How do you usually listen to music?

[acidbasement]

I heard an interview with Sam Dunn (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0242757/) on CBC radio the other day, and he said that in his opinion, metal stands apart from other rocknroll-derived genres in the sense that people are more inclined to buy and listen to complete albums, rather than downloading individual tracks from, for example, itunes. Intuitively I agree with him, but I thought it would be an interesting question for a poll.

So, how do you acquire and listen to most of your music?

 

[MetalRose]

Normally, I listen to a track or two- usually downloaded legally from the bands website. If I like the track I'll go out and buy the entire album.

And a lot of times if I know I like the band (Type O Negative, Amorphis, Mercenary, Dimmu, etc) I'll go out and by the album blindly. (Which bit me on the ass for the last two Type O albums... pieces of crap.)

That article is correct for me. I still have about $5.00 on an ITunes gift certificate that was given to me Christmas of last year, spending only $20.00 of it over the year. I even made a thread here and I just couldn't find music via iTunes that I liked, but didn't have.

I do rip my albums to my iPod and listen to them at work, but rarely the other way around.

-Metal

 

[ICEDEARTHFAN]

I will listen to a sample of every song on the album if possible through Amazon.com,and then make my decision on whether to buy the whole album or just the songs that sound good from the samples.Obviously,there are a lot of metal bands that are not on Amazon,but that's usually the website I start with.

 

[J-Man]

I will buy CDs and listen to the whole thing based on:

1. recommendations from other people.

2. Listen to samples either at MySpace or Amazon, or the bands website

3. Known members of the band

4. Cool artwork

 

[mëtålspëd]

Whole albums only... none of this track at a time crap. I load them all up in winamp, and hit random. More times than now, I will hit a song.. and simply play the entire disc it is from.

 

[J-Dubya 777]

If it's something I'm unsure of, or something that I'm merely curious about, I will download/sample. If it's something I really like, I buy it. There are over 2000 store bought cds in the next room. Most of my downloading is live stuff from semi-legit sites such as Dime-A-Dozen.

 

[RagePSV]

I'm actually kind of OCD when it comes to listening to my cds. I have around 1300 currently. First off, I rip my 20 newest disc and use winamp to listen randomly while on the comp. I can also stream those mp3s to my tivo randomly. As far as the rest goes (here is the OCD part): I have my discs racked alphabetically by band and then chronologically by release, and that is how I listen to them in my car and at work, I listen right down the line. Currently it takes me about a year to make it through all of them. This works great because I never get tired of anything and I get to hear everything.

 

[Janga666]

I usually download the albums illegally and then buy them if I like them. If I don't like it I will delete it.

But I totally get what Sam Dunn is saying. I would rather listen to full albums rather than have a playlist of random songs. I think that is something common in metal.

 

[King Lek]

Generally just listen while driving....have the inability to work and listen as I tend to stop working and just listen....and as I am always working...well, you get the idea....

So...will generally listen to the cd in its entirety or will make a mix and then burn to disc.

 

[The Invisible Guest]

I download full discs from various sources and if I like them I generally buy them. I very rarely buy things blindly. I have to hear the whole deal, and if it appeals to me I put it on the "buy" list. I need more than one or two good songs to put something on the "buy" list. If I don't like a disc it generally gets discarded pretty quickly. I have started to buy some digital music, so I wouldn't be opposed to buying single tracks if something caught my attention, but to date I have not made a practice of that.

Britt

 

[rdyfrde]

I get CDs and download albums.

Though the ones that I download, I try to find on CD if I like it. Unless it's only one song, then I just keep that song and delete the rest. No point in having a ton of crap I don't listen to cluttering up my computer memory.

The reason I download to preview is because I was burned a lot in the late 80's, buying up any band I saw in a magazine. I'd find some good ones but I also ran into a lot of crappy ones.

 

[ratanda]

Based on the title of the thread I was going to reply "With headphones, through the computer speakers, in my car, or through my little boom box."

 

[Jasonic]

Agreed. Misleading thread title.

I tried doing the download thing.
Even had a subscription to eMusic.

I get ZERO satisfaction from only owning a download.

I consider myself a collector, so I NEED to have the complete package. How the hell can you get the full feeling of the artist's intent without having the package with you when listening to an album? Just my opinion.

MP3 players are great. I have one, though at the end of the day, I still listen to CDs in the car.

 

[Ascension]

I rarely buy Cds anymore...l'm way too mobile to be carrying around a crapload of them...l have tons of them in storage that l probably won't see for a long time. Download. l will pick up the live dvd occasionally...latest being Dream Theater's.

 

[acidbasement]

Based on the title of the thread I was going to reply "With headphones, through the computer speakers, in my car, or through my little boom box."

I changed the thread title, but I'm not sure if there's a way to change the poll title. Interesting results so far - looks like Sam was right. Even people who mostly download music prefer listening to entire albums.
I listen pretty much exclusively to whole albums. If I'm listening to vinyl, I'll sometimes stop at the end of a side. My mp3 player sounds terrible, and my car stereo is worse, so I do most of my listening at home. I will sometimes download to see if I like a band, but I always buy the cd or record if I like it. One or two good songs on an album is not enough incentive for me to buy it - it's not even enough incentive for me to listen to just those songs. I have to like the album as a whole or I won't put it on.

 

[SharkBlack]

I do all of the legally attained stuff, but mostly I like to buy CDs, gotta have the cover art lyrics and assorted other stuff that comes with them... I usually listen to albums from start to finish, but I like a good compilation too.

 

[Jibrille]

Only times a full album doesn't get burned onto my mp3 CDs for the car is if there's too many spoken dialogue interludes between songs. Latest Haggard album is guilty of that. Every other song is like 30 seconds of storyline related dialogue.

I used to download illegally to check it out new bands before deciding to buy it. I do this a lot less than I did a few years ago though. I started realizing I never got around to even listening to half of what I downloaded. I try to stock up at PP and let vendors give me suggestions on bands to check out.

 

[edgeofthorns]

I dare say there's anything in my collection that I don't like the majority of the songs. I'm one of these people that if I don't like an album, I'll get rid of it to make room for something I do like.

I use to be 100% against downloading music, but I've warmed up to the idea lately. I find myself mainly downloading bands that I'm exploring, but I have to own the full package of my favorite bands/artists.

I've always felt like metal fans tend to appreciate a band's entire work instead of just listening to a song here and there. That's for people that listen to the flavors of the weeks!

~Brian~

 

[booB]

If it's a band I'm not already familiar with, I'll generally look them up on MySpace or their band website, and listen there. If that's not possible, or if I can't make up my mind from that, then, as a last resort, I'll download an album on BitTorrent and check it out. If I feel that I will listen to the album consistently, I'll buy it; if not, I'll delete the download, if any exists.

I don't use any legal downloading sources, and all of my music listening is by album, not by individual song.

 

[dcowboys311]

I download and have promos sent to me by the labels. My money goes towards other forms of merch, like vinyls and DVDs.