]

Why do I agree with you and owlmoose is the one who sounds like a set theorist, here? ;)

[owlmoose.livejournal.com]

I wonder if we aren't getting tripped up in an issue of terminology. In iTunes and iPod software, a playlist is a very specific thing -- a collection of songs specifically created by the user. But I was trying to keep the poll more general (since there are people who use software other than iTunes), so by "playlist" I meant, literally, "a list of songs". As which the iTunes Library certainly qualifies.

[grue23.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I agree with you on this.

I primarily listen by Album, but the second way I listen is by shuffle. It's pretty mood dependent.

[grue23.livejournal.com]

So I was the 'something else.' If I listen to albums, I like to listen to them in order. If I am on party shuffle or listening to an artist, I like to listen on shuffle. :)

[luvmoose.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that's how I do it too. But I voted for shuffle because it was the only way to get that in there.

Although, I have had some fun with an artist or two, listening to their albums in order, and hearing how they matured over the course of a day.

[grue23.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I do that occasionally. That's great to do with artists who have a large body of work. Ones I tend to do that with are U2, Depeche Mode, the Cure, and Joy Division/New Order. I bet I know at least two artists you do that with. ;)