Brand Spanking New Music - ya get it home and then what next?

[Davey]

Huh? Ya listen to it, doofus, whaddaya think?! No no no, I know that, but what's your method? I have a buddy with the annoying practice of previewing a few seconds of each track. Ya know, listen 10 seconds, skip to the next song, listen 10 seconds, skip to the next song, ... sounds kind of like a square dance, eh? Me, well I like to just put it on in the background for the first couple listens and get used to it before really trying to get to know it well. Sneak up on it. Sometimes even listen to it on the computer first. Or the boombox. I know others that wanna first thing to sit right down in front of their main rig, right in the hot spot, with the lights down low and a buzz on the way, and jump right in with no distractions. Guess I've done that before too, but not much anymore. You?

[Jim Clark]

You get it home first? I usually use the sharp edge of a counter at the store to rip open the cellophane and have that ready to toss in the trashcan next to the exit. On the way to the car I wrestle with the industrial strength sticky fastner on top (and utter a curse when I discover one on the bottom). It goes immediately into the CD player and I start enjoying it right then and there before I pull out of the parking lot..

jc

[Davey]

You get it home first? It goes immediately into the CD player and I start enjoying it right then and there before I pull out of the parking lot..
So I guess you fall in the
Me, well I like to just put it on in the background for the first couple listens and get used to it before really trying to get to know it well. category like me, eh? Or is the drivers seat your listening sweet spot these days? Guess it is for many with all the commute time.

:)

[Jim Clark]

So I guess you fall in the category like me, eh? Or is the drivers seat your listening sweet spot these days? Guess it is for many with all the commute time.

:)

Nosiree, I just crank it and am obvlivious to the world around me as I drive around. I figure it's no worse than yaking on a cell phone. And if you turn it up loud enough, even the sidewalk works as a sweet spot. I can tell by the looks I get.

jc

[Mr MidFi]

Yeah, I play it in the car first too. Especially if it's a straight-up rocker. I have a long commute (40 minutes each way), so I can get a good feel for an album before I get home.

If it's a mellower disc, I might wait for the weekend and put it in the Saturday coffee / Sunday paper rotation.

[Stone]

Huh? Ya listen to it, doofus, whaddaya think?! No no no, I know that, but what's your method? I have a buddy with the annoying practice of previewing a few seconds of each track. Ya know, listen 10 seconds, skip to the next song, listen 10 seconds, skip to the next song, ... sounds kind of like a square dance, eh? Me, well I like to just put it on in the background for the first couple listens and get used to it before really trying to get to know it well. Sneak up on it. Sometimes even listen to it on the computer first. Or the boombox. I know others that wanna first thing to sit right down in front of their main rig, right in the hot spot, with the lights down low and a buzz on the way, and jump right in with no distractions. Guess I've done that before too, but not much anymore. You?

Uhh, I have a CD opener in my car, so I'm similar to JC, but I have a habit of buying 3 or 5 or 7 at a time, which means I listen to part of one of the CDs I buy on the way home. When I get home I open the remaining CD packages with the opener I have at home (or alternatively remove the stickers from the ones I buy used and use Goo Gone to remove the residue) and stack the new CDs for listening at a later time. I like to listen, if I can, to the albums from start to finish, and preferably all in one sitting, but that doesn't always happen. I'd like to sit in the sweet spot and have no distractions, but that's usually unrealistic for me.

Bottom line: I don't listen to 10 seconds or so of each song. I listen to full songs, for as much time as I can spare, which preferably would be an attentive listen to the whole album.

[Slosh]

I play it backwards to find out the details of my mission

[Ex Lion Tamer]

When I buy, I usually buy vinyl, so that leaves out the listen-in-the-car-on-the-way-home method, favored by some. But I do almost always rip open the album and inspect the vinyl before I get home.

Usually I cue it up in my home-office/listening room while working than do a intimate late-night session, in the sweet spot, when the time and mood is right.

[Dusty Chalk]

Well, lately, I haven't been buying new music (...much...), just listening to it.

But back when I did...

insert out-of-focus "flashback" effect here

It depends. If it was a high-profile album like Garbage, I would listen to it. I have special extensible fingernails that I use to open the shrinkwrap, peel it off, throw it away, then I open the disk without violating that sticker on top (sometimes I break off the little tab at the bottom that keeps the "lid" part of the jewel case connected to the "carrier". Then I put it in my headphone system and listen to it. If it's a less important release (to me), then I just put it on on the speakers and listen to it. I know, boring flashback...

insert out-of-focus "revert-to-present" effect here

Does he really "preview" it? That has got to be annoying. So much of the music I listen to hasn't even started yet by that point (think "Black Sabbath" -- rain, maybe some church bells, but no guitar yet). I mean, shouldn't he at least do a percentage -- like 10% of the song (for a regular three minute song, that's only 18 seconds; for a five minute song, that's only 30 seconds).

[Swish]

then copy the covers and take them to the used CD store to get some of my money back. Ok, I'm just kidding. I do burn them though, just so I can put the copy in my Case Logic to play in my car. I hate taking new cds out of my house because some end up MIA, so burning them right away makes sense to me. I think the last time I bought cdrs at Best Buy I got 2 spindles of 100 for about $20 each, so the cost of doing this in minimal considering the alternative.

As for listening, I try to go thru each track completely on the first spin, although I don't always have the time for that.

Swish

[tentoze]

I always do the car thing on the way home because I'm the impatient, instant gratification type....once it gets in the house, I won't put it on until I can sit down and, for the first real hearing, listen all the way through. If it's a keeper (which most are, fortunately), it stays out for a week or so for repeated familiarization listens. If it isn't a keeper, chances are it was a rec from Davey....................

;) :p

[DarrenH]

I listen to the whole thing beginning to end. It's best that way. If I buy a CD while on my lunch hour I'll bring it back to my office and play it there. Not the best place to listen as there are too many distractions and it's really just a cheapo boombox but I'm too impatient. It gets another spin on the main rig at home later.


When I get home I open the remaining CD packages with the opener I have at home (or alternatively remove the stickers from the ones I buy used and use Goo Gone to remove the residue) and stack the new CDs for listening at a later time.

I'm the same way. I remove all stickers. Can't stand looking at them. Goo Gone works very well in removing the tough ones. And smells good too!

Darren

[kexodusc]

I usually launch a few songs in the car for some ambient listening, just to get a feel for it...then the critical stuff right away when I get home. If I don't get through the whole album on the first sitting, the second I get home, I can really be put off and forget about it.
If it's good it stays in rotation, if it's bad, back to the CD shop from whence it came!! (I try to only buy from stores that trade...limits the downside on bad purchases). Sometimes they go straight to ebay.

[ForeverAutumn]

I too am a car listener. Lately, I've been working too much to have much time left for a relaxed listen on the main stereo. So, I usually throw a new CD into the car for the drive home. Then I carry it around with me for a few days...car; home office; office office; iPod. It gets listened to at least twice as I move around my life. If I like it, it'll get spun several more times before the first week is out. If I don't like it so much, it gets it's two spins and then put on a pile on my home office shelf for another spin later. If, after that, it's still not appealing to me, it gets filed on the CD rack. If it is appealing, it usually ends up in my car since that's where I spend most of my listening time these days.

I have a lot of CDs in my car. Next car definately must include an MP3 player so that I can reduce the number of disk that I carry. That iPod FM transmitter that I bought doesn't work so well in the city.

Great question!